Monday, December 17, 2007

A Christmas memory...

My mind has wandered a lot to Christmas' of the past lately. I loved Smallworld's blog about her first married Christmas, and so, I decided to blog about one of my Christmas memories.
It actually wasn't very long ago, and I can't believe I remember much because it was the year Elisa was born, and looking back on the pictures, my eyes weren't opened much in any picture, most likely because of sleep deprivation because she was only one month old. That, or my cheeks were just that big from all the weight I gained after the c-section...
After Elisa was born, I vowed to keep her inside as much as possible the first two months since Bekah had had RSV, and was in the hospital as a newborn. And so, for two months, I stayed at home. All day. With a 3 1/2 year old, 1 1/2 year old, and a new born. I couldn't wait until 9 a.m. so I could call another adult and talk. I had my list. First, I would call Joy, if she didn't answer then Maria, if she didn't answer....it was a joyous time in my life.
About a week before Christmas, I got a chance to take Caleb and Bekah out to the mall to see Santa, and Mike stayed home with Elisa. This was the first time we tried this. When we got there I noticed there were a lot of animals in line but no kids. Strange, I thought, but stayed in line anyway. By the time we got to the front, the woman asked me where my pet was. I said, "I don't have a pet, just my children." To that she said, "well tonight is pet night, no children can see Santa." Huh? Unfortunately for her, I had many hormones still racing through me, and had been locked up in my house now for over 4 weeks. And so, the tears began to pour, and my voice got a little loud.
"I just had a baby," I yelled. "I can't leave my house with her, I had surgery, and this is the only chance I will get to take these kids out to see Santa." It was about that time I see a familiar face coming out of another store. To my embarresment, she heard me, and asked what was going on. Then she looked at the lady I had just yelled at and said, "Mom, you have to let her kids go talk to Santa." After picking myslef up off the floor, the woman looked at me and said, "They can talk to him, but can't sit on his lap because of all the pet hair.." Ah, yes, Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night.
Here are the kids with the Santa they couldn't touch....Bekah is still afraid of him...
this was also the year Bekah had many scars on her face from all the mosquito bites...and she chose Veggie Tale bandaids...
And here I am trying to keep my eyes open for the picture...literally, this is what I look like in all the pictures that Christmas.
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Dec. 17, 2007 - Untitled Comment
Posted by SmallWorld
I remember that night at the mall! My mom and I were at the Dollar Store and saw you right after that adventure! I've told that story several times!
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Dec. 18, 2007 - I think...
Posted by QueenoftheHill
You look beautiful! Way to hang in there and beat down the Grinch!!!
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Dec. 20, 2007 - Untitled Comment
Posted by Suzanne
Cute pictures! Thanks for sharing them!

Monday, December 10, 2007

Decorating the tree..

Most years, our tradition is to put up our Christmas tree the Saturday after Thanksgiving. But this year, our tree and all our decorations were sitting in a storage unit about five minutes from our house. We were hopeful that we would be in our new house by Christmas, so it was the first in the storage unit. I finally got excited enough to tackle this, and so last Thursday we all went to the storage unit and got most of our decorations.
This was my first look at all we have in storage, and wow, we have a lot in storage! Now I am wondering what to do with it all. Mike easily found the tree and was ready to leave with just the tree, but I lovingly reminded him we needed ornaments. So, as he set to work finding those, I looked for the presents I had bought through the year. After lugging and pulling and ripping tape, we got it done and here is the result....
We ended up decorating on the 6th , which is St. Nicholas Day, and a tradition in my family for as long as I can remeber. I also found my Christmas cd's, much to Mike's dismay, but, I put on Emmanuel first, which is our favorite, and it felt like Christmas. (just don't ask me how many pictures I had to take to get this last shot...)
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Dec. 11, 2007 - truly beautiful
Posted by onfire (206.132.53.155)
it just wouldn't be christmas, to me, without a tree. and I am also glad to see we are not the only family who needs to rearrange some furniture slightly in order to accomodate the bush.
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Dec. 12, 2007 - It's so beautiful...
Posted by Mom (134.114.24.77)
For me, sitting in the darkened living room with the tree lights glowing and some Christmas music in the background gives me a sense of calm and peace in this hectic hectic time. Then again, we don't have a houseful of little ones to keep the calm times at bay! As the Bible says, for every thing there is a Season, and we're in a later Season of life. My wish for you dear ones is that you continue to love each moment of your lives together - they are all so precious.
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Dec. 19, 2007 - You never know...
Posted by QueenoftheHill (72.12.53.46)
It just may be that tree that sells the house!