Dreaming of France -- Alps

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I don't know about you, but nothing feels quite as Christmas-y as the snow-covered Alps.

I've never actually visited the Alps during Christmas time, but it's on my list of places to visit.
Hope you're enjoying the preparations for the holiday season.
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Readjusting Christmas Plans

With all of our children in flux, you could have predicted that our Christmas plans would change. We had hoped to go to Florida as a family and spend the week of Christmas with my parents.
As Grace moved out of her apartment after graduating from college, and Tucker moved back home after only one semester at college, the odds were good that something would mess up our plans.
Grace had taken a job but already warned them that she would be gone for Christmas.
Tucker went looking for a job on Monday and got hired. He can't wait until after Christmas though because he is working for UPS. They definitely need his help this week.
So we moved our trip a few days earlier and some of us will be headed to Florida. We'll drive back on Christmas Eve so that we can all spend Christmas together.
That meant that I suddenly had only two days to get together all of the Christmas gifts before we left.
I also needed to get a Christmas tree. I'd planned to skip that step since we were going to be in Florida for Christmas.
So yesterday, the kids and I went to a local hardware store with live trees outside. We walked into the lot, Spencer spotted a tree, held it up and said,"How bout this one?"
Grace and Tucker both nodded. "Looks good."
"Wait! It's the first one you touched!" I protested.
"Yeah, but it looks good," all the kids said.

So we wrapped up that Frasier Fir and tied it to the top of the car. and made it the few blocks home. Spencer and Tucker carefully set it up in its stand. Grace and I added the lights and we all added a few ornaments. By the time Earl got home from work, the tree was sparkling quietly in its corner.
I've been grading papers, trying to finish out the semester, along with shopping for our Christmas dinner, since I won't be back until late Christmas Eve. And I've been trying to get all of the Christmas shopping done.
I probably won't pull it off perfectly, but we should still manage to have a lovely Christmas, with my parents before the actual day, and with all my kids on Christmas Day.
Hope your Christmas prep is going smoothly.

Post Christmas Wrap Up

The cats enjoyed Christmas, even if the gifts weren't for them.

Unlike many of you who are counting books you've read and challenges you've reached this year, I'm counting my lucky stars that we survived -- enjoyed -- a lovely Christmas.
I got most of my shopping done by the end of last week, or so I thought.
On Christmas Eve, we drove an hour and a half to my brother's house in Dayton for lunch. That was the first time we got to see my nephew's baby Lydia. She's a month old and all of her dark hair makes her look like a doll baby. Her mother paints her nails and keeps a bow in her hair. Our nieces who have daughters try to keep them from being too girly, so this is definitely a different style of parenting!

Cousins. My kids are on the left side. Michael, Lydia's dad, was holding
the bottleand stuck it between his legs for the photo. Goofball

On the drive to my brother's I reminded Spencer that he didn't really have much on his Christmas list, so people had to do their best to guess what he wanted.
"I know," he said. "The only thing on my list was NBA 2K14 for Xbox."
"What?" I shrieked from behind the steering wheel. "That wasn't on you list. You said you wanted a speaker and Boss Cologne."

I got a new cap and scarf on Christmas morning.

Suddenly, the only thing my middle child wanted wasn't under the tree.
We got back to Columbus around 4:30 and I zipped over to Target where I found the game he wanted. I'd planned to schedule a massage for him, so the game replaced the future massage. I'm still not sure he played it.
Midnight mass was on our schedule. By 10 p.m. Tucker and Spencer were both asleep and I was nodding off. I'm just not a late night person.
After opening our presents Christmas morning, we went to my husband's sisters for a casual meal and the chance to see all of her daughters and their children.

Regan, one and a half, was not about to sit still for photos.

In between these events, I snatched moments of reading. I can recommend Kathleen Tessaro's Flirt. What a fun idea.
Hope you all had joyful holidays and look forward to New Year celebrations.

Grant turned 1 just before Christmas. 

