I hope that those of you that celebrate Christmas have had a very special day. We planned for a lazy day, and we got it. After we ate dinner (lunch for those of you that don’t live in these parts…) I told the boys it was time for the Traditional Christmas Nap.
They thought I was joking.
Actually, I sort of was. The joke was on me, however, because I managed to actually TAKE a nap, that lasted 3 hours. I’m blaming it on the dog. It was so cozy with her cuddled up next to me, I didn’t want to disturb her.
(Mark said that she spent at least part of the time out with them watching Tom and Jerry cartoons. I’m sticking to MY version of events).
I received some very lovely presents, and I think the rest of the family was pleased with their assortment of items. The boys groaned when they opened the Camo Underwear. I told them I was getting them underwear. I don’t know why they didn’t believe me.
They both got iPods.
They also got a Nintendo DS from my sister and her family.
Oh, and Katie gave them Homer Simpson slippers. Because everyone needs Homer Simpson slippers. That Katie, she’s a pretty good shopper.
They got a bunch of other cool stuff, too, but I didn’t manage to take any other pictures that weren’t completely blurry.
I’ll have to get someone to take a picture of me in the sweater I got from the boys. It’s got mittens for pockets. Way cute.
We’ve watched a movie this evening (Mark and I watched Mamma Mia, the boys watched Star Wars movies on their iPods…), ate popcorn, and I think it must be about time for bed. Yes, it’s only 9:20. Lazy Christmas, remember?
TTFN-
Suzanne
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Yesterday’s Concert
At the beginning of the Holiday Concert, the Principal asked everyone that was in the audience that might have been in a Holiday Concert in a past year to raise their hand…I’m terrible at estimating percentages, but a whole heaping helping of that crowd had their hands in the air.
Here’s the 4th graders doing their musical part to ring in the holidays. Joe’s wearing the red tie. Will’s got the blue tie on. Joe’s shirt was tucked in, Will’s was not. Thankfully you couldn’t tell once they were all standing up in place.
Holiday Gifts
Our school does a Holiday Store, parents (and others) donate “stuff” and kids get the opportunity to go shopping for presents for their family. Or themselves. Some of them are pretty honest.
Joe had his turn on Tuesday, and when he got to the shop he told me I could open one of the packages, cause it was stuff to decorate the store.
A snowman:
And a mitten ornament:
I thought he did pretty well. I don’t think he spent more than $1.00…
Will’s gifts are under the tree.
Ornaments
Warty Mammal has been posting pictures of some really interesting Christmas ornaments for the last 2 weeks. I thought I’d try to find something that matched the uniqueness of what she’s been sharing, but remarkably, I couldn’t find anything on my tree that was quite as…unique.
Instead, I thought I’d show you the glass ornaments that we added this year. We have a Stained Glass studio in town, and one Saturday they were doing glass blowing demos. Each kid got a blown glass ornament. I’m not clear on how much of the decoration was done by the boys themselves (nor do I know whose is whose…better figure that out…). But here are theirs:
50 points if you can find me in the picture.
My Internet connection has been astonishingly obnoxious this morning, so I’m going to click Publish and get this over with before I pull out any more hair.
Later -
Suzanne
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Oh yum. I am so in love.
Do you remember seeing this video last Christmas?
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Fe11OlMiz8]
Did you know that based on that video, (which was filmed back in 1998), the group Straight No Chaser was offered a recording contract, they have reunited and have released a Christmas album??
How stinking cool is that?
I’m all about instant gratification these days, and downloaded my copy from iTunes.
And I may have finally found this year’s Christmas spirit.
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I need to try to take a better picture later when the light is different, so you don’t just see the reflections in the glass.
I bought 2 more sets of boxes and it is so stinking cute. It’s like I planned it this way, but really, I wasn’t thinking about the boxes matching the quilt when I bought the boxes.
I can’t really take credit for this cuteness either:
The Library has a Wreath display, and this is the first year we’ve had our act together to make one. Mom actually knitted those little socks. Aren’t they adorable? Even cuter in person. We tied jingle bells on them, and stuck knitting needles and floral picks that look like striped candy in each sock. I can’t wait to take it over and see what other people have done this year.
Speaking of DOING, I need to get some quilting done, so:
TTFN. Yak at ya later!
Suzanne
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Yes, my friends, it’s that time of year. Time to skip right past Thanksgiving and go straight to Christmas.
Shopping at Hobby Lobby last night, I bought some deco junk and then raided the home stash to try to get something done before our town’s Holiday Happening’s festivities kick off this weekend (with a lighted parade this evening, that will probably be in the rain. Oh joy.)
So, for the last 5 hours I’ve been (a) helping customers or (b) fiddling with crap. I warpped the pole with greenery and lights but after I hung the quilt up, it looked like crap. The dark greenery looked awful with the acid green. So the light and greenery (that was a pain in the tush to put UP, came back down.) And now I have this:
I found the stacking boxes at Sam’s Club, and don’t they look AMAZING with the quilt and the pole and the red and white checkerboard???
