Christmas

We celebrated Christmas and a New Year.

We celebrated MOM's birthday (Nov. 23rd-24th).

We bought wii (Nov. 30, yes, it was our Christmas present).

We went to ward Christmas breakfast (Dec. 5).

MOM begun radiation treatment.

MOM attended a cancer group Christmas party (Dec. 8).

We saw nutcracker (Dec. 12).

Somebody started dropping off 12 days of Christmas with candies and fruits and good stuff.

We went to Grandpa's place for Christmas Eve.

We came back and opened one present each.

We also read a Christmas story, since David insisted it was a bad idea to watch "it's a wonderful life."

All aunts who were there at grandpa's: "Yaya, you haven't watched 'It's a wonderful life?' You should watch it tonight."

When we came back home...

David: It's such a depressing movie. He (the character on the movie) tries to kill himself.

MOM: BUT, Angels save him!!!! It's great!!!!!! We should watch it.

David: No, it's SAD.

I think they repeated this conversation at least three times. By then, I learned "it's a wonderful life" is a Christmas movie which contains life problems and angels.

On Christmas day, we woke up (David woke all up) and opened presents.

We took sassy (our lovely cat) for shaving (Dec. 31).

We went aunt Jan's for soups and games like everybody th

ere said.

While MOM was having a nap, David and I did count down and celebrated the New Year.

MOM woke up shortly after, at 1am, right after we went to bed.

We ate breakfast together!!! (It is a big tradition in my Japanese family on the New Year's day.)

We ate mochi for breakfast.

And, we just came back from a movie (AVATAR).

MOM treated us with soup and salad/sandwich.

Thanks to all the family members and friends, MOM and we are having great holidays.

I was especially touched with all the Tueller aunts who always make us feel welcomed and loved. And off course that wouldn't happen without grandma and grandpa's great examples.

So, thank you.

2 more days until we get back to life again!

New Year's Resurrection

With 85% of chance, I would say "New Year's resurrection" when it really means New Year's resolution. Especially after working at the MTC for 8 hours talking about plan of salvation, it was way easy for me to start Family Home Evening lesson by saying "Today, we are going to make New Year's Resurrection!" That entertained MOM and my husband.
But if you think about it, like if you think you were going to resurrect on the New Year's day, that would be cool. You probably don't even need to make any more resolutions.
Since we humbly partook the fact that we most likely won't be resurrected yet, we made resolutions. Then, we shared one thing that we think we need the most help with to accomplish.
Interestingly enough, everyone's challenge was goals to attain a physical well-being. So we swore that we would help each other. We are OHANA. (It means "family" in Hawaiian. Yes, we watched "Lilo and Stich" today.)

MOM cooked delicious chicken with sour cream with breadcrumbs.

We love holidays.

Horrendous

"HORRENDOUS"

That's the word MOM used to describe the way up to SLC yesterday. There were 6 accidents and cars were going 30-40 miles/hour because you just could not see right in front of you due to the snow storm. Despite all those, she evidently made it to the appointment and came back alive.

We were so glad to see her smile as we came back home.

As you can tell from the picture, MOM and I hid ourselves in the dark and carried the project into action (Yes, we finally hang some presents at neighbors' doors).

We enjoyed it. We thought it was pretty fun and gained a little empathy for Santa.

Here is a little bit of Denver where my husband and I stayed for getting my new name (TUELLER) into my passport/vacation.

He fed a turtle.
Yes, a huge spider, which you can see in Indiana Johns, was alive and moved like a feather on my palm.
Downtown Denver was clean, cute, and kind to people (they had FREE shuttles every minute to get around in the downtown. I know, it's awesome, especially with this weather.)

Ready for Christmas!

These are bunch of pictures from a few days ago.

Today, we are going to see nutcracker. This is a birthday present for MOM from us. We are excited!!

She just finished decorating a Christmas tree.

We finished taking Christmas family pictures.

On Thursday, MOM and I attended R.S. Christmas open house and had different kinds of soups and breads.

And this is nothing to do with Christmas but I thought it was cute.

David is pouring his favorite drink (expensive grape juice, $5.99) into a bowl.

and drinking it.... yes, it is a imitation of Japanese way of drinking sake.

Except the real bowl for sake is super tiny.

I guess I'm in America.

"I" talk

We had a good one-hour chat with MOM today. She told us what she learned from the class that she attended today.

"I" talk. It means to take in charge of oneself. Do not be influenced by "you are ..." or, "you always..." But boldly say "I feel ..." or "I want..."

I thought that is so true and simple but I forget it sometimes and look for excuses on "someone did..."

In addition to the learning, she looked fabulous today. She smiled, slept well last night, therefore, we had a great time.

Just a little report but she is doing great.

Officially "MOM"

Well, my mother-in-law was in the period of sad moment. So, my husband encouraged her super hard and they came to agreement of going out for bowling!!! My response was "Can you throw a ball? I guess you can kick it."

Somehow, both of them forgot that she had both of her mastectomy taken out and was not allowed to lift up heavy stuff.

We shift the plan to go get ice-cream and see a movie, "Blind Side," which we enjoyed very much.

P.S. I officially got a permission to call my mother-in-law "MOM." There are a few reasons why I wanted.

1) I always wanted to call mother "MOM" since I have been calling my mother "oka-san," which means mother in Japanese.

2) Plus, "DeNeece" is a long name and you can't call her name when you are very in hurry.

These are photos from last two days.

She made a delicious corn pudding on Thanksgiving day.

Also, don't you love her smile?!

We went to donuts party at Smiths.

P.S.'s P.S. I discovered one of her daughter's (Marie) secret similarity with MOM; The tone of voice and smile when they face to a baby are exactly the same. A great family unity (within MOM and Marie).

I am grateful for babies who help the families unite.

trading

We have been trading our charities.

My husband and I took all to my mother-in-law's birthday dinner,

Marie took all to cafe rio and movie (Fantastic Mr. Fox),

my mother-in-law read scriptures a lot for her sons,

I bought her a long socks that go up to thigh,

she bought me a pair of leg warmers,

we made a bed for Cousin Sam,

and he baked some brownies.

So, we are having fantastic holidays.