It is NOT Christmas today!

It all started about a year ago when we played a Wii together as a family. We (ha-ha) love it!! Our good friends, the Catognis, have one and we play it when we get together. I have never been a big fan of video games, never had one growing up and really didn't feel the lack thereof. But, this is not like any other "video system". It is the only thing I've seen that can actively involve every person in the family, from the little toddler (she likes the cheering) to the adults. (really, how many parents just LOVE playing Candyland overandoverandover again) So, this last August, the 'rents (me and spence) decided that we would get a Wii for Christmas. We figured out how much we would regularly be spending on each kid & ourselves and just rolled it into one nice package.

That said, I'm still getting them some individual little things. I'm a sucker for books. Love them, devour them and can't live without them. I will always buy a kid a book. There was a Book Fair at CAC this past week. I didn't go. (we were sick) But on Saturday they were selling what was left, so I went. I was trying to cull information from each child as far as a subject they were recently interested in, etc. I told them we were going to the Book Fair at CAC, but that they had to stay at the playground while I picked out some surprises for them for Christmas! (I don't think it's too early to mention Christmas!) So they stayed far away, I put the purchases in a non-see through bag and we headed home.

Their curiosity was obviously piqued. "What did you get, Mommy?" "Oh, I can't tell you, then it wouldn't be a surprise." Needless to say, Eliza and Mairyn can handle the suspense. Grant cannot. (and Jacqueline really doesn't know what we're talking about!) We get home and Grant says, "Yay! Merry Christmas! Can I have my book now, Mommy?" "Oh, it's not Christmas yet, buddy." "But you said you have presents for Christmas. Can I have it?" How to explain to a 4 year old that it is still a month away? See, we went through this when we hinted that maybe Santa would bring a Wii, or something else. And the girls would pine EVERY DAY that, "I wish it was Christmas. Then we could find out what Santa brought us." I finally said that if they talked about it every day, it would only be harder to wait. They quit. But now, for about a week and a half, Grant has been popping up every where, "Yay! It's Christmas today!" "Nope, not really, buddy." "Why?" "Just because." It would probably go away in about another week, but this Friday is the day after Thanksgiving. What happens on that day, Lydia? you ask. Well, that is the day the Christmas decorations go up in our house. (and sometimes it starts Thanksgiving evening) So there will be a daily reminder to our little man that Christmas is coming. Drat! I don't think I can put any wrapped presents under the tree!

Sunday Quotations

I chose this poem by Sister Hinckley for this week. I have it tacked to my cork board in the office area by the phone where I can see it every day. She was such a kind, sweet woman and quite an example to me. If you get the chance, read "Glimpses into the Life and Heart of Marjorie Pay Hinckley", written by her daughter Virginia H. Pearce. A great companion book to President Hinckley's biography "Go Forward with Faith".

"I Really Lived"
by Sister Marjorie Pay Hinckley
I don't want to drive up to the pearly
gates in a shiny sports car, wearing
beautifully tailored clothes, my hair
expertly coiffed, and with long,
perfectly manicured fingernails.

I want to drive up in a station
wagon that has mud on the wheels
from taking kids to scout camp.

I want to be there with grass stains
on my shoes from mowing
Sister Schenk's lawn.

I want to be there with a smudge of
peanut butter on my shirt from making
sandwiches for a sick neighbor's children.

I want to be there with a little dirt
under my fingernails from helping to weed
someone's garden.

I want to be there with children's
sticky kisses on my cheeks and the tears
of a friend on my shoulder.

I want the Lord to know I was really here and that I really lived.

