Making of 2016 Christmas Card

Ah 2016...  The year that stole my productivity.  I became sporadic at best with blog updates, made few and far in between phone calls to friends and family, missed gift opportunities or bought them day of, had plenty of forgetful moments, the list could go on and on.  Well it turns out three kids age four and under is a handful for me. So to top the year off, you almost didn't get a Christmas Card.  Really I could have done a Christmas Card like most people do, throw a really cute family photo on a card, write a nice saying, and voila!  But we created a creative monster years back when we sent out our first card with a play on names.  The Christmas cards are our gift to you all and we want to give you what you want.

Here is the story. I had no great ideas for this years card that didn't require a huge production.  And as you may have noticed from the details above, a big production was not in the cards for 2016.  We went sledding two Sundays ago.  I thought, why not take some family photos and see if we can get a fun picture for a possible Christmas card idea.  We ended up getting a great photo.  But Christmas card worthy?  We would have to come up with a great saying.

"Sliding into the new year with the Harris family."  

 "Sliding Into the New Year with the Harris Family." Adorable.  But is that what you want?  No you want a funny, entertaining card.  So I dug deeper.  Still had the fun photo but needed more on words.

"I've Been Dreaming of a White Christmas?"
"Baby It's Cold Outside."
"Oh What Fun it is to Ride In a Two...Sled...Open...Sleigh...."

No.

Realistically I didn't think I could get the cards to people by Christmas so I wanted to keep the focus on the New Year. It takes a really long time to design the card, get them printed, update the addresses, write out the addresses....let me stop here. Now I would not need to hand write the addresses.  I am aware of software that can print the labels.  But when I went on the computer to access my addresses, the document was gone.  No clue where it went. Luckily I had a printed version from last year.  So I spent all my extra time in two days to hand write the addresses.  Actually I quite enjoy this, even though my handwriting is not always legible and my hand is now sore and ink stained.  It left me the opportunity to reflect on each person/family receiving the card.  I had intended on buying a personalized return address stamp since we bought our first house this year but....I forgot.

My envelope-stuffer and stamp-sticker help.

Back to the card making.

What about, "Dashing through the snow, with the Harris family goals?"  Can you sing along? We could make new years resolutions.  Yes.  We went with it.  Actually we really rushed the production of the card.  Once they were ready to print I gave them a glace over review on the small screen of my cell phone and sent them to the printer.  I didn't notice that the bottom photos blurred in quality even though they started as good quality photos.  Cringe.  Or that fact that I forgot to amp up the brightness in the card because for whatever reason Costco photos print off darker. The photos at the bottom are not as close to the bottom border as I wanted. I would have changed some of the colors, etc. Ok now I'm pointing out the flaws you might never have noticed so I'll stop.

The point is, we did it!  Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year everyone!
Here is the finished product. Hopefully this brings you a laugh.

The goals, although comical are also realistic. I asked each individual what their goal was for 2017:
Tuff said, "hardest working year of his life."  He intends on making 2017 a force to recon with.
My goal of "Thriving while Surviving" is 100% real.  Its hard work raising littles and I want to do it with excellence and I want to do the rest of life with excellence too.
Goodie answered, "To be the best, most kind person ever." So I translated that to "Goodier."
Liza actually said "No more spanks,"  which I thought was hysterical.  Tuff thought it should be "less spills" as she is coming off of recently breaking her hand and falls about 100 times a day.
Judah Jet actually could use "gaining weight" as a goal but I didn't think many people would catch the comedy/irony of it so we chose "tame the toots." In reality he is a tooter.
Luna's is self explanatory as the dog of the family she will do "whatever we tell her."

Here are some fun outtakes from our sledding day:

The setting was the hill by the Mormon Temple in our neighborhood.

All was fun and games until run three, when my sled tipped...and...

I bounced off of Liza's little body.

If you zoom in on this photo, Liza's face is sheer terror and pain.

Every picture thereafter was sad face for Liza.  Poor girl.  She is normally our joy filled one but momma crushed her joy, quite literally.

Goodie on the other hand was thoroughly enjoying the experience.

Our photographers, Vivian and Mira.

Love this photo of Goodie.  We bought this really cool sled at a garage sale a few summers ago and this is the first year she is riding it confidently.  Unfortunately after our sledding photo shoot, we left the sled outside, it slid behind the truck, and the next day when Tuff left the house he backed over it.  Oops.

*Special thanks to Abraham Navarro for helping me with Photoshop details and to VV/Mira for capturing the moment.

**Special apologies to anyone who did not get a hard copy of the card that usually does.  Losing the  address document tripped me up a bit.

