Monday, November 28, 2011

Christmas is out and up!

In all the spare time of the season, the piano manages to get tuned...crucial so that we can continue to play Christmas music:)
Got the little "Go ahead, take my cute picture" nod from Margaret as she strutted one of her favorite smocked dresses of the season.





Random pic of Margaret's recent sleeping position of choice. Hmmm...
As much as I love Thanksgiving gatherings, my favorite part of Thanksgiving weekend is getting the Christmas decorations out, finally, and watching the BroncosJ That’s been my tradition since back in Columbia,
SC days when my only reason to like the Broncos was because they had little
horsies on their helmets!

First things first – acquire the
Frasier Fir. Thanks to a great local
friend with connections via her father-in-law, I drive about 2 miles to pick up
a lovely 7-9’ tree in my friend’s yard, then easily return home. What comes next everyone knows is not the
easiest part of Christmas on any couple.
But the tree gets hauled inside
(while dodging an anxious 3-year-old, a 14-month-old who is always in the wrong place, and 8 furry
paws), thrust into a stand and tightened.
When the command to slowly let go comes, I mumbled down to the floor
that there’s no way I could let go. The
largest tree we’ve ever had will stay upright in our stand! After determining that there is no place to
safely affix fishing wire to help, the tree is returned to said good friend’s
front lawn and replaced with a smaller versionJ The next morning, up it went, with better
stand procedures, and all is well. Whew!
Next = lights. The back deck icicle lights
were hung first. I want the neighbors to
start enjoying! Since we close our
shades at dark, I never get to enjoy these particular lights I work so hard on. Then, the front porch garland and lights were
assembled. Check. Finally, I got lights
on the tree while Michael handled baths. Check. YEAH! Andrew's reaction to the
tree with lights when he came downstairs after his bath = priceless. He LITERALLY
jumped for joy 5 minutes straight and continued to jump for EVERY SINGLE
ornament he unwrapped for us to hang. LOVE the spirit:) He particularly enjoyed unwrapping our hot
air balloon ornament, which we tracked down last year after moving to this
house and realizing we lived in a hot-hot air balloon zone! He also loved getting our Daisy ornament on
the tree. Give that Daisy is nearly 16,
the reality that this could be her last Christmas sent me over the edge. I tried to compose myself when Andrew got out
the first of many silver bells, shook by his ear and proclaimed, “It rings!”. Oh, how I hope he forever believes that the
bells in his life will ring.

·
Finally, we get to the various
nativities we have. I put the beautiful
olive wood one that my aunt and uncle gave us for our wedding in the dining
room on the side board (i.e. out of reach).
Then Andrew discovered the boxes of Fisher Price nativities that his
aunts Kate and Anne gave him and Margaret last year. It was like Christmas Day was already upon us. Andrew couldn’t WAIT to open the boxes.
And when he did, he asked if he could take them to his room. I suggested
that we put some in the family room for everyone to play with but that some
could go to his room. The next 20 minutes = silence! He immediately
took every single piece to his room (all 3 boxes worth!) just 2 at a
time. He tried to get lots, but would drop them, so settled for umpteen
trips with just one piece in each hand. When I went to check on the
status, all of the palm trees were perfectly lined up in a row and he was
working on another scene. It was all very sweet, until he opened his
mouth, “Okay, it ALL has to stay in MY room. It can’t go to Margaret’s
room. It’s all stays in MY room, okay???” Now he wants “play Baby
Jesus” everyday, which is very sweet. He may be hoarding them, but can I be too upset about that when he says,
"Mommy, come to my room. Let's play 'Baby Jesus'. I'll be Baby Jesus and
you be the Mommy, okay?" Whew!
Thank goodness I get to be the Mommy.
That I can do. Afterall, I have
been Mary in not one, but in two LIVE nativities, with LIVE babies….neither of
which were mine (despite having had an infant of my own last Christmas!). Where were the casting calls for me in
2010???
Unrelated to the holiday season, but a milestone of sorts in this season of life was Little Miss Margaret's first haircut this week. All in all, she was a champ. She only fussed when she couldn't have the water bottle intended to wet her sweet locks in her mouth, but other than that, she politely refrained from questioning the whole experience. The precious bow lasted all of 2 seconds, but that's to be expected. I have continued to try periodically when she is distracted, but she is on to me.

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