Almost here

Even though the season of Advent has begun, it really kicks off in earnest for me tomorrow. The children of our church will present their musical performances for each of their choirs/singing groups. The boy will be singing with his buddies. As always, I imagine he will have his hands in his pockets and a completely serious look on his face as he perfectly annuciates every word in every song. He enjoys the songs, but he is all business. I love it. Then G's singing/performing group, Off Broadway Kids, will be presenting their Christmas musical "An Out of the Box Christmas". Every year these choirs with their squirmy, wiggly kids and somewhat unpredictable arm movements, set the season off right. They are what the season of Advent is all about. They excitedly await the birth of the baby, the coming of Christ. Their anticipation and excitement is pure and beautiful. They get it, the whole experience, especially when some of us old people have become jaded and forget how exciting this coming is. I cry every year at their sweet little faces and the beauty in the simple but poignant words in their songs.

So if you see me tomorrow night at Kroger picking up Kleenex and a gallon of milk and my eyes are a bit red, just know that the Spirit took hold and showed me the true light of Christmas.


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Drop bubble wrap here

This afternoon I was slumbering blissfully in my vehicle when, all of a sudden, I was awakened by knocking on my window. I must admit I'm glad my bladder was empty, because the startle really could have made me wet myself a bit. "Um, your son hurt himself...why don't you pull into the gravel lot and they'll let you come inside." Of course I freaked out, almost back into and then rear ended the cars around me to get out of my space and into the school. They let me in and I hurried to the clinic in the office. I found a pitiful little guy sitting with the principal, holding an ice pack to his head and trying really hard not to cry. When he took off the ice, I had to bite my tongue a bit. It looked knotty for sure. I know everyone says that it is a good thing when a bump pops out after a whomp, but as a mother it is just a shiny, bulbous beacon showing that I was unable to protect him at all times. Reality is an ugly reminder, but it makes people like me know that other people can care for him when I am away and accidents happen. Let's get to how it happened. "Well, we were playing kickball...". There you go. His ripped up finger last week and scraped up knee the week before all had stories that started with, "We were playing kickball...". So they were playing kickball and he was having a good run, they threw the ball to get him out, he tripped over it and landed head first into a wooden post. I asked him if it knocked him out or what. "Well, I walked around in circles for a couple minutes to try and figure out what was going on and work on standing up and then I walked over to my teacher." His teacher said he kind of staggered over and, upon seeing his head and demeanor, had him go straight to the office(with a helper). We waited for G to get done with her safety duty, had a talk with the hub about our options and then called our nurse friend who works a our pediatrician's office. He got home, got his soccer ball ice pack and some Motrin and settled down to take it easy for a minute. I immediately realized he was on his way to fall asleep, so we started asking lots of questions to keep him up. By the time bed rolled around, he was feeling better but still had a massive headache. His head is going to look absolutely excellent for Christmas pictures. He did not appreciate me singing a song about him similar to Rudolph containing the line, "The pump knotted 2nd grader...". No humor at this point. Maybe tomorrow.

Look for his poor, shiny little head tomorrow. The pictures don't do it justice. Tomorrow's will be a lot more purple I imagine. Yuck.


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Will I ever learn?

