Miss me?

We had the most wonderful Christmas Eve and Christmas. One of these days (before the fourth of July, hopefully) I will post pictures.

We are in the middle of a re-fi on our house. We shaved years off of our mortgage and are also getting new windows and insulation. It may not seem like such a big deal but for anybody who has ever lived in an old house - it will make all the difference in the world. For anyone who hates to visit me in the winter - for those of you who would never take off your coat OR your hat and mittens - come February you can all come back for a visit and leave all your outerwear at the door. Randy assures me I will notice immediately. I assure him I will, too. The windows will actually be clean. Without 80 year old paint splatters and drips. An added bonus is that I can clear out my windowsills of all the drumsticks, paint sticks and other pieces of random wood that we need to prop up the windows in the spring. Who knows what jewels I will find. Because I know the appraiser is coming, I am using this as an excuse to get those closets cleaned out and that chipped paint all touched up.

Tomorrow, Abby and Jeff and Stella will be here! We are so excited. We are ringing in the New Year at home and I can't wait! Abby's one request was that we leave our house decorated for Christmas. For the first time in 24 years we have left all of our stuff up until New Years and I have loved it. It always seems so bare when we put it all away. I always had the excuse that it had to come down anyways so just get it over with. I was always so sad when it was all said and done. For years the girls begged and begged to leave up our tree. I was wrong and they were rights. I just gained an extra week of Christmas!

why I have laugh lines

Abe has terrible chapped lips. I told him he needed to start using Chapstick. He told me he was. I asked him when the last time was he used it. Yesterday - he said.

We pulled into Wendy's for a lunch date. Abe said that he bet me ten bucks it was all old people in there. We walked in. He was right. How did he know? He told me he didn't look in the windows. He just knows old people love to eat at Wendy's.

We pulled into our garage and Abe saw Barbara's box for her burial in January. "Isn't Barbara disintegrated, yet?" Cremate may be a hard word for a third grader to remember. I haven't seen it on a spelling test lately.

Christmas Morning

I love Christmas morning. I am always the first person awake. I go and get the coffee started. I get the breakfast going. I light the candles. Turn on the tree and Christmas music. Then I go and wake my sleeping family.

We always have Christmas breakfast by candlelight with a tablecloth and Christmas dishes. Sometimes we open up our stockings first and sometimes we wait. It depends if we are starving or not.

After breakfast, Randy will read the Christmas story out of the book of Luke. That is my favorite thing on Christmas morning.

After all that the kids get to open their gifts!

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Lights

Last night - we got Abe out of bed and went on a Christmas Light run. Randy and I had our hot tea and Abe grabbed his Christmas blanket, his pillow and Rascal (of course!) and we headed out. It reminded me of many years ago when we would go look at lights every single night...

We would grab our screaming newborn and bundle her up in the car seat and climb into Randy's old pick-up truck. We would swing by Hardee's to get a cup of coffee for the sleepy driver. That was long before I had acquired a taste for the stuff I love so much now. We were thankful for all the people who left their Christmas lights on all night. It was the most peaceful time of our day. Warm truck. Sleeping baby.

Bundle up tonight and go experience the lights and the decorations of the season. Hug your babies extra tight tonight. Before you know it they will be all grown up.

tis the season.....TO WASH YOUR HANDS!

Yesterday morning, while still laying in bed, Abe came into our room and said, "Mom, I won't be going to church today because I have been throwing up." He said this like it was no big deal. I asked him if he had made it to the bathroom and of course, he had. He is such a trooper. He crawled back into his bed and Annie and I headed out to church and left Randy home with the child who can practically parent himself.

This has reminded me of the Christmas Eve that I had the stomach flu. The girls were small and I was working part-time. I had to work on Christmas Eve morning and Randy was home with the girls. I came home around lunch time not feeling so good. I thought I was hungry so Randy went and got us lunch at Arby's and then it hit. Stomach flu. ON. CHRISTMAS. EVE! Of all the days for me to be sick! Gosh darn it. I crawled into bed around 2:00 and didn't emerge until Christmas morning. Randy got the girls dressed up and the three of them went to Christmas Eve services without me and I laid in bed and cried and cried. So not fair!

