these little tiny's are "left to fend for themselves" in the streets of london.
(this picture of me & my grandma has absolutely nothing to do with the below post. 
(Our family on Christmas Eve last year)
Gregory John Olsen, Jessica no-middle-name-how-sad-is-that Olsen, Toby Magoo Olsen (2) and Jack Bauer Olsen (2).
(PS. Obviously, I am in better spirits today than I was on Friday. For the record, that grumpy post was written after I got the news that my sweet Mom had slipped and fallen on the ice & was in the hospital with a dislocated shoulder. At that moment, it felt like anything that could go wrong this month, would. And yes, between car wrecks, injuries, death, work stresses and moving stresses, it has been a rough month, which is why I am going to leave my negative post up. It will make me even more grateful for the great months!)
{GJO & I helped my Mom make these for her neighbors the other night & I'll I can say is I sure hope these goodies meet a better fate.}
Last year, for Christmas, I sort of made 87 billion of these caramel/chocolate dipped pretzels for all of our new neighbors. I dipped, drizzled and packaged for hours and topped them all off with a homemade card. I was so domestic.
When I finally finished, G and I bundled up tight and hopped in the car to make our deliveries. We started on our street and went to visit the first family. It was about 8:00 (too late?) when we rung the the doorbell and waited on the porch steps for about 5 minutes before anyone came to the door. Finally, as we were about to leave, our pajama clad neighbor opened the door with a confused look on her face. They were just climbing into bed & she apologized profusely for her outfit, making an awkward situation even more awkward (I'm not sure she knew who we were?). G (embarrassed for disturbing them) quickly handed her the package & mumbled a "Merry Christmas" as we escaped to the car. Our first visit hadn't been much of a success and G was convinced it was too late to keep delivering. I, however, wanted to make one more stop and so, it was off to another neighbor's house. This time, an elderly lady with a quick wit & sassy personality (love her). She, thankfully, was clothed & awake (a good sign) and welcomed us in to her retro home. G graciously made small talk, while i tried to pipe in with a lame comment every now and then (let it be known that I SUCK at small talk) and eventually our conversation morphed to the upcoming election and politics. It didn't take long before the political flame was blazing and they were both in the throws of a heated debate. Come to find our lovely neighbor disagreed with just about every stance my very opinionated husband held dear.
I tried not to make eye contact with either of them as a sat on that rickety sofa, eying her possessed cat and watching in horror as she shoved book after political book into G's lap. It was a long night in that teeny tiny living room. We never even took off our coats.
Several hours & a few political duels later, I awkwardly put and end to the "discussion" and wished our now upset neighbor a "Merry Christmas!"
As we trudged through the snow & back to our car, I couldn't help but comment on what a disastrous first attempt that had been & how I never wanted to try to be a grown-up again (delivering goodies to neighbors you don't know is a grown-up activity in my book). The pretzels (and all their lovely packaging) were thrown into the trunk of our car & we didn't see them again until February, when we re-discovered them & then proceeded to eat all 87 (or was it 87 billion?) of them ourselves.
And that, my friends, is the story of that one time Jessica tried to be a grown-up & wasted days of hard work & chocolate in the mean time. This is just a guess, but it might take several years for me to recover. Moral of the story: chocolate & politics don't mix.
Happy goody delivering!!!
not only is mine
{our family christmas tree.
the brother's idea of helping with dishes was creating a chain of 5 of them (from the sink to the hutch) and tossing the plates across the room like frisbees. obviously, a good use of their time and a HUGE help to us women (i mean, how else would we have put them away, really?)
i love this squishy babe.
please notice my dad's calm, cool & collected gq poses in these next two pics. work it, dad.
he let's nothing distract him...
and please notice scotty's shirt. a favorite, obviously.
and i am especially lucky to have that one, in the blue.
