Christmas 2010

I am sitting here on Christmas night enjoying the quiet calm that always comes when the excitement of Christmas finally subsides. We've spent the past few weeks enjoying the scenes of the season, with many ups and downs. As usual, I have feel haggard and tired throughout this month, as I spend the bulk of December scurrying around trying to complete all of my shopping and crafting and envelope stuffing and mailing and wrapping.

I have found that I am never at that point of completion at Christmas. I tend to buy a lot of supplies to make things, in addition to a few store bought items, and then I have to find the time to actually make the things! It is an ongoing struggle. I never have that sense of relief at being done with Christmas shopping, because I never really am. The season brings several rounds of gift giving due to work parties, friend parties, kid parties, family visits, other family visits, and last minute gift delivery. This means that I go through several rounds of preparation based on the next event that I have scheduled. So I have spent many, many nights this week in my newly cleaned and reorganized basement sewing and ironing and cutting and gluing and framing and writing and wrapping. I has been exhausting, but fun, of course, because I really like that kind of thing.

I wish I could be one of those people who just buys everyone a gift and is just done with it. I wish I could be that practical and sensible. Maybe one day I'll get a little smarter.

Okay, enough about my yearly gift giving struggle. On to the family.....

Jacks was an elf in his school Christmas program. It was the first year he has been old enough to be in the program, which means it was the first year we attended. It was a little crazy. I arrived on time, as told, but didn't realize that the only parents who got front row seats arrived an hour early. So, I wedged myself in the back where I had to stand on top of a chair to see anything, and Joe sat on the floor in the aisle with Nealy. We figured she should get to come watch her brother in his first program. Turns out she was more interested in playing with Joe's phone and eating the tic tacs from his pocket.

Long story long, I didn't get a single good picture. He takes tumbling and Kindermusik, and both classes did a short demonstration before the actual program began. I couldn't have been prouder to see my big boy so involved. This is maybe the best picture I got, which is terrible on account of my poor placement and the bright window behind the kids.

See if you can find Jacks!

Our next big event was a visit to the Oaks farm in Lafayette, AL to see Santa. The pumpkin patch that we visit in the fall is at the Oaks, and this is the first year we have done their Christmas time event. They take you on a hayride through the woods where they have set up some Christmas lights, and you end up at the barn where Santa is waiting.

This picture isn't great, but it's pretty funny. The Oaks was a much better Santa experience than the mall Santa. We took our own pictures, there was no line, the accompanying hayride was fun all on its own, and then we got to pet bunnies and a cow when we were done!

This was the first year that Jacks was okay with talking to Santa. In years past he has been panicked, screaming, nervous, and just plain scared. This year, he went right up to Santa with his list of desired items, as if he had been practicing exactly what he wanted to say. I was very proud of the little guy.
Nealy, on the other hand, wouldn't get within three feet of poor Santa. He tried, bless him, but she was clinging to me like a screeching monkey, and there was no way I was getting her on his lap. Of course, once we walked away, she got really bold and pointed at him saying, "Santa, Santa." But when I got close to him again, the clawing monkey came back out. It was like when you try to put a cat in a tub of water; it ain't happening. You can see in the picture how close I was able to get to Santa with Nealy in tow.
I highly recommend Candy Cane Lane at the Oaks next year. They don't do it every night of December, so you have to call or email in advance to double check their hours.

A few days ago, we made a trip to Huntsville and back to visit with Joe's grandmother. It was a wonderful visit, and we hope we get to go back soon. Jacks and Nealy were very well behaved overall, except Jacks tried to fall apart a little just before we left, and Nealy managed to eat an entire lollipop the size of her head during our visit, which put her into a sugar coma we thought she'd never come out of. You can see her clutching said lollipop in the pictures, as well as evidence of Jacks's ill behavior. He seems to be attempting a smile through clenched teeth, which comes off as pained and leering.

Needless to say, it was a long ride home.....

I like this second, less posed picture a little better. Next, Jacks and Nealy dressed up a little Christmas casual for a cookie decorating party at a friend's house. Here they are posing, but it looks like Jacks is strangling his sister. She doesn't seem to mind.

