Merry-Making 2009

Christmas Eve saw me and my little family headed out to Red Dragon Farm for Christmas Eve dinner with the parents.  Brothers John, Andy and Jerry were there, as well as John's two boys, Walker and Gareth.  Also joining us were Uncle George (ex of Dad's half-sister), Uncle Tom (Mom's brother) and Marta (Tom's wife).  It was quite a gathering! 

When I talked to Andy beforehand, he asked if I would make deviled eggs for him.  He's a HUGE fan of them, but doesn't get them often.  The last time I brought some to somewhere he was, they didn't even make it to the door.  He met me in the driveway and proceeded to consume the entire platter.  That was NOT going to happen this time.  I made TWO trays of them.  It was raining when we arrived, so they actually made it out of the driveway and through the garage before being accosted at the doorway.  Andy's eyes lit up and he asked, "Which one is MINE?"  Darling Man looked at me and told him to hand Andy the blue one.  Five minutes later, they were gone.  That did it for Andy though, so the rest of us got to eat the other tray. 

This is what was left.

Family gathered that hadn't been around for a while.  With her new haircut, Mom looks a lot like her little brother Tom.  The Sadler-ness really came out.

The boy spent most of his time being Tinkertoy Boy!  He's really into

building backpacks out of  

circles and sticks.

After everyone ate way too much, Andy and Dad both collapsed into recliners and fell asleep.  Dad gave me one final, baleful look as I took yet another in a series of hundreds of photos of him in his recliner - then closed his eyes with a gentle harumph and dozed.

And the next morning, it was CHRISTMAS!

Our modest little Charlie Brown tree with a surprising number of presents underneath.  I guess when you add everyone's contributions together, it creates quite a pile.

Then there was the present that wouldn't fit UNDER the tree.  It had its own spot over by the piano...  Look at that grin!  This is one happy boy!

       Misha got to play in the boxes.

Around 10am, the in-law family began to arrive for Christmas Brunch.  I'd made two breakfast casseroles, a platter of fruit, some croissants, and real cocoa made from cocoa powder, sugar, milk, salt and vanilla.  The family turned out enmass.

There was some interesting news - niece Kelly is engaged!  No date has been set, but she brought her fiancee with her and introduced him to the family.  Our internationality just keeps growing and growing.  Fiance M has a Cuban father and a Puerto Rican mother.  He said this hesitantly when I asked him where he was from.  I then explained that I have had two Puerto Rican aunts, that my cousin is half-PR and the father of her children are also Puerto Rican.  My daughter-in-law is from El Salvador.  Another aunt married a guy from Equador.  We are Germans, Czechs, Welsh, Nordic, English - a real hodge-podge family.  True Americans, as it were.  He visibly relaxed and finally began enjoying himself.

       

Kelly showed her grandmother the ring while Kylee looked on.

Some of the family on the back deck:  Grandma Helen, Kurt, Patty, Kelly, Kylee, Michael and Revan (dog).

Sister-in-law Cindi and her daughter Hillary relax while the kids open presents.

Helen and Roy surrounded by grandchildren:  Zach, Hillary, Matt, Kylee, Kelly, Kurt.  Not in attendance were Eva, Erika and Elisa.  That's a lot of grandchildren!

Z got all ready for the inaugural new bike ride.  So excited!  He and Matt rode all around the neighborhood.  I tried to take a picture as he went by with his big grin, but it was blurry.

Finally, everyone left.  I think a good time was had by all.  Darling Man went to work.  The boy went upstairs to play on the computer.  I put dishes in the dishwasher, vacuumed up where the fake snow had spilled in the livingroom and tidied everything up so that the house was clean and serene once again.

Then I joined my furry feline friends and took a long nap on the couch. 

It was, all in all, a very good Christmas, indeed!

Getting Ready

As Christmas approaches, the inevitable preparations began. Cleaning the house, cooking food, shopping... This year, there would be dinner at the farm with my family and brothers who made it home for the holiday. And then Christmas day, a brunch at my house for the influx of in-laws.

But after a particularly busy and stressful December-so-far, I have not been particularly inclined to do much in the way of cleaning - or cooking for that matter. I made several lists of goals for the day and rarely met them.

Finally, on the day before Christmas Eve, ZBoy got me started. It's been kind of warm and humid around here - not very Christmasy at all. So he offered to wash my car.