Since then - Abby has been sick on Christmas. Uncle Tal has been sick on Christmas. Last year - my mom got sick and went to bed in the middle of our Christmas dinner.

3 days and counting. Who will it be this year? I'll tell you who it had better not be. ME!

Aunt Von's

I have the best Aunt ever! Even though I am old now and never see her often enough - she is one of the most special people to me.

Growing up, I spent so much time with my Grandma or my Aunt Von. Her kids were older than me and I thought they were so cool! I adored and worshipped them. My favorite place in the entire world was my cousin Amy's room. I loved when she would clean out her drawers and closet and send me home with lots of neat teen-age girl stuff. Stuff like old stationary. Old buttons and sometimes half used Bonnie Belle lip gloss.

Aunt Von started having my entire family (brothers & parents) and my cousin Kraig and his family over for an evening of Christmas treats. My kids (and me!) have started looking forward to this tradition. We sit around her Christmas tree and drink coffee and eat. and eat. and eat. The kids play down in the basement and it is almost always just a few days before Christmas. It is a wonderful way to get our Christmas started.

It is now December 19th and we haven't heard a peep from her. Annie has asked about it and Abe has asked about it and so I asked my mom about it. My Aunt and Uncle are leaving town for Christmas this year and aren't having our little get-together.

Bah Humbug!

Secret Santa

When the girls were small we started drawing names. Just the four of us. It started as a way to cut back on spending for the kids and too many gifts. Your name was supposed to be kept a secret and then a week before Christmas we would do our little gift exchange. They each had to shop. wrap. and keep a secret.

When Abe was three he could recognize his name. Annie put all our names in a basket and we let Abe draw out first. If he did not get HIS name then the rest of us would draw and if we drew our own we would start over but we knew Abe was safe. With only four of us it took plenty of tries before none of us had our own name. The plan was for Aunt Sarah to take Abe shopping for his secret Santa gift.

A few days went by and Aunt Sarah was over. Abe ran up to grab the name he had drawn and Sarah just busted out laughing. Abe had gotten his own name!! How did that happen? Abe could read his name printed. With a capital A and lower case b and e. Annie had written in all capitals and her Capital A was a big circle with a tail. Abe thought it was an O. There are so many things wrong with this story. Like whose name even starts with an O and why didn't the four of us who could read just make sure one of us had Abe?? Good Grief, Charlie Brown!

Last night we had our little secret Santa party. Abe had been so excited ever since he bought his gift over Thanksgiving weekend. He could not wait until Annie came home and we could open a gift! And he didn't have his own name. He had mine!

O Christmas Tree

It seems like we have started putting our tree up the week of Thanksgiving. Of course, we pull out the box and fluff the branches out and plug it in and presto. Instant Christmas tree.

Growing up, however, was an entirely different story. We didn't even get our tree until the second week of December. We always had a real live Christmas tree. When I was older we started going to the Christmas tree farm and picking one out and cutting it down ourselves. It seemed like whatever day we went to get our tree was the coldest day of the entire year and it took forever to pick out just the right tree. The worst part was watering the tree and it was always an adventure to see dad take that thing out of the house. The bonus of a real tree is that in July we were still finding needles in the carpet.

When Randy and I got married we carried the torch for the real tree. We went to cut ours down at the same Christmas tree farm. We would load up on a Sunday afternoon and caravan with my parents and my aunt & uncle. Eventually, my mom and dad decided to get an artificial tree and when they bought a new one we inherited their old one. These days Abby is so allergic to pine trees that she puffs up like a balloon if there is one anywhere near.

Nothing reminds me of Christmas at home as much as the smell of a fresh pine tree. I really miss that.

