A House Divided

Just like brothers who fought against brothers in the Civil War, Election 2012 divided the Nuckols family. Evenly. While I was the most outspoken of the Obama supporters in the family, Jeffrey led the conservative faction with his inside scoop from the Romney campaign.

First, Jeffrey appeared in a picture on cbsnews.com under the headline:

"Romney supporters drown out David Axelrod at Boston press conference."

He said that it was a blast. I was not amused.

Then, I was quoted in the USA Today as a pro-Obama Mormon. (Link to article here.)

The thrill of being quoted alongside Harry Reid and Joanna Brooks - two of my favorite Mormon Dems - made up for the ugly backlash in the comments section of the article.  

Next, I got wedding announcements from my two other brothers and posted this picture on facebook with the description: 

My brothers and their soul mates. Sorry, Jeff, Mitt is not going up on the fridge.

One of my conservative friends who saw this post started an actual online petition called 

Get Mitt On The Fridge!

Jeff must have been too busy campaigning for something else, however, 

because his petition only got two signatures.

The week of the election, I saw this display in the window of a Seattle used book store.

They seem intended as a contrast, but in reality, 

they are such excellent complements!

 

I had a party on election night with all-American pizza, root beer floats
and these awesome cookies from Whole Foods.
I invited all to come to this "bi-partisan celebration of our voting freedoms," 
 but surprisingly, only one Romney supporter came.

I tried hard not to gloat too much on election night,
and I decided to freeze a Romney cookie for Jeffrey.
 I gave it to him over Thanksgiving, and he graciously accepted the peace offering.

(If anyone wants to have a more serious discussion about my views on Romney, the Republican party and being a Mormon Democrat, I would be happy to talk off line!)

Nuckols Name Survival Kit

My two new sister-in-laws are both taking on my brothers' name. That means that they are now going to have to interface with the world as a Nuckols.  Jeffrey and I wanted to prepare them for this daunting task, so for Christmas we gave them each a Nuckols Name Survival Kit. We decided that while we can't prepare them for all the mispronunciations and misspellings, we can prepare them for the array of bad jokes that they will hear for the rest of their lives.

Brass Knuckles

When people ask you if you own a pair of brass knuckles, you can tell them that you have this beautiful necklace, but that real brass knuckles are illegal in all 50 states. Then point out the irony that in America: brass knuckles = illegal; semi-automatic guns = legal.

Knuckles Sandwhich

When someone asks you how many knuckle sandwiches you have delivered (administered?), I recommend that you look menacingly at them and say, "I lost count." However, the sad reality is that I do not know of a single Nuckols who has actually delivered a knuckles sandwich - not to mention a roundhouse one. It is a shame, really. We invite you to be the first to remedy this lack of honor to our name.

Knuckles, the Echinda

I still have no idea what an "echinda" is, and I have neither watched nor played Sonic the Hedgehog, but when people ask me about this Knuckles character, I just smile and say, "Yep! Just like him" because that seems to be what people want to hear. Apparently he is pretty hard core, so I am OK with that.

Knuckleheads

This book is brilliant because all the characters are made out of body parts, and you can see that "Handsel" and Gretel in the top left corner literally have heads that are made out of knuckles. Be prepared to congratulate people on their cleverness whenever they think that they are the first person to ever call you a knucklehead.

The Nuckols hoodie

For months I had been planning this dramatic moment where I would be wearing my hoodie on Christmas morning and then the two sister-in-laws would open up theirs and we would take a picture of the three of us together. I had their hoodies express mailed to the house, and then I forgot mine in Seattle. Boo.

But to B and S: I hope that you wear both the hoodie and the name with pride and remember that even with all the bad jokes and constant spelling corrections, it's a pretty rad name. (I promise that your kids will really love it too.) We're glad to have you. Welcome to the Nuckols/Knuckles/Buckles/Nichols/Nuchols/Noockols clan!

too much joy

 

I was home for Christmas for 10 days, and I cried every day that I was home. Well, to say I "cried," might be an overstatement. I wasn't exactly wiping away tears, but I definitely "teared up" or "welled up" at least once a day. Celebrating Christmas and a large family wedding (good job, Steve) while having all 4 Nuckols kids home for the first time in 7 years plus the addition of two new sister-in-laws was just too much joy.

I cried when...

...we sang "I'll Be Home for Christmas" at our annual friends and family cinnamon roll brunch.
...we went around the family room and told stories of service and sacrifice for family home evening.
...Uncle John and Aunt Holly gave the two new couples crystal candlesticks along with small adorning Norwegian wreaths and a speech about the importance, value and beauty of the table. 
...Mom gave each of us 4 kids a binder on Christmas morning with all our family Christmas cards and pictures dating from 1982 until the present.
...Ryan and Swantje cried at the Christmas dinner table saying how much it meant to them to finally be with family during the holidays after seven years of holiday hotel work.
...I watched Brenna and Steven grow up and then fall in love in their wedding slideshow.
...AJ, Steven's best man, gave his toast at the rehearsal dinner about how he knew how much Steven loved Brenna.
...I hugged Brenna and Steven after the sealing in the temple.
...my mom cried the entire time she danced with Steven during their first dance at the reception. 
...I watched Les Mis. Duh.
...I said good-bye to Ryan and Swantje at the airport. 

The number of times I cried during those 10 days were far outnumbered by the number of times I laughed.

We laughed when we saw Jeffrey's ballet leap in the above family picture on the beach.
We laughed about all sleeping in the same room together on Christmas Eve.
We laughed when Brenna said "Christmas Steven" instead of "Christmas Season."
We laughed every time someone quoted a line from Elf.
We laughed when a woman in the aisle of Target asked us if we were a college comedy troupe.
Jeffrey and I laughed when, the day after the wedding, we drove around in Steven and Brenna's decorated get-away car and I wore Brenna's veil.

It was too date the best Christmas steven ever.