Christmas Morning

Merry Christmas!  I'm sitting here typing, listening to "The Essential James Taylor" ( One of The Brown Eyed Mans gifts), stuffed full of breakfast casserole, ready to set up my new bird feeder, and cook on my new cast iron frying pan!  We've watched most of "A Christmas Story", and will be starting season one of "Supernatural" (another one of his gifts) later tonight.

This morning I woke up around five, and decided on my way back from the bathroom to put The Man's Reeses candy cane up into the tree.  While I was working at getting it in there safely I noticed a blue jay ornament that wasn't there before!  Oh, I love jays, how sweet!  Went back to bed with a smile on my face.

Jake woke me up at 8:30, and while I was making coffee, I noticed paint brushes in the sink, and a container with blue paint water in it.  What??  I went back into the living room and picked up the ornament to investigate.  Apparently it was originally a very ugly cardinal, and The Brown Eyed Man worked on it for a few hours after I went to bed last night, turning it into a beautiful jay!

Santa brought him a Packer ornament!  So now we have three new ones on the tree this year.  We got a new one from his Mom this past weekend when we celebrated with her.  His family got together lat night in Hudson, and that just wasn't possible for us to make. :(

I also got a new piece for my village, but that's a good Brown Eyed Man story, that I have permission to publish, so stay tuned!  I hope you are all having a very MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Looking forward to spending Christmas evening with my family in my childhood home.  I don't think it gets much better than that!

Christmas Spirit

This Christmas season has been a sad one for many of us.  I don't think a day goes by without someone telling me that they have lost a loved one, and I myself have lost a long time friend, and my Great Aunt Rita.  It doesn't take much for things like this to send us into a tailspin during the holidays, but I'm doing my best not to let that happen.  As my Mother used to say, "Life is for the living." and she was right.  Not just breathing, but actively participating in the activities around you. 

So the carols are on, the tree is up, sweet smells are wafting from the kitchen, and I have made the round of kids Christmas programs, to help keep me in the spirit of the season. I'm not forcing it either, I love the kids programs:  

First we have The Artist Formerly Known As Pablo playing the bells in the Cathedral School gym.  He did a nice job. (plaid shirt)

Paul

CeCe

Next was Cece's concert at Bryant School, where some little heathen pulled the fire alarm. We all had a nice trip out into the cold, but at least they got to count it as a fire drill.  Cece didn't sing, but was pretty vocal during the performance.  Making many of us chuckle with her belly laughs.

Hannah (top row white shirt)

Then it was on to Lake Superior Elementary, for Hannah's last grade school Christmas concert.

Caitlin

Tater (Caitlin) had a solo performance, and did a really good job!  No fire alarms were pulled, and I got to purchase some lovely home made ornaments for my Christmas tree.  

I have always found that the key, for me anyway, is to do the most that you can.  There were years where breathing was all I could manage, and that's o.k. (for a little bit anyway) There are years where I have handled it all, and years like this one where I do what makes me happy.  Some days I listen to carols, some days I don't.  Children always lift my spirits, so I made an extra effort to make the programs.  I made the cookies that I like, resurrecting two old favorites, even though they have nuts and the kids wont like them.  (more for me) 

I guess the point is that there is no right or wrong way to celebrate the Christmas season.  I will leave you with one of my very favorite quotes:

"Ring the bells that still can ring, forget your perfect offering.  There is a crack in everything, that's how the light gets in."  ~Leonard Cohen

The Village

When we were kids, well.........not that young actually, I was probably closer to 10, my Dad started painting ceramic pieces to create a village at Christmas time.  Every year it would get bigger, until there was hardly any more room on the breakfront in the dining room.  We didn't get to help set it up, and we certainly weren't allowed to touch it, but I enjoyed watching the process.

*side note*  I wrote this blog a couple of days ago, and can you believe I found a PICTURE of one of my Dad's village??  This is from Christmas 1989.

In my early 20's I started painting my own village pieces, and my village grew until at one point I had a three levels.  One was country, one was city, and one was a mountain ski hill scene.  I built a special shelf just to set it up on at Christmas time.  I didn't paint all of the pieces, just a couple from the country scene, and I do still use the barn.

With the changes in my life there were changes in the village. The only piece that was mine from the city scene was a Peppermint Porch Daycare, and I do still have that, but it doesn't fit with my currant village.  None of the mountain pieces were mine, so I lost that in the divorce.  I decided that I wanted all my pieces from then on to be country, and they are.

Peppermint Daycare on the left  2011

Not only are they country, but I bring my village out at the beginning of fall.  I have a fall/Halloween/Christmas village set up now!  Each season has different buildings, and accent pieces, but the barn I painted first, is always there.  I can't tell you how fun it is to add accents, and I think I have found a new larger piece to ask for from Santa this year.  I can't just have any old piece, one must be very choosy when it comes to the village.  (It's a sickness, I know.....)

I, however, am not stingy with my village.  The kids are, and always have been, welcome to touch. They will all fiddle a little bit, but Hannah is different.  She arranges, and re-arranges, the entire time she's at my house.  This past fall she got to pick out the Halloween accessories, and did a mighty fabulous job!  While she was setting them up she asked me to tell her other Aunts that for her birthday she wanted to start her own village.  While we were at Menard's picking out accent village pieces Hannah saw a lava lamp she wanted, and I had already purchased that.

I thought about it for about two minutes, and asked my sister if she wanted to give Hannah the lava lamp.  How could I not be the one to start her Christmas Village???  So that was all set, and after about two hours of online searching (sickness) I had the perfect set!

