More Fun With Mom

Our little downtown square has an amazing display of lights. I've never seen anything like it so we definitely took Mom to see it. She got a family picture of us there. I have no pictures, however, of the camel rides (which I didn't have the $5 for), visits with Santa, a real reindeer, horse-drawn carriage rides....pretty cool.

 

Mom and I have a tradition to spend a Saturday together doing whatever we want. This year that meant last-minute shopping, going to a pleasantly brainless Christmas movie, and sampling stuff from a gas station disguised as a gourmet food shop (it proved to be nothing but smart packaging). And the day started here with a delicious brunch! Unfortunately, I didn't feel very good, can you tell?

 

So Mom could visit with my sweet sisters-in-law and meet my new nieces, we met for lunch at a tearoom in one of the old downtown buildings - there goes my tank overflowing again! I'm not a photographer but, oh my gosh, I love this picture. No caption necessary for a moment caught like this...

 

Is any of this working at all to entice a visit from a friend or two???

Grammy

Our tune this Christmas didn't have much to do with Santa coming to town but we did eagerly anticipate someone else -- Grammy! We spent some valuable with her and I believe she very artfully (and successfully) created a week of unforgettable moments with her grandson, Joshua. Among the memories:

Pizza at the best place in my old college town!

 

A welcome into the world of 3-D movies. How are we ever to be satisfied with things not threatening to slap us in the face now?

 

Cut-out cookies! This is a Grammy tradition every year. She travels all over the country to do this with all 7 of her grandchildren! Like I said, who needs to sing about Santa?

 

The "Happy Birthday, Jesus" cake. They did a great job. I got a little anxious to slice it up (as you can see) but they reminded me that we needed to light candles and sing! And so we did, most merrily.

 

Thank you for coming, Mom. We had such a good time and we love and miss you! Good luck on round three of the baking spree....

The Bible Thumpers

Every Thursday I have 'BS' marked on my calendar and that's just not right. BS stands for Bible Study and nothing otherwise so this wonderful, fantastic group of girls deserved another title, I thought. Our final vote:
The Bible Thumpers

 

God has blessed me so much with the friendship of these girls. It's amazing how God knit us together. Every week we laugh AND cry - count on it, share what we learned from our study, tell our deepest secrets, pray for each other, and then laugh and cry again. Sometimes we laugh BECAUSE someone in particular is still crying! Well, that someone did the most thoughtful thing for us all yesterday by hosting a Christmas luncheon I'll never forget. Every detail was wrought with the special attention that fills my little domestic tank to an overflow. Have you ever seen a custom-made Christmas curtain for the guest bathroom -- just for a get-together with your friends? Wish I'd taken a picture. I loved every bit of it. Most of all, Shannon, I love you! Thank you for bringing me in and putting me on your 'kindred spirit' list. You made my season.

Remember how I gushed with admiration over my beloved grandmother awhile ago, especially on how no one can say things like she can?  Many of you concurred.  My favorite comment was from my sister, Carolyn, who brought up something about her that had me laughing for days and made me believe I needed to put up an addendum.  Here's Carolyn on Grandma:

One time she told me that if I was ever hearing something I didn't like, to "put it in my sifter and say, 'that's not in my recipe. I'm baking this cake.'"

So now there are 3 of us in the world doin' some siftin'. Anyone else with another Grandma-ism?

All I Want For Christmas Is....

 

Ornament Tag, Part 2

 

My friend Lorri made this for me and I have no idea how she did it.

 

Joshua and Grammy (my mom) painted this and some others together. And he was 6 -- just like me!

 

My friend, Tempelle, and I went shopping one day for the perfect pair of black shoes and never found them. She, however, found one in the way of an ornament for me! I laugh whenever I see this and still wish I could find those shoes...

 

My friend, Amy, made this for me -- it's one of my favorite verses. She could have very easily made this in her own honor as she is such a wise woman! And very creative!

Lorri, Tempelle, Amy -- you are very missed this year. Thank you for giving me an endearing way to remember you every Christmas.

Mom -- thank you for giving me simple traditions that make little things huge. See you in a couple weeks!

A Christmas Tag

My friend Amy has started her own great tag involving favorite ornaments. She picked several of hers and shared the special meaning behind them and invited anyone who would like to do the same. This seemed like something fun to do until I realized that EVERY ornament on my tree has special meaning. Nothing on my tree hasn't either been made by us or given to us for some sweet reason, so narrowing it down to several is very difficult. I eventually took pictures of 8 and I will divide it into two posts based on the order in which they came to me.

 

The one above was one I painted with my Mom and brother when I was 6, I think. I picked this because I'm so glad Mom saved these for us!

 

My Mom gave Greg & I this one for our first Christmas together. It's see-through, like one of my favorites when I was a kid.

 

This one makes me sad but it means a lot to me. I took care of a baby for a long time that didn't end up making it and his family made this angel ornament for me. I will never forger that baby.

 

And this one brings me total joy. Becky made this for me the Christmas I was pregnant with Joshua. It's an expectant Momma made out of a clothespin! If only I had actually looked this small...

Anyone up for sharing? I'd love to see your special ornaments!

Getting The Tree

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It's been the tradition since our first year of marriage to get a live tree. A tighter Christmas might mean that the tree's a foot shorter this year but it didn't matter. How could it when it was actually snowing outside!

 

The 3 of us spent the day decorating the tree, eating some Chicago-style pizza, baking cookies, and, when night fell, we snuggled together to stare at our tree and watch "It's A Wonderful Life". I love that movie. I've been watching it every year since I was 12 but I still tear up at the end. I want to be friends with George & Mary Bailey and have Joshua marry ZuZu.

By the way, it ended up snowing all day and through the night. By December 1st, we had a blanket of white everywhere! No picture, though. Memory was full.