Merry Christmas!

Christmas was a blast this year! Although we stayed in town we ended up spending two nights at my parent's house so it was a bit like going away. On Christmas Eve we took Evie to see the Nutcracker ballet. It was a definite hit! She tried really hard to be quiet but just couldn't help herself and there were a few hushed whisper questions. After the ballet we packed all of the presents into the car and headed up to my folk's house for dinner. Evie tried to wait very patiently to open her one Christmas Eve present but in the end dinner was interrupted ever 5 minutes or so with, "Is everyone finished yet?...How about now?" Evie had a tough time getting to sleep and our warnings that Santa wouldn't come if she were awake fell on deaf ears. She at one point, rather frustrated, told me that she had enough presents and didn't care if Santa skipped her house, she just wanted to stay up with us. In her typical logical fashion she just refused to believe that if she shouldn't be awake it was OK for the rest of us to be. She did finally (around 9:30) make it to bed and of course Santa didn't skip the house...

Christmas morning was a fun with Santa bringing Evie some doll accessories. The best gift though came from Mina and Papa. A new (to Evie) barn and animals that have been lovingly restored by my parents over the last two years. The barn was originally my dad's. My grandmother Lillian designed it and then had the town doctor make it for him for Christmas. It has seen many years of Mott family play and was in need of new paint, a roof, a new floor (I think) and some other repairs. My dad did all of the carpentry and my mom repainted all of the animals, two of which are made to look like horses my dad had on the farm in Iowa.


After morning Christmas it was time to make the trek up to Phoenix. We all piled in my parent's car and drove to my Uncle's house. The most excited about the trip up was Evie because she remembered from last year that my Uncle (well really his kids) has a trampoline in the back yard. Genevieve spent 3/4 of the time there on the trampoline and we were forced to take turns with her on it. One adult would tire and another would be called to duty. (Patrick at one point tried to jump with his glass of wine... I don't recommend that to the folks at home) When the time came to take a family photo Evie really wanted to have the picture taken on the trampoline so we figured we'd give it a shot. Not the most in focus pictures but pretty fun nonetheless!

Cookies and Winterhaven

I forgot just how nice it is to be in school and have close to a month off! In all fairness I worked this week too but between the furlough day yesterday and the holiday today it wasn't much of a work week. Evie and I have been taking full advantage of our time off to be both productive and utterly slothful. Productivity was Tuesday when friends came over to make cookies with us. Evie had not seen her friend in quite awhile and was so excited to see her that she made her a card and a comic strip (through a game on PBS kids) that day to give to her. The girls played and played for over three hours and, not surprisingly, most of the decorating of the massive amounts of sugar cookies actually fell to the motherly set.

On Wednesday Evie and I tried out her roller skates... for a first attempt it went pretty well for her. She even managed to skate a few feet on her own before toppling over. Then we went out so that she could pick out her annual Christmas tree ornament as well as buy a gift for Patrick, my mom, my dad and my brother. My favorite part of the day was the long luxurious nap that we both took. Thursday was even more lazy. The day started off dark and rainy so we decided to do a movie day. Of course by 10 am, this being Arizona after all, it was beautiful, warm and sunny, but having started down our slothful path we decided to see it through.


Then last night we went to my personal favorite Christmas activity... Winterhaven! I brought the camera with me and then realized its a bit silly at this point because I just take pictures of the same houses/decorations every year. And by the time I realized that really the only point in bringing the camera is to take pictures of Evie we were practically on our way home. The big hit this year (aside from the water display which is always number one with Evie) was the (I kid you not) Caroling for Jesus karaoke set up in one of the front yards, complete with a stage made out of bales of hay. Evie really wanted to get up and sing like her big friends that we were there with, but given that she can't read, and there was no way I was getting up to sing with her (no one wants to hear that) I told her it would have to wait until next year. (Or maybe the year after)

Zoo Lights!

The week of Christmas fun continued on Monday with a trip to the zoo to see zoo lights and the S-man (that would be Santa) It has become our tradition that this is where Evie gets her picture taken with him every year. My folks watched Evie on Monday while I worked and as we were leaving we asked my Dad if there was anything Evie should ask Santa for him... he said he'd really like some Phillips screwdrivers. So when the time came to sit on Santa's lap Evie excitedly jumped up and when he asked what she wanted she replied, "Well, my Papa would really like a screwdriver." Santa thought that Papa was Patrick and smiled at him and said, "Not the type with orange juice right?" Evie gave him a "duh" look and said, "No the real kind." She then proceeded to tell him what she wanted, which just happened to be a new stroller for her dollies because the other one keeps breaking. Sweet! Two years in a row she has asked for exactly what Santa had already procured for her!

We met a bunch of friends at the zoo and had a blast talking and drinking hot chocolate. Evie didn't see much of the lights because she became fixated (big shock) on the band and all she wanted to do was dance. She must have danced for an hour and a half of the two hours we were there! Unfortunately she just moved too quick for me to get any decent pictures of her busting a groove...

Nutcracker Take 1

On Sunday the week of Christmas fun began with Evie's dance studio putting on a very informal dance performance that included songs from the Nutcracker ballet. It was a cute little party of sorts on the big stage so all the dancers could get used to it before the real show this June. Evie of course relished the opportunity to wear a tutu and be on stage both for warm-ups and for her 15 seconds of dancing fame. She then sat in the audience with me and watched the rest of the dances. At the end all the kids came on stage and took a bow and received a little baggie of goodies. It was really sweet and totally worth the risk of missing her nap, which turned out OK for us... but of course it is always a gamble.

The second chance at the Nutcracker will come this Friday when we take her to the "real" ballet... her very first. Needless to say she is just a little bit excited.

Ohh Santa

Whew emerging from the finals fog... How the heck did I think it was a good idea to pick three classes all with huge 20+ papers as part of the final? It was either hubris or stupidity... or maybe they are truly one and the same. Anyway I am happily on the other side of my very first semester as a PhD student and also happy to say that it was pretty darn awesome and I can't wait for next semester (Although I am choosing my classes next time in so small part on the presence of a final paper...) I am so very fortunate to have Patrick and my parents to help me, without them this simply would not have worked at all.


Anyway we have been slowly but surely getting into the holiday spirit around here. The first of the holiday wonders is always the visit from Santa at Patrick's work. You may recall that Santa generally arrives on a Harley, well this year the Harley was "in the shop" (aka Santa's girlfriend no longer works at Patrick's firm) and so Santa came in an ice-cream truck. Oh yesss not only does he bring presents for the boys and girls but some real frozen sugar treats straight from the north pole. His truck even plays calming classical music to call the kiddies for their treats...


Well generally Santa requires the assistance of Patrick to pick up a toy for Evie (he is a busy guy at this time of year you know) and Patrick had bought Evie a pillow pet (a strange obsession around here that I don't quite know the origin of) a totally reasonable little gift from Santa. Well on the day that the presents had to be well present, Patrick forgot said pillow pet and ran out to get a substitute. In a moment of utter weakness and ridiculousness he purchased a life-size groovy girl complete with little bands on her feet so that she can dance with Evie. Wrapped up it looked a bit like a sarcophagus. As you might imagine this toy was quite well received and has since needed to go just about everywhere with us... buckled into the car next to Evie, tucked in at night next to her etc. etc....Ohh Santa.