This day is brought to you by the letter "F"

...as in family, friends, food, football, films, and fun.

Happy Thanksgiving!

We're in the middle of Iron Chef Thanksgiving in my kitchen. In just a few hours, we're headed to our friends' home to eat the traditional feast.


And what a feast it will be...the fun of combining families is that we all have to bring those dishes each family can't do without. Mmm...my mouth is watering just thinking about it!


In the meantime, my kitchen is covered in flour, roll dough, potato peelings, and other assorted remnants of the many dishes I'm taking. And we're starting to be blanketed in wonderful aromas.

So I thought I'd share a couple of photos from last year, in anticipation of the good eats to come...like Colin and his annual turkey-leg-a-palooza.

We know we're so blessed at this time to have a bounty...of food, of friends and family, and of so many other blessings that fill our hearts and lives with joy.

We hope you and your family have a wonderful day and that you're surrounded with love and joy! Thank you for what you bring to our lives.

Enjoy your day!

See Kristen find the Christmas spirit...

See Kristen.

See Kristen wish she didn't sound like such a Grinch in her last post.
See Kristen admit that she likes Christmas music. It was just too early to hear carols on the radio for her that day and she was not ready to decorate a tree yet.
Tired, tired Kristen.

See Kristen hear from friends that she needs to find the Christmas spirit.
See Kristen feel sorry that she made people feel unhappy and like she was squelching their Christmas fun.
Sad, sad Kristen.

See Kristen realize that she's been practicing for the Ozark Mormon Chorale's big Christmas concerts since the first rehearsal on October 17.
Kristen loves to sing Christmas carols.
Silly, silly alto!



See Kristen at the Bentonville Lighting of the Square. She is listening to her daughters sing in the Bentonville Childrens' Choir as they perform for hundreds of people.

See Kristen join in the sing-a-long of Christmas carols.

See Kristen wearing a Santa hat at the square!
Silly, silly Kristen.

See Kristen listen to her two daughters practice their songs for their Christmas piano recital...over and over again.
See Kristen pull out Christmas music and play some herself.
Forgetful, forgetful Kristen!


See Kristen teach a scrapbook class in which the project she designed 6 weeks ago is a Santa Countdown Box.
See Kristen talk to her customers about Christmas traditions.
Happy scrappy Kristen.



See Kristen drive a carful of 12-14-year-old girls to a church activity last night, while they're singing along to a Christmas CD at the top of their lungs.
See Kristen laugh.
Funny, funny girls. Kristen loves these squirrelly young women!

See Kristen find the holiday spirit.
Merry, merry Kristen!

True love is what brings us together today...

I just have to share some photos from our recent trip to Omaha, Nebraska, for my sister's wedding. She and her new husband James got married on November 15, 2008, in the Winter Quarters Temple of The Church of Jesus-Christ of Latter-day Saints. We all traveled up there to witness the ceremony and join in the wedding festivities.

After the wedding ceremony and while we were waiting for Terra and James to get spiffied up and come out of the temple, we had to have a little fun...



Everyone got a chance to put their mark on the car (here are Lindsay, my brother Derrick, and David caught in the act), but I especially loved what Derrick then did to my parents' car:















May I introduce the bride and groom:
Mr. and Mrs. Ferguson!


Colin and Lindsay had been peeking in the doors, watching for them to come. I love how Lindsay is jumping with joy as she opens the door.




















Terra had a gorgeous snow-queen-like dress, which was fitting since it spit snow on us off and on that day. It was freezing cold!

This is living proof that if you wait long enough, the right match will come. These two adore each other! I'm so happy that Terra has found true love in James.

(insert voice of the priest from "The Princess Bride": "Twue wuv is what bwrings us togevwer todaaaay...")

And here's a photo I love, since the three of us aren't together that often. (Yes, I'm wearing heels. But so is Terra. I really am that short...or they're just that tall.) For those just seeing my siblings for the first time, I'm the oldest, my brother Derrick is the middle child, and my sister Terra is the youngest.

Here's a good-looking group of guys, if I may say so myself!

After the ceremony and hundreds of pictures, we went to the wedding luncheon at a quaint little Italian bistro in downtown Omaha called Vivace. It had amazing food, and great decor. What a fun choice!

Here's Colin, sneaking a kiss from the bride at the luncheon...


And Rebekah, loving on her new uncle:

And Lindsay, being our drama queen and dreaming of her day to come...



Terra and James, we wish you an eternity of happiness!

Eight is Great!

Happy Birthday, Boo! Another sign of getting older…my baby is now eight! Thanks to my sister and her out-of-state wedding the day before Rebekah’s birthday, we got to celebrate on the road. I took these pictures of Bekah at the wedding luncheon, which was held at a darling little Italian bistro in downtown Omaha called Vivace. I can’t believe how old she’s getting, and how much she’s growing into a young lady. This is age 8 minus a day.

Here’s a little recap of her birthday weekend. Yep, it lasted all weekend. Why not?

The wedding was at our church’s temple in Omaha, Nebraska, on Saturday, November 15, so we took off on Friday to get ourselves situated a little early. When we got to the hotel, Grandma and Grandpa Voss, Uncle Derrick, and Terra and James were there already, waiting in the breakfast room with gifts and cake. Yeah! What a nice ending to a seven-hour road trip! Gotta love that the bride and groom gave her Bride Barbie and Groom Ken and a spiffy car for them to drive. So this was Birthday Celebration #1. With a late-night swim in the pool and a night in a hotel bed (somehow, this is a treat for her!), the day was complete. It was great to see Uncle Derrick, though it would have been most exciting to have Aunt Monica and our cousins Maya and Linda come, too!