A Reflection of Thanksgiving

I will give thanks to you, LORD, with all my heart; I will tell of all your wonderful deeds.- Psalm 9:1

Thanksgiving day this year we gave thanks with our One Heart Warriors family.  Proverbs says there is a friend who is closer than a brother,  We feel this way about the Warriors.  They are family.  It was a step away from our large family gathering in St. Xavier we've become accustomed to the previous four years.  Before living in Billings, Thanksgiving was Tuff playing in a football game or with friends where we lived, and before the NFL days it was in college with my golf coach and family or our "adopted parents" the Cummings and family.  Now reach way back to 18 years old and younger.  That is the last time I got to celebrate Thanksgiving day with my Minnesota family.  This year, however, my sister Heather made the drive from Minnesota and joined us.

We decided to get a little crazy and have everyone run a 5K morning of Thanksgiving.

Tuff stayed with the kids while we all ran.  He snapped this photo of Goodie waiting for me with a trophy.

Liza Love being contained in the stroller.  She has joy for days.

This picture was a moment captured that brought me to tears.  The Warrior who finished the 5K first ran back to finish in with the next person, then back for the next, until all six crossed the line together.

After the race we dropped into the Billings Food Bank to help out with some Thanksgiving meal day prep and kitchen cleaning.

Then dinnertime was set for 3:33pm.  A random time but drawn from the scripture Jeremiah 33:3

'Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.' 

I got to decorate the table.  

We used Faith Chapel's Junior High Ministry building for our dinner.  The girls set up the lighting.

Each person took on one menu item.  Johna was the first to volunteer and she chose the turkey!

This one was oven roasted.

This one was smoked.  

Everything was delicious.

I have a feeling this will be one of my favorite Thanksgivings.  It was the people that joined together and shared their hearts and the teamwork that made the day so meaningful.

Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.- 1 Thessalonians 5:18

Our First Home

Tuff and I married in June 2008 in Staples, MN. Immediately following the wedding, we took a ten day honeymoon throughout Minnesota.  Sounds fun and typical to honeymoon after the wedding, but what made this honeymoon different was this was our home. You see, we didn't have a home, apartment or even a location to live because Tuff was in between jobs. Just weeks before he was released from the New Orleans Saints. That means he was fired 😉.

Thus the start of our married and moving journey began. We stayed put in Staples, MN and house sat for the Erholtz's while they were on vacation. We also lived at my parents' house for a few weeks, then traveled to Spokane, WA for the Edwards's wedding where we had all intentions of house sitting while they honeymooned in Europe. However Tuff got picked up by the Tennessee Titans to play some more football. So we moved to Nashville and lived in an Extended Stay America for a few weeks followed by a fully furnished month to month rental in Green Hills, then our friends The Pleasant's home for a few weeks in between apartments, then a one bedroom basement apartment, all in Nashville. One year later we sold all our Craigslisted furniture and relocated to Pittsburgh where we lived in a 400 square foot, really cute waterfront apartment. The next year, still in Pittsburgh we lived  in an old hotel, The Allegheny, for a few months, then with our friend Maggie in between places, finding out if Tuff would get to keep his job playing football or not. When we found out he'd get to keep his job with the Steelers, we moved to an attic and third story house apartment in Troy Hill, Pittsburgh where we stayed for almost two years. Most people considered this a sketchy part of town (hence the cheap rent) but we loved it. Part of that time Tuff moved to Edmonton, Canada to play football and stayed with two other teammates in a hotel.

As if things weren't interesting enough, we left Pittsburgh and lived with my parents in Minnesota in the downstairs of their home for five months with our first baby, Grace Goodie, who was two months old at the time. Then we moved to Colstrip, MT with Tuff's cousins The Green's .  Grace slept in the office and us in the guest bedroom. A few months later we moved to the Heights in Billings, MT for six months with Tuff's cousins The Lyman's. During that time in Billings we searched for homes but didn't pull the trigger or didn't win the bids on foreclosed homes. We really weren't sure of our future plans or if we would stay in Billings.

Then came an incredible blessing. Tuff's cousins, The Caton's, needed a renter for their Billings home while they relocated with the army. The timing was a godsend and so was the past three years we rented from them.  Since living in thier house, we added a dog and two more bundles of joy.  

Fast forward to today. Today we purchased the Caton home and it is our first home. Feels weird to say we are homeowners. We don't even have to move!

We want to say thank you to all who were involved with our journey, our many past living arrangements, the help with housing us or moving us or welcoming us in your city.

Especially, thank you Caton family, for blessing us beyond measure.

“Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you.””

‭‭Luke‬ ‭6:38‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

http://bible.com/114/luk.6.38.nkjv