Though the weather was warm, the cold water coming out of the hose was not, so he bundled up against getting wet and went to work. Did a pretty good job, too!

While he was out there, a man came by the house. He's been by before. He lives a few streets away and is handicapped. He has a club foot and doesn't have the use of one of his arms. He wants to work, but no one will hire him. Normally, we don't either. For one thing, my husband likes taking care of his own yard. And for another, we really haven't had the money to spend on hiring people to do stuff we could do ourselves. But on this, two days before Christmas day, I yelled out the window to him and asked how much. "$30, ma'am!"

That gave me pause. Seemed like an awful lot for mowing the front yard, but we were running out of time to make our house presentable for company, so I agreed. I needed it done - he needed the money.

He worked hard. It took him about an hour. When you only have one arm that works and one leg that works well, it takes a while. I'd say it was $30 worth of effort on his part - and it DID look good when he was done. I'd say that was a pretty good investment.

The house was finally starting to come together. I got the living room cleaned up, including shampooing the carpets. We have dogs. They come in the house. I know we can't smell it, but I'm sure my house has a little bit of a doggy air to it. So carpets were cleaned. Darling Man did the family room, I did the living room. Our joint effort produced a sparkling clean house and I felt much more comfortable about having people come be in it.

My grandmother (maternal) has been gone for a little over 10 years. But there are certain times when she is very much there in my mind. She was sitting next to me as I began wrapping presents last night. She's the one who taught me how, you see. Every year from the time I was old enough to work scissors without destroying things, she would invite me over to help her wrap Christmas presents. We'd have cocoa and cookies and wrap. One of the bedrooms in her house was devoted to Christmas one month a year. The presents went in there, the wrapping happened there. I thought of her as I set out paper and tape on my own bed and made stacks of presents according to purpose (stocking / tree) and person.

Grandma was a saver. Every year, the paper was collected, flattened and folded away to use again. Ribbons, bows, paper, boxes. All went back into the closet when Christmas was over. I remember certain boxes in particular, and this stretchy gold cording that she used on at least one of my gifts each year. I never see it in stores, but every now and then, it will turn up on a gift even now (usually from my mother). I suppose in this day and age, she'd be considered very green in her thinking, but as a person who lived through the Depression, every bit was precious.

I can see it from both sides. As a child, I found part of the joy of receiving a present to be stifled by having to be so careful with the paper. It got folded before you could go any further with the present opening. As an adult, I am conscious of the virtues of thrift and recycling. But I don't encourage my boy to be careful when he unwraps. I want his enthusiasm undampened by care. We are lucky that we can afford such "waste". Of course, I don't use foil papers, so whatever we use can be recycled - in the larger sense, rather than in the back-into-the closet sense.

I still miss my Grandmother, but I know she is still here when I do things that we used to do together... like wrapping Christmas presents. Merry Christmas, Grandma...

Wordless Wednesday - Concert Surprise

Morning Conversation - Hot or Not

The temperatures dipped below freezing finally this morning. It was 30 when we left the house for school. Highs were expected to reach 59.

As I closed the locked door behind me, ZBoy suddenly realized he didn't have a jacket. He WAS wearing a long-sleeved knit shirt and a thick sweatshirt over it. I was wearing a t-shirt and a sweat jacket. I told him he wouldn't need his jacket, that he'd be plenty warm.

Climbing into the car, he said, "You're right, Mom. I probably won't need a jacket today, 'cause I'm hot!" He licked his finger and touched his shoulder and made hissing noises, then winked.

I started laughing. He asked why that was funny. I told him that when he said it like that, it made him sound like he thought he was sexy hot, not temperature hot. And that 10 year old boys were NOT sexy hot.

He then licked his finger and poked me.

"You're always hot. But not this morning. I poked you with my saliva and there wasn't even a sizzle."

Thanks, honey.

Fun Monday - Holiday Mail

As the holidays close in on us, Faye at Summit Musings has graciously offered to be our host this week:

Your assignment, should you decide to play, is to share some of your favorite holiday mail that you've received this year. Possible categories:

Best All Around Card
Most Meaningful Message
Best Kid/Pet Holiday Photo
Best Family Newsletter
Most Humorous Card

Most of the people I know aren't doing the holiday newsletter. In fact, most people I know aren't doing Christmas cards at all. We keep up with each other on such a daily basis through FaceBook or blogs or even email that a card seems a bit superflous. But there are exceptions, of which I wish to be one.

