Christmas Rewind

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I can’t, for the life of me, figure out where this season went.

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We were asked in November to be in charge of the church Christmas party…

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and by the time we were finished with that…

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the season was terrifically upon us…

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ready or not.

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The tree went up in a whirl wind and though Rhen put all his ornaments on and I put all of my ornaments on–still, it looked oddly bare. I came to the conclusion that even though we had packed the tree quite full with decorations, we were missing Dane’s ornaments and Jillian’s ornaments–that they took with them when they got married.

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Funny how there were ornaments that I subconsciously waited all year to see again, and then discovered that they are hanging on other trees in other households these days. We had a severe lack of ballerinas and footballs on the tree this year.

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But I did manage to get a new nativity to add to my growing collection. Forgive me for this one–it is a bit irreverent, but it made me laugh so hard when I saw it that…well, it needed to be mine.

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Strangely, I keep waking up with a quick shiver thinking, “Ooooh, Christmas is nearly here!” and then jolt to the realization that it has come and gone and I’ll be expected to put it all away in a day or two…for another whole year. How can it be?

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I’m not ready, I’m not ready, I’m not ready. I’m not finished with candy canes, and stockings and wrapping presents and seeing Christmas lights and looking at baby Jesus. Why, I don’t remember seeing people open their presents and I haven’t even made my special fudge yet. Something is dreadfully wrong with this picture.

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I want to look at the calendar and find that it’s December 5th and the happiest season of all is still ahead. That would be so lovely. I’m game for a big Christmas season stall out. What do you say?

Maybe we’ll just keep playing the music and watching the shows…

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and holding the season hostage until I get my fill.

I’m thinking May-ish.

:} Ho, ho, ho.

Christmas Wish

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So, sweet Beckham comes to me one day holding his old, worn out slippers that I made him when he was a baby, and says, “Grammy–this Christmas, do you think you could make me some slippers that are, you know…bigger?”

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Ummm….yep, Beck.

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I can.

:}

A Perfect Day of Thanks

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The morning began with the “Turkey Bowl” for the big boys. Of course, I’d rather watch football than sleep but to put my boys in the game together–well, I’d give up a bag of Cheetos for that. It was pure heaven to watch them together, which is something that hasn’t happened much lately, with Dane living in Idaho now. So, all the other ladies might have been home cooking turkey, but I wasn’t about to miss a second of this.

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Then, home for breakfast of corn bread and honey butter, gingerbread and whipped cream, and blueberry muffins just because. It’s sort of our evolved pilgrim breakfast…kind of.

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And then the parade that makes me feel like a 7 year old again…

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which is a lovely thing for me. It’s a dream of mine to someday rent a hotel room overlooking the parade route and watch it–for real, from the window, with my whole family.

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Then have our Thanksgiving dinner there in the room. No idea where we’d get the food from, but we’d figure it out. I’ll do it too…someday. You’ll see.

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But in the real world, there were four pans of Mom’s stuffing to toast. Note to self and all concerned: dried, minced onion is not the same thing as one cup fresh, chopped onion.

Won’t make that mistake again. But it was still good…enough.

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While most people were eating their feast, we relaxed, kicked back and watched a movie. The other kids were having their time with their in-laws, so we figured it was the perfect time to watch Captain America. Seemed appropriate somehow–hahaha. But I was kind of amazed at how nice it was to just sit calmly for awhile and do nothing.

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Then, on to April’s we went for the real deal, real meal.

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Such abundance, and goodness…

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and heavenly, scrumptious food.

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Why, Dane even made Cinnamon Monkey Bread with a lovely crunchy top. Yes, it was me that kept picking at it.  :}

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But the food is nothing in comparison to the company. Every single soul that I love, with all my heart…all together in one place.

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It’s true…

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we are so blessed.

And I am so grateful.

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A Teeny Tiny Football Day

Our house was waaaay up from the beach so when I watched these guys doing that which they always do–throwing a football–they were so far away that I could barely see who was who. After zooming in and cropping, this is what we get…that is until the Bald Kid went behind the cliff and I couldn’t see him anymore.

Maybe if you scroll through fast, it will look like a flip book or something.

No matter where we go,

or how long they’ve been apart…

some things…

between these boys…

thankfully…

never…

ever…

change.

Oh, how I love them.