THEY"RE BACK!!!!!

I love this time of year for many many reasons-- and I'm sure I've posted many of those reason before, but 2 of my many favorite things about this month and next are 1) MINT M&M'S!!!! and 2) Clementine cuties!

The day after Oct 31st, I had to run to the store to get a few necessities we had run out of,  and I knew the stores would be getting their Christmas sections up, so I searched for the mint m&ms, but stinking walmart didnt have them. They had all the many holiday flavored kisses, candy canes, even all the other regular candies that are just packaged in reds and greens for the holiday, but no mint m&ms. I was disappointed for a minute, but thought- hey walgreens is right next door- they totally will have them- so we ran into walgreens- but they didnt have them either.So I was disappointed for the rest of the day. The next day I had to run over to target and thought hey- I know they have their Christmas section up, I will totally score the mint m&ms there. But sadly, they had their Christmas stuff up, but NO CHRISTMAS CANDY! How can you have a Christmas section without Christmas candy? come on now. Then on Wednesday I had to run in to Albertsons, and of course they didnt have anything Christmasy out by then, and figured if I really wanted those mint m&ms I was gonna have to take matters into my own hands and get on line and find somewhere that could ship me a whole crateful. But once I got home I forgot about my brilliant plan while trying to deal with the wild ones. So on Saturday when I was doing the grocery shopping, I swung into the Christmas section again, and this time they had Christmas M&ms, but not the mint kind. Get with the program walmart!  but then Kylie and I ran over to Albertsons to get something walmart doesnt carry, when what to my wondering eyes did appear? Those wonderful holiday mint m&ms!!!! They were just screaming out to me- "we are here, we are here we are here!" So I nabbed a bunch of those delightful delicious treats, and the jackson household is currently in a state of mint m&m bliss! Glory glory hallelujah! So since that time, I have been on the look out for the peppermint m&ms-- in my opinion the peppermint has a slightly more delicious taste the the regular mint, but now that all the other stores-minus that blasted walmart- have the mint m&ms, no one is carrying the peppermint ones this year. Dang the devil. I think I am gonna be obsessed with finding the peppermint kind now. But if I dont- hey at least until December 25th I can enjoy all the mint m&ms my budget will allow!

And secondly- those clementine cuties are in season. So juicy and sweet and seedless and easy to peel, and doesnt the smell of citrus just bring warm feelings into your heart? Plus after all the m&ms my family consumes , the clementines should counteract some of that right? Well maybe not, but a diet of mint m&m's and clementine cuties seems to be making my holiday season merry and bright. Like the song says- it's the most wonderful time of the year!!!

Time

My last post I did from my phone since my Bennie-booger busted my computer, and I thought I would jump back into blogging with my awesome phone, but I couldnt figure how to edit and even though I have a qwerty keyboard on my phone, writing a whole post took much longer and was harder than I expected, so I decided to give up blogging until my computer got fixed. I was thinking it would be sometime after the Holidays cuz my Daniel is always so busy, but when I mentioned that I was sad I wouldnt have a record of whatever goes on in our lives for the next few months as blogging is my form of journaling, he actually fixed it last weekend. I love that guy. I love that I can casually mention something thats bugging me and he does what he can to take care of me.

Halloween- came and went. Since it was on Sunday, we celebrated on Saturday by going to the trunk-r-treat. Usually I take the kids around to the cars and Daniel passes out the candy, but my hip has been really outta whack and it kills me walking around, so he took the kids and I did the candy. I had fun seeing all the cute kids in the ward, and the kids had fun getting loads of candy.

So since we celebrated Halloween on Saturday, Sunday we kicked off our Holiday celebrations. We got out the tree and all the decor and after church we blasted the Christmas carols while decking our halls. And since we were still in the 90's that week, we made "snow-cones" to have some kind of seasonal "snow."  (side story on snow cones-- after we went to Hawaii for our anniversary back in August, I have been wanting Hawaiian shaved ice like multiple times everyday. I love that stuff. But down here the closet thing I can get to Hawaiian shaved ice is a sonic slush-which is totally not even close at all. Delicious, especially when the temps are scorching, but its not Hawaiian shaved ice. Anyway Daniel being the thoughtful and oh so wonderful husband he is surprised me earlier last month with a high quality shaved ice maker. Its not a "snow cone maker"- its genuine shaved ice- so fluffy and soft and just one of the greatest things ever! So now I dont have to wait for 10 years (when we go back to Hawaii) for some premium genuine Hawaiian shaved ice--i have my shaved ice machine at home, and its delightful. So to the locals if you're ever in the mood for some Hawaiian shaved ice- we've got the goods, so come on over!) (dont you just love Daniel?- He is just so gosh darn great!)

when I was little my mom had made this advent calendar that was a wall hanging of a Christmas tree, and each day leading up to Christmas whoever got up the earliest would get to reach into one of the pockets and pull out an ornament to hang on the tree. I loved loved loved that wall hanging and tried to wake up earlier than my younger brother so that I could be the one to decorate the tree each day. Of course when I was trying to earn good behavior points so santa would still bring me something, I would sacrifice and purposely let him do it on some mornings, but for the most part, I was pretty selfish and even if John hung one up, I would wait until he wasnt around and move which ever one he got to where i thought it would look best. Anyway- I was telling my kids about that wall hanging and how I loved it as we were puttin up the advent calendars we have, and Kylie said- we'll why dont you make one. She for some reason thinks I can create stuff-- bless her, but the reality is I am not crafty/creative/artsy in any way shape or form. But I really loved that tree and wanted my kids to have something like that. The advent calenders we have are pretty much ones where they open the day up and have a candy kiss. So I decided what the heck and got to work, And I can now say that even though I am still not crafty and my advent tree is so pathetic that it cracks me up when I look at it, I did it, and my kids LOVE it! They are so excited for December 1st to roll around and have already been making a schedule of who gets what day. And the fact that my tree is so pathetic and imperfect and laughable, but my kids love it anyway, well that just makes me happy. I like this stage of life where they aren't hard to impress or please. In a few more years when they get embarrassed by my lack of skills, well maybe I will give them to the gypsies at that point. Time will tell.