More Christmas

Well, I meant to post again sooner than this - but the week has been busy - and frankly - I've been so caught up in enjoying the moments, I didn't whip the camera out very much! I don't much enjoy scrapping Christmas photos anyway - so it's OK. But I am sharing a few that I did manage to take!

I uploaded a collage into my last post - to show the chaos of all the kids opening at my parents house! The collage here are photos from Christmas Eve at the Griswold's. The baby is my new great-nephew J! Also, note the lights that my dh and his bro put up as a birthday surprise for their mom! And, a photo of the turducken.... let me just say - it was YUMMY. There were not very many leftovers from that bird within a bird within a bird!

Christmas Day was at our house - and I didn't even take ONE SINGLE PHOTO of Christmas morning... bad mommy! So I have no photos to show you the girls' thrilled faces when they opened their big gifts of iPod Classics! The afternoon was spent regulating computer time, as they share a computer and both wanted to load stuff on their iPod's right away! The iPods were a huge hit - both girls are just loving them!! My parents and my aunt joined us for Roast Beast for Christmas dinner - and I pulled out my good China! It was a great day!

Boxing Day was skating day - as we all had back to back to back lessons - and then the girls and I went out to lunch and shopping with gift cards! We hit Borders, and I picked up the new Ken Follett book - and I picked up the old one too - as it had been 20 years, and I read my mom's copy back then. I proceeded to spend 18 hours (not continuously - but almost) re-reading The Pillars of the Earth. GREAT BOOK. I'm saving the new one, World Without End, for my upcoming plane trips to CA and to HI.

The girls slept over/or had sleep overs here - the 26th and 27th - and spent lots of time with friends! Last night we finally reconvened as a family, and went downriver to take J's parents out to their favorite restaurant for dinner. His bro's family also joined us - and we got to see my neice and grand-nephew one more time before they head back to New York today.

Well... off to prep the house for our annual New Year's Party!!! More posts later!

Merry Christmas!!!

It feels like Christmas now!! We had our celebration with my family last night! What fun!!!

I was so pleased, because several of the gifts I selected turned out to be "Home Run" gifts for my family! Even the books that I got my siblings who weren't "mine" to buy for were a big hit! (I got them all signed copies of "Michigan's Most Haunted" by Sandy Arno Lyons. Sandy used to be A's figure skating coach, and still coaches at our rink!)

My sister J's dh B loved the cheap voice changer toy I bought him as a joke - he talked into it all night - much to the amusement of his children, and his neices and nephews!

I managed to purchase several gifts for my mom, right under her nose (we shopped together) and STILL surprise her!!

My dad loved the St. Anthony golf balls - which were a last minute impulse buy - purchased while shopping for Baby E's baptism gift! He also surprised himself and us by choking up when he opened my promise note to take He and Mom to see Man of LaMancha later this year!

The kids all loved the lounge outfits I got for them. My neice J got my attention, while petting her velour Cinderella outfit to tell me "Aunt Kate, I just LOVE this." (she's 4 - it was totally precious!) And, my neice L took one look at the cupcake purse that she and all the girl cousins got (I ordered from Etsy) and slung it over her arm and said "Bye!" (she's 2 - and totally into purses and bags, and going bye-bye!) Nephew DJ was way into his Lightening McQueen outfit as well!

My kids had a good Christmas too - and after all my sibs with the little kids left - we sat down to watch E's new Shimmy & Shake edition of "Hairspray". Lots of fun!!!

Oh, Oh, Oh.... and I almost forgot - my bro C has connections (his buddy is in the band) and I got both Might Could CD's - LOVE THEM!!

Child of God

My neice, Baby E, was baptised yesterday! Isn't she beautiful? This was an exciting day for my E as well, as my sister (whom I affectionately call seester) had asked her to be one of Baby E's Godmothers! E was confirmed last spring - which is why she can now serve in the role of Godmother.

E gave Baby E a special gift for her baptism. It is a tradition that she and I heard about from our friends the K's. For a baby girl's baptism, you give them a cross which hangs from a bar pin. The cross is pinned to the baptismal gown - and then to each gown or dress that the girl wears through each of her sacraments - her 1st communion, her confirmation and her wedding day! What a special tradition - and now E has started it for Baby E!

You might also notice that Baby E is wearing 2 different baptismal garments in the photos. The first garment my seester made from the shawl from her wedding gown. The second garment was made from a family wedding gown, and has been worn by four generations of our family at their baptisms - beginning with my Uncle and my Father. I don't know the exact count - but over 40 children have been baptised in that gown, and it is over 80 years old!

We had a great time afterwards at my seester's house, eating yummy lasagna that her hubby made!

