Wonderful Week

I had a wonderful week with the fam. Saw a great movie (The Blind Side), had really good Thanksgiving food, lost a million card games to my kids, watched my boys play football in the annual Turkey Bowl (they won), saw BYU beat Utah, watched Hunter win his first playoff game and go undefeated on our home field for the whole season and even got a little rain! Loved sitting in my decorated living room playing Nertz with Van and Shell while the fire was roaring and the rain was pouring. I have so much to be thankful for.

Traditions

My family totally cracks me up. We have an annual tradition of putting up the Christmas lights the day after Thanksgiving. This has evolved into a hilarious undertaking. The one-liners fly fast and furious. This year Pat came up with a goody. I was filming the fiasco and Pat was saying that we always put the most expendable child on the top of the ladder. He proceeded to announce that Kyle has been at the top of the ladder for several years now. Kyle nearly ended up at the bottom of the ladder because he was laughing so hard. Everyone has their assigned job and they all take them very seriously. Hunter is supposed to lay all the strands out and then stand around trying to look busy which he does very well. Logan tests the lights to see if they work and then Dad hands them up to Kyle to put on the house. Tanner does a great job of blustering about and seeming important while essentially doing nothing and Brandon doesn't even pretend to do nothing, he just does it. This year he didn't even come outside to watch. Me and Savannah hang the lights on the fence and this year Michelle helped us. We were done in record time (girls). Tanner and Alana didn't get to come down this year and we missed them. I love this tradition and hope it lives on for many years to come.

Christmas already?

I'm a little embarrassed to admit that my house is almost totally decorated for Christmas and it's only the middle of November. I usually don't start until the day after Thanksgiving but this year a little voice kept calling to me to decorate NOW. This little voice started in on November 1st when the time changed and it started getting dark earlier. I tried to ignore the voice but it kept coming back louder and louder until I finally gave in and started decorating in the first week of November. By the way, the voice's name is Hunter. Since he only has one more Christmas after this living in our home I gave in. Now, mind you, decorating for Christmas in this house is not a couple of hours event. It takes me days to get everything just right. So, I figured that since it's such a big production I might as well start early and enjoy it a little longer. I'm glad I did. We love snuggling up at night in front of a puzzle and football video games and just enjoying the spirit of Christmas, even though it's not even Thanksgiving yet. I'll save the tree and the outside lights for after Thanksgiving but for now, Merry Christmas from the Moores!

Oh...My...Gosh!!!!!

Last night I watched one of the most exciting comebacks in high school football. My son engineered it! I can't tell you how proud I am of him and how much I respect him. He's a 16 year old boy and he brought grown men to tears, literally, last night. I know that sounds silly but it really happened. I, of course, was bawling my head off. We played a very cocky, very physical team that we don't have great feelings for (OK, I'll say it, Escondido) and we beat them 31-28 in the last 31 seconds. In past years our varsity team has had a lot of trouble beating them and hasn't done it very often. I have a feeling that Hunter's last drive to score will be known throughout our town as "The Drive" for quite a while to come. He had a 75 yard touchdown run that tied us up and gave us our first inkling of hope for a possible victory. We were down 28-24 and he started marching us down the field. He almost got sacked several times but scrambled for his life and made such amazing throws to such not wide open receivers that the whole crowd was on their feet and several were actually crying. It was so amazing to see a young boy fight so hard and make such great decisions to pull out this win that the air was electric. Afterwards some of our toughest players' dads came up to Hunter and told him that they actually cried because of the overwhelming emotion of seeing such a performance. My boy grew up a ton last night. I have to say that I like the San Marcos type of wins (aka blowouts) better because they are way less stressful but the aftermath of a very hard win like this is infinitely more satisfying. I love my town, I love my team, I love my son! Go Grizzlies!!

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

After making up my son for Halloween last night I was struck by the contrast of a couple of days before. Is it really true that you can't judge a book by it's cover? I'm not so sure. People put their "covers" on for that very reason, so you will know who they are. Interesting....