My grandfather's second wife was a great writer of what she called encyclicals. They were somewhat rambling accounts of life that came once every three or four months. But she really shone for the Christmas Encyclical! I always looked forward to receiving this amazing piece of mail. She died a few years back and the encyclical died with her... but all hope of holiday newsletter is not gone, for her daughter (my Aunt Lucy) and her husband Kollyn do a lovely letter every year. Like mine, their lives are incredibly busy and the holiday letter rarely makes it stateside until after Christmas has come and gone, but its advent reminds me that the Christmas spirit is here always if you just remember to look for it. And it's full of news of their lives (and their daughters') for the past year. This is how I keep up with that side of the family. If it weren't for this yearly letter, I would know very little of what was happening with the family in England.

My grandmother isn't a big fan of Christmas and prefers to avoid all the commercialism to celebrate the day quietly at home or perhaps up the mountain with her brother. She does, however, send out gorgeous Christmas cards to a select few, usually with a very short letter enclosed.

Many cards from across the pond feature lovely little robin red-breasts in snow and are quite charming. But this year, Grandma went in a different direction. This particular picture reminds her and my father quite strongly of the farm up the mountain where they lived. My father's last Christmas in Wales was much like this. Every year, I look forward to the day when the little card with the Royal Mail stamp arrives in my mailbox, and I settle down with a nice cup of tea and savor the card and the letter enclosed.

I wish travel wasn't so expensive or complicated. I would love to go to Wales and spend a Christmas with her. As it is, I don't know when or even if I will ever see her again. I treasure these brief contacts on paper.

And now, if you will excuse me, I have my own letter to write. Cards will go out late (again) this year, probably AFTER Christmas has come and gone, but I have every intention of getting them out.

Check my sidebar for next week's host (Gattina). I'm going to keep a current side bar of who's hosting and what the topic is, so if you're ever lost and can't figure out who's doing it on any given week, swing by here. If there's a host, it'll be there!

Ah, December!

December is a time for many, many things. It's a big holiday season. Food surrounds us and is our friend the entire month. Never mind the bitter recriminations come January 1st - holiday calories don't count!!!

To that end, we've had a huge holiday luncheon at work, but there is a group of ladies who have become special friends at work and last year we started a holiday lunch tradition (can it be a tradition if you've only done it twice?). This year, our number was down by two. Tasha was out sick with a kidney stone and Erica had another commitment, but the remaining five of us went to Fusion for a fabulous lunch and lots of laughs!

Betsy made each of us earrings! Jennifer concocted special hot chocolate!

Suzanne brought sparkly umbrellas for our drinks! Kim gave us all gorgeous owl ornaments!

What did I do? Um... I showed up! Seriously, these ladies rock Christmas - and I never seem to get it together enough to show them all just how special they are and how much I think of them. Perhaps I should start preparing for this in July... Anyway, lunch was great and the company even better and we all left feeling quite festive!

Tis also the season of the grade school chorus presentations. ZBoy was in fifth grade chorus this year and I think he actually enjoyed it.

The parents and shiny, happy grandmas gathered in the cafeteria and found seats. One of ZBoy's classmate's mothers (Donna) came and sat next to me. She looked a bit tired and I asked after her. As it turns out, her husband has been in the hospital for three weeks with pancreatitis - and things are not getting better. He's also had reactions to CTscan dye and a couple of infections. It's going to be a different kind of Christmas for her family. Oh, how I can relate! We had a different kind of Thanksgiving.

We sat there and admired all the kids. Such a handsome lot - even if mine did look a bit like a homeless kid, having stretched out his waffle knit henley so that the whole shirt sagged. I heard a sigh next to me. Donna said, "Aren't they beautiful? Look how diverse! Black, white, asian, hispanic, indian - we have the whole world here in our cafeteria. That's why we're here, you know. I love the diversity and my boy doesn't feel at all strange here (he's half Mexican). I laughed. That's one of the reasons we moved to this school zone. I didn't want my boy going to a school that was mostly black or mostly white. I wanted a good mix of people because that's what the world is.