Fast forward to Saturday morning…I hope that getting ready in pretty clothes, the wedding, pictures, and an amazing luncheon at a sophisticated restaurant made Rebekah feel like it was not just Terra’s special day! After the happy couple drove off, it was time to really party Rebekah-style! We headed off to the movie theater to see Madagascar 2: Escape to Africa (she’s a huge fan!). Then we picked up pizza from Dominoes, wings from Quaker Steak and Lube, and soda and chips from a nearby Wal-Mart, then took them back to the hotel’s guest area and opened the presents we had hauled up there. Birthday Celebration #2 and it wasn’t even the official day yet!

At this point, I think the Marriott people thought we were there to take over the hotel. We treated our new pseudo-family member at the front desk with leftover wedding cheesecake, and I think we made a friend for life.

Sunday morning we woke up and finally got to sing Happy Birthday on the actual day! After checking out, we went to the Winter Quarters Visitor’s Center to learn more about our church history in that area. The temple that Terra and James got married in is located there on the grounds, next to the original pioneer cemetery that gives the area its name. We got a private tour, and then Rebekah got an extra treat….five darling sister missionaries came out to the foyer to sing a beautiful version of Happy Birthday just for her.
And then it was time to head home. We felt bad that she had to spend much of the day in the car, but the rest of the weekend was so fun, she didn’t seem to mind at all. We were checking every exir for a place to stop for dinner that she would enjoy when the Birthday Fairies smiled upon us…there, on the highway Places to Eat sign…was a placard for Ryan’s. Could. Not. Believe. The. Luck. It’s not the greatest restaurant, but it’s a decent buffet and it was one of her favorites. The Ryan's restaurant near us in Arkansas closed a few months ago, and she had been sad to realize she couldn’t spend her birthday there. (This also has to do with her best friend being named Ryan, by the way.)

And so we dined on a little of everything in the middle of nowhere, Missouri. That’s all she needed to make her day complete. A little singing from the servers, and ice cream with sprinkles on it, and we had Birthday Celebration #3.

Celebration #4 came a week later when our families got together to celebrate the four birthdays that the Arkansas Black family members share. And Celebration #5 will come at her upcoming party. Enough, perhaps. We’ve milked this one for all its worth!

I truly hope she realizes how much we love her!

Bekah, as you look forward to your baptism and the responsibility that comes with this age of accountability, I hope you always keep smiling and remember who you are at all times.

Seriously? Bah Humbug!

Okay, I'm all about the Christmas spirit and the joys of the season, but it hardly seems like you can go into any store after October 1 without being confronted with early holiday cheer. I'm not clueless, and I know how the marketing elves work. Look, I teach scrapbooking classes in a high-end specialty gift/scrapbooking store, and we've been selling out of all kinds of Christmas doo-dads for a couple of months. We're known for our uber-cool, trendy items. It's what we do (click here for a shameless plug to Signed Sealed Delivered) and we do it very very well.

And my local Wally-World has had a tree up for a month or so. That I can deal with. It's their job, and, frankly, it keeps my household in milk and toilet paper and Oreos, thanks to David's hard work building the big boxes they sell from (so please shop now and shop often--momma needs a new pair of shoes).

HOWEVER...

I was not prepared to be driving home from an evening event last week, idly flipping radio stations in my car, when I hit on the last part of Delilah pontificating about some relationship and wishing the caller all the best in their joyous life (really, you can all now hear her voice in your head--sorry in advance for any internal trauma that may occur).

But what really got me was the vaguely familiar swelling of music in the background. This is what made me stop on that station and listen a little closer. I couldn't quite place it...it had been maybe 10 1/2 months since I'd heard that song...no, it couldn't be...wait for it....

Oh, yes. It was the dulcet tones of Michael Buble, singing "The Christmas Song."

REALLY?

It was November 6. Good grief.

I wish I'd heard the first part of the call. I have no idea if the guy requested this or not...maybe it was the song playing when he first kissed his significant other...there was probably a good reason, but whatever. It was November 6.

(Keep in mind how much I love music and how much I LOVE Christmas music and that I've already started weekly rehearsals for the annual Christmas Chorale I sing in because we have to start a couple of months early...but this is the public radio.)

I wasn't going to complain publicly. I do love the song--have even performed it before--but it just seems a little early for the radio holiday season. Truly, I just threw out the dead pumpkins on my porch. We're still digging through the candy leftover basket for Milky Way bars no one else has claimed.

And then I drove by my neighbor's home last night and my attention was immediately distracted by the multitude of bright, twinkly lights I saw through her front window.

And they were attached to a tall, green tree with baubles on it.

And then this morning she and her husband were outside hanging the tons of decorations that light up the street every December.

Again, I say...

REALLY?

I don't need this kind of pressure. I don't even know for sure what we're doing for Thanksgiving.

So here's the question...any of you started the Christmas season yet? Did I miss a memo that Christmas was coming early to combat the doom and gloom that society is trudging through lately? Any ideas how to pull me out of my pre-holiday funk?

On the other hand...this does mean I can now buy my favorite holiday addiction--egg nog!