Eve on Euclid Street

Over the years Randy and I have been blessed by having great neighbors. When the girls were little we rented a house and the landlord lived directly across the street from the rental house. Before we had moved in the landlady was telling us about all the wonderful neighbors. We shared a driveway with the neighbors to the West and I was very anxious to hear about that family. She said an older man and his young girlfriend and her two kids lived next door. Hmmm.....
We quickly became very close friends. Her kids were older than mine but they played fabulously together. Later, we got lots of laughs about the older man and his young girlfriend!

For the three years that we lived next to Don and Beth and even a couple of years after we moved to Maple Street we spent Christmas Eve together. We would all go to church together and then go back to their house and the kids would watch movies and the four of us would sit around the old oak round table and drink coffee and then wine and eat all of our homemade treats. (side note: Don is the one who got me started drinking coffee with cream) We'd be there for hours talking and laughing. And then we'd head home carrying sleepy little girls in their Christmas jammies. It was 10 steps to our front door. Right across the shared driveway. I'd lay my head on my pillow and give thanks for the wonderful friends and neighbors that we had. I wanted that night to last forever.

Then we moved. And then they moved to Colorado.

Not a Christmas Eve goes by when I don't remember those that were so sweet, not so long ago, on Euclid Street.

Christmas Dress

When I was in elementary school the entire school had one gigantic Christmas program. It was at Greer auditorium and it seemed like the entire town came. I wanted a new dress to wear like all the other girls. And not one from K-Mart or Alco.

The year I was in the 4th grade the country radio station that my mom listened to was having a bingo contest. We drove all over Wichita to different locations (some very scary places, too) to pick up paper bingo cards for the big "game." The first person to get a blackout (all numbers on the bingo card filled) within a certain amount of numbers called would win $1,000. This was 1974. That was a lot of dollars back then. We all sat around the table. Listening. Quietly. Absolutely no talking. Or breathing. My mom only had one number uncovered when they called the $1,000 number. It wasn't her number. We sat and listened to the radio to see if anybody would call in to claim the prize.

Apparently, there was no winner so now with each number called the jackpot went down a few dollars until they would have a winner. Listening. Still no breathing. The next number called WAS MY MOTHER'S NUMBER! She won! Lots and lots of dollars! We were frantic excited! Us kids had been quiet for so long I'm sure the entire town could hear us now.

The next morning at school I felt like a celebrity among all the goofy kids whose parents listened to KFDI (is gonna make me rich!) My mom went to collect her prize money and on her way home she stopped by a store downtown Newton and bought me the most beautiful and the most expensive dress I had ever seen. It was all I had dreamt of. A maxi-dress. I had a brand new navy blue with lots of lace and red buttons dress to wear to my Christmas program that year.

Thanks, mom (& KFDI)! I will always remember how pretty and special I felt that Christmas when I was only 9 years old.

This morning - my backyard

Grandma's kitchen

My grandma was the best cook and baker. She always, always, always had homemade goodies for us when we stopped in. At Christmas, that supply was even bigger! Here are some of my favorites!

• Russian Tea Cakes (some people call these Mexican Wedding cookies)
• Frosted and sprinkled sugar cookies. These are the same recipe that my Grandma's mother baked for people when my grandma was little.
• Peanut Brittle
• Peanutbutter balls
• Peppernuts (Oh! My favorite)
• Peanut Clusters
• Party mix
• Snow on the mountain cookies
• Dipped pretzels

My Grandma's house was always warm in the winter. Not freezing cold like mine. Her house was very small and she always had something yummy ready to pull out of her oven in that little bitty kitchen.

I will always remember the best smell that would wrap my entire body at her front door. I will also never forget all the love and warmth that she had to share with everybody. Especially at Christmas time. Especially for me. I miss her most at Christmas.

The surprise was on me.

Abe asked me where the worst ever place was that I had hidden gifts? This made me wonder if he was actually a "snooper." I doubted he was because he is so freaky about accidentally seeing anything that may be his while I'm wrapping.

I, on the other hand, am a recovered snoop. For years and years I would hunt down my gifts. This has gotten me into all sorts of trouble over the years.