Gray versus Black

At Christmastime, I came up with a brilliant idea.
I always buy underwear and put it in the kids' Christmas stockings so they have plenty to last throughout the year. As I was shopping, I decided that I could solve a laundry dilemma -- figuring out which pairs of underwear belonged to Spencer and which to Tucker.
Both teenagers, they wear the same size and same style. They like the knit boxer briefs. So I decided to buy all black briefs for one son and all gray briefs for the other son.
I remember as they looked at their Christmas stockings that I pointed out they had been assigned a specific color.
Black for Spencer and gray for Tucker.
Or maybe it was gray for Spencer and black for Tucker.
You see, that's the problem now as I do the laundry. I know that each boy has a specific color, but I have no idea which boy gets which color.
Here I am in August still puzzling over this quandry. So much for my brilliant idea.

Maybe I'll ask the cat if he remembers. He seems to
 have explored the Christmas packages pretty well. 

Christmas Complete

I'm not good at preparing -- preparing for parties, preparing for Christmas. I'm always stressed about it. Once a party or Christmas starts, I'm fine, but the prep makes me grumpy.
This year, between traveling to pick up kids in college and trying to throw a 75th birthday party for my mother, I was extra harried. Well, the party was cancelled due to a stomach virus that passed through my parents and brother's family, but we still got to celebrate Christmas.
I think this pic of the cat amidst the debris of Christmas summed it all up pretty well.

And the kids looked pretty satiated afterward too.

After we celebrated at home Christmas morning, we were headed to Earl's sister's house and there we would see little Caroline. I had planned to sew a princess dress for her, and Christmas morning it wasn't finished. Grace helped me put elastic in the puffy sleeves and I ironed, pinned and hemmed the dress as I watched the clock tick past the time we were to arrive. Earl and the boys went on without us as I continued to work on the dress. Finally, we finished and, although it's far from perfect, Caroline loved it.

Hope your Christmas was magical and created many fond memories, like mine did.

Saturday Snapshot -- Family

To participate in the Saturday Snapshot meme post a photo that you (or a friend or family member) have taken then leave a direct link to your post on Alyce's blog At Home With Books. Photos can be old or new, and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate for all eyes to see. How much detail you give in the caption is entirely up to you. Please don’t post random photos that you find online.
The only photo I should be thinking about is an English Comp essay with marks from my red pen since I have to finish grading lots of essays for Finals Week, but I pulled out an old family photo we used on our Christmas letter in 2008. Four years doesn't seem that long, but when I look at my family, it's a long time.

They've all changed so much. We've all changed so much, especially those two on the end -- the kitten and Tucker.
I don't have a decent photo of the whole family from this fall since the oldest two have been at college, but here's one from this summer before Spencer left for college in Florida. But, I'm not in the pic cause I was taking it. (I really hate photos of myself lately anyway!)

Oh, and here's the kitten all grown up. He never takes a bad photo.

Saturday Snapshot -- Cat Christmas

To participate in the Saturday Snapshot meme post a photo that you (or a friend or family member) have taken then leave a direct link to your post on Alyce's blog At Home With Books. Photos can be old or new, and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate for all eyes to see. How much detail you give in the caption is entirely up to you. Please don’t post random photos that you find online.

The cats had a satisfying Christmas. Thanks for asking.



Hope everyone has a terrific New Year's celebration.

Saturday Snapshot -- Holiday Trains

To participate in the Saturday Snapshot meme post a photo that you (or a friend or family member) have taken then leave a direct link to your post on Alyce's blog At Home With Books. Photos can be old or new, and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate for all eyes to see. How much detail you give in the caption is entirely up to you. Please don’t post random photos that you find online.

Our downtown library, voted the best in the country, puts up a holiday train display. Kids just stand and stare, unable to move on from the display.



Here are some close-up details.




And from the top as we climbed the stairs, we saw a waterfall on display too.


Hope you all have a marvelous Christmas, if you celebrate, and a peaceful New Year.

