The After Christmas Haze

At 6:04 this morning I'm snuggled into a comforter on the family room love seat with both Miles and Louie wrapped into the folds, just tips of noses showing. And I'm reading *so happily* the new "Mason-Dixon Knitting Outside the Lines" that Youngest Daughter got me for Christmas.

Hubby:  What are you doing up so early?

Me:  Well, I got up ... and there I was ... up.

Hubby:  That was profound.

Me:  I know -- I should probably talk more.

Hubby:  Just not outside the house.

It's nice to read something with big pages and type I can see easily. I am dealing with eye strain right now. Hubby got me a Sprint Moment touch phone with a slide out keyboard. We've discussed it for a good 5 months -- when he began testing the water to see if I'd want one. I opened it Christmas morning, plugged it in to charge, and we took the Granddaughter to see "Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel." That was a lot of fun. Many, many tiny kids and lots of noise off-screen. Everything is funnier when you speed it up to a helium-sucking level.

Anyway, once we got home, I started playing with the new phone. Just getting the touch part down took me a while. Since then I have run the battery out 4 times, which was a blessing so my eyes could rest while it charged.

The Mason-Dixon book is wonderful. Whenever I read anything by those gals, Kay and Ann, I feel like I'm visiting with girlfriends. Here are a couple of excerpts from the book:

Page 35: Tip from Leafy Reticule pattern ... Why do I have to change the position of the marker in round 15?

The Short Answer: We don't know why; just do it, or there will be trouble.

Ha!

And from Page 73: Tip from Baby Dotty blanket pattern ... Make up little songs. Fair Isle is all about rhythm: 2 2 3 1 2 can be sung to the tune of "Row, Row, Row Your Boat." If you're a Prince fan, "I would die 4 u" also works.

Double Ha!

A couple of funny things happened over the holiday. When we went to bed around 1:00 a.m. Christmas Eve, I was so tired I actually forgot about the stockings. This has never happened before. Hubby said, "Hey, don't we have to do the stockings?" And we raced back down the hallway past the 13-year-old Granddaughter's room (she spent the night at our house which was so awesome) and filled the stockings.

A few hours later, she comes into our room in the dark and says, "Merry Christmas, Nana!" I looked at the clock ... 4:27. I said, "No, not yet. Go back to bed."

Then she comes back again a little later, this time on Bampa's side of the bed (smart girl), wakes him up and crawls into bed between us. This is nice. She has done this since she was a baby ... crawled into bed with us and we lay there and talk. Now I know she is past the stage of believing in Santa, but she still gets a kick out of pretending to and, of course, so do we. So we're laying there talking in the dark and she says, "Did you remember to put out cookies and milk for Santa?" And I'm thinking, "Oh, crap!" So I say, "Of course we did. I'm going to start the oven to warm it up for the Caramel Pull Aparts," and I race to the kitchen and choke down half a cookie and slurp some milk and run into the living room with the crummy plate and glass to leave them out. I just hoped she didn't touch the glass because the milk was still cold.

And I get back in bed and we're still talking and she says, "Do you think Santa remembered to put dog bones in the puppies' stockings?" And it's, "Son of a ..." and I leap back out of bed and say I'm going to check on breakfast. Hubby says, "Should we just get up?" and I practically yell, "No!" And I run to the laundry room to get chew bones and then to the living room to put them in the dogs' stockings. I was exhausted before we ever got up!

Something else we thought was funny ... we hosted a small Christmas Eve family dinner at our house. We served Honeybaked Ham, parmesan mashed potatoes, cranberry-dried cherry chutney, pinto beans, fresh baked rolls, Hawaiian salad and chocolate bundt cake with chocolate frosting. Of course, we had a ton of food and ate the same thing on Christmas Day for lunch and dinner.

Then the day after Christmas, hubby's brother called and said they had a lot of food left from their open house and would we come for dinner. Hubby says, "Thank God, we don't have to eat ham and potatoes and beans again," and off we go to BIL's house. And guess what? They served ham and potato casserole, Boston baked beans and chocolate cupcakes. So we virtually ate the same meal again. We laughed all the way home!

Merry Christmas!

Hope your holidays are everything you wish them to be!

Wordless Wednesday - First Photo with Santa

The Granddaughter, 13 years ago

Wordless Wednesday

The Christmas Spirit

Youngest daughter and I were laughing today about one of our Christmas tree hunting trips in Colorado years ago. We had gone to a Christmas tree farm and driven way in to hopefully find the perfect tree. We always packed treats to eat and took a big thermos of hot chocolate. We'd sing carols all the way there and back. This particular year, our little granddaughter had just turned one so we were especially festive and happy.

We had tromped around and found a great tree, hubby brought out the hand saw and we all gathered 'round to help by watching. There were, of course, other families there, doing the same thing and a few rows over, was a big station wagon.

All of a sudden, the mother is screaming, "Get in the *#%$@ car and shut the hell up!"

I could not resist shouting out, "Merrrrrrrrrrrrry Christmas!"