Four Foods on Friday

I am trying out this Food meme this week. I'll see if I can keep it up. This one looks difficult, at least the first two questions. Because I really like a variety of foods and the second question, well, I'll have a hard time whittling down the finalists. There are so many incidents! Here we go:

#1 What's the worst tasting food you've ever eaten?
Dolma. It's called different things throughout the Middle East, and I still haven't had one I liked. It's a rice, meat or vegetable mixture rolled up in grape leaves. I don't like the texture of the leaves, all veiny and slimy, just, no. But I'll still give it a try if I'm in a new region. The worst I ever had was in this little hole-in-the-wall place in Luxor. They had amazing lamb stew and koshary, but whoa, the dolma tasted like little burned cigarettes. Ugh.

#2 Share a funny or embarrassing story about a meal you've made.
Ok, Thanksgiving dinner 2006. (not my first one, by far, mind you) I made a killer turkey. It was golden, crispy in the right places and browned to perfection. I placed it tenderly on my special used-once-a-year turkey platter. I carried that bird out to the table and settled it in it's place of honor in the middle of a table set for 12. When I started carving it, I noticed something poking out of the cavity, just a bit. I didn't stuff this bird, so I was a bit confused. Oh. No. I had missed the packaged turkey neck. The packaging was all burned and gross. I excused myself and the bird (no one had had any turkey yet) to the kitchen. I said that the juices were slopping around in the platter and were going to make a mess if I didn't drain it. I removed the offending packages and will always check the neck.

#3 What food do you burn or have problems cooking most often?
Eggs, omlettes. They are always brown and spongy and I can never make that perfect little semi-circle that omlettes are supposed to look like.

#4 Name two foods you will be eating on this Thanksgiving.
TURKEY and homemade stuffing!

Word of the Day Wednesday

Shukran
arabic: شكراًَ
is an arabic expression meaning thanks or "thank you". Shukran Gazeelan means thank you very much. Alfa shukr means "a thousand thanks".

This is basic Arabic vocabulary. It is probably the first word many new residents to Egypt learn. Also, it's a surefire way to win the heart of an Egyptian. You say Shukran and they go, "Ah, you speak Arabic very well!" Yep, you can go far with just this one magic word. And expound upon it with shukran gazeelan, they will be blown away. And if that isn't enough, you say Alfa shukr and you'll be scraping them off the floor like putty. Mwa-ha-ha! The companion to thank you, "You're welcome" is Afwan. The other day, Grant and I were coming home from preschool. I had a couple bags with me and Grant had his lunch box and water bottle. Mahmoud (our boab) came and helped us with our parcels. When we got to the elevator, I prompted Grant with a What-do-you-say? and Grant said, "Shukran ya Mahmoud". Mahmoud smiled, waved and shut the elevator door for us. Grant looked up at me and, "But Mommy, he didn't say Afwan!" Does my boy know his manners or what?

Sunday Quotations

I just had to dedicate this week's quotations post to President Hinckley. I think I speak for most when I say that my heart aches and the tears come unbidden when I think about my beloved prophet. I like to call him, "My Prophet" because he was prophet when I was a teenager and really discovering my own testimony for myself and he was the first prophet, for me, that I felt I could connect with. I knew in my heart that he really loved me and cared for me. I can remember the time, place and day of when I heard this first quote. I don't even have to look it up. It is from the Sunday afternoon session of the October 1997 General Conference. It was my freshman year at BYU and a group of my friends and I had taken a radio and some blankets to the Provo Temple grounds to listen to this last session of conference.

"I have a confession to make, my brothers and sisters. It is simply this: I love you. I love the people of this Church. I love all who are faithful. I love all who follow the ways of the Lord. It is a humbling thing to preside over the Church. I can never forget the words of Jesus: he that would be first among you, let him be the servant of all. "

When Spencer and I were engaged, the stake president of our stake liked to interview each engaged couple before they were married. Our stake president was Truman G. Madsen. Yeah. I was understandably intimidated. Well, it was a very relaxed and comfortable conversation and he mentioned this quote during the evening. It has always stuck with me as a yardstick of sorts.