Blow-Up Fun

Okay, enough sadness on my blog.
It's time to celebrate American ridiculousness.
There's a pretty European-style house down the street from me. I don't like the owner because he puts up ridiculous signs warning dogs not to poop in his yard, which I think is tacky.
He's taking tacky an extra step this year.
Here's how his yard looks during the daytime. Deflated:

Then in the evening, when Grace and I walked past on our way to Caribou, we got a picture of the house with the inflatables in full regalia.


The overkill makes me laugh. I'm not overly fond of blow-up yard art anyway, but seeing it deflated during the day makes it look like everything has melted into a big puddle.
Grace decided she liked one of the penguins. This little one with earmuffs, that didn't deflate during the day but stood vigil over her collapsed friends.

How are your neighbors decorating for Christmas?

Free Time

Like a wisp of a breeze on a still day, I feel it.
Like the far away whistle of a train in the night, I hear it.
Like that spot on the horizon that draws closer, I see it.
Freedom is nearly mine.
I give finals today and tomorrow. Then I have to grade the finals for five classes and turn in my grades.

For three weeks, I will not have to go to work. Not until Jan. 3.
I can almost feel my body collapsing in a heap just at the thought.
Now, I know that compared to many people, I don't work that hard. Some people are doing manual labor or standing up all day. They wouldn't complain about sitting in front of a computer answering students' emails or grading a stack of papers while munching on popcorn.
And I am truly grateful for my jobs, which help pay for one kid's college and next year two kids' college tuitions.
The thing is, teaching at two colleges means that their breaks don't coincide. So when one college is on spring break, the other is still having classes. And this summer when the one college took a two week break before summer quarter, the other college took the week after. I eeked out five days and darted down to Florida and back.
So since last Christmas, I haven't had time when I wasn't teaching.
Until now.
If I'm smart, I'll go ahead and prepare for winter courses next week. Then I could have two whole weeks not to think about teaching or work.
And what will I do with that time?
Well, a lot of basketball and swim events, plus Christmas shopping and baking and cleaning. Plus, I plan to read a lot and take many walks to Caribou Coffee.
Sometimes, maybe I will allow myself to collapse in a heap, learning a lesson from the cats.
How about you? Will you have any time to relax during the holidays?

Selfish Again

Okay, but who doesn't like presents?
Really?
Who doesn't like to unwrap a gift and see what is inside?
"For me? You shouldn't have. But thank you."
Ever since I was a kid, I've loved getting presents. I never outgrew it.
I enjoy giving gifts as well, but I've never gotten to the point that I would prefer people buy a cow in Katmandu in my honor instead of giving me a gift.
Can't we do both?
So now that you know another of my character flaws, let me temper it by explaining that for a lot of my married life, as I decided to stay home with my kids, money was tight. We lavished Christmas gifts on the kids, while Earl and I stuck to stocking stuffers for each other. Through that time, my younger brother and family were the only ones who would buy me an actual Christmas gift. My parents resorted to giving checks awhile ago. That much-appreciated money would go into the household fund to pay the gas bill or water bill. It never went to buy something special for me.
A few years ago, as my husband's nieces grew up and took husbands, we decided we'd draw names and each person would get one decent gift to open. We even had a "no gift card" rule so that each person had an actual present to open.
That meant at Christmas I'd get a gift from my brother and one from Earl's family.
Yay! I love presents.
Thanksgiving morning as I mixed up the turkey quiche, I was busy thinking of gift ideas to put beside my name when we drew names.
Then, at our Thanksgiving brunch, my sister-in-law proposed instead of drawing names this year, we find an unfortunate family and buy for them.
"That's a great idea," I said.
Well, really. Who wouldn't say that? Who can argue that they really want a gift instead?
I know that I have everything I need, so I can't be selfish and refuse to give gifts to a needy family.
I did impose one condition that if we are going to buy gifts for a needy family, we have to all go together to buy the items, so we can bond as a family.
And just when I thought the odds of unwrapping a gift had faded, Earl's niece Julie, mother of Caroline, announced on a Skype call to Grace that she's expecting again. A baby in June.
Okay. That will serve as my gift for this Christmas.

