6th Annual Kazamoto Christmas Party

I can't believe it's been 6 years since we started this tradition!  Our favorite family, the Shimamotos, were in town from Utah, and we took advantage to keep the tradition alive.  Melissa and I decided six years ago to get together (which we did often, anyway) each Christmas to teach each other about Christmas traditions in other countries.  It has always been a favorite time for us, especially this year -- we have missed them terribly since they moved to Utah!  Maybe next year, we can go down there to continue the tradition at their new home.

 

In the last six years, Melissa has taught us about:

Sweden

Switzerland

France

Holland

Czechoslovakia

and this year: Africa

 

And I have taught about:

Japan

Germany

Mexico

Ireland

Russia

and this year: Greece

 

This year, we snacked on some Greek cookies while I taught about their traditions.  They turned out much harder than I thought, but luckily part of the tradition is dipping them in honey, so that made them go down a little easier. 

 

 

It was exciting for us to learn about African Christmas traditions, especially because Haley is traveling there this summer to do humanitarian work with her friend's family.

 

 

I love how most of our kids match up in age.  There is always somebody to play with during Kazamoto parties!  Matthew and Ryan found some blasters and the Clone helmets, which kept them busy for a long time!

 

Usually I have next year's country already picked out.  And I do, but I'm not telling.  It will have to be a surprise for next year!

 

***

 

And just one more picture:

Matt and I sat down to enjoy a couple of treats for Last Snack.  He always imparts his wisdom at the end of the day, so our conversations are usually pretty interesting.

 

I'm loving the bedtime outfit.

 

Surgery and Christmas Recap

I am a horrible mother.  I have exactly 3 pictures of Christmas.  And I don't even really remember it.

 

On December 10, I had back surgery.  They opened up my stomach (a 5 1/2 inch vertical incision), moved over my muscles and intestines and whatever else was in the way, and dissected out my blown-to-bits disc between my L5 and S1 vertebrae.  Then they put a cadaver bone as a spacer, relieving the smashed nerve ending that enters the spine between those two vertebrae.  They then screwed my bones together, and soon (well, in a year or so) those bones and the cadaver part will be one fused section.  And yes, it felt about as good as it sounds.

 

I had back pain immediately after waking from surgery (and I wondered why there were people in my room, because I had just had a weird dream -- something I didn't expect while under anesthesia).  But at least I didn't have the excruciating pain some poor soul behind me did.  She was screaming and crying.  I felt bad, but not that bad.

 

The first day after surgery was pretty tough, with the horrible back pain that wouldn't go away no matter what I did.  The wonderful RN that was assigned to me worked tirelessly to find the right combination of pain meds that would actually have some kind of effect.  By the next day, the pain had travelled from my back to my front.  I could barely speak above a whisper, and coughing or sneezing was out of the question.  But as I found out a couple of days later, shivering was actually the worst pain that I had.  And in December up here in the northern country, shivering is not that uncommon.  And it really, really hurt.

 

I was on pain meds for about 6 days after my surgery, until I took myself off of it because I hated the way it made me feel.  It took care of the pain, but I slept all day, and was brain dead when I was awake.  I could take the pain, but not that.  I had nausea for a few days when I stopped the pills, but pretty soon I was feeling much better.  I just couldn't (and still can't) twist, bend, or lift anything very heavy.  But someday this will all be worth it.  Just not yet.

 

***

 

All I really remember about Christmas was that I couldn't sit on the floor with the kids to open presents like I usually do.  I couldn't sit on the chair, either, so I just paced around while they opened their presents (I wish I could tell you what they got, but I don't remember).  I had to pace because I couldn't stand still for several weeks -- that nerve that was no longer compressed between my vertebrae had come alive after a year of compression.  That did not feel good -- in fact, that was the worst part about the surgery.  It sent electric shocks down the back of my leg, all the way to the bottom of my foot (which is why standing on that foot was not possible -- therefore I paced around constantly, making everybody nervous when having a conversation).

 

 

 

 

 

It looks like Matt got a train, Grace got a bucket of crayola fun, and there were some guitars involved.

 

***

 

I do faintly remember Grace deciding to try on Joey's suit.  She waltzed in to my room wearing the suit, cowboy boots, and a cowboy hat.  It was a very interesting choice of attire.  It must have been a long day for her, because Ben then caught her sitting at the table in a stupor.

 

 

 

Family Pictures

Andrew's first band concert was in December.  It was right after my surgery, so I couldn't attend.  But Ben went, and Andrew's teacher, Mr. Lynam, had asked Andrew to do a drum solo.  Andrew is one of the only 5th graders with musical experience, so he was pretty impressive.  We have a video of it, and apparently the girl sitting in front of Andrew was extremely impressed: after his solo, she got really big eyes and mouthed "Wow!" to the girl in the blue shirt.  It was hilarious.

