We returned to Papa's old stomping grounds Saturday for our annual McGregor Christmas. I've been a part of this tradition since '93 when Brett and I were engaged, and it's always a highlight of our holiday season.
This year was tough, though, because Aunt Norma wasn't there. It was just strange that she wasn't sitting at the table like always, wearing her reindeer antlers and entertaining us with her stories. I know she would've loved seeing everybody there. Family meant the world to her, and the sights and sounds would've tickled her.
Even though we missed her terribly, I can't think of a better way to honor her memory at Christmas!
Becky and Dana, our hostess and host
Blake, who's Brett's second cousin once removed or something like that
Another relative: Alyssa (who has just been found during a thrilling game of hide-and-seek)
The kitchen table
Alyssa and Novalee, cuties who were tons of fun-- and who LOVE bubble wrap
and fish!
The kids got to play a little Guitar Hero
And one big kid got to play
Kelly and Novalee
Crawford Santa on a beautifully restored tractor (that brought back a lot of memories for Papa)
The big moment came between Crawford and Meridian: Our van now has more than 100,000 miles on it!
I drove to McGregor to fend off carsickness. On the way home, I tried to sleep in the back.
1. It's just not Christmas until I listen to John Denver and the Muppets: A Christmas Together. Seriously. Rowlph's rendition of "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" is my favorite version of my favorite secular holiday song. (It had never even occurred to me that a video of this could be on YouTube until I saw Wade's random list. Well, DUH!)
2. Like several people I know, we've always had an artificial tree. Growing up, we had allergy and pet issues that made fake trees the way to go. Now that we have a prelit, easy-to-assemble one, I can't imagine going through the hassle of buying a real tree! (In fact, it's hard to imagine going back to the torture of stringing lights on an artificial one, either!)
3. I can't wait until we have a bigger house so I can have more than one Christmas tree! I'd love to have one in every room, and in the past, we've had a kids' tree on the piano or in Katie's bedroom. Lately, though, it's just been the one big tree.
4. One year, probably my last Christmas before we got married, I had a Longhorn Christmas tree. (Not surprising, huh?) It was decorated with orange lights and had a wide assortment of UT ornaments. Greatness.
5. I spent the Christmas of '83 in Hawaii with my high school band. We performed at the Aloha Bowl that year and had a phenomenal time. It was really weird to have PB&J sandwiches and steamed rice from the U of H dorm cafeteria for Christmas dinner, but it was the trip of a lifetime. Besides, my folks tagged along as sponsors, so I still got to spend Christmas with them. I absolutely refuse to believe it's been 24 years since that trip! I can still remember the leis we wore all fall during our fundraising campaign, and I can still see us forming a giant Christmas tree while we played "Mele Kalikimaka." (We played "Only Time Will Tell," too. Anybody remember Asia? There's some great '80s music right there!) I also have a special attachment to the songs on the plane's piped-in music, too: "Major Tom" especially--a great song to hear while you're flying high above the Pacific! ("Earth below us, drifting, falling...")
6. We spend Christmas at our house, and it's WONDERFUL! We had to drive through a horrendous ice storm in Arkansas one year, and after surviving that terrifying trip, we were done with the Christmas traveling. We love having Memaw spend Christmas Eve with us and being home to leave cookies for Santa--and see what he brought us! After opening presents, Brett and I cook an enormous feast for the five of us. As much as we'd love to spend the day with more of our family, it's just so special to have that time together--just us in our cozy home!
7. I love the fact that Ryan and Katie count down the days until Christmas with our DecemBear calendar...
8. ...and with their chocolate Adventkalendars...
9. ...even if we keep missing several days in a row and the kids end up eating mounds of chocolate in one sitting just to get caught up!
10. The days right before Christmas get me a little panicky because I worry that I've forgotten something--a present, a dinner ingredient, toilet paper--and all the stores will be closed and we'll have to live (all of 12 hours) without it! I'm always super-relieved once we get through that "black-out period" and everything's open again--as it should be.
11. White Christmas. Oh, WHITE CHRISTMAS! I have to watch this every year. Back in my post-UT, pre-marriage days, I even went to the theater by myself to see White Christmas on the big screen. Love, love, love that movie and all the songs. Bing and Danny Kaye are just so much fun, and I've listened to Rosemary Clooney's DVD commentary enough to know plenty of the backstory while I watch, too. And I cry EVERY SINGLE TIME when they open those big barn doors at the end.
12. I cry a lot at Christmas, period. A good Christmas carol on the radio, a sweet (or even sappy) commercial on TV... It all gets me. I've always been the sentimental sort, but since '93, I've had to spend Christmas without my Daddy. I see Ryan and Katie opening presents and just wish, wish, wish that Daddy could share that with us. Katie will sing a carol or Ryan will read a story to us, and I just dissolve in tears because I am so, so blessed. But I'm sad, too. His absence hits me other times, too, but wow, are the holidays hard! Even though we've had some amazing Christmases since Daddy died, especially with R&K around, my mom and I just miss him so much. And always will.
