My Journal
We had a very good Holiday Season! Here are some of the highlights:
We spent the day with Aunt Starr in Valdosta December 2nd. We went downtown and had a very nice time. The girls were very cute in their casual Christmas outfits. Rebecca had a Shirt with Santa in a train on it. Red fleece with candy cane stripped neck and cuffs and a ruffle at the waist with red pants and a matching candy cane stripped hair bow. Julia had on red and blue plaid pants with a white turtleneck shirt and Cute Jacket, blue with red plaid accents, red hair bow and Christmas Santa Claus Bell Necklace that Aunt Starr gave her. Julia made a really nice Christmas Tree Ornament, and Mommy is very proud of it!! Then we visited with Santa Claus. They did NOT like sitting with him AT ALL. And we have some very funny pictures! Rebecca is crying her head off with her arms stretched out in one and then Mommy is holding a reluctant Julia on Santa’s lap in the other. Oh well – still cute! We went to a really good Christmas play too. Rebecca got a Christmas tree painted on her face and Julia made a really cute fingerprint art. We visited with the Clowns and Santa’s Elf Helpers, which Julia really liked. And we watched the Christmas Parade, listened to a choir sing Christmas Carols and saw the lighting of the big Christmas Tree. A very enjoyable day. We loved the Christmas decorations at Aunt Starr’s house too. Very pretty! A wonderful Christmas Tree and lots of nice decorations inside and outside the house. I like her Christmas village so much, and the animated skating pond that we gave her for Christmas last year looked great in it! The girls were very good, and I had no problem with them bothering anything! We spent the night there and went to the Mall the next day. Dressed the girls up in their matching Christmas dresses – cute! We visited with Santa again. This time was a little better I was in the picture holding Rebecca and Julia sat on his lap. No one was crying, but not smiling either. We then went and rode the merry-go-round. Both girls really liked that.
Throughout December Mark continued to work on the house. He refinished the floor in the front hall and finished the sheetrock and painted both the hall and the front bedroom. It looks very nice. Also installed a pretty light fixture in the front hall. We had a wreath on the front door and a few other Christmas Decorations outside.
We didn’t get our Christmas Tree as early as I would have liked because of the work Mark was trying to complete on the house. So we skipped the Tree Farm this year and got a really nice tree from a place in Camilla. They put on a built-in stand too– wonderful! Brought it home and stood it right up! I remember in the past struggling to get the tree in the stand and get it straight and worrying about it falling over. Thank goodness no more of that! It smells so good! It is a big tree and so pretty! I am so glad we have the high ceilings. Mark put the lights on and Julia, Rebecca and I put on the decorations. I enjoy decorating the tree so much. I have a lot of ornaments that are special to me. New additions this year are reindeers Julia and Rebecca made from their hand and feet shapes, Ornaments from two of my Southern SAHM board friends – really nice! A white glass ballerina Aunt Starr gave Julia, and an Angel she gave Rebecca, a ballerina with a pink tutu from Santa to Julia, a Pooh ornament from Santa to Rebecca, and A beautiful handmade snowflake from my friend Joan Due. We also made a handprint wreath that hangs on the back door. I love it!! And Julia made a Christmas Triangle Tree Ornament from three green triangles. She immediately said she had to make another one of those for Grandpa because he liked triangles! I thought that was great! We didn’t put any presents under the tree, but it was totally surrounded by Christmas toys most leftovers from the photography studio. Lots of stuffed Christmas bears, Santas, reindeer, snowmen, blocks, etc. And a fabric Nativity set was a favorite, particularly the little Baby Jesus. Rebecca was so cute rocking him! We reenacted the first Christmas several times with those figures, which was really nice. Also, we set up the Christmas train and made a play village in and around the tracks. We made buildings out of mat board and cardstock with houses, a church, and other Christmas things that I printed off the computer. Also had post office, bakery, and a little park with a playground and little dolls – the girl’s loved that! Also had a neat tree that was made from a small branch we found on one of our nature walks. We glued on birds and squirrels and painted white splotches that looked like snow in all the boughs. Cute. I couldn’t figure out how to hold up the tree and then my SAHM friend Puggmug sent me a really great candlestick made out of an old wooden spool and painted. It made the perfect holder for the tree! We had some snowmen riding toy bicycles and Santa in a sleigh, sleds and other little toys around. Also a white fluffy cotton blanket all around that really looked like snow under everything. In the middle was a Christmas Tree that the girls enjoyed decorating and redecorating many a time. Everything in the village was unbreakable so the girls could play until their heart’s content.
