Holiday Bucket Lists: The Untold Story

It's that time of year again, when we make our holiday lists and check them twice:

Yeah, right. Allow me to share with you what a holiday bucket/to do list looks like in real life.

1. Pinterest version: Visit Santa.

Real life Lindquist version: Force your "mama's girl" to sit on a stranger's lap.

2. Pinterest version: Decorate your tree with hand-made ornaments.

Real life Lindquist version: Scream hysterically when the Christmas tree falls on your young daughters and probably scars them (and you) for life.

3. Pinterest version: Remember this year forever with holiday portraits.

Real life Lindquist version: Push your luck partaking in an unwanted photoshoot with kids under the age of 5.

4. Pinterest version: Bring home the bargains on Black Friday.

Real life Lindquist version: Have your joy zapped by a retail worker who is pissed that your Christmas shopping is standing between her and a 10 minute lunch break.

5. Pinterest version: Sip hot cocoa by the fireplace.

Real life Lindquist version: Gain all your holiday weight in one sitting.

6. Pinterest version: String up lights to make the neighborhood glow.

Real life Lindquist version: Laugh/cry when your husband tells you to check back in a half hour to see if he's fallen off the roof.

7. Pinterest version: Attend an ugly sweater party.

Real life Lindquist version: Allow your husband to wear something you treasured in the 5th grade all in the name of winning a contest at work.

8. . Pinterest version: Make a gingerbread house.

Real life Lindquist version: Throw away the gingerbread house craft that's too ugly even for a mother to love.

9. Pinterest version: Involve family pets in your Christmas celebrations.

Real life Lindquist version: Torture your dog with jingly bells.

10. Pinterest version: Read Christmas letters from family and friends.

Real life Lindquist version: Become saddened by the realization the people whose last names end in S haven't read this chart:

Merry Christmas and Happy New Years from the Lindquistes' :)

What's on your holiday bucket list?

Christmas decorations

I've always liked the holiday season. From elementary school, through high school, college, and now back to high school, the holidays allow for a recharge of my batteries. Christmas will get here sooner than later, but oddly enough, I like the small break for Thanksgiving a little better. Here is a look at why Thanksgiving break is better for me:

1. The first break
This is the first, real, vacation as an educator. Most employers give this as a long break as well (unless you work in retail). Yes, we've had a couple of long weekends, but this is the first five-day weekend. As my intro alluded to, it's enjoyable because I can recharge, reflect, and relax. And grade papers.

2. Gathering of families and friends
My uncle makes a mean smoked turkey. And normally, I'm one of the two or three that will eat the juicy, smoked dark-meat the weekend before the holiday. That's right. My family usually meets the weekend before the actual holiday, so it's an appetizer to the government-issued day off. (Fact: President Lincoln made Thanksgiving an official holiday.) Usually we all eat too much, talk about Christmas, and have a good time watching a game. Thanksgiving day we go to Nicole's side to get stuffed to the brink of unconsciousness yet again. The food is always good, and it's always fun to catch up and meet "new" family members (babies are contagious).

3.The food
As if I need to go into any more detail on food (note - I started the last point with a food reference). But Rob, Christmas has great food too! Yes it does. But we don't give Buzz Aldrin as much credit for stepping on our moon second, so why give Christmas dinner as much credit for being the second holiday with a big feast? Plus, Christmas gets presents, so there's that.

4. Sports
Yes, I'm giving a whole point just to sports. College football is winding down, which means the games have that much more importance. College basketball is just starting up. I'm watching with a whole new set of eyes (figuratively and literally with Faith). Nothing is better than getting overly stuffed, with nowhere else to go, and vegging out in front of a good (and hell, even a bad) game.

5. Christmas decorations

Griswold's 250 strands of lights, 100 bulbs per strand.

Finally, this is probably the most important point, now I get to put up decorations. Thanksgiving break is the best time to put up all of my Christmas gear. I don't have Clark Griswold's 250 strands of lights, but I do enjoy putting up lights and decorations around the house. It affirms that I am doing things right in my life. This year I put up the tree with Faith in my arms. She helped me unfold the branches on the tree (although, she did try to eat a few of those branches). After some initial heckling, Nicole really likes all of the new lights this year (new lights on our little tree in the back yard, on the roof, and the lit mailbox from her grandpa).


So with basketball season's games starting this week, I may not get to blog as much as I (or my wife) would like. Thanksgiving is the start of it all, Christmas is the peak, and the New Year is the hangover. No matter which you enjoy the most, I hope you and yours have a wonderful holiday season!


~Rob

White Christmas

So Rob has been bugging me to post something since we started this blog and I'm finally doing it! (The good news is I already know my New Year's resolution: blog and blog often). I thought I'd recap our memorable two days in Ft. Calhoun, snowed in with my Dad and family, with short snippets about what we did.

Dave Ramsey. The Quiz. cheesy potatoes. Poker. losing in poker (me). winning in poker (rob). AYIYIYIYI (ramey). Band hero. ABC. Brad and those bushes. The YES house. The Tempurpedic. Mukluks. That damn tempurpedic. Showers. No showers. "This wedding is horseshit." Marley and ME. Aunt Nancy called. My Fit Food. Ramey's surface area. "What's Nan doing?" Ted's snowblower. "Scarlet, where are you?" BAD DOG! Wine. More wine. Bud Light. More Bud Light. Petron. Water, please? Scrabble. Bovine. Slow play. Baby names. "I think I may have been overserved last night." Act your wage. Ain't No Mountain High Enough. QUIET PLEASE. Mary, did you know? Merry Christmas. Did you call Aunt Nancy back?

Feel free to add your own in the comments box!