“Under the plan of heaven, the husband and the wife walk side by side as companions, neither one ahead of the other, but a daughter of God and a son of God walking side by side. Let your families be families of love and peace and happiness. Gather your children around you and have your family home evenings, teach your children the ways of the Lord, read to them from the scriptures, and let them come to know the great truths of the eternal gospel as set forth in these words of the Almighty.” (fireside, Buenos Aires, Argentina, 12 Nov. 1996)

And how could I not mention this favorite.

"Let us all try to stand a little taller, rise a little higher, be a little better. Make the extra effort. You will be happier. You will know new satisfactions. A new gladness in your heart." (book, Stand a Little Taller)

Gordon B. Hinckley

These are a few of my favorite things . . .

It's ok to sing along. We won't laugh. Really. I was waiting for the perfect picture to complete this post. And I got it. I just have to precede it with a few of my other favs.

I just love this guy. He was part a 5 piece Egyptian band that was roving the grounds at CAC, playing and stopping at random intervals. There were two trumpets, a tuba, a drum and a guy with cymbals. But this guy, he is my favorite. It's like he's saying, "I'm serious about trumpeting, but I still know how to relax."

I found this rug at a bazaar last week. It still had the $40 Bed, Bath and Beyond tag attached. (I paid $17, btw) And it SO matches the rest of my kitchen.

I found these gems at the yearly Egyptian Week Celebration at Cairo American College, the American school in Maadi. I LOVE these! The colors didn't come out as clear as in real life, and the middle stripe is really a faded blue but looks green in this picture for some reason, but the blues and yellow match my FiestaWare perfectly. I have a mix of 3 colors: Cobalt, Sunflower and Tangerine (or blue, yellow and orange, but my colors sound better.) If they had had one with an orange stripe, that whole exhibit would have ended up in my kitchen!!

The moment has arrived. These are my most favorite of all. I have snagged the perfect picture. I just hope the same for Sara. The only thing that would make it better is was if she was in a galabeyya with headscarf. She just couldn't handle the world. Meltdown city! I'm just grateful that I was quick enough with my camera.




P.S. I also have another fav pic of Jacqui and Sam running around naked (they are potty training). Both have a full moon turned to the camera, but then if I posted that, it might be bordering on child pornography, soooooo.

Word of the Day Wednesday

Peripatetic -
noun - a person who walks or travels about. adj. - walking or traveling about; itinerant.

I like this word. For one, it describes our family very well. We are a peripatetic people. Also, very alliterative and fun to say. Peripatetic, peripatetic, say that 5 times fast!! It was in the running for the title of our blog. The Peripatetic Penrods, but it also sounds like the Pathetic Penrods and I just couldn't do that. You can see our address is penrodpostings. blah, blah, blah. I was wracking my brain, trying to come up with a catchy name for my blog. It probably comes from my dad. Growing up, my dad was in the Air Force. We moved around a bit, not as much as other military people, though. Since we were far from family, my dad started up a monthly newsletter. And this was in the days before blogs, email and the fancy-schmancy Interweb. He created quite a wonderful monthly publication. There was weather, current events, the Kid Korner with a spotlight on one kid a month, the whole thing was chock full of family updates. And then he would print it off and we would stuff and address numerous envelopes. Oh, and apply the licked stamp. (back when we licked stamps. funny story, i licked a stamp the other day and the wonderful old Sudanese guy in the mail room showed me how to peel off the backing and apply the already sticky stamp.) Well, that memorable annal was titled, "The Holloway Herald". And the title usually changed to fit the area were we were living. It was the Heartland Holloway Herald when we lived in Nebraska. Anyway, I had to settle with Life, Kids, and Pyramids for now, but I have been thinking about what it will change to when we leave Egypt. France would be really convenient for us, Penrods in Paris. Or Spain, the Peninsular Penrods. Then Jordan, Penrods for Petra or, well, that's it I'm out of locations and ideas. But enjoy and I may think about making this a weekly thing, Wordy Wednesday. (see, the alliterative thing again.)