PS Family - I think you can now comment without having to join anything. I don't know what can of worms that might open for me - but we'll try it for a while! :-)

Pecan Sandies/Sandies/Sand Tarts/Snowballs

These are one of my Dad's favorite cookies. I have two copies of the recipe - both in my Grandma Cron's handwriting - although she gives credit for the recipe to someone else. I haven't made these in AGES - but I had a hankering - and I knew my Dad would appreciate them (which he did!)

I didn't do the best job with my photojournalism of the baking process. It was a bit chaotic here, with everyone doing their own thing to get ready for Christmas - and I got sidetracked partway through baking!

I made a double batch of the Recipe which I am posting - so that I would have enough to last through all the cookie trays we are taking places!!

Sandies - from the kitchen of me - by way of my Grandma Cron - by way of someone named Jane Smalley.
1/2 C Butter
1/2 C Crisco
5 T Powdered Sugar (I looked this up - that equals 1/3 cup!)
2 C Flour & Salt (OK I decided that my Grandma did NOT mean 2 cups of salt - and I just put in about 1/2 t (I poured some into my hand, and threw it in with the 2 cups of flour)
1 t Vanilla
1 t Water (I think this is just to keep the dough moist enough to ball up - when I doubled - I didn't add the 2nd t until I checked the dough.
1 C chopped nuts (but my Grandma ALWAYS used Pecans - so I did too!)
Cream shortening, butter and sugar. (I used my pastry cutter)
Add vanilla, water. Then add salt and flour. Finally, add the nuts.

Shape in half-moons or balls (I chose balls, and used my mini scoop from Pampered Chef).
Bake in 350 degree oven for 20 minutes. Roll in powdered sugar when cool.

Enjoy! We are!!

KQOTD

Unloading groceries into the car last night:

A: Man, it's gross out here.

Me: Yeah - it's really slushy.

A: It feels like..... It feels like... It feels like I'm walking in mashed potatoes.

Gooney Ball Disaster!!

The snow may have made the kids happy with a Snow Day - and me happy for my bonus day with them... but there was one person in our household who wasn't too thrilled with the effects of the snowstorm.

Poor J... he's in mourning over the GooneyBall. You may recall from an earlier post that he decided to construct the ball with Hot Glue, rather than staples that rust. Unfortunately - extreme cold and Hot Glue do not mix. The bond is compromised, then add wind, and the weight of snow - and you have a recipe for unravelled Gooney Ball.

As the gooney ball goes into the tree before the lights go on - it's almost impossible to repair the ball without completely dismantling all the lights on the tree. And right now, the tree is in the middle of an 18" snow drift - further complicating the problem.

I had to give lots of consoling hugs (and extra cookies from the baking) to cheer up J. But he's not really cheered up. He turned off the gooney ball portion of the lights - but the colored tree lights are still going on. The Gooney Ball may not rise again until Christmas 2008. {sigh}

Snow Day!!

We got dumped with snow this weekend - so much so, that the snowfall on Sunday morning affected us all the way to Monday, with school cancellations! Because we've been running at full tilt around here - with no time to speak of on the weekends (despite the snow, A still had 4 shows this weekend!) - I decided the Snow Day was God's gift to us to spend some family time making Christmas Treats!!

So, we baked, and made chocolates, and had friends over for the day! Younger girls built snow forts in the yard, Older girls painted chocolate molds (didn't they turn out AWESOME?) and the two mom's baked cookies! It was a bit of chaos - but fun!

I even turned off the computer for the day so that I wouldn't be distracted from my "gift" day!! Hmmm... speaking of gifts - I need to seriously do some wrapping - and finish up those last few shopping needs!!!

I'm back to work today - Kid's are back to school - but yesterday was a wonderful gift!

This is what 12 looks like!

OMG, OMG you guys... my baby is TWELVE today.

How can you be 12 already? Wasn't it just yesterday that I spent an all nighter at the hospital giving birth, and J was conked out next to me in a chair fast asleep, and I was on the phone with my friend Kim, who I knew would be up early, and wouldn't mind talking to me, with all my adreneline pumping after birthing a 2nd beautiful baby girl!!

You, my original girl... who waited just a few hours to have your own unique birthday - not 12/13 to follow the family pattern of 3/4, 6/7 and 7/8 - but 12/14 - becoming a one day late birthday present for your Grandmom! You, my original girl, who decided while I was writing the annual Christmas letter to start bouncing on my cervix - not 30 minutes after I remarked to your dad... well, there's a blizzard coming - this baby can wait until the snowstorm is over to come (I guess that was all the invitation that you needed.) You, my original girl, who's coming forced the baby doc out of bed and to the hospital at 1am. (I tried to tell him to schedule your c-section for 12/13 - but he insisted on 12/21 - and so he got to lose a night's sleep for not listening to this mama's intuition!!)

