ChrisMissy Christmas Morning

We got to bed quite late last night after a wonderful afternoon and evening with Jen and Lowell and the girls coming over to Chris and Missy's. Missy prepared an amazing feast as she always does. The morning came pretty early with wide-eyed and very excited little ones. Here are some candid shots of the presents!

Zach with his already assembled Lego boat!

Putting the Barbie House together.

Owie eating Gummy Food French fries.

Connor got a DSI! No clue what that is but he was happy!

Connor breaking in the DSI

Lots of pretty paper flying!

Aynslee with her new jewelry chest and some new earrings.

Santa brought Chris and Missy some new cookware!

Owen has a lesson in DSI procedures.

Aynslee with her fashion design sketch portfolio.

Zachy gets a new Leapster cartridge!

The gifts for the kids were varied and fun. They received some movies, a Wii game, board games, Legos~always Legos, Ayns got some Barbie stuff and a jewelry box and crafty art supplies and Owen got a stuffed snake, among other things! Everyone was overwhelmed with tiny pieces from various things and very happy. They spent over an hour just playing with things from their stockings.

We ate Einstein Bagels and various flavored cream cheeses and drank hot chocolate and wassail and it was very fun! When the sun came up we saw snow on the ground and it was time for a nap! We talked to all the other kids and everyone had a similar experience around their Christmas trees this morning.

Last night all the cousins produced a video on their own of the birth of Jesus and presented it to the parents and and grandparents. How's that for the technology age? Holy Cow! I am going to try to Youtube it! It is totally a keeper!

Merry Christmas With Love

If you missed our invitation to view our Christmas Blog you can find it here:

http://averymerrychristmas.blogspot.com

Silver and White~Mercury Glass and Light

For some reason I have been putting off doing this post on the bathroom. I think it is because I feel like I am just a little too excited about this new bathroom we have. I awakened early with thoughts of this post on my mind and we are leaving for the airport in less then 2 hours. The thought occurred to me that one reason this bathroom still feels new after a year is that it is the fulfillment of a 30 year dream. It represents so much more to me than what it really is.

It symbolizes that dreams really can come true. First you have to have a vision, then you have to have patience, find a way to make it happen, pay the price and work hard. To me it represents how you can get something you really want by putting your shoulder to the wheel, it goes so far beyond just wishing. There is a pattern involved in it that makes me know nothing is beyond our reach if we follow it. I also love that the design and the end product was a 100 percent collaborative effort between Jim and me. I am not leaving our contractor, Steve, out in this in any way, he did a brilliant job.

I am just saying that in the bigger picture, the dream of it, finding the way and the means was something that happened between us within the confines of our marriage. The meeting of the minds that we had with this project was a defining moment in time for us. It resurrected some kind of a newness and hope for the future that I feel when I look at the end results. To some this may seem funny, but if you have experienced it with your spouse you know what I mean. The energy of it has affected everything else about us as a couple building a life together. No matter how old you get or how familiar, you have to keep building and stretching to keep the love alive and deepening it, in the way it is meant to be done. Somehow in this project more than the bathroom was renovated, redesigned and improved. So anyway, these are the thoughts that robbed me of an extra hour of sleep today!

I was excited to have new room to decorate for Christmas. I decided to just use White and silver and tiny touch of red. By removing the Tuscan colors that are normally in here it was very easy to get a completely new look.

Where the sunflowers use to sit
I added this whimsical, sparkly tree.

I have had these guys for several years
and I love them in here!

This Moonlight and Roses Santa is new this year.
and is so pretty in this room.
moonlightandroses.com
is one of my favorite sites.
I love their things.

My funny angel and the white towels
with a simple ornament is fun!

Chrsitmasy things in the tub tray.

I am in love with the mercury glass
vintage look and
I loved the way the windows sills
have glistened all month.

A nativity I have had for a long time
now has a wonderful place to be.

A little present in silver with a candle inside.

Love, love love, this reindeer and the candle holders.

I enjoy these whimsical kinds of
things especially at Christmas.

Love the corner window, in fact all of the windows.
The light in here changes everything!

A fun, little, vintage wall hanging I found this month!

Merry Christmas!

Not Baby Nicky!

Surprise~in more ways than one!

How can it be that our nephew, Nicholas is turning 30? It seems like only yesterday he was a tiny boy. He has grown up to be the most delightful young man and we love him dearly. His adorable girlfriend, Mara, threw him a big surprise party yesterday afternoon at the Golf Course Restaurant where he was supposed to be playing golf with his Dad and Uncle Dale. But we were all waiting for him and he was surprised for sure!

Here is Jim and Nick's Grandmother chatting as we waited for the birthday boy to arrive. Poor Ruth just broke her ankle on Monday. She is a sweetheart! She says Steve is her son, he is so good to her. I love hearing that. I don't believe in the "in-law" designations. They are just not conducive to "real family" relationships to me.