Immediately after their party, Joe's dad, Rick, came for brunch. It was a great visit, and we wish he would come more often. He brought the kids each a pillow pet, which they are still loving a whopping 3 days later, which means they'll be loving them for a while.

Then, as if time had gone in warp speed, Christmas Eve arrived. Joe started a new tradition of making a large snowman and Christmas tree for the front door with Jacks, just like Joe used to make with his mom.

After a big family dinner at my friend Bev's house, we got bathed and ready for bed. The kids got dressed up in their matching Christmas pajamas, and we all read The Night Before Christmas, which I have read every Christmas Eve since Jacks's first Christmas.

Then Santa's elves got to work once the kids were fast asleep, and we were up until about 2 in the morning. But it was worth it when the kids awoke to their gifts. Jacks had been very concerned in recent days that we didn't have any presents under the tree (see earlier explanation of my tendency to wrap as I go), and he was thrilled to see a pile under the tree this morning. Plus he got the Bat Cave he had been asking for, which kept him busy playing all day long. And Nealy got a new play kitchen, which means she now has two. We bought a used kitchen from a friend of ours this week, and we planned to give that to Nealy as her Christmas present. But when we saw this new one at Toys R Us, we had to get it since it is so little and perfect to set up in our kitchen (not to mention the colors match our kitchen - can you beat that?). The other kitchen will be set up in the downstairs play area, which makes me happy to no end to have a toy down there that they'll both love.
And that, in a long, long, long, long blog post is our Christmas. There is plenty that we didn't take pictures of, but that just means that we were busy enjoying ourselves. And there were a lot of activities that we didn't end up doing since the stomach bug hit this house a few weeks ago, setting us all back a few steps.

Did I mention that it snowed tonight? That's right, we ended up with a white Christmas after all. What could be more perfect?

We'll be traveling to Pensacola this week to visit with my family. So there's still more to tell of this Christmas. I hope all of you had a busy but wonderful Christmas season. I'm not ready for it to be over. It has been so much fun.

I think I'll have one more glass of egg nog and enjoy this last viewing of Scrooged before collapsing in bed to the sounds of dripping snow. I love this quiet, calm night. So lovely.....

WAR EAGLE!

As you all know, Auburn has had a pretty good year. The whole town is a abuzz with who will be traveling to Arizona for the National Championships, have you gotten tickets yet, do you know where to get tickets, how much did you pay for your flight, did you know you could go to Europe for what you're paying? And on and on and on and on.....

I make no secret about my feelings about sports. I'm generally not interested in them. I am definitely an Auburn fan, though, and I love it when we win. Of course, I love Auburn when we lose, too. I really don't care. War Eagle, no matter what.

As Auburn was winning the SEC championship last week, Joe and I had the foresight to gather some rolls of toilet paper, load the kids in the van, and head to Toomer's Corner a good 5 minutes before the game was over. It was good planning on our part. We sailed downtown with little to no traffic, found a parking spot less than a block away, and marched right up to those oak trees on Toomer's Corner and got to tossing. The toilet paper was overwhelming. Jacks was in awe - it recently occurred to me that I've never taken him down there because of the crowds, the traffic, the parking, etc....... it was high time we head down there for my little buddy to enjoy the tradition of rolling the corner.


Nealy was a little overwhelmed, and she got a little fussy. Especially when my glasses were knocked off of my face by a roll of flying toilet paper and I had a minor panic attack trying to get them back before they were crushed in the street. She was clinging to me like a baby monkey. But it was worth it. Everyone was cheering and laughing and dancing in the streets. Auburn Santa was even there! It was a perfect first Toomer's experience for the little ones.


Enjoy the Auburn snow!

And WAR EAGLE!

Thanksgiving: Part 3

Ok, so the stuff that I'm writing about isn't all that special or exciting, but it's all we have pictures of from our trip, so I'm developing a series of posts about them. I mean, so far, I've told you about some tee shirts I made, a trip to a state park, and now I'm about to tell you about......dinner at a pizza parlor! I'm sorry if you felt even a pang of anticipation for that one.