It has been quite a busy day, as most Sundays are. Work this morning, a luncheon this afternoon and then shopping for craft supplies with G for her 4H project. By the time dinner rolled around, I had just about hit my limit of patience and stamina. My resistance was low...my will was weak...I just wanted some food and rest. So I agreed, against my better judgement, to go to Pizza Inn. Now for my precious three readers who have been with me from the beginning, they know that when my family goes to the Inn, strange things ensue. Things started out innocently enough. We got some food and started to eat. The booth that was diagonally set from our table was quite lively. It was stuffed full with nine people plus a baby in a carrier in a chair at the end. The children were hopped up on coke and were getting quite rambunctious, so the adults started using the "threat" of the upcoming holiday on the 25th as a reason for them to calm down. "Santa's watching. Calm down." We hear another scream and then a giggle. "Okay, Santa knows what you are doing. Stop it." I hear some silverware fall on the floor and a heavy sigh. "Okay, kids. Do you want Frosty Willard to go away? I'll make him go away." "NOT FROSTY WILLARD!!! NOOOOO!". As I was trying to figure out who in the world that was, they answered it for me: their Elf on a Shelf. Is that the greatest Elf name or what? This news got their attention and a somewht calm was returned, so much so that the baby was nodding off which was not what the parents wanted. Someone stuck a piece of pizza crust in the baby's mouth saying, "You have to eat so you won't go to sleep." Well karma suck when you decide to shove dough in a sleeping baby's mouth. He knocked over a full glass of coke....unfortunately for baby, the bulk went right into the carrier like a little sugary pool of further torture for the poor little thing. After three employees mopped and sopped for a good ten minutes, the family reset their base of pizza operations in their stuffed booth. Talk went to that of Elf of the Shelf antics involving baby powder and chocolate. Once chocolate was mentioned, another conversation started. Apparently the alpha female of the group had recently made a long awaited and much anticipated trip to the Golden Corral for a chance to partake of their much lauded fountain of chocolate. One of children under Frosty Willard's watch decided to stick their whole hand in the fountain not unlike Augustus Gloop in Wonka's chocolate river. Mayhem ensued and Def Con 5 chocolate fountain contamination emergency management began. The fountain had to be shut down, emptied of all contaminated chocolate, sanitized and refilled. This process took a total of two hours to complete. How did they know this? Because they stayed the whole two hours waiting. "That's the only reason I come in there...I had to have me some of that fountain." The hub said, "I'm paying, let's go." Never a dull moment. Just keep that in mind the next time you see one of those fountains....


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Treed up

The rain came down for a good part of the day today. We took advantage of a quiet morning and decorated our tree. The kids stayed in their pj's, drank hot chocolate and listened to Christmas music while I got out each ornament. We have amassed quite a few over the years and it is always such fun to look at them and remember who they came from and their special meaning to our family. It was the boy's year to place the most coveted(not sure why)ornament on the tree:






I swear he looks like the boy on The Goldbergs with that smile. We had a few moments of melancholy. The special stocking we had for our beloved dog, Cosby, who died a year ago this past June. We had several ornaments in her likeness as well. We found some made by Great Granny and Uncle Jim and many other much loved family members. Sweet times reminiscing with the hub and the brood while warm, dry and safe from the elements. it was a busy day all the way around, but I was so grateful for the quiet special time with the family. That is the best Christmas present I could ever hope to have.
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Pre rain on our parade

So tomorrow's plans to be involved in the local Christmas parade have been cancelled. The parade itself has not been cancelled, but our church and the high school band have opted not to get kids in costumes and uniforms out in a monsoon. I can't imagine why. So the hub and I are now at futsal with the girls. The boy is partying with his friends at a birthday party tonight. He needed that...rough week being him. Hopefully a little time with his buds will fix that. The girls will get to have dinner at the diner of their choosing tonight. Knowing their preferences, I will be having cereal.

I don't know about you, but I am ready for the Christmas holiday. A friend once told me that you should never wish any of your time away...that you can never get that time back. I totally agree. BUT, the kids are to that mentally fried state and Thanksgiving wasn't really any kind of a break for them. I cannot tell you how heavenly the thought of snuggling up with my children all day...in the pajamas...with good stuff on TV...good games to play...good food to eat. Absolutely blissful. I know the time will come in the next few weeks. And I can't wait. If anyone asks you what I want for Christmas, tell them uninterrupted time with my children. That's it.


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My momma said...

My mom told me what most moms told their children, "If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all." Today is one of those days. I have rewritten this post three times and each version gets worse. I'll just say this...moms get really ticked off when someone hurts their child, We take it quite personally.

I need to go sew up a sock monkey bunny for a friend's child's Christmas present. I will try to adjust my attitude.


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Bored pooch

I had to go to handbells tonight, well, I do every Wednesday, and I turned into one of those people. Our veterinarian plays bells next to me and I had to get her opinion as to why our dog is a psycho. She chewed up more of the trim today when I was down in the dungeon doing laundry. I hate being one of those people who bothers someone with work questions during their relaxation time. But I did it and was told that our precious little furry demon child is bored to tears. Insert a hanging head here. So now I am on the search for boredom reducing activities for her to do when I cannot play with her. Laundry has to be done and she'll have to get over it, but not by going full beaver on our woodwork. I need to come up with something...or my husband will be giving her a new permanent home outside. Wish me luck.


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