We were invited over to Julia’s friend Will’s house for a Christmas cookie baking party, and that was a lot of fun! And we had Joan Due, her daughter Venette, son Jeremy, and two adorable Grandchildren, Kyle, age 4, and Kendra, age 2, over to bake cookies here. It was great fun too! Julia adores Kyle and Kendra. We made and decorated Sugar Cookies and made Peanut Butter cookies with Hershey’s kisses in the middle. Yummy! We also enjoyed a visit from Mark’s cousin Glenda who brought gifts for the girls. She is so sweet! And another neighbor, Mrs. Iona, brought each of the girls a handmade blanket! Very nice!! We also enjoyed the Pelham Christmas Parade and visited again with Santa at the Pelham Depot and got a free picture – unfortunately Mommy was in this one too. Sigh. Santa was very nice, but the girls were still very timid.
Rebecca can say “Santa” and whenever she sees a reindeer she says, “mmmooooooo”. So funny! She enjoyed eating candy canes for the first time too.
I was really disappointed that we didn’t get more pictures of the girls this Christmas Season. They were so cute in their matching Christmas dresses. Things were just so hectic and we didn’t get the tree until late. We wanted to do pictures of them in front of the tree so finally we did and I rushed them to Albany to get same day processing. While we were waiting for the pictures the girls and I went to the Albany Mall. We had lunch and really enjoyed all the Christmas decorations in the Mall. They had a very elaborate Christmas Village with lots of toy trains running. Fascinating to watch and so pretty. Really awesome houses made totally out of different kinds of candy. So neat! Then the girls rode on the Christmas Train Ride they had there and they both loved it! I was so surprised that Rebecca would ride without me, but she did! So much fun to watch them on there! We just waved at Santa, didn’t try for any more pictures. We did a little more shopping and outside of one of the stores a local church had a Manger Scene set up with people dressed up as Mary and Joseph and a doll for Baby Jesus. They also had a lot of bible time looking clothes for people to dress up in and get their picture taken in the scene. Julia dressed up and sat beside Mary holding the Baby Jesus. It was precious! We got two instant pictures at no charge. I thought it was such a neat thing!
Unfortunately, after standing with a tired and wiggly Rebecca in a too long line to pick up our pictures, I found that something had gone wrong with the camera and the pictures did not turn out. I was so disappointed. So we took some more pictures the next day. And Mark kept the girls and I took them to a one hour place in Thomasville and did a little Christmas shopping while I waited on them. They turned out O.K. But overall I was disappointed we didn’t really get what I wanted. Sigh. We got a new JVC Digital Camcorder a few weeks before Christmas too. It is nice, but I have been so frustrated. It seems I ALWAYS miss the good stuff! Ugh! By the time I get the camera ready, it’s over, or the battery runs out, or the tape runs out. I gotta do better. But at least we have something. And looking forward to taping Julia’s Alice In Wonderland Ballet at the end of January!! Mark did pictures of the cast and it was really neat. We did get a couple of really good one’s of Julia in her costume. So that was some consolation to me.
I got a box packed up and shipped to my family in Indiana, one to Grandma & Newton too and one to Connie & Family in Greensburg. I wanted to jump in the box and go to Indiana myself. We got my Mom a stuffed Christmas Bear and the girls and I took turns giving it hugs for Mimi. I just hugged and cried and cried. It took me forever to get the boxes ready and sent off. And I was so hoping they would make it by Christmas. But I was very disappointed that my family’s and Grandma & Newton’s didn’t get there until the day after Christmas. Connie did get hers before though. She called me on Christmas day and we had a long and wonderful talk catching up on everything. Megan danced in the Nutcracker this year! I would have given anything to seen it! Julia sent her the cutest ballerina ornament we found. It looked just like Megan! I sent a printout I had made of some of the great times we had on the SAHM board to my cyber-friend Puggmug who is currently computerless. Boy I miss her on the board. And also sent her an ornament I made with a computer in it. Wish I could have sent her a real one! She sent me the nicest letter and picture of her family and wonderful handmade ornaments plus the candleholder that worked out so great in our Christmas village! I also had another Christmas buddy from the SAHM board, Sherri, in West Virginia, with whom I exchanged ornaments. She sent the cutest snowman ornament and also three adorable painted plaster ornaments that she and her children made.