This is Nick's beautiful Mara
and his little Nephew, Sebastian.

They had various pictures of Nick
as a little boy on all the tables.

The tables were beautifully set.
I loved the runners, just a sheer red
fabric bow tied in the middle.
Very pretty effect.

This is Nick's Cousin from Emily's side,
Katie and Nick's niece, Samantha.

Finally Steve and Nick arrived!
He was in shock I think for a few
minutes just trying to process it all!

This could be my favorite photo of my brother,
Steve with his granddaughter, Samantha.

Steve's Family~Alesha, Nick, Mara, Steve, Emily
Sebastian, Raul, Samantha, Ruth

Nick, Mara and Sebastian, Alesha and Raul's little boy.

Nick's Uncle Dale and Aunt Patty (Emily's sister)


Megan, Nick, Me, Jim
Dale, Katie, Patty

3 Generations
Nick, Steve, Sammie

~Katie, Nick, Alesha, Megan~
Nick and Alesha flanked by their cousins!

Sammie (Samantha), just turned one!

Nick don't even think about being "old" until you go to her 30th surprise birthday party. And then only entertain the thought for a minute. When she is 50 you will probably be old!

Here They Come A' Caroling

Cherished Family Times at Christmas

We have been real party animals this weekend with two family gatherings. Once all the preparations were completed for our dinner party, it was very relaxing. My two brothers and their families and Jim's Mom came over for a Christmas dinner Saturday night. Since we have been married we have had a Christmas gathering every year in our home.

It was once on Christmas Eve and originated with my parents way back when. But as the families have grown and grown up that is an impossible date for all of us so we normally have it the weekend before Christmas. If everyone could have come we would have had 36 now but each year it varies depending on a myriad of factors. This year we had a cozy 11 humans and 2 pups.

Back in the day we had Jim's great, great aunt, Lala Angie, Jim's grandparents, our own parents of course and all the kids. Then we started having my brothers' spouses' parents and over the years a boy friend or girl friend of one of the kids. Then all the second generation's spouses and their kids started coming along too. It has been so great on the years some of our own grandkids have occasionally been here. Some years it is more crowded than this old photo below!

2008

One of the best things now is that over the past several years my cousin, Bob and his wife, Beth have joined us. When Steve and Gary and I were little we spent our Christmases with Bobby and his family, so we have come full circle since they joined us.

Beth and Bob
Photo borrowed from another time,

sadly no good photo of Bob this time.

It has been a great time and over the years many a loved one has participated in this tradition with us. We think of all of them each year, those that have passed on now and those too far away to come home for Christmas. They are all in our hearts and with us in spirit this time of year.

My brother Gary, and cousin Beth and Jim's mom, Gloria.

Gary's family, our nephew, Scott,
Marilyn and our niece, Erin. The pups,
Missy in red and Lola in orange.
(Sorry Lola the large photo doesn't get you all in!)

No matter what we do, everyone seems to love hanging out in the kitchen before dinner. We have appetizers here and chat and it is great. Family sits at the kitchen table, on the hearth by the fireplace or on the little church bench. Or they stand and mingle. We set up all the drinks on the laundry room counter and it works out pretty well. When it gets closer to dinner I try to shoo them out into the family room so Jim and I can work. But they are reluctant to leave the heart of our home!

My brother, Steve in the blue shirt.

Those little snow flakes are metal and they
come with a magnet to clean them up really quickly.

We were right on the cusp of having to have two tables but we squeezed in 11. It was more comfy that I thought it would be but, shall we say, it was really cozy. I didn't do anything elaborate for the center piece as we always have to move it, if it is too fancy to accommodate the Italian antipasta course which is something that every single Christmas dinner has always had. It is a tradition from Jim's side of the family from his grandmother, Marge. This dinner is served in the traditional Italian style and it is not an eat and run kind of a deal. We made lasagna ahead of time this year and it worked out perfectly and was so much easier than what we normally do. It was the first time we had tried that as a main course.

We really missed Tom and Jean and Ruth who couldn't make it this year due to illnesses. And Nick, Mara, Alesha, Raul, Sebastian and Samantha who had other family commitments, and of course all of our kids and grandkids.

Usually the family room is packed in pretty tight.

We always sing Christmas songs and open presents after dinner but this year we did it before dinner just to change it up a little while the lasagna was heating. Steve always plays the carols on the guitar and we make an attempt to sing along. Let's just say after all these years we are not the Osmonds, but we have fun. Scott also played some songs for us with a little twist of jazz. He is a professional musician in NYC and plays the standing bass and several other instruments.

We love this professional photo of him and his bass.
He can play a pretty wicked Frosty the Snowman!

And every year at the end of the caroling, it is our tradition for Steve to sing the Marty Robbins song, 'El Paso," that over the years we started calling Laredo...( Positively no idea why.) Jim's mom has to hear it each year or it is just not Christmas! As for Marilyn's parents who could not be with us, they got to hear it live over the iPhone. And Jim sent a few 'in the moment' texts with photos to our kids. So that was our party for this year!