Your first visitors were your big sister and your Grandpa - who came to stay with big sis when we called to say - "Hey, this original girl has decided to make her grand entrance, NOW"

You were my best Christmas present ever... and you still are. I love you, my original girl.

So, here's the shirt her sister got for her to wear today:

And here are her new shoes - that have been on her list for months:

We did a small celebration last night - as today is school, and another "Alice In Wonderland" show tonight. We are taking 5 dozen Krispy Kremes to the theater tonight to celebrate with the cast and crew!!

OMG, OMG you guys - next year on this date - I'll be the mother of TWO teenage girls. It's enough to give me palpitations.

Christmas is coming... the Goose is getting fat!

That Christmas Carol lyric always cracks me up! No Geese around here - but rumor has it that Mom G is preparing a Turducken for Christmas Eve dinner! All agreed that it would be a fun adventure - and since we all like Turkey and Duck and Chicken - it should be yummy!

Christmas Tree!!! That's right - the Christmas tree is up and lit in the dining room. No ornaments yet - but it is up and in the front window! Again, we switched to the LED lights - and the colors are so brilliant (and it's energy efficient!! BONUS!) I must give credit, where credit is due, however. J, E & A all assembled and lit the tree last night - I sat at my computer desk working on the upcoming Test Session for the Figure Skating Club. I did ooh and ahh when it was complete though!!

Gooney Ball update. Apparantly it's a bigger hit in the neighborhood than even we realized! Last year, as you know, the Gooney Ball died - and so did not make it's annual appearance on the tree. This year, a new gooney ball was constructed, and installed - but much later than our icicle lights went up.

At least three carpool parents have asked E to convey their praise and appreciation for the tree, and last night BOTH J and I had total strangers stop, or slow down, and shout out their windows about loving our lights as we were walking to or from our vehicles. Certainly makes all the work J did, lovingly reconstructing the gooney ball, worthwhile!

Tomorrow is A's 12th birthday - and is she ever excited. Of course, between school and "Alice In Wonderland" she has almost zero free time on her birthday. We have some surprises up our sleeves for her birthday!

Well, hold on tight - we are headed into another whirlwind weekend!

The Gooney Ball Lives!!

The new gooney ball is finished, and on display!!

In addition to the new and improved gooney ball, J purchased all new LED lights for the tree. The colors on these new lights are just brilliant! The photos just cannot capture how great they look! The photo above is without the flash, and the photo below is with the flash. Neither really captures the lights very well.

We've had lots of compliments since we got the ball up and the tree decorated - and we're so glad we brought the joy of Christmas back to one of our favorite neighbors (you know who you are... hee hee!)

Now.... about a tree INSIDE the house! LOL.

I did purchase some supplies to do some baking - just not sure when I'm going to do it yet!

The Gryphon

This was opening weekend of "Alice in Wonderland", and A, my theatergirl is playing the role of Gryphon. (The most unrecognized character in the story! So much so, that when she first got the role - I had to pull out my Lewis Carroll anthology, and find the reference in the story! )

It's a very colorful and fun show - with a large cast! A is having a great time, and the rest of us are too. I'm chairing the concessions, and J is running the light board, and E has been running a spotlight!

Thanks so much to family and friends that came to see the show this weekend! She has 4 more shows next weekend, and we hope to see even more people then! If you come, please be patient - the "Turtle Tango" is one of the last numbers in the show! A spends a lot of time in the dressing room!

If you don't come... well, then "Off with your head!" hee hee!

I love YouTube!

I'm not even sure how the topic came up - but the kids and I were discussing Animaniacs, and Bugs Bunny, and A asked "Are they Disney?"

"Oh, NOOOO," I replied, "they are Warner Brothers!"

"Who else is Warner Brothers?" she asked.

So her sister and I start rattling it off - "Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Elmer Fudd, Anamaniacs, PINKY AND THE BRAIN!!!"

And here's where the "I Love YouTube" comes in. Quick as a wink, I had the Pinky and the Brain Theme Song playing on my computer... and then the Parts of the Brain song... which then led me to remember all the Bugs Opera episodes - and so I hunted up Long Haired Hare, the Rabbit of Seville and Whats Opera Doc.

I hope you all enjoy these as much as we all did!

(E's watching Bugs and says "Wow, this is really violent!" LOL - precisely why we don't see them on Saturday morning cartoons anymore!)

But I learned LOTS of classical music from Bugs and the Gang!! How about you?