We received a package from Jon, Kellie and Emily with the cutest pictures of Emily! She is such a doll! And the girls loved their gifts. Also received cards and gifts from Grandma D and Mom and Dad. And Cards from many friends. I felt really bad that I didn’t get any other Christmas cards sent this year. I was planning to send some with pictures in them and then with the delays waiting for the tree and then the picture problems, I just couldn’t get them out. Big Sigh.
We went to Church Christmas Eve morning. Julia enjoyed her Sunday School class. I sat in the nursery with Rebecca. She loves it in there if I am there with her. After Sunday School we went into Church. The sanctuary was so pretty. They had the lights dimmed. Pretty decorations and soft Christmas songs playing. I really enjoyed that and good thing because both the girls started acting up, especially Rebecca running around and I had to chase her up the aisle twice. So embarrassing!! So we left about 10 minutes into the service. And I was sorry to miss it. Oh well. Usually Mark keeps Rebecca while Julia and I go to church, but he was out Christmas shopping. Sigh.
I was feeling VERY homesick the week before Christmas. On Christmas Eve, while getting ready for Santa and all, I began to feel some better. We made Magic Reindeer Food (made by stirring together Oatmeal and glitter and we wrapped a bag for each family member) and we all went outside and sprinkled it on the lawn and read the verse that goes with it: Sprinkle Magic Reindeer food on the lawn Christmas Eve night, it will shine and sparkle bright, Santa’s reindeer fly and roam, this will guide them to your home. That was fun! And then I very much enjoyed Christmas morning. It was just Mark and I and the girls. They both loved their gifts from Santa. Julia got a paint easel and ballerina doll. Rebecca got a doll with a Pooh outfit, matching Pooh stroller, swing and accessories. Plus an unbreakable ornament each and some small goodies in their stockings. The also got a TV/VCR combo for their room and two videotapes: Alice In Wonderland and Frosty The Snowman. We have watched them over and over and are really enjoying them both. My Mom called Christmas morning and it was really neat to hear her voice! Second time ever to talk to her on the phone. It seems she is doing well with the Cochlear Implant. We went over to the Harris’s later and had Christmas with them, Thomas, Starr, Amy and her boyfriend, T.A., and Jason and his girlfriend, Danielle. We got the good news that both Amy and Jason had become engaged on Christmas Eve! I’m so excited and hoping Julia will get to be a flower girl!! No details about dates or anything yet.
Saturday, December 30, 2000
It was chilly here today, but we braved it and played outside for a while anyway. The girls didn’t complain about the cold. And it didn’t bother me either. It was down to 27 last night and high in the upper 40’s today. They were so cute bundled up in their pink winter coats, pink hats and mittens. We refilled the bird feeder, picked up sticks in the yard, and jumped on the trampoline. The girls are both napping now and I am sipping on a mug of hot chocolate. Yum! I swiped the packet of hot chocolate mix from the goody bag that Julia’s Sunday School teacher gave her for Christmas. Haven’t had any in ages. Then gonna tackle something on my never ending to do list. Laundry is all caught up for a change and the house is about as clean as it gets so hope to start in on editing a Christmas video or work on our web site which has been sadly neglected lately. Mark, bless his heart, is outside under the house insulating the pipes. He is afraid they will freeze. He has been complaining about the cold a lot today. It doesn’t seem too bad to me. But I still have memories of growing up in Indiana. Oh gosh I hated the cold! I still have horrible memories of standing outside waiting on the school bus and praying my heart out that is would hurry. Doing a paper route at 6 AM every morning even during blizzard conditions and subzero temperatures. Shoveling snow and scraping inch think ice off car windshields till I couldn’t feel my fingers or toes anymore. Ugh! He has NO idea!!