Hannah was so smug when she opened the lava lamp, I always tease the kids that I am psychic because I usually know what my gifts are.  Then she was puzzled when she saw the card, and it was from Kate, Tom, and CeCe.  I had kept the huge bag out in my car, so she was really confused, and then really delighted!  I heard that the coffee table was sacrificed shortly afterwards to hold the new village, even though it was only October.  (Apparently it's a sickness that is hereditary.)

Today I changed the fall village over to Christmas, and I thought of my Dad.  Even though he was a scrooge with his, I'm glad he passed down the "village gene" to me, and I am so happy that I have a Goover that I can share it with!!

Since starting this blog the other day not only did I find a picture of one village my Dad set up, but the Goovers asked for a sleepover this Saturday, so I will be taking them to Menard's so Hannah can pick out her Christmas present!  I'M SO EXCITED!

Grandma's Applesauce

My Mom's Mom, whom we called  Grandma Lenihan, or Grandma Leni, lived with my family on the weekends, during my entire childhood.  Mom picked her up on Saturday morning, and brought her back home on Monday afternoons.  When I think of her it is usually when I am cleaning something fresh picked from the garden, or preparing applesauce.  First of all, it's her recipe, secondly that's where you would find my Grandma, every Saturday afternoon.  Sitting at our kitchen table, cleaning and preparing the bounty my Dad was dragging in from the garden, or peeling apples from our tree.  In the off season she would be peeling store bought apples, because we almost always had fresh applesauce in the fridge.

I have watched my Grandma cook a lot of things, but I never saw her measure anything, or follow a recipe.  That must be where I get it from.  My Mom did take the time to write out the recipe for Grandma's Applesauce, but I never use it.  Cut and peel every apple I have, dump in a bunch of sugar, a clump o' cinnamon and a dash of nutmeg.  I made a batch two weeks ago, and it wasn't nearly enough sugar, or cinnamon.  This time I got it just right.  I don't think getting it on the second try is too bad, I haven't made applesauce in a good eight years.

Lucky for me a generous patient brought me in several pounds of apples from her tree.  Some had seen better days, but they were perfect for sauce.  MMMMmmmmm almost burned my mouth taste testing.  Just like when Grandma made it.  When she wasn't looking I would sneak a finger into it, and pay dearly.  We are talking about planting some apple trees next spring, time will tell.  It sure would be nice.

So today on day 10 of being thankful, I am thankful that Cheryl was so generous, and I am thankful for Grandma Lenihan.  She was an amazing woman, and I was so lucky to have her close by.  She taught me a great many things, but I think the most important was this:

 Grandma's hands were always busy.  Working, reading, cuddling, comforting, cooking, or praying the rosary.  If she wasn't busy, she was snoozing in the chair.  She never cared to be idle, there was always something she could be doing, or someone she could be helping.  Unless it was Saturday night, and Love Boat was on.   Grandma never snoozed through that one.  ♥
  

Karma for Christmas

First of all, I mean the good kind of Karma, that moment when the universe opens up and does something unexpectedly kind for you.  I have had plenty of the other kind, sometimes deserved, and sometimes I look at the sky and ask "REALLY?".

Today I went birthday shopping at Target.  I had a thirty dollar gift card to spend on something just for me.  I don't shop at Target often, they think clothes are made for one size, and it isn't mine.  Pants are too slim, bra's are too small, shoes are too narrow. (and I have small feet)  After I picked up a new toy for Jake, a toilet brush, and a travel mug, Kate and I wandered over to the Christmas section.  She couldn't believe that's what I was going to buy with my card, but I told her we would check and see if they had added a Christmas village to their decorations, and if they hadn't  we would go over to books, because I will always add more books to my collection.

Target still doesn't carry a village, so I was skunked there, just like everywhere else I had been in the store.  Heading off to the book section we passed the Christmas trees.  We were having a little argument about trees at our house.  He thinks the Charlie brown and ceramic table trees are enough.  I do not agree.  I do have a four footer that has seen better days, but I want a big tree.  (Can't do real, allergic.)

I was taunting him in the tree section at Menard's just this past Saturday.  It was a little song, that went something like this:  ♫ Jingle bells, jingle bells, I am getting a tree.  No matter what you have to say, you aren't going to stop MeeeE.  Jingle bells, jingle bells, lots of pretty lights.  I am getting a Christmas tree, I don't care if it starts a fight.♫

Looking at the trees, and the prices, of course the one I like is $200.  That's always the case.  So I keep going around the square they have set up, and I see a seven foot, unlit tree with a sign on it that says $30.  I thought it was probably a mistake, the actual price was $70.  I looked for the right box, but couldn't find it.  Went back to the tree and checked it's number, which was 17.  Looked for the box again, and found ONE left.  Snagged it up, and figured we could hash it out at the register.  I looked one more time to make sure I had the right tree, and I did.

At the register, of course, it rang up for $70.  I politely said to the gal, there was a sign on this tree that said $30.  She didn't even question me.  She said, "Ok, we'll change it."  I told her I didn't mind waiting while someone checked it out, and she told me that they could figure it out later.  She seemed like maybe she wasn't having a "I love working for Target" kind of day.  I thanked her, and used my $30 gift card, bringing my total price for my new tree to zero dollars!

When I was loading it into my car I said to Kate,  "This is my karma tree!"  She looked at me funny, and I said, "It's a little payback from the universe for all the good karma I have put out there."

I chose to confess that there is a tree somewhere in this house, because he'll read this and the jig would be up anyway.  I don't think we're having a fight......... but I don't care 'cause ♫ I just got my treeeeE.♫