It's beginning to look a lot like...

...well, nothing really. The fog rolled into Eugene yesterday and the weather man says it will stay through Christmas. Our kids have been praying all week that we'd get a white Christmas. Taeg' is convinced Christmas cannot occur unless there is snow on the ground -- so it's a matter of particular urgency for her.

With no prospect of Christmas snow, we decided to head out this morning and find some. We loaded up the truck with winter gear and snacks and set a course for the Cascades. The fog lifted just a few miles outside of Eugene, where the Winter sun actually produced a very pleasant day -- which is great...unless, like us, you're looking for snow. About 80 miles outside of town, just above 2000 feet, we finally discovered some decent snow. We rolled into a little snow park and built a few snow men, made a few snow angels, and tossed some snow balls at each other. The weather was a calm, sunny 36 degrees. After about an hour we packed everything back in the truck and headed back to our foggy home, where we're enjoying some frozen pizza and hot chocolate (with mini marshmallows, of course).

Happy Christmas!

A couple of our local radio stations went to Christmas music non-stop well before Thanksgiving. While I concede that some good stuff remains out there, a lot of "popular" holiday music is pretty tired. I don't want to sound like a music snob, but c'mon, how many times can you listen to "Grandma got run over by a reindeer" before holiday elder abuse stops being funny?

Anyway, the kids and I put up the tree this evening. Karsten, who is no stranger to hyperbole, says it's the greatest tree he's ever seen. Taeg' can't stop approaching it and stroking it's branches and muttering "Christmas" in a Gollum-like fashion.

Melissa, who frequently occasionally complains she is being assaulted from the inside by our unborn son, put up some decorations too.

So back to the subject of Christmas music. I heard this one for the first time a couple years ago when the Tabernacle Choir performed it during their Christmas concert. Simply put, it's heavenly. I pull it up on my iPod pretty much every week -- I can't save it for just December. Give it a listen if you haven't heard it.

Turkey time!

Since our neighborhood borders the "Outdoor Woods"  -- it is not uncommon for wild game to visit our yard and partake of anything edible.  The sidewalks outside our home get more traffic from deer, raccoons, and wild turkeys than from our human neighbors.

The turkeys in particular have come in handy in teaching my children some good habits.  You see, I've convinced my children that turkeys are thieving shameless creatures.  If Taegan leaves the front door open when she goes outside to play, I suggest to her that the turkeys will walk inside and eat all our food.  This has never actually occurred, but it certainly seems theoretically possible.  Convinced, Taeg' dutifully returns and closes the front door.

If Karsten leaves a toy outside on the lawn, I lament that a turkey will probably come and take Karst's toy back to his turkey lair.  I concede that this is not a very plausible scenario.  Nevertheless, Karst will quickly run outside and secure his toy.  Nefarious turkey plot foiled!

My warnings of turkey villiany have apparently worked too well.  Taeg' recently eyed a flock of turkeys loitering in the middle of our cul-de-sac.  She determined they were up to no good and took it upon herself to mete out turkey justice.

Remarkably, she managed to scare them all away with only her Halloween PJ's and some fearsome bed head.

No shoes or beating sticks necessary.

Watch for Taeggy's new reality show on TLC -- What Not To Wear While Turkey Hunting.

Halloweenies

Melissa and I are pretty much Hallo-weenies.

We enjoy the holiday very much -- especially the part where we steal our children's candy.  But the whole costume thing really eludes us.  Neither of us has made a sincere attempt at a Halloween costume since grade school (I was a baseball player, Melis' was a punk rocker).

We think it's really cool when married couples get creative, just like it's "really cool" when couples take dance lessons so they can do the foxtrot together at wedding receptions.  We're impressed... but not enough to actually emulate them. [UPDATE: OK, Greg and Niki's interpretation of Mormon Tabernacle Choir members is hilarious and obviously worthy of emulation.]

That said, we feel obligated to let our kids join in the fun.  To paraphrase Bronco Billy (aka Clint Eastwood), I think every kid in America ought to go trick or treating, at least up through the eighth grade.

If you ask Karst' who he is, he will probably be embarrassed for you and your ignorance of stock car racing.  He's "Dale Jr."  He wanted to be Jimmie Johnson, but apparently so did every other 5-year-old NASCAR fan -- the costume store was sold out.  We're just glad Junior isn't sponsored by a beer company anymore.  I'm trying to get Karst to memorize all his sponsors so he can work them seamlessly into his trick or treat door approach.

This is Bozo the Taeg'.  Her nose honks...a lot.  Grandma Ardythe crafted this outfit many years ago, and it has been worn proudly by several children and grandchildren.  After Taeg' fills her pumpkin with candy, she intends to convert her clown hat into a reserve candy receptacle.  Good thinking.

I wish my children much success in their candy gathering efforts -- especially since I will be confiscating all of their chocolate at the end of the evening (their mother will claim all of their Hot Tamales).

Good Hunting kids!