This little girl is a good friend of Z's. We became special buddies during a field trip last year when I chaperoned and she got very sick. I kept her close and took care of her during the trip and we've been friends ever since. Z had a little crush on her last year, but this year they are JUST friends. I thought she looked very cute in her outfit. Z did too.

Gotta love little kids singing in a group. Some of them give it their all, and some of them are just moving their mouths. And some, like mine, do a little of both.


December is also big for birthdays in my family. Two brothers and a cousin all have their birthdays in the span of 6 days. James is in New York and we wished him a good birthday from afar, but Jerry is right here! Of course, we have to celebrate!

Mom and Dad took us all out to dinner at a local steak house.

Jerry is growing his hair out for locks of love. He has the most gorgeous hair ever. I think he got my hair, because my own hair isn't nearly as lovely as his!!! And Mom was there, rocking the biker chick look. She looked fabulous in her Greek fisherman's hat, black sweater and big jewelry!

Yes... there was cake. But there wasn't a five, so Jerry's cake had a 4 - 2 - 3 on it. After a moment of puzzlement, we realized... 2+3=5 - so the cake really had a 45 on it. Of course, such subtleties were lost on the drunk guy at the next table, who stood up and loudly proclaimed that Jerry was the best-looking 423-year old guy he'd ever seen.

ZBoy was very excited though. A great dinner, wonderful company and chocolate cake to top it all off!

Wordless Wednesday - Foggy Morning

Note the beggars by the street post - in the holiday spirit

Fun Monday - Decade in Review

Wendishness is our hostess this week and she wants to know:

Okay, your mission, should you choose to accept it is this – we’re at the end of decade and in the media we’re seeing a lot of highlights, mishaps, misfortunes etc.. that have happened in the news. But what about everyone else? I would LOVE to see your highlights and lowlights from the “noughties”. Photos would be fantastic but you don’t have to – the choice is yours. (so, show us the last decade for you)

Hmmm...  This past decade has been full of ups and downs. 

I have made several stabs at writing novels.  They were okay, but all need a lot of work before they're really fit for anyone to read.  I bowed out of NaNoWriMo this year after three years of participation because I had a feeling that November was going to be too jam-packed, busy for me to do more than glance at my word processor.  As it turns out, I was right.  But the dream of being a published author is still with me and when things slow down a little, perhaps after the first of the year, I'll give it a go again.

The best thing that happened is that I've had a blast watching my boy grow from a rug rat to a rather mature boy of 10.  He's so smart, and handsome, and a caring person.  I feel this mothering business is over my head sometimes, but if how he's turning out is any indicator of how I'm doing, I must be doing okay.  It's hard to believe that in less than 8 years, he will be officially an adult and able to be on his own.  It's not enough time for his mother to get used to the idea.  The next decade will see some big changes there, as he is less and less under my influence and more under that of his friends.  I hope we all survive.

This has also been a decade of change for me personally and this shell that I live in.  My late in life pregnancy set me up for a battle of the bulge that is still being waged today.  I have high blood pressure, diabetes and high cholesteroll - all of which could be controlled or eliminated completely if I could get rid of this excess weight.  So far, I've had little success.  As I get closer to 50, my greatest personal desire is to regain my body and to be able to do some of the things I want to do before it's beyond me.  My friend Christin and I decided to run a marathon in May of 2011.  I still have a little more than a year to get ready.  I hope my knees and feet hold out.

See, that's one of my issues.  I've had a couple of car accidents (not my fault).  The first one did some pretty good damage to me.  My knees aren't so great and it took me more than five years to be able to walk without pain.  There are still days (though they are getting fewer and farther apart) when I cannot walk without a cane.  It's a bit of a hindrance when contemplating running for 26.2 miles.  This has been a mostly cane-free year and I hope this trend continues.

I think the thing that has marked this decade for me the most though, is that I'm happy.  I love the man I married.  I love the son we made.  I love my family and my friends.  My job is good, mostly stable, and fulfilling.  I have enough time to help other people and take on projects of my own.  I've learned a great deal about home improvement and find great satisfaction in doing it myself.  And I still have dreams. 

FM will be late this week..

My apologies to those of you who've arrived here for Fun Monday...  This past weekend kind of kicked my butt, and I didn't get around to writing my post.  Hopefully will get it done tonight so come back for "Fun Tuesday!" tomorrow.