 

 

Since we had the whole family here for Christmas, we took the opportunity to take some family pictures.  I was still hurting pretty badly from my surgery, but we managed to get everything set up in the basement.  They turned out pretty good!  I espeically like the ones that didn't quite turn out -- and a few that we messed up on purpose.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanksgiving

We had lots of good fun at Thanksgiving.  Eric was here from Jersey to visit, Kelsey and Kane came over for dinner, and the Kirschenmanns were able to come to eat, also.

 

After we ate at my side of the family, we went over to Ben's parents house to see the Cammons.  We got our fill again, and then passed out at home.

 

Some highlights:

 

Christmas Trees and Decorating

First, it's excuse time.  I have not updated my blog for several weeks because:

 

1) This stupid site's button that allows me to add pictures to the blog was not working for a month,

and

2) when the button finally did start working and I tried to upload pictures, it either took 100 years to download a picture, or it would crash. so it has taken me 2 weeks to download the following pictures... one by one

and

3) I had back surgery and couldn't sit at the computer for more than 15 seconds!

 

So we're a little behind, but I'm sure I can catch up.  The hardest part will be remembering what I was going to write in the first place (I've been on some medication...)

 

Last year I bought some window stickies, and Grace and Matthew had a blast decorating the house with them.  Then Matt decided to move them around, ripping most of their heads off.  Oh well.  Some survived and will hopefully make an appearance next year as well.

 

Grace was really the only one who felt like decorating.  I could hardly move, anyway.  I'm glad she's old enough to take charge of that particular chore.  She's going to be much better at it than I am, anyway!

 

 

***

 

But before we decorated, we made our annual Day-After-Thanksgiving-Red Lodge-Cut-Down-the-Tree-Trek.

 

Some facts about the Trek, and some reminders for next year:

 

1.  We took the Pilot so the kids could watch a movie on the way to and from.  They all argued about which movie to pick until we were half way there, anyway.  Next year: no movies.

2.  There are no "qualified" trees to cut down anywhere close to Red Lodge.  Next year: prepare to travel most of the way to Canada to find a tree.

3.  We picked several spots to jump out of the car and look for an acceptable tree.  Each time we got out, failed to find said tree, and then got back in the car to travel to another area, the kids took off their hats and gloves, and in some cases -- their coats.  Each subsequent time we found an area, they became a little more exasperated at the whole process, until they finally refused to get out of the car.  Next year: go to the farthest point possible, and work our way backwards.  Do not get out of the car unless an acceptable tree is located first.  Do not let kids disrobe between outings.

4.  We brought a few snacks, which were pretty much consumed by the time we got to the forest.  We planned to eat at the taco place (which was also a point of much contention) after the Trek was completed.  However, it took us 1 1/2 hours to find the tree.  And no, that did not include the hour-long ride to Red Lodge.  Next year: we will eat at the restaurant first.

5.  After many failed attempts, I finally ordered Ben to pull over, told the kids to stay in the car and honk the horn if they needed anything, or if someone had to pee, or if a screwball mountain man was trying to abduct them.  Ben and I then hopped out of the car, ax in hand, and hiked up the hill, determined to return successful.  After about 15 minutes, we did -- although we finally just cut down the least pitiful tree we could find.  Ben dragged it while running back to the car.  We tied it up, threw it on top of the car, and got the heck out of there.  Next year: go to the tree lot.

6.  We finally decided to eat at Bogart's.  We looked like a bedraggled mess walking in there, but the kids were so famished we didn't care.  We finally ordered, then Haley knocked a chair over, Matt spilled his water, and a couple of the kids didn't even like what they ordered.  Next year: drive-thru.

 

 

 

I walked behind the kids, camera in hand.  And yes, I kept looking behind me to make sure a mountain lion or bear wasn't stalking us as prey.  I do the same thing when I'm snorkeling to make sure there's not a shark with his mouth open about to have me for lunch.

 

The "men" (a.k.a. Andrew and Ben) scouted for a tree.  They had lengthy manly discussions on where to hunt, and which kind of tree species they wanted, and where we should go next.

 

 

 

 

 

The rest of us just messed around (well, I wasn't actually messing around, but I was capturing the shenanigans with my camera while being alert to man-eating wildlife).  Matthew fell down in a boggy area and then insisted that he be carried.  And then he turned it into a game, and fell down every other step he took, which made Haley oh-so-happy.

 

 

 

 

 

At one point, we had strayed so far from the car (which is not a smart thing to do while possibly being hunted by the before-mentioned mountain lions and bears), that Ben had to go back for it.  We decided to press forward and he would catch up.  But then we sort of were lost, so we sat on the side of the road waiting for him to come rescue us.

 

 

While Ben was tying up our bounty, I took a moment to get the frozen creek on camera.  It looked pretty cool: