Of Trees and Christmas

My cute roommates (save Lexi) and I went and bought the cutest cutest Christmas tree last night. We set out planning to get one about four feet high, but then we found this one and we just couldn't help ourselves. When we found it, I saw someone else eyeing it so we stayed close to it and bought it. Then we but it in Becci's brother's tiny car and hung it out the window in the backseat. We didn't have anywhere in the back to seat, so the three of us piled in the front seat. It was reallyreallyreally comfortable (that was sarcastic).

Anyway, we brought the tree home and got to work. And this was our finished product! Our tree is way cute, and makes everyone feel even more at home. Our apartment is really homey anyways, but now it's so much like a little home I can't get enough of it! I don't want to leave the living room... i just want to hang out under all of the lights. This is my first Christmas tree since I've been in college and my first real one for years and years. I'm glad Americans have a Christmas tree tradition. It's just so warm and pretty!

Thanksgiving.

This was my first Thanksgiving spent away with my family. I went to my good friend Calvin's. He lives in a suburb of Boise, Idaho that I thought was three hours away... it was six.

Honestly, I did not feel like Thursday was Thanksgiving. It felt like any other day. I think the best part of Thanksgiving is relaxing with your family. That is what makes it a holiday. I LOVE my family and I wish I could have been with them this past week... especially since they got to play with my adorable niece Sophie.

But here TEN traditions I found in Meridian, Idaho that my family practices in Lee's Summit, Missouri.

1. Football. Football. Football. (I must say my brothers are more aggressive than Calvin's... this year my brother Nathan gave out a bloody nose, a pulled knee, and a concussion. Cal's family did nothing of the sort).

2. Turkey. Turkey. Turkey.

3. Mashed Potatoes. Mashed Potatoes. Mashed Potatoes.

4. Rolls. Rolls. Rolls.

5. Stuffing.

6. Green. Bean. Casserole.

7. Pie. Pie. Pie. 

8. Intermission between pie and dinner.

9. Split of men and women.

10. Having to say what you are thankful for, which is always semi-embarrassing.

Also, Calvin's family used fine china to eat with although their family is all boys. Sometimes my mama does that, but lately she uses paper plates because our family has gotten so large. And people eat on the fireplace, the table, extra chairs, and the bar. Calvin's family sat at the table. And everyone talked, but they were a little quiet. My family isn't necessarily a loud loud loud family but golly gee, we LOVE to laugh!

Oh, and my family goes to a movie every Thanksgiving between dinner and pie. Cal's never has. They stay at home. AND my mama and my aunt make about ten different types of pies, not ten pies of the same kind.

But I still think what makes Thanksgiving Thanksgiving is the fam. Otherwise it just feels like another day, just with a lot of food.

White as SNOW.

Reaction to versions of Snow White.

I grew up with the Brother's Grimm version of Snow White, so it was not a big deal for me to read variations. No childhood fantasy was shaken up.

I was given the Grimm's book of Fairy Tales for Christmas when I was nine and I read it all. the. time. My best friend Reni and I would read it at sleepovers and think about how grotesque the stories were, especially Cinderella. Actually, the thing I remember most about Snow White was that she was only seven. She must have grown up with the dwarves or been with her coffin for years, because she definitely was not old enough to get hitched when her mama threw her out.

I love fairy tales, mostly because they always change. That is the best part about them.

Also, I wished this had been discussed more in class.

I've been fairly bad about responding to readings on this blog, but not really. I just never label my responses to what I've been reading. So I should probably label this one.

Mama Arms Take 2.

The other day I was with my friend Calvin and he called someone "Relief Society Arms" because they had Mama arms like in my post before.

Reading: Snow White.

Mama Arms.

[I am the tan one on the right. My sister is the pale one on the left.]

When I was in high school, I had a teacher named Mrs. Keating. She was a math teacher. I hated math. She was the hardest teacher in the school. The students that didn't like her always talked about her arms. She was skinny, but her arms shook when she wrote on the board. We'd sit there, transfixed, as Mrs. Keating's arms wrote equations on the board. And for the first seven months of school, that is how I thought of her. Wiggly Arms... Mom Arms as some people called them. 

The last two months of school I came down with Mono. The kissing disease struck me so badly that I could not go to school for over a month. The school district gave me a home teacher, and I did my work at home. Most of my teachers ignored the home teacher's requests to help me with my schooling. Especially my "cool" teachers. Mrs. Keating did not. She sent home all my homework, and called periodically to check on me. She was fabulously nice, and she probably does not even remember it. I learned that there was a lot more to my teacher than red hair and wiggly arms. She actually cared about her students. Sadly, the kids in my class probably never realized this. Some of them still talk about the way her arms shook.

I thought this was a once in a lifetime thing. I did not know that Mom Arms were a common syndrome. I was wrong. I hear them referred to on TV shows, in movies, in books, and in everyday conversations. In fact, as I just sat coloring a card for my friend's birthday, I felt a little wiggle to my side. I looked over. And there they were: Mama Arms. Mama Arms on ME.