Time for the Christmas Blog (yes I know it is a little late) :
First of all - Belated Merry Christmas, Belated Happy Hanukkah, Belated Happy Kwanza, Belated Happy Boxing Day - I am beginning to see a theme with the "belated" here - I do love a theme, but I hate being belated on anything - especially the holidays, but there are only 24 hours in a day and I can easily waste at least 2-3 of them surfing blogs, playing on Webkinz, and working to better my Nintendo Brain Age (I am down to 41!!).
Christmas cards - they are on the way to friends and family - late. Sorry - I ordered them from Apple, chose standard shipping, and they were to arrive December 19. Then the storms hit, the cards travelled slowly across the US and landed in Portland December 18. I being the optimist was excited that I would be able to get them out in a timely manner - since Portland is less than 200 miles from here, they should be delivered Dec 19 or 22. I readied my labels and address list and was ready to go. Well the cards decided to spend the holiday in Portland. They were in Portland until December 26 when they arrived in Auburn. Auburn is about 10 miles from our house. They stayed in Auburn waiting for a "Business Day Delivery" and were finally delivered on December 29 to my office. What was so fun is that due to the electronic age and FED EX's efficient tracking system we could see they were in our hemisphere and just out of our reach!!!
With this blog, I can proudly say HAPPY NEW YEAR without the belated and hope that in the New Year the belated's will be at a minimum.
This year, deciding to be a minimalist (or more truthfully - lazy), I only put out a few favorite decorations - here are a few of them:
The final "upstairs" tree. This is the tree that we bought from the homeless lot (see previous post) and is for T's and my ornaments. Hard to believe but this is only about a third of the ornaments we have!!!
Christmas Card Angel Basket- she happily holds the holiday cards we receive. Note the plastic flowers - each year these little buggers fall off and disperse about the house. No amount of hot glue seems to hold them on. Duct tap is the next step. She used to hang in my mom's hall and I loved going through the cards over and over. Now that she holds our cards, I still enjoy looking at the cards through out the season. At the end of the season, I save all the pictures in a box and then the next year I go back through all the years of pictures before I put the basket out for the season. It is so fun to see how families have grown and changed. Kids I used to babysit have now graduated college, and have children of their own!
More stuff from my mom- the snowmen were given to my mom by my aunt - they are actually tin cans decorated with batting material. "How clever" you say!! There were actually 2 versions of this - one was a set someone tried to recreate - this was the "fancier" set with the embellishments. I of course get the fancier version - remember I am the favorite. My sisters get to share the less fancy version. Mr. Snowman is missing an eye and every year I swear I am going to make a new felt eye - I do ponder - does he really need to see? The little elfs in front of the snowmen are actually 2 sets -one from my mom and one from my grandma. I can remember playing with the set at my grandmas like they were little dolls. They were displayed on her big console tv (remember those - hers even had a remote control - wow!). I would rearrange them so that they all faced each other in 2 rows. Again - I think Mom and grandma gave them to me because they like me best!! I don't think I have to share these with my sisters - again I will wait for guidance from my sisters that are 800 miles away? I really like these little guys and this year I found out they are collectors items. Okay - they were featured in Hallmark Magazine as collectors items, but still, collector's items nonetheless!! And it means there are others out there like me who enjoy little odd decorations such as these!!
The chime angels - I love this - it belonged to T's Memere. My parent's had one and I was enamored with it. I had purchased one for us, but it was quite flimsy and small and definitely not as nice. This one is so special because it came from T's Memere. The girls love it and are mesmerized by it. Angel our cat - is also mesmerized by it and unfortunately tries to chase the light from it as it dances on the ceiling and walls. Therefore we have to light it only when Angel is napping (fortunately, being a cat, she naps alot).
This is the final version of the gingerbread house - turned out pretty nice and has stayed together now for at least 3 weeks.
Check out the sled I made with a graham cracker and candy canes. This little sled is actually harder to put together and keep together than it looks.
Here is Ms. Mistletoe - she always hung on my mom and dad's dining room light and she now hangs on our dining room light. My mom always called her Ms. Mistletoe - but she is actually not mistletoe, but holly - she should be renamed Ms. Holly -but old habits die hard... K made the snow flake - foam craft - she felt that it too should hang from the dining room light!!
The reason for the season.
I am ashamed to say this is our only representation of the nativity in our Christmas decorations this year. There should be more of this and less of the other since the birth of our saviour is the reason for the season.
Christmas Carols - my 2 favorites are Feliz Navidad and Angels We Have Heard on High. The reason these are my favorites are - remember how sometimes you get the lyrics to songs wrong - well our precious kids have been singing the following:
For Feliz Navidad - "My knees la di da"
and for the part in Angels we have heard on high that is "Gloria, In Excelsius Deo" - they sing "Alexis has a fun DAY OH"
I struggled with whether to correct them or let the innocence shine and let them continue to sing "their" words. They have since found out the "real" words and we now sing "their" versions laughing!
As I write this I realize how truly fortunate we are and I am thankful for the Christmas memories and the wonderful family and friends we have.
God Bless Everyone
and
Best Wishes for a Happy New Year.
1 comment:
Okay enough of the favorite daughter stuff- you get to keep everything but the evil Santa and the reason you got him first is because you are the "baby" Lori get's custody of "evil" Santa next year and I get him the year after then back to you and he makes the loop again. I believe it is T who stated that he looks evil!! I wondered where the pine cone men went glad they stayed in the family.
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