We had a big family dinner at Satchel's, Gainesville's greatest pizza place. It is our favorite place to eat in town, and our entire family loves every inch of it. I could go on and on and on about the found object sculptures and the salvaged play grounds and the unique gift shop, but instead I think I'll just link you to their web site if you're interested. Satchel's is far too unusual and awesome to fully explain on this here little ole blog.



Needless to say, we enjoyed our Thanksgiving. Maybe three posts about it was a bit much.

Thanksgiving: Part 2

My sister had a great idea on the Friday morning after Thanksgiving for everyone to head over to Payne's Prairie, a local wildlife preserve state park, for a little hike. A storm was brewing all morning, so the sky was a little gray, but it was nice and warm with plenty of breeze, and the rain held off for most of our visit.

The area is basically a series of boardwalks and trails through a swampy prairie, which might even be compared to a savanna (from what I understand a savanna to be from Jacks's pop up book of natural wildlife....). Seeing alligators everywhere is practically guaranteed, and we saw at least 20 of them. Joe and I were amazed. We thought maybe we'd see 3 or 4. We had no idea there would be so many so close.

We also saw some deer, herons, a HUGE snake (which I would have preferred to NOT see), some turtles, and some more super cool water birds.
It was great fun to spend some time enjoying what Gainesville has to offer, aside from the comfort of my sister's house and neighborhood. It's good to get everyone up off their butts and out of the house for a little while. Our visit to the prairie came to an abrupt end when Nealy decided that it was nap time and she had enough of all this nature mess. I had to carry her all the way back to the car, which was at least a mile long walk. And if you've seen the pudding rolls on that baby, you know I got my workout in for the day.

Thanksgiving: Part 1

Our trip to Gainesville for Thanksgiving was exactly what we all needed. Family, food, fun - it could not have been better.

Unfortunately, we don't have a lot of pictures from Thanksgiving Day, the table, the food, or the togetherness. We forgot about cameras that day and focused on the event. Sometimes I think everyone has more fun when no one is watching from behind the camera lens. Here is a list of things we did NOT photograph, but have the memories to enjoy:

1. My parents, my brother, my sister, and me - all together for the first time in a long time.

2. My sister's amazing Thanksgiving table, complete with a handmade table cloth, pumpkins, gourds, acorns, greenery arrangements, and more.

3. My dad's brother, Uncle Tom, his wife Mary Lou, and their daughter Becca drove down from St. Augustine to eat with us. Uncle Tom's unique personality cannot be described, but a conversation with him is never time wasted, and if you don't laugh non-stop, then you clearly don't get it. And my little cousin Becca, who we used to call Becky as a baby, has grown into a beautiful young woman who is diligently plowing through a graduate program in journalism. I hardly got to speak with Mary Lou, unfortunately, who is an administrator for the Florida School for the Deaf and Blind. Needless to say, she is fascinating on many levels.

4. Our little cottage across the street - my sister's neighbors maintain a small guest house for visits from their family members, and they have generously opened their doors to us on more than one occasion to keep my sister's house from bursting at the seams. A separate space makes travel to Gainesville even easier than it already is.

5. My brother-in-law's newest pieces, which show a technical talent in painting and collage as well as a consciousness of femininity in a new and original way. He recently received the Pollack-Krasner Grant, which is a tremendous testament to his gifts. I made sure I touched all of his newest paintings because I won't get to touch them when they're in a museum one day.

6. The geese who piddle around in the Duck Pond that divides the Boulevard where my sister lives, as well as the enormous turtles that can be spotted floating through the water, the occasional duck who speeds by, and the even more elusive otter who shows up from time to time.

7. The food: the turkey that almost never was, the pork tenderloin, the sweet potatoes with pecans and goodness, the green beans with bacon, the homemade cranberries, the cornbread dressing, the green salad with clementines and goat cheese, the pretzel salad, the orange cake, the pumpkin cheese cake, the pecan pie, the REAL pumpkin pie with some butternut squash and sweet potato thrown in (made by Karen, Carrie's neighbor, who places great importance on all things fresh and local when it comes to cooking), the fresh cream, and so much more......