I tag Brett because he's a great storyteller, and there's no telling what 12 things he'll come up with!
That's what Katie's second grade teacher said after seeing tonight's performance of "The Elves' Impersonator," the fourth grade Christmas program.
We didn't realize she'd ever been in a shell, but her former teacher's right: This girl steals the show! Her inflections, her dancing, her solo: all stellar!
The show is about an elf, Elfis, who's ostracized because he's, um, different. He carries a guitar, wears big hair and sunglasses, and says uh-huh a lot. But boy, can he sing! Santa eventually convinces his North Pole posse the importance of acceptance, and thus they rock-n-roll happily ever after.
Of course, the musical would've been missing something if not for the show-stopping performance of Elf #1! Great job, Kates!
Doesn't everybody put an 8-foot inflatable Bevo on their lawn for Christmas? At least he's all Christmas-y, adorned with one token strand of garland. (Hey, I did show some restraint. I left his 4-foot Mini-Me in the house.)
For the last few years, I've put a tinsel Christmas tree in my classroom. This year I upgraded my 2-foot silver tree to a 4-foot silver tree! The newspaper and yearbook staffers wrote their names on little silver bells to add to the blue and white decorations.
In the school office are even more blue and white Christmas trees, a nice show of school spirit for our Blue Raiders. Even though my tree's small, I love having this little bit of Christmas in our J lab!
Another great thing about this time of year? It's a great excuse to bake! Katie helped me make chocolate chip brownies this weekend. Mmm, mmm, mmm...
Unfortunately, we still have a week and a half of school remaining before our Christmas break. All the parties and programs just compound the stress of work and school. The workload's getting so bad, even ChaCha's having to pitch in to help with homework.
Another sign of the season? It's harder to blog on a regular basis, so I end up with random posts like this one!
For years Nana has hosted a tree-trimming sleepover for her granddaughters. This year, Katie's closest girl cousin couldn't make it, so the boys got to participate! They enjoyed hot dogs... and as is Nana's tradition, they paid a visit to a family friend. (Here, Papa watches Ryan sign the card for Ellie.) Ryan, Katie and their cousin Adam had a great time eating together, decorating Nana and Papa's tree and staying up way too late!
Brett and I enjoyed our own night out, eating dinner at Carino's (the best excuse for carbs--EVER) and then getting some Christmas shopping out of the way.
You know that Bose display at Target, the one where you can try out the different headphones/earphones?
Katie knows every single song on the Bose demo! The girl has a gift for learning lyrics! If she hears a song once or twice, she has it committed to memory. Pretty cool! During one of our many big outings to Target recently, she showed me how well she knew all those songs, from country to hip-hop to folk. Considering all the not-so-nice lyrics out there, it's a little scary how quickly she can pick up on those words.
Our yearbook publishes senior ads--you know, those little blocks of sweet "We're so proud of you" text along with baby pictures. Today I was looking over this year's batch, just about ready to send them to our publisher, when I happened to notice the date printed on one snapshot of a smiling infant: October 1989.
So I'm thinking, October 1989? But that's only 6 1/2 years before Ryan was born! Of course, since the day we found out he was on the way, we've known he'd be in the class of 2014. In any case, the realization that in six years he'll be a senior in high school hit me. Hard.
How did this happen? Just a few months ago he was in diapers. Several weeks ago he started kindergarten. And now, all of the sudden, we're barreling toward his driver's license and SATs and college apps.
But we're not there yet! Today he's in sixth grade, making his literary element mobile and wearing it! So here's to today.
Ryan's element is the Magic Three. Not familiar with that one? My creative, literate and hard-working son used light sources to demonstrate that concept. He found appropriate pictures, wrote exemplary sentences and attached them all to a lamp shade. He could've phoned it in. He might've used a regular coat hanger. Instead, he had a bright idea! Got it now?
Finally! A nice, sunshiny day for getting our outside lights up. The sunny weather was the good news; the nasty wind was the bad! Tip: If you're going to put up an 8-foot inflatable Bevo, it might be a good idea to pick a day when the wind's NOT gusting 30 mph! (Unfortunately--or fortunately for me--it's impossible to take pictures when you're wrestling a giant orange steer.)
Also? Thinking your Christmas lights only have to work for one more Christmas is the surest way to know they won't work AT ALL. Several of our stupid light strings are dead, dead, dead, and since we're hoping to be in a different house by next Christmas, we hate to invest too much for decorations here. But could I really live with half our roof unlit? Nah.
Taking advantage of the nice weather, Brett cleaned out the shed, and guess what he found?
YES!!!!!! He found the Granny decorations! I'm SO, SO, SO happy to have that box safe and sound inside our house. WOO-HOO!
