Crisis

Those of you who receive my weekly brainteaser realize that we are in the midst of voting for 'site of the year' and 'picture of the year'. We have a little crisis - a tie. I need someone to quickly go to the site with all the nominations and break the tie. Please vote now.

Death By Caffeine

I thought this site would be appropriate for some of our readers. Please click on the image above and it will take you to the web site.

Christmas in Washington

We had a Quick christmas week in Seattle and at Sun Mountain lodge in the Cascade mountains.

Larraine

Jean called from Duluth. Larraine had a heart attack and is in the hospital. She asked if I'd spread the word. They would, of course, appreciate our prayers. When they did a thorough check for the heart attack, they were surprised to find some pretty serious blockage and so they had to operate and put in four stints. Unless Larraine takes a turn for the worse, Jean and Ralph plan to go home in a few days.

Fundraising

In case you hadn't noticed, Peter is an introvert. I too am an introvert so I have some empathy for his situation. I have tried to impress upon him a saying that my friend, Richard Roach, often said to me. . ."Your greatest asset is also your greatest defect." One of the defects of an introvert is the inability to say what you want to say at the time it should be said.

Peter is supposed to be raising money for a swim-a-thon for his swim team. Their "touch pads" are old and worn out and they're trying to raise funds for new ones. They have set aside a time during winter vacation where the team is going to attempt to swim 100 miles total. He tried but missed two golden opportunities to get donations: 1. Our annual church Christmas party 2. The family get-together at the Stynsbergs and again at the carlsons.

Anyway. . .if anybody would like to donate money to the cause (assuming they hit their 100 mile goal) let me know. So far we have had donations ranging from $5 to $50. Any amount is greatly appreciated.

Christmas Eve

My Son

Our church is creating a web site. I'll give the address soon, but it's still under construction. Anyway, I'm slowly entering into that site all kinds of things from old files in the garage. I came upon this "poem" I wrote, shortly after watching Peter or Jonathan get off the kindergarten bus. I don't remember which one it was, but If I do say so myself, I like the poem.


From the living room window,
I see the school bus suddenly come into view,
Bright orange in the winter noon day sun.
It squeals and comes to a stop.

The door opens,
And my son bounces out,
Coat unbuttoned, no mittens, hatless.
He runs homeward.

His yellow backpack is swinging wildly.
Suddenly he stops,
And turns toward the orange bus.
He waves it good-bye.

He turns again towards me,
Towards home,
But is distracted by something high up in the sky. . .
Maybe a cloud, or a bird, perhaps the sun?

He’s talking to someone
Or something
Or is he singing?
Singing to the sun?

Again he begins his walk,
This time with mouth wide open,
Eyes closed.
He meanders blindly as he catches,

Cold crystalline snowflakes
On his warm outstretched tongue.
He runs into a snow-bank,
Opens his eyes,

And begins kicking at it,
Digging a dark tunnel into the white mound.
This doesn’t last long,
And again he’s homeward bound.

No. Not quite.
He’s heading for an evergreen.
He shakes a branch
And watches the snow tumble down,

Into his untied wide-open boots.
He laughs.
Again he’s singing. . .
Or is he talking.

Talking to the tree?
He finally turns into our driveway.
An icicle clinging to the bumper of the truck,
Attracts his attention.

He crouches and observes.
He kneels close and licks it.
He breaks it off and picks it up.
Standing, he meditates deeply,

Into the brilliant depths,
Of the cold sharp diamond.
Moments later, he turns toward the house,
And moves slowly, aimlessly, frowning, deep in thought.

He looks up,
Into the brilliant glare of the living-room window.
Not at first,
But eventually,

He sees me shadowed in the brilliant rebounding sunlight.
Suddenly his frowning face brightens and gleams.
It gives me joy and fear when I realize
That he is looking at his sun and I am looking at mine.

Here's a picture I really like.

You Want Cats?

Go Packers!

December Cat Picture

I noticed that we did not have any cat pictures presently on the front page of the blog, so here is my entry because cats help keep blogs cute and interesting for all the kids. Holly had made a snowman for her cat. (I have forgotten the cat's name.) You might also discover that the cathouse, designed by yours truly, has a special round door.

A Good Time Was Had By All

The Christmas party at Denise and Greg's was a lot of fun. Erika asked me to post the recipe for Hot Artichoke Dip.



I've only made this twice using many versions I found on the internet. The proportions of cheese to artichokes to mayo vary greatly. There is some debate about whether the artichokes should be the more expensive marinated artichokes in a glass jar or the cheaper artichokes in a can. I have no opinion here, just make sure you drain them. Some people add chopped green peppers, others the canned green chiles found in the mexican section of the grocery store.



