Ode to Dear Daisy - to be written

Adventures of Advent

We have just begun what I believe will be a special few years of Christmas in our family. Our
children are such impressionable ages. It is precious to teach them what it is all about.

At more than 3.5, Andrew comprehends the concept of gifts and takes receiving/opening them quite seriously. Naturally, we had to focus a lot of gift-giving. Rather than constantly ask him what he wanted for Christmas, we also tried to spend time getting him to think about what he wanted to give other people for Christmas. We got some interesting responses!

What was quite special was seeing his exploding interest in all things Advent. We lit an Advent wreath Sunday nights and went through readings from my childhood's Eastminster Presbyterian Church in Columbia, SC. Copied in the ‘80’s, the print is fading, but I love them and will eventually re-type them if need be. Andrew patiently listened each week. Our daily exercises with the Advent Book and the Advent Calendar were BIG hits. Our book has ornately painted doors on each page. Behind each door is a few sentences describing the weeks surrounding Christ’s birth. Within days, Andrew was reading the pages to me. It was a glorious way to end each jam-packed day of the Advent Season. In the Children’s Sermon on January 1, our church's youngest disciples were asked if they knew what “Emmanual” means. Andrew blurted out, “God with us!”, taken directly from Day 5 of our book. Did I care that he didn’t raise his hand?!? It was priceless…and I was laughing out loud in my pew:)

Our magnetic Advent Calendar allows the children to open a door daily to retrieve a character, animal or star used to create their own scene on the magnetic back-drop. I was impressed with Andrew’s patience in opening only one each day. Margaret (15 months this season), didn’t have a clue what any of it is all about, but she was overly anxious to be involved with anything
and everything that grabbed Andrew’s attention. So the nativity scenes sprinkled around the house were all a big hit, particularly the plastic ones. Evidently, they tasted better than the olive wood Lalu and Robert gave us for our wedding!

It was like Christmas Day was already upon us when I got out the Fischer Price Nativity Sets that Kate and Anne gave the kids last year. 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 was filled with the silence that only a parent of young children can fear rather than appreciate! He immediately took every single piece to his room just two at a time (all 3 boxes worth!). He had tried to transport many at once but would drop them, so settled for umpteen trips with just one
piece in each hand. When I went to check on the status after, 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. Thankfully, he assigns me the role of Mary, which I can handle having previously performed twice in live nativities (only never with my OWN live baby!), and he assumes the character of Jesus.

We ventured out to the Living Nativity near Waynesboro one cold Sunday evening after work and waited in line until the “Bethlehem Village”opened. There is literally a village set up where one can see all about the way people made things in Bethlehem in Jesus’ time. The scene is complete with real camels and donkeys plus a reenactment every half hour. Thankfully, the “multitude of heavenly hosts” sang “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing”, which Andrew adopted as his favorite Christmas song this year. I melted every time we’d be driving in the car and he would start belting out, “Glory to the newborn King!”. Yes, indeed. Glory, glory, glory!

So serious at the Christmas Parade on the Downtown Mall.

Daisy-do

As I type, Daisy is not doing well. She turned 15 on April 10. I will have to find and post Andrew's happy birthday to her. THAT was a birthday song to hear! You know what? Here it is. No time better than the present to just get it done.

She has gone through bouts of bowel and back leg issues, but she has always bounced back. This week, though, she seems to be getting worse in all areas, and has turned down food for the first time. She is a special, special dog and we have always hoped not to have to make any decisions. Sadly, that may be what we need to do. I have never looked forward to the end, much as I may complain about 8 dirty paws, or walking 4 dependents alone, or touching everyone's poop or vomit any given day, but that's what a mother does, isn't it? And I wouldn't trade it for the world.

Michael reminded me tonight of the first time I kept Daisy. He and I were just dating and he was out of town for some reason. The first story I told him was of how she growled me into a corner at my rental. Daisy???? Oh, how hysterical that is now. She must have known already that she would need to fight for his affection going forward. Funny...from my point of view, Daisy has never needed to fight. She's been his best friend of sorts since the day he graduated from VT. I am just a newer version of best friend...certainly not a replacement. Afterall, sweet Dais has never given Michael a hard time....only companionship, a hiking partner, and sweet kisses.

Christmas Card Picture Bloopers

Dear Daisy (on Dec. 18, 2011)

Best of buds...always curled up together

And the winner is.....

Hanging the Ornaments TG Weekend

"Look, guys! Do you hear it?!?! It rings!"

Andrew found the sweet ornaments of Dear Daisy and Miss Molly. For the sake of the excited 3-yr-old, I managed to choke back tears, realizing the chances of this being our last Christmas with our almost-16-yr-old "Dais".

Little Miss exerting remarkable good self-control for a curious 14-month-old!

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.