And the kids are horrified and bolt for our truck. They apparently thought someone would come over and open up a can of Christmas whoop-ass on us. Didn't happen. I'm sure my Christmas spirit helped!

Hubby has told us about seeing his sister in a Christmas program when they were kids. Jingle Bells was the song and she was kind of swinging her bent arm and punching the air for emphasis as she sang with gusto, "Oh what the fun it is to ride ... " I guess every time she sang 'what the fun' his parents would cringe and hope for the best.

A Confusing Disney Christmas

When our Granddaughter was little, we were fortunate to live near a house that was really decorated for Christmas each year. People would drive for miles to see their display. They had lots of animated vignettes and music and lights and every Saturday night Santa would be out in his sleigh to take pictures and hand out candy canes. We especially loved it because we could walk over there after dinner and wander through the amazing display.

She was 2 years old when Disney released "The Prince of Egypt," which she loved. And she was also very into all the Disney Princesses. She loved to dress up and would clop up and down the tile hallway in her plastic high heels like a Clydesdale in a beer commercial. She had fairy costumes and tiaras and jewelry and it was so adorable.

One of the vignettes was a religious scene of the Christmas crèche with strings of lights stretching above it to form a pyramid high in the sky. There were life-size animal figurines and statues of Mary, Joseph and the three Wise Men. The baby Jesus was lying in his cradle with a golden halo around his head. It was a beautiful display that made you stop and celebrate the real reason for the season.

So one Saturday evening in December 1998, we finished dinner, put on our jackets and walked over to the Christmas house for a visit. We, obviously, weren't the only family to have this idea because there were tons of people milling around. We started at the crèche scene this time and walked up to stand right in front of the cradle.

It's amazing how these things happen, but all of a sudden the music stopped as the song changed and it was strangely quiet, even with all of the people around. Right then, as the Granddaughter gazed upon the baby Jesus, something clicked in her Disney-soaked brain and she said -- very loud in her high-pitched little girl voice, "Oh, look, it's the Princess Jesus."

Everyone heard her and the crowd was very appreciative with lots of laughter. We realized that she had confused the baby Jesus' golden halo with a princess crown and thrown in the title of her latest Disney tape to boot -- "The Prince of Egypt" became "The Princess Jesus."

There's nothing like a Disney Christmas!

Christmas with Ants in the Pants

Putting up Christmas decorations always brings back memories of past holidays and funny things that have happened over the years.

One especially funny, endearing moment involved the Younger Daughter on Christmas morning when she was 3 years old. She had opened the Ants in the Pants game and was eager to play so Older Daughter (5 years old) and I got down on the living floor with her and began popping plastic ants.

While OD and I were having pretty good luck sailing those pesky ants into the pants, YD was having a great deal of trouble. Ants were flying over her shoulder and hitting her in the face. It didn't take long for her frustration level to hit an over-the-top high. All of a sudden, she swept her arm across the floor, sending the game pieces flying.

And she shouted, "Stupid a**hole ants!"

Then she realized she had cussed and would probably be in big trouble, so she looked at me, gasped in horror, jumped up and ran into the kitchen sobbing. At this point, OD and I were just plain stunned; we looked at each other and burst out laughing. We literally rolled on the floor with tears of laughter running down our faces.

Sometimes, even now, 28 years later, when something is very frustrating, one of us will shout, "Stupid a**hole ants!" and laugh. It always makes us feel better.

Happy Birthday to Me

Amongst all the lovely birthday greetings I received were several funny cards. This cute and clever card is from my in-laws. Inside it reads:

Directions

1. Apply bows.

2. Go out.

3. Watch the well-wishers appear!

Get lots of attention on your birthday!

And from my baby sister who knows I love antiques ...



Inside it says:

... but the Antiques Roadshow is coming to town - they'll be able to give you an estimate. Ha!

And one more from my dear friend ...



Inside: Hope you get everything you want for your birthday.

Last Saturday night, hubby and I went on a date to the Glendale Glitters holiday festival. The air was cool -- it rained just a little, just enough to make everything smell clean and fresh. Historic downtown Glendale, Arizona, has been holding this festival for 16 years now. Covering 12 blocks of downtown, they use 1.5 million lights, have craft booths, food booths, live entertainment and even some of the nearby shops and antique stores stay open late. Although I obviously need to learn how to use my camera for night shots, here are a few photos ...







This Santa is made of popcorn and was a raffle for the Marines ...



We shared a Philly Cheese Steak, cheese fries and a funnel cake smothered in powdered sugar. Just yum! And, oh yes, we found this booth and made a purchase ...



We sat down in the amphitheater area and watched a great group of kids sing and dance their way through Christmas songs and Broadway tunes. So much fun!

And we cruised through some of the antique shops, although didn't see anything we had to have ... thank God! Then, on the way home, we passed this house ...



Let me just say that electricity in Arizona is not cheap. While I would hate to pay their electric bill, I definitely appreciate their enthusiasm for the holiday!