He also found an unlabeled box that had some miscellaneous items in it, including a couple of decorations I thought had been lost when we got rid of our old Christmas tree. There was the Christmas card holder that I hadn't been able to replace; there was the mod wooden Christmas tree that reminded me of my Austin days. Talk about serendipity! I was optimistic we'd find the Granny stuff, but this box? Big-time BONUS!
At long last it's time for Ryan and Katie to have an excuse to eat chocolate every single night. It's December, and the countdown to Christmas has begun with our two of our favorite traditions: the Adventskalenders and the Beary Merry Christmas calendar.
The kids enjoy finding the chocolate behind each day's square, and the German Club at school enjoys my business every year!
My mom made this DecemBear calendar for me years ago, and the kids have come to expect it to become part of our kitchen decor as soon as the decorations go up.
Ever the crafty one, Katie was excited to return to NRH's "Night of Holiday Magic." We went last year because Ryan's choir performed there. Neither Dub kid was singing tonight, but Katie just couldn't miss out on all the festivities, especially the craft tent.
Enjoying the Peppermint Mocha samples from Starbucks
Heading to the craft tent
Getting tattooed by Paige, our neighbor and a volunteer
I had to FedEx a package this afternoon, and the man at my friendly neighborhood Pack N Mail was there--as always--to help me. I love that he knows my name, even though I haven't been to his store since May when we shipped the last issue of the student newspaper. Last year I would show up once every six weeks, but we submit our pages online now. I wondered if he would remember me, and sure enough, he did! I guess that's why I drove a little out of my way to frequent his shop instead of one closer to home.
Then there's the man I often see when I'm walking. It's crazy how often he's out there when I round the corner and head down his street. In the morning? He's there smoking by his pickup. After school? Yep! There he is, leaning against the bed of the truck, watching the world go by. One afternoon a few weeks ago, all four of us were walking together--a nice change of pace. Well, the smoking guy was there, and as usual, Brett and I said hello. Much to my surprise, he commented on how much Ryan and Katie have grown. "I remember you pushing them around in their stroller," he said, and WHOOOOOOSH! I flashed back to those days when the kids would sing and count mailboxes while we pushed the double buggy. I was amazed that he recognized us as that particular family of four; we haven't exactly been regular walkers all these years. Still, it was nice that he shares that special memory of our babies.
And there you have it: Day 30 of NaBloPoMo! I'm not quite sure what I've proven to myself, but it sure has been a nice stress-reliever to force myself away from household chores, away from ongoing projects to spend just a few minutes a day writing.
It's day 29 of NaBloPoMo, and I'm spent! What to write, what to write...
I could resort to tales of what we had for dinner (Frito pie), or I could update my weight loss saga (since I hadn't updated my weight loss ticker for EIGHTY days until today). I could talk about how the four of us are cozied up in the living room watching the Cowboys-Packers game. We could get into how Katie and Ryan are filling our house with Christmas music these days, getting ready for their school programs. There's "Shrek the Halls" that we just watched on tape; that could be a short post. Brett just made another banana smoothie, his snack of choice lately, and I could write at least a paragraph about his blended love. And of course, there are always cat stories to be told, if only to uphold our reputation as the C.C.P. Hmm. What to write, what to write...
When I started this whole post-every-day-for-a-month thing, I said I would be blogging gratitude, but how simple is it to say I'm thankful for, um, just about everything? I'm thankful for all of the daily blessings that make me smile, from Fritos to trumpet music to animated ogres. I'm so glad to have "just a Thursday night" in my home, surrounded by my precious family, my belly full, my heart fuller.
We're praying for Jill, an HCC member who's on hospice care because of cancer. What this clip doesn't say is that Jill's mom, who also had cancer, died on Thanksgiving day.
In his sermon Sunday, Jim talked about how, on his way to see the family, he was thinking that this must be an awful holiday for them. When he got there, though, they told him that this Thanksgiving was extra special, even though they had lost their wife, mother, grandmother. Jim explained that when Jill's mom was diagnosed with cancer, she was given six months to live. That was in 1978. Her family was grateful for the 29 years they had after that diagnosis.
I'm thankful to have heard their story, and I'm thankful that KLTY was able to fulfill this Christmas wish for Jill and her three kids.
Katie has become quite the Club Penguin fan! When she gets her turn on the computer, Club Penguin is where she (or her penguin counterpart) "hangs out" with her penguin peeps.
As a secret agent, Katie's penguin takes on all kinds of missions: For completing certain tasks, she earns medals: She loves it, and we love the way she uses problem-solving skills to help her penguin!
Becky and Dana, our hostess and host
Blake, who's Brett's second cousin once removed or something like that
Another relative: Alyssa (who has just been found
The kitchen table
Alyssa and Novalee, cuties who were tons of fun--
and fish!
The kids got to play a little Guitar Hero
And one big kid got to play
Kelly and Novalee
Crawford Santa on a beautifully restored tractor
The big moment came between Crawford and Meridian: Our van now has more than 100,000 miles on it!
I drove to McGregor to fend off carsickness.
Cool courthouse--Bosque County, maybe?