The Tradition of Christmas Cards

When I was growing up my Dad always did all the Christmas cards. I realize how unusual that was now and appreciate him for it. He wrote in each card, news of the family, extending our Christmas Greeting from our family to theirs. My dad also always decorated the Christmas tree. I think that was pretty unique also. My mom wasn't just sitting around watching TV and eating bonbons, she did her share too with the baking and cooking and shopping, etc. They just kind of divided it all up. Even in those days Christmas was a lot of work.

For as long as my parents were alive I loved reading their Christmas cards from old friends. This continued for me, long after I left home. I especially loved reading the ones with news of their family and what had happened in their lives that year. A lot of those old friends have passed on now, but I still remember reading their Christmas greetings with such fondness. Some people would hang theirs up on a door or a window like little badges of sweet friendships. We always had a basket near the door that collected the new ones each day during the season.

In those days some people did send family pictures and that was a really special treat. Some friends of my parents from Minnesota always had the postcard Christmas photo greeting, so popular today. I remember thinking then, "Wow, they must be so rich!" I can still envision the little black and white photo of their family standing by their piano each year. (A piano, a sure sign they were mighty rich!)

Years later when we got married, I tried to get Jim to send them out, didn't all husbands? I think he gladly would have, but somehow since he was in school, that fell into my lap almost from the get go. I would send out a bunch and try to hand write a note in each one. It seemed to take forever, but I remember never liking to get cards with just a signature because it always left you wishing they had given you more information about their lives. Instinctively, I found myself looking on the back of the card hoping for more....rarely finding it.


Then came the childbearing years and the hit and miss cards. Some years I would do them, sometimes guiltily, with only a signature. Then when things got really hectic and I was working...nothing at all. When people first started doing the typed letters I was elated. Now I could enclose something of substance and a signature.

I have this one friend, Linda Breedlove, who is from the south and a wonderful lady. She lived here for some years and then they returned to her home state, Mississippi. She was still writing personalized handwritten letters, 3 and 4 pages, on real stationary and inserting them into her cards! I felt so in awe of her and how she did it all, she had as many kids as I did. I just knew I couldn't do that anymore. {We are still good friends on Facebook some 30 years later...I think I'll have to ask her about that!}

I wanted to do an annual letter. I remember there was this man in our ward named Brother Libby and I once took my painstakingly, perfectly-typed, one page, single spaced letter and some red paper and he printed it for me in an old van he had set up in his driveway with a copier in it. This was so heavenly. 100 copies just like that, in about an hour. I stood and watched every one of them come s l o w l y out of that newfangled machine. And it was a cold, stormy night, but I was on a mission to streamline our cards and letters.

Next came that very impersonal era of printed signature cards. Those were my least favorite of all. What a disappointment to open a pretty card and see an embossed name and nothing more. A handwritten signature was better, by far. I am glad most people have discontinued that practice and left them for the business community.

Until the last three years I was pretty hit and miss on the cards. Mostly I did it though and with an annual letter included. But three years ago I had an idea to make an electronic Christmas Card on Blogger. I thought it would a fun project and one worth trying.

It seemed like so many of our family and friends were still wanting news of our grown kids. And heaven only knows the kids have a lot on their own plates and lots of friends of their own to worry about. So I now have this fun e-card with news of all of them. I am our self-appointed family historian. It works for me, there is nothing I love writing about more than our kids and grandkids and the things we find to be most important, as a family.

The Christmas E-Card is divided into posts about each family etc., so people that only know one of them can just read that or whatever they like. They are easily identified in the archives for 2010 on the sidebar. I then expanded it to add some music and some videos and some thoughts on Christmas and it has become very fun to do. I have added some of our Christmas Treasures and also a favorite recipe this year.

It is not easier that sending regular cards, in fact it takes a lot of time and endless editing while I am working on it. But once it is finished, I love it. There will be people that open it and say essentially..."Who cares about all of this?" But for me it is something special for our family, if no one else. I like to feature each of our kids and grandkids so they will know how important they are to us. You know how big and little people love reading about themselves. So I will continue on. It is a piece of our family history that I want to share with our extended family and friends, while testifying of the truthfulness of Jesus Christ and his birth and purpose. It is my way of sharing that we believe. It is our way of sharing our love for those who do care.

When I went to get a name for this blog I was shocked to see that A Very Merry Christmas was actually available on Blogger. What, are you kidding me? I snagged it immediately and you can find news of our clan at:

http://averymerrychristmas.blogspot.com


This is the front of our Christmas Card this year.
Look inside!
To me if feels like progress, I hope y0u like it if you are so inclined to stop over. There is also a button for the Christmas e-Card on the top of my sidebar. If you know of anyone else who does one of these I'd be so interested to hear about it. What are your memories and traditions surrounding Christmas Greetings. Do you find them an important part of your Christmas?