Edit: It occurred to me that I didn't include the Anamaniacs Theme Song! Another classic. It's this time of year that we pull out our Animaniacs Christmas video (yes, it's so old it's still a tape). It's a classic. It's why we sometimes call J "Mr. Man".

What????

I'm sure that's what you're saying when you look at this photo!

This, my friends, is a "Gooney Ball" in progress. Yep. My DH is building a Gooney Ball.... but let me tell the whole story...

Once upon a time, a few years after we moved into our house, our neighbor walked across the cul de sac with a gift! It seems that his son had been given this gooney ball - which he passed on to his dad, who passed it on to us - because it just seemed like it would be perfect on top of the big "christmas tree" in our front yard.

So, knowing it was sort of a half-joke - J decided to figure out a way to mount the gooney ball atop the tree.... and wow - our neighbor was right - it was PERFECT on top of our tree! So... every year since, we have faithfully mounted the gooney ball atop our big tree. Each year the tree grows, and it becomes more challenging for J, and then last year - tragedy struck... the gooney ball DIED. (I mean, when you think about it - the fact that it kept lighting for something like 8 years is pretty amazing - it was bound to die sometime!!)

J went searching - and found and purchased what he thought would be the perfect replacement. A big, store made gooney ball - with light effects!!! (ooooh.... ahhhhhh.....)

Problem was - he couldn't figure out how to get it up on top of our tree (too heavy - no way to attach it to the giant pole he's used in the past) AND once it got up there - all those fancy effects? We wouldn't be able to reach the controller.

So, last week, he came to the conclusion that he was just going to have to BUILD HIS OWN GOONEY BALL. Thus the photo above - the new gooney ball - mid construction. We've had a minor setback. He underestimated the number of cups it would take - so he has to go buy more.

But - never fear - the gooney ball WILL rise again (even if it's Christmas Eve, J says).

Busy Weekend - whew....

Unfortunately every weekend between now and Christmas could earn the post title above. We just have a jam-packed December!!


Friday night was E's 1st Basketball Game with the JV Dance Team. Now, mind you, she danced all football season, but as I'm being educated - Football season is "Pom" style dance, and Basketball is "Hip-Hop" - and Competition is "Jazz". So, it was the first hip-hop dance of the season - not E's favorite style - but she's having fun with it anyway. If I knew how to get photos off of my new phone - I'd post one. But I don't - so you'll just have to suffer!! She was more nervous than I would have expected - compounded by a low blood sugar right before the half. (oh how I wish we could predict those!) I thought she looked great - but she swears she messed up. Ah well. One game down - several more to go!!


Saturday was our home club's Figure Skating competition... Always a lot of work, but also a lot of fun. I set up the registration table, and recruit the volunteers for that area, so I was at the rink at 7am. Both E and A competed. E in three events, A in only one - because we expected her to have a rehearsal - but it got cancelled - but not until after it was too close to the competition to change her entry.


E's events were Juvenile Short Program, Juvenile Spins and Pre-Juv/Juvenile Interpretive. (To explain Interpretive - the skaters hear the music 2 times on the warm-up, and then one more time before they skate - they get no input from their coaches to create and perform choreography to this music that they are just now hearing) A competed in Showcase - her best event!


Drumroll please....... the results are - E' took Silver in the Short Program, and Gold in Spins and Interpretive, and A took Silver in Showcase! It was a great day!! To see more photos go here, here, here and here for pics of E (she's in the purple dress) and here for pics of A - she's got the gun.


The competition ended, and the weather nastied up - but we wanted to see the girl's skating buddy M in a local high school production of "The Boyfriend" that night. Luckily the HS and the Rink are only 2 blocks apart - so we walked out of the rink at 7:20, and still easily made the 7:30 performance! It was a delightful show - I had never seen it, although I've heard some of the music in the past.


Sunday - we divided and conquered. E and I back to the rink for the annual Holiday Exhibition and Skate with Santa. (E did a duet with her friend A) - and A to the theater for "Tech Sunday" because her show opens in a week! After the exhibition - E and I had fun skating with Santa, and I think she is impressed with how far her mama has come on those skinny silver blades! She videoed me on her phone doing some "tricks" (which, mind you, are nowhere near as impressive as her "tricks"!)

Then, back to the house for homework, and hanging out - while J and A finished their rehearsal. This week is filled with more rehearsals, band concerts, another basketball game, and the opening of the show!!

Some of the other scrapbook gals whose blogs I follow have made this cute December Journals that they are writing about "slowing down" and "enjoying the season". Ha. I'm just holding on tight and hoping I survive the ride!!! Christmas Tree? I have no idea if and when it will go up!!! This is one "side effect" that we didn't think about when A tried out for a Christmas Season Show!!