Merry Christmas!

O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree!

This year brought a lot of changes for me personally and my family as a whole. I started my new job and lost two grandparents. In the midst of those changes though I have enjoyed the new direction I'm headed.

One of the perks of my job is that we get nice breaks for the holidays. Over Thanksgiving I was able to drive down the Arkansas to be with my family, it was so different not having my Granddaddy there, but it was still great to see my cousins, uncle, aunts and grandmothers. The day after Thanksgiving my great-grandma made pork chops and other goodies for us (because we were all starved after we had our turkey dinner the day before).

I think my brother Spencer was more jealous of missing the pork chops than he was of missing out on the turkey!

Grandma putting the final
touches on her pork chops.

The weekend after Thanksgiving Tulsa and Northwest Arkansas got hit with several inches of snow and ice.

Snow always puts our area in a tizzy, even if it isn't that much compared to other areas. For example, while we were complaining about our 5" of snow my brother Burns has moved to Montana where they measure snow in feet and the temperature was in the negative double digits.

Regardless, I didn't have to go to work on Friday since the roads around the museum and university were all coated in ice. Instead I stayed home and baked, napped and read. Pretty much the perfect snow day!

Can you find the street?

Notice the bowls full of snow for snow ice cream...

And of course I made snow ice cream...

On Saturday some girls came over for a crafternoon which was great. We all worked on projects that we had. Anything from knitting to quilting or embroidering. Perfect activity for the freezing weather.

Of course, the next round of winter weather was ice. I lost half my maple in the back yard the weekend before Christmas, but at least it didn't take down the power line or damage my fence, deck or house. And I should have firewood to last me forever once we get the wood chopped.

The morning after the ice storm I actually went to Salvation Army to help distribute Christmas presents and food. Despite the fact that we were helping load items in people's cars while it sleeted I was glad I decided to go help. One of my book club friends works for Salvation Army and she asked some of us to come and the weather meant we didn't have as many as we had planned, but those of us who made it got a lot done.

The fallen limb, you can see how
it is almost half the tree.

It was only after I got home that my power was out. Which really put a kink in Lydia and my plans for the afternoon. We intended to have a baking day at my house to get all the Christmas treats that we wanted to make done. Instead we played a game of musical houses. I packed up about five grocery bags full of baking ingredients to haul to my mom's house in Sapulpa.

We were only about halfway done (but luckily finished with everything we had already started making) when the power went out at Mom's house.

So we packed everything up again and went to Dad's house in Jenks. By this point it was nearly 11:00 and we were almost done for the day. We mixed the dough for apricot and prune horns and left it to rise overnight.

Of course, we only thought that was the end of the drama. I woke up Sunday and got started on the apricot and prune filling and rolling out the dough only to discover that Dad's oven had inexplicably stopped working. Which meant that we had no way to bake the horns. Luckily my power had been turned back on sometime the previous evening (which I was extremely grateful for since I didn't want to have to transfer the contents of my refrigerator again) so we packed everything up AGAIN and went back to my house.

Ridiculous.

Close up of the fallen limb.
Apparently the limb is mostly hollow,
a squirrel lost it's home.

We managed to get almost everything made and left Monday for my grandmother's house in southern Arkansas. I'm pretty sure we wouldn't be allowed to stay for Christmas if we didn't get the buckeyes made for my cousins and brothers.

Gramma Getchell's Buckeyes

          2 cups peanut butter

1 box powdered sugar

3 cups Rice Krispies

1/2 stick Butter, melted

2-3 pkg. chocolate chips or baking chocolate

paraffin wax

1. Mix peanut butter, powdered sugar, butter and sugar in large bowl until well blended.
2. Shape mixture into walnut-sized balls. Makes about 60 balls. 
3. Melt chocolate and paraffin wax in double boiler. Using skewer dip balls in chocolate until coated and place on wax paper to set. Refrigerate until chocolate hardens. 

Break In

Last year my security company called me around 11 p.m. on Thanksgiving to ask me if everything was alright at my house. Since I wasn't there I had no idea. The police were dispatched and found the back door had been kicked in. My dad drove across town to secure the house and give the police officer the information she needed to file a report.

Luckily the house breaker(s) didn't seem to get much further than the doorway before the alarm went off and apparently scared them away. Why you'd bother breaking into a house that clearly advertises that an alarm company monitors it and doesn't appear to have much worth stealing I don't know. I also know that it doesn't take long for the Tulsa police to respond to a call in my area (see the story here).

However, I'd like to take a minute to talk about some tricks for protecting your home while you're out of town.

Having my home monitored gives me a discount on my home insurance, but from what I've read a lot of people who pay for home security systems don't actually use them. I always do. If I'm leaving for 20 minutes I still turn the alarm on, I'm paying every month to have the system monitored. That only happens if I turn it on. There are occasionally false alarms and I have accidentally set the alarm off myself, but if you make setting the alarm a habit then you get used to not opening doors when the alarm is on or turning it off as soon as you walk through the door.

The only real damage from the break in was to the door frame. Except for my front door (which is thick wood) all my doors are metal. When they kicked in the door the only damage was that the cosmetic molding came off (but didn't break) and the wood frame cracked. My dad managed to fix the door so it is even more secure than before. However, I still take the added precaution of barring the door with chairs now as well.

Simple door jam stick.
Where can I find something basic like this?

I want to buy door jams (like the ones in the picture), but most of the ones I've found online are pretty pricey. The one in the picture belongs to my grandma, she's had them as long as I can remember and they are pretty simple. All the ones I can find online are "fancy" which probably explains the high price tag. I'd really prefer something more basic.

I've also taken to having a friend check on my house or even stay if I'm going to be gone overnight.

Another great idea is to put a hold on your mail and newspapers. The police officer who responded to the break in said the fact that the mail was in my mailbox probably tipped the housebreaker off that no one was home. I hadn't thought to put a hold on my mail because of the holiday. Of course, I've also changed to a more secure mailbox, but that wasn't really a result of the break in.

Growing up our neighbors would leave their radio on whenever they were out of town. That way if someone was snooping around outside it sounded like someone was talking or listening to music. You can also buy timers that will make your lights, TV or other electronics turn on at set times. When I worked as a reporter I had a police scanner. If I needed to go out in the evening I would leave the scanner running in my apartment while it charged.

One feature that is nice about my house is the outdoor lighting. Not only do I have some really bright landscape lights in the front, but I have motion sensitive lights all around the house. It can be irritating when a cat or something sets off the one outside my bedroom window in the middle of the night, but I'm glad they were installed.

Even before the break in I was careful not to mention an out-of-town trip online until after I got back. No point in announcing ahead of time when the house will be empty. Everyone uses social media, and it isn't hard to find someone's personal information with just a quick Google search.

Have you ever had to deal with a break in? Was anything actually taken? Do you have precautions for when you leave now that you didn't have before?