Christmas 2010

On Friday, we went to B'ham for the day to do a little shopping.

On Thursday night, I was up from 10-3:30 with a stomach bug.

I should have stayed home.

We picked up a few goodies for stockings, and got Ben by the Lego store for his birthday that got glossed over.  That Lego store is about 1/10 the size of the one at Disney.  Plus, I had a Lego card that gets stamped with each purchase.  The guy said that was the old system, here is the new system-a plastic card.  Let me transfer your info and....there.  Here is your balance and you will get an e-mail to finish the set-up. 

Got the e-mail.  My balance is $0.  I have spent...way more than $0 on Legos AT the Lego store and had stamps for each amount on my other card, which is in the trash at the Galleria.  URGH.  I have an e-mail in to CS, but...who knows.

Christmas Day, we got up and marveled at the snow.  The kids went out and ran around, we made snow cream and ate orange rolls.  We only did stockings this year, so everyone got a few small goodies, mainly card games and candy, and to counteract that, a new spinning toothbrush each.  : )  The kids got each other Webkinz and ran off to play with them. 

 Zephyr LOVED the snow.  But, it stuck all to her fur and we had to soak it loose in warm water, which she did not like.  I was afraid it would lower her core temp if we left her encased in it.  And, puddles in the carpet and on the bed.  No good.  Still, she had a good time running around, she really likes to think she is a big dog.  Her sweatshirt helped some, kept the snow off her belly anyway.

 Wa-ha!  This looks like a yummy Christmas feast!  Nom Nom.

I had the tree down by 11, back in the attic with a few other boxes of stuff that had been brought down recently.  I cleaned out our closet and bagged up 7 big bags of outgrown/unused/unwanted clothing from myself and Matt and Matt took it to the drop here in town and he ran the recycling by.  Most of that stuff was from Matt's Dad's big drop-off Friday evening.  They are cleaning out their closets and are sending the...refuse? through me.  I did sort and re-direct a few things.

The kids are going through their clothes next, after it warms up because their dressers are on the back porch and that gets cold this time of year.

I had wanted to go out of town for the break, but I am glad we did not.  I would have worried about the critters here and I would have been just as cold anywhere within a 15 hour drive. 

I have accepted 14 more cemetery photo requests.  We will head out to work on those Tuesday, I think tomorrow will still be too cold.  Wednesday night is the dinner with everyone, then Thursday morning I get this tooth pulled.  I am anxious to get it done, I ran out of antibiotics last week and each day, it hurts more.  That will put me out for the last 4 of Matt's 10 days off.  He is not thrilled, but that's how it worked out.  I am hoping, being a simple extraction and not a surgery, that I will only be a little tender Thursday and by Friday, I will be okay again.  Maybe not for heavy lifting or roofing work, but to drive somewhere or be otherwise not drooling blood on the pillowcase in a haze of drugged stupor.  That's my New Year goal.  Go me.

Tree

 We finally put the tree up yesterday.  I was all for skipping the whole Christmas event, but I don't live alone.  I live with three kids who so rarely ask for anything, that I find it difficult to say  no when they do, in particular if it's easily within my ability to give them what they want. In this case, the only effort was going into the attic.

I do like the tree, I like the lights and the shape of it.  I also have a few favored ornaments that I was glad to see.

 This is the first of the ornaments Matt and I ever bought.  It's a red pear, the lighting is off.  There is a green pear that matches it.

 Here is the original Matt ornament.  It was from a kid's meal...I forget from where.  I just remember seeing it on a banner and knowing THAT was THE one.  It's his favorite and after falling in love with Expedition Everest at Disney, we all cheer when the Yeti comes out each year.

 These are a set of 10 plastic bead angels the kids and I made together the last year they deemed crafts an acceptable holiday event. 

 Our Hannah and Hallie dolls, who have graced our tree for six years now.

 This angel has been on every tree I can remember.  I took it off the tree at my mother's house after I moved out on my own.  It was the only ornament from my childhood that I wanted to keep.  I remember after I asked her for that one, she boxed up a huge assortment for me to take, over the years, they have broken or have been passed on or are in a different box somewhere up there in the attic.  My little angel is the only one I really wanted.

 Hiking bear!  I love him.

 My little birdhouse to complement Ben's assortment of birds!

 I love these blank-faced angels and I have a collection of them.

This was from when I woke up one day and decided I loved pigs.  I bought...several pig figurines that year.  The kids looked for an ornament of a pig, this was as close as they could get.

So, maybe it's a Solstice tree or a standing Yule log or a fancy Festivus pole or a Christmas tree, I can't force everyone to change their minds just because I am having a hard time making sense of the season.

Lights

The lamest and easiest of all bokeh (blurred) shots to take-yet still my favorite. Heather and I threatened to learn a new way of doing them last year, maybe this is the year we accomplish our dreams! hahaha