But we do have some pictures of some of the fun things we did during our visit to the swamp. Starting with a little photo shoot of the kids' Thanksgiving fashion created by me, fabric applique expert after only a short tutorial. Okay, I'm not an expert at all, but I made some pretty stinking cute tee shirts for the kids to wear on Thanksgiving Day. Enjoy.....
I love how much this brother and sister pair love each other.

More on our visit to Florida in other posts, to be completed on a different night when I'm not about to pass out.

And I'm back......

Perhaps I have the winter blues, maybe it's the holiday blues, but I'm having difficulty getting it all together. I have plenty to blog about, especially after my recent tirade and subsequent vow to blog more often, followed by a loooooong expanse of quiet. What has been happening? Just life, I suppose. They say that the first two months of every school year are the hardest, but I feel like I am finding the fourth full month of school to be the most difficult. Folks get in the holiday spirit so quickly lately, and all of a sudden, the itch to get out for winter holidays is equal to spring fever. I have had difficult days at work where I find myself glancing at the clock a little too often, and I then come home with little to no energy for much more.

Maybe it's the gloom. I'm not sure.

But I really can't tell you what I've been doing that's been keeping me away from the blog. I guess it's just life. Or having very little to say. Or feeling like what I have to say is not important.

So, let me see if I can recap the past month. After Halloween was such an enormous undertaking, November began with a whimper rather than a bang to hurl us into the epitome of fall, which is disappointing considering how much I love and adore all things fall. But, I guess you can't win them all.

1. Jacks had several birthday parties to attend, as many as four in one weekend. It was great fun, and we love celebrating all of our precious babes.

2. Joe had his wisdom teeth removed, which we were extremely nervous about. Most people have them done in high school, and at 41, Joe thought he would never have to have his out. It was a long surgery; they had to crush two of the teeth in order to remove them as they were so firmly attached to his bone. But he recovered like a champ, and we have even referred to him as a miracle of modern dentistry! When he went back to the dentist after a weekend of restful recovery, the doctor was almost shocked to see how well Joe was doing. Yay! So that happened.

3. We had family photos taken again by the brilliant Amy McDaniel of Dewdrops Photography (see link in blog roll). We jumped the fence on the back side of the Forestry Preserve, one of our favorite places, and got a few lovely shots. Of course, I was a nervous wreck and managed to get the rest of the family stressed out and worried, so I'm not completely pleased with the results. But not due to Amy - she has a knack for getting some amazing pictures even when her subjects are difficult. Although, we are extremely thrilled to report that Joe remembered to SMILE this time. My normally happy-go-lucky husband who is never short on smiles did a damn good job of mean mugging the camera in the last photo shoot to the point that he literally looked like Lurch from the Adam's family in one picture. So, the smiling is great. Scroll down for a sampling.

4. The Goo Goo car wash raised the price of their full service package from $20 to $25. With no warning. So it seems the best deal in town got a little big for their britches. I'm just sayin'......

5. Thanksgiving happened - yaaaaay! We made the trek to sister's house in Gainesville, and we had a wonderful time. It was a great family gathering on the Duck Pond, and we were sad for the visit to end. I'll post about that soon, as soon as I actually upload the pictures. I keep meaning to do that....

6. And then, without warning, December arrived. We managed to get the house decorated, but not a gift has been purchase. Not a single one. I'm not sure when I'm going to get it all done, but I suspect it will be a last minute deal. I'm hoping I can get to Hobby Lobby this weekend and get to cracking on my annual homemade gift extravaganza.

On that note, we did clean out the basement. A yard sale was had, Salvation Army came, multiple things were discarded, life is good. The craft/sewing area is up and running as is the art studio. The goal for after Christmas is a major Ikea trip for play area supplies, but again, this is enough material for another post.

Let's get to the goods, enjoy the pictures.