1 cup mayonnaise
1 cup grated parmesan cheese
12 ounces (give or take) or artichoke hearts chopped roughly
1 to 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
1 and 1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1 small can of chopped green chiles (optional)
1 tsp paprika (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In large bowl thoroughly mix all ingredients except paprika.
3. Transfer to an 8x8 inch baking dish.
4. Bake 30 or 40 minutes until bubbly and the surface begins to brown.
5. Sprinkle with paprika and serve warm.

Christmas Controversy

I'm taking a break from my well-deserved self-imposed Christmas blog-posting holiday to discuss salt and pepper shakers.

When Faith asked JaNae to fill the salt and pepper shakers today we discovered that we weren't sure which one to put the salt in - the one with more holes or less. When I did some research, to my surprise, I found that this is something that is not set in stone (http://ask.yahoo.com/20040126.html).

I pointed out to my daughters that this is controversial (I pronounced the ending: SEE-uhl). Of course, being my daughters, they corrected me saying the ending should be pronounced: shuhl. Well, I couldn't let that stand. I went back to the computer... Merriam-Webster exonerated me showing that both pronunciations are valid.

Meanwhile, since the authorities allowed us to decide for ourselves which shaker to put the salt in, JaNae chose to pour into Mr. Snowman, the one with more holes in the head. And pour she did. After wondering why the shaker didn't seem to be filling up she concluded it might be a good idea to plug those little holes when pouring.

Forty Years Ago

I hope you are able to read this old Christmas letter. It is especially good towards the end. If you click on the letter a few times it gets bigger, at least in the Firefox browser.

A Break From the Posting Holiday

The first one to get 36 across wins.

What nieces and nephews are going to be here when?

Steve are you coming down for Dec. 17th or Dec. 24th?

What nieces and nephews are going to be at the Dec. 17th and Dec. 24th events?

Dec 17th Lakeville Christmas/Birthday celebration

I just wanted to compile this list to make it easier to see... I was getting confused between Dec. 17th and Dec. 24th.

Time: 5PM

• Denise: Swedish Meatballs, Rice pudding, Snow pudding, etc.


• Lindstroms: Two or three appetizer dips two of which will be a fancy hummus and feta plate, and the classic spinach dip bowl along with assorted chips and crackers.


• Dean & Kurt: Green bean casserole or some other vegie dish and ??


• Carlsons: Mashed potato bake and Swedish Sausage


• Greg: meatloaf out of the fridge(?)

Christmas Past

These are the last three photo-cards.




1958
Paul is the only one not smiling.













1959
There is a half-hearted smile from Paul.














1960
Finally a full smile from Paul.

More ancient christmas cards

Here we go again with the oldest at the bottom.

Uncle Al, Aunt Dorothy, Jane, and Tim. I did not see a year on this card.
















This is 1957.



















1956

Happy Birthday GREG!!!

This was your life in 1957. Hamming it up in front of the Christmas tree.





Paul even made it into this photo. Is that Greg holding Paul?




Back in those days of 1957 you didn't need vans or child safety seats. You just throw the kids in the trunk and take off. We had fun in the trunk because we didn't know any better. Also, Mom and Dad could have a peaceful ride this way with the children out of sight, out of mind.

Blog Posting Holiday

Mark, those are great pictures.

Things are a little crazy around here with all the Christmas stuff. I haven't even started the Christmas letter yet. And I need to scan some more slides soon. I'm thinking I'll take a little break for a couple weeks. Could you post some more of those photos while I take a blog-posting holiday?

Christmas Eve

Here goes again, but I don't think I remember how to transfer it over to email. We need to find out what time will work out for everyone, especially you Northbergers coming in from Roseau. We want to have some time with our children and grandchildren prior to the event. Josh and Heidi, you'll have to let us know when you leave for your event.

This is the menu as I have compiled it to this point:

Dan and Jo: little smokies in bbq sauce, cheesecake
Dean and Kurt: green bean casserole
Paul and Faith: strawberry pretzel jello salad, cheeseball and crackers, ...and maybe some cookies or candy.
Ralph and Jean: Swedish meatballs, Pork roast, Mashed potato bake, appetizers,etc.

Past Christmas Cards

After searching in vain for several weeks, i finally found the box of old photos that was hiding up in the garage. It you like them i will add a few to the blog in the next days. The first two are from 1949 and 1950.

Merry Christmas 2005 from Alaska

Dear Family and Friends, MERRY CHRISTMAS 2005

Lois Ann has finished all of the cards and paper and she has been telling me to get busy and finish this annual letter. Tonight kids hockey practice was cancelled due to unseasonably warm weather and also Wednesday bible study was cancelled because the rain has turned the backroads into ice rinks. So we have some free time tonight.