There was a wrapped box for me under the tree and I just couldn't figure out what it was. When Randy headed out I headed to the tree. I so carefully opened it as to not mess up the tape. After years of my issues he would check the gifts to make sure they had not been altered. So slowly I removed the paper from the square box, so I could wrap it back exactly as it was, when I heard a knock on the big picture window. Randy was standing on the porch watching me! Oops!

Christmas Past

About 5:30 last night (after a 2 hour nap) I really started feeling much better. Everytime I am sick I start to wonder if I have been struck with some life-long ailment that will never get better. Like I will have to live out the second half of my life in complete misery (as if eating gluten free isn't agony enough!)

I have decided from now until Christmas I will be blogging on my Christmas memories. Some recent some not so recent. I certainly hope to not bore you all to tears. I tend to have a bent toward the sentimental side.

Today's memory:

When we were kids, we would get up so stinkin' early on Christmas morning. Like 4 a.m. In fact, I don't think we EVER EVEN WENT TO SLEEP! My brother and I were best-of-friends and I had to walk through his bedroom to get to my bedroom and we would sleep with the door open and talk and talk and talk. He can never get mad at his girls for talking in bed. They got it from him (and me, too!) Anywho, I think I would go downstairs first and wake up my dad. Every year he would tell me it was way too early and to go back to bed! Then we would wait. and wait. and wait. We would wait for hours! And then 10 minutes later I would send Tal down to beg dad if we could please open gifts. I think he would finally give in around 5 a.m. and then it was complete torture. Mom and Dad would make coffee. And then DRINK COFFEE! For the love.

....OH! to be a kid again.

so very sick

I have felt just awful since Monday at 3:30 in the afternoon. I crawled into bed and have barely moved since then. I did make myself come to work today only because I had some payroll checks that had to be done.

Will I ever feel better again? I think not. I can't even imagine. My only hope is that I can make it to Abe's first piano recital tonight.

Happy Birthday, Randy!

I always told my kids that I handpicked the best daddy in the entire world just for them. I think they would all agree.

Happy 29th Birthday to the most wonderful husband and father!

never so happy to see a week end

To say this has been a rough week for me would be an understatement.

I have dealt with

• death.
• health.
• pain.
• I had to miss Abe's taekwondo testing because of my class.
• My accounting program at work crashed (I have complete faith in my amazing brother bringing it back to life).
• Annie went back to school (I shouldn't say that out loud but I miss her).
• I spent a ton of money (maybe more than I have) on Christmas.
• I also had to miss a very important appointment Thursday after work (because I was still working when I should have not been).

And now I am singing the praises of Friday.

Tomorrow is a new day. And the day after that starts a new week for which I am very, very grateful.

I am wearing something I haven't worn since the 4th grade

When we were shopping at Gap I found some knee socks and bought a pair. This morning, it was 20 degrees outside and that meant it was probably 2 degrees upstairs in our house so I decided to wear my new socks. I love them!

Medical Melodrama

I have been having a lot of health issues as of late. I'm not sure where this is all coming from as I feel I live a pretty healthy lifestyle. I am learning, the hard way, that there are some things that are just out of my control.

Here a few statistics from my 2008 medical file:

5 different doctors
4 prescriptions (I hate taking any medicine - FYI)
3 ailments that have been diagnosed
2 wrists & hands that only hurt at night. Every single night at 4:00 a.m. (not diagnosed)

...and a partridge in a pear tree!

my own words

Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.The much smaller stockings were hung on the stairway with care,

In hopes that St Nicholas soon would be there.
The children were nestled all freezing cold in their beds, While visions of gluten danced in their heads. And momma in her wrist brace, and papa in his c-pap, had just settled down for a long winter's nap (only until 4 a.m. when momma woke papa because her hand hurt so bad - and she never could fall back asleep)

I think I am going to be re-writing Christmas stories. I seem to be loosing my sanity and am trying my best to keep my chin up.

Hopefully, I can come up with a new one tomorrow. If not, the next day. Stay tuned....