What I think I need (in addition to wiping the sand and crud off the front of the shop) is MORE of those boxes. Like, I don’t know: 3 or 4 stacks of those boxes!!!
And so now, even though it took me 5 hours to just get this much done, all of a sudden, while looking at this picture, the BAH and the HUMBUG have apparently disappeared. Too bad I can’t just run to Sam’s Club right now.
I have to figure out what the heck I’m going to do with the pumpkins that I pulled out of the window, though. Maybe my Mom wants them to make pumpkin-y things like bread. Mom?
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I hope everyone is having a nice day. I had the pleasure of having my husband (with a tiny bit of help from the boys) cook and clean up our entire noon meal. We call it dinner, you probably call it lunch.
I tried to help clear the table, but Mark grabbed the salt and pepper shakers out of my hand and told me to go away.
So, I’ve been knitting a bit and quilting a bit. Sitting around a bit. I’ve been typing and just deleted a whole big whine about the irritating thing that happened at church this morning. I’ve decided it is not worth boring you with. I suspect it mostly makes me sound whiny. The moral of the story is that people really need to COMMUNICATE with each other. Pick up the phone, tell me what’s going on, I’m happy with whatever, just TELL me and TELL other people.
OK, that was more of a whine than I intended.
Moving on.
The biggest gift the boys have given me is that I get to choose tonight’s popcorn movie. What to choose, what to choose….
Hmmm. I’m wishing I had a copy of Enchanted to subject them to, but alas, I do not. I was also considering something like Sleeping Beauty or the like, but I think I might go for the SuperMom award and pick something that they will actually enjoy.
Speaking of things I like. I like quilting on sateen. I like quilting feathers. But I did not like this lime green Polyquilter.
I’m probably also not going to like the way this thing is going to attract lint, being black and all, but it’s not actually going to be my problem, as I think I’m going to give it to the owner of A-1 to hang in the A-1 booth at shows. If he wants it. I think it’s kind of cool, but what do I know.
(Click to look at it a little bigger).
Better go choose that movie.
TTFN-
Suzanne
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And yes, I just spent a ridiculous amount of time recoloring buttons and arranging them in Photoshop.
Hugs and Kisses,
Suzanne
(buttons are from scrapgirls.com, all buttoned up build your own set, pin is by Katie Pertiet)
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Woo-weeeeeeeeee
It is still super, super windy here in Iowa. We can’t even go south of our house, the road is drifted shut. Mark is out plowing our driveway (for the…3rd? 4th? time today) in order to allow us to get out and make a trip to check on my Mom. I’m not really sure how much snow we’ve actually gotten. In some spots, you can see the layer of ice that was there before, in other places, the drifts are several feet high.
The wind was supposed to have died down earlier this afternoon, I just hope it gives up and quits overnight so that our flight isn’t delayed (or, heaven forbid…canceled….)
The following picture pretty much says it all as far as our Christmas celebration goes:
They started playing at 10 AM, and except for a few quick bathroom breaks didn’t stop until we made them come eat supper at 5:30 PM. No lunch, no snacks, no quick drinks: just uninterrupted Wii action, all day long. I’m surprised they even stopped to visit the loo. They know that being allowed to play all day long is pretty unusual….and I thought I’d say it out loud, lest any of my readers think we are horrible parents. We decided that since we were going to be dragging them away from it right away, we’d let them get a bunch of play time in. Of course, my sister has one too, and I suspect that they’ll be allowed to play hers a little bit, too.
I was excited to hear that the weather in Hoboken/New York City is supposed to be in the 40s/50s while we are there, which will be a welcome relief from our current weather situation. Plus, some of the things we are planning to do are outside, so having decent weather will make everything much more pleasant.
I suspect that I will not be blogging much while we are gone. Maybe a quick update once in awhile, but don’t expect much from me until I get back next weekend!
I hope that you are having a wonderful and happy holiday season. Stay warm and safe!
Suzanne
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Because of our impending trip to see my sister, we decided to e-mail Santa and ask if he could come a few days early. Unfortunately, we didn’t realize we’d be getting a snowstorm this evening when we made that request. He seems to think it won’t be a problem, though, so tomorrow morning Wii will have lots of Christmas news to report.
Mom seemed to be in pretty good spirits tonight when we took some supper over to her. I think she’s still in quite a bit of pain, though.
On our way over to her house, we had to stop at a friend’s house so that the boys could take care of their bird and fish. Would you believe that when I got out of the truck I fell? Good grief. Luckily I’m just sore and not actually hurt. Well, only my pride.
After we got home we watched The Polar Express and read Twas the Night Before Christmas.
I had to finish a top secret quilting project, but now I’m ready for bed.
Because, of course, Santa can’t come until we are all asleep, right?
TTFN-
Suzanne
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These made me laugh out loud. It’s a sheet of printable holiday gift tags from Amy at Angry Chicken .
Holiday Gift tags
They say the sorts of things you wish you could say about gifts, but really can’t say out loud.
Too funny.
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