We are thankful once again for another very good year. It started out looking like my job would be ending about now because of a lack of gas to run the ammonia and urea plants. Now they are getting gas supplied for a year at a time from many companies, and recently they announced they are looking for partners to possibly build a coal gasification plant to supply feedstock to us and generate electricity for the peninsula and Anchorage. I worked tons of overtime this year just in case the job was ending.

Lois Ann even worked this summer with some friends in the office of Ocean Beauty, a local wild salmon processing plant. (Wild Salmon are better than farmed salmon.) She had a lot of fun. Now she is back at the elementary school as a secretary again.

Heidi and John Quick came up to Alaska for the summer. John finished college with some online courses as well as both of them working. It was nice to have them around. Johns dad Chuck was able to come up for about a week near the end of summer and we showed him part of Alaska. In August we went to Minnesota and Iowa for a little over a week. It was a quick but fun trip. John is on staff with Young Life and Heidi is working at a Montessori school and helps with Young Life.

Christoffer was up in Anchorage helping to electrify Elmendorf Air Base for the first half of the year. He joined us on some hikes and golfing several times. Recently he worked for a month in Kotzebue up in NW Alaska, had a couple of days off, and worked for 6 straight weeks at Pogo Mine east of Fairbanks and Delta Junction. He was here for a week at Thanksgiving time. Now he is back at Pogo until we go together to visit Heidi and John for Christmas.

Holly was here for a little over half the year. Lois and Holly went to see Heidi and John in Seattle in the spring. In August she went to live in Perth, Australia. She is working in a coffee shop that is run by YWAM (Youth With A Mission). She is happy and enjoying summer very much. Also Amy her cousin just arrived there about a week ago.

We hope you have a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year. God Bless You

The Stynsbergs

PS. Please see photos and leave some comments on the blogs:

www.marksalaska.blogspot.com and www.theeroundrobin.blogspot.com

Hot Chocolate!

I don't know about where you live, but here it's cold outside. This is a recipe I found on the internet for the best rich creamy hot chocolate I've ever tasted. We're not talking Nestles Quick here. Lots of ingredients and lots of time, but it's worth it.

1/2 cup semi-sweet real chocolate chips
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
pinch of salt
5 1/2 cups milk
2 cups whipping cream
2 teaspoons vanilla

optional: liqueurs, sweetened whipped cream, grated chocolate,
grated lemon peel, grated orange peel, cinnamon, nutmeg

In a 3 quart saucepan melt chocolate chips over low heat, stirring constantly
Stir in sugar, water and salt.
Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly with a wire whisk, until the mixture comes to a full boil (4 to 5 min.)
Boil, stirring constantly, 2 min.
Stir in milk and whipping cream.
Continue cooking over med. heat, stirring occasionally, until heated through (12 to 15 min.) DO NOT BOIL
Add vanilla. Beat with wire whisk or rotary beater until frothy.
Pour into mugs. If desired, add 1 to 2 tbsp liqueur into each serving.
Top each serving with a dollop of sweetened whipped cream.
If desired, garnish with any of the above suggested garnishes.

Paul's Birthday Bash

It amazes me how I can go from the ugliest child to the best looking in 33 short years!

Nobody Made Me Do This

Due to shortness of time, The SouthStynzoneParty is Saturday, I thought I'd make it easy for anybody that would like to bring something to share. Just post it here or notify all by email. This is what I know at this point: Christmas/Birthday celebration Dec 17th 5PM-whenever.
Denise is making Swedish Meatballs, Rice pudding, Snow pudding, etc.
Some ideas were shared in emails that I never got back to. They sounded great, just let everyone know what you're bringing. If someone doesn't like it that's good, all the more for me, I like everything! (I still don't like tangerines) If there's not enough food I'll get the meatloaf out of the fridge. Eeew, that might not still be good!

attention

Dean made me do this

1972 Graduation

Pluggers

Jonathan just showed me a comic from the newspaper that he said reminded him of a certain uncle.

Brides To Be

Jean, Eloise, and Carol prepare for the big day.

Another View...

...but I don't think it helps much.

Matthews

The first person who can tell us all the Matthews' names, where they are, and what they're doing wins. (Extra credit for the dog's name - I assume the dog has passed.)

Dad's 53rd Birthday

33 years today

Cannot find a wedding picture yet, but on December 2nd, 1972 Lois Ann and i were married happily ever after...

Lois found the wedding book--she can find everything.

My South Padre

This is South Padre, June 2004. It was in the 90s every day.

Mug Shots

Jonathan definitely has the most expressive face in our family. Here are a few examples of that thesis from 1999-2000.

Jonathan making his favorite "silly face".

Jo made a "freestyle" soup. She insisted the boys try some. Jon would only try it if the "child abuse" was documented in case it ever went to court.

Grrrrrr!