Christmas Past

Christmas is over, right? But wait, there's more. (Picture me saying this in a gameshow announcer type voice.)
My brother from Texas drove to Kentucky yesterday with his two kids and is coming to Ohio today, so I'll herd my children into the car once again and go to my brother's house in Dayton to celebrate with them. But, like the procrastinator I am, I didn't get their presents yet so I'll be running out to do that before we leave. I also need to get a birthday present for my 93-year-old grandmother in Kentucky. I'm so over buying presents, but since I enjoy getting them, I suppose I shouldn't complain.
I was inundated with gifts this year, and I always feel a little guilty about that. With Earl's birthday falling two days before Christmas, he always gets short changed. I make the excuse that I have to shop for all the kids and Earl, even though Earl would help buy presents for the kids if I asked him to.
Then on Christmas Eve, as we were getting ready to leave for my brother's house, Tucker came up to me and whispered, "Mom, I didn't get anything for Dad."
"Yes, you did," I replied. I bought a book for him to give his father.
Then he walked across the room to Earl and whispered something to him.
"What?" Earl asked.
I started laughing because it was obvious he was asking the same question about buying a gift for me -- on Christmas Eve.
Two of my children, though, took care of gifts on their own this year, which was a big relief.

Grace did her own shopping at college. Earl and I got tshirts with her college name on them, mine in a lovely chocolate brown. She got the boys tshirts with outdoor pictures and funny sayings on them. Spencer's shows people hiking and says, "Bring a compass. It's awkward when you have to eat your friends." Tucker's shows a guy jumping off a ledge and says, "Determination: that feeling you get right before you do something incredibly stupid."
The present from Spencer took me by surprise. He made it himself. A blonde wood jewelry box with a lift out tray covered in green velvet. I felt so touched. He made it in "machines" class at high school, kept it a secret and wrapped it himself.

I, of course uncomfortable in a sentimental moment, made a joke about how it could be used as a hamster coffin if we ever had a hamster (oh, come on! It's got that shape to it). Truthfully, though, I love it and can picture myself using it and remembering this Christmas when he was a lanky teenager sprawled on the rug amidst boxes and wrapping paper.
Christmas was an extravaganza as usual, but most of what the kids received were clothes, things they needed any way since they had out grown or worn out jeans and tshirts. I even got the boys winter coats since they wear hoodies as their coats, layering them on top of each other.
When we were finished, the floor was littered with the debris of Christmas and like pushing away from a feast, we felt sated, and just a little bit gluttonous.

Hope your Christmas was good too.

Family Christmas Photo

Disclaimer: No teenagers were harmed in the making of these family photos; however, parents may have been verbally harangued.

As you can see, our mantle is nicely decorated for Christmas.

Once our family stands in front of it, all the Christmas cheer is blocked.

We can't get everyone to smile or look normal at the same time. We move in front of the Christmas tree,but some of us are forward and others are in the back. This looks more like an album cover and I'm obviously the lead singer.
Things start to fall apart then. Spencer, who is much more handsome than these pictures show, would have none of the silliness and he retreated. Meanwhile, the mayhem began.
Somewhere there has to be a picture I can use in our Christmas letter, and I've promised I'll finish it by tomorrow. Wish me luck.

Wrapping Paper

This morning before Mass I needed to wrap a Christmas present for my goddaughter. I rolled out the blue paper with white snowflakes on my bed and began cutting it. That's when I wondered if everyone wraps Christmas presents on their bed. I've seen House Hunters or the Home & Garden section of the newspaper talking about wrapping rooms. I wondered what kind of people could devote an entire room of their house to wrapping presents.
When I wait to wrap all of the presents on the night before Christmas, my back begins to hurt from leaning over the bed. It seems a small price to pay. Or, I could wrap a few every day so that I'm finished on Christmas Eve.
How about you, where do you wrap?