If you ever wanted to be a fly on my wall…

Not surprisingly, I’ve been asked several times recently how my holidays were. That’s what we do after the holidays, isn’t it? We ask our friends if they had a good Christmas and New Years. And I was just thinking today that my Christmas was really good. Family times … well, they have their ups and downs. Sometimes the holidays leave a lasting impression, and not always for the right reasons.

My family, though? When we’re at our best, we laugh… and we laugh hard. This video is really poor, but you get the gist of it. If you ever wanted to be a fly on the wall of our family gatherings, this is what you’d see.

… My brothers mixing up a combination of impersonations, eighties rock music and making up new lyrics to old songs.

… The nephews, thinking I was simply snapping a photo, posing in the background and waiting for me to say, “Got it.”

… A little bit of alcohol.

… A lot of food, especially French Silk pie, (not pecan pie.)

… An abundance of silliness.

… And lots and lots of laughter…

I love that my brother-in-law said, “And we’re eating not pecan pie! … Wait, did I just say ‘not pecan pie?’ Who am I? Yoda?”

That just put us over the edge!

My brothers would probably kill me if they knew I was posting this video online. But I think they’d forgive me if I told them how much I loved spending this time with them on Christmas Eve.

Well, that was FUN!

The guest bedroom is vacant again and the house is quiet for the first time in four days. Brad and Heather have packed up and headed back home again. A new year has begun and after more than a month of preparations and celebrations, it’s time to start getting back to routine.

It was a full and happy long weekend at our house. My family was a bit scattered over Christmas, but the New Year’s weekend provided the perfect opportunity for all of us to gather together. We celebrated our Christmas on Saturday and it was wonderful. We had nowhere else to go, no other obligations to worry about. We made it all about us. I told the kids I would make whatever they wanted to eat. Turkey dinner? That amazing lasagna we all love? They requested hors d’oeuvres and made it easy on me. Gifts were shared. A particular wish was granted for each. Each of the kids received a Mad Bomber hat. No one requested one, but everyone loved them. They put them on and Lucy barked in confusion at the strange furry things on their heads.

Warm winter wear

Happiness and good cheer was abundant!

Brad was happy with his new goose decoys.

Kacey had a smile even though she wasn’t feeling so well.

Jake enjoyed a tall glass of chocolate milk.

I love when all the kids are home. We do things to feed the soul, things that slip by the wayside in the midst of our daily routines. We make big, hot breakfasts and eat together at the table. We lounge around and watch movies and play with the dogs. We talk to each other and remember how good it feels to be together.

I’ve not adjusted easily to the fact that my kids have grown up and are beginning lives of their own. I’ve often missed the days of knowing they were all safe under my roof, of knowing they needed me and that I was there to protect them. But this weekend, a sense of understanding and acceptance came over me. It came with the sweet sound of my boys talking to one another, ribbing each other, with good nature in their voices. At 21 and 23 years old, they are coming to accept one another for both their differences and their similarities. I listened to their conversation from the kitchen, not wanting to interrupt. I waited for something to break down as always seems to happen. I waited for one to move away from the other in frustration, but that moment didn’t come. My boys have grown up and I think I like it.

We took time to sit back and relax, but there was also much to do. Brad made time to get together with a long-time friend whom he hadn’t seen in much too long. I too carved out time to be with my best friend who was in town for a few days. New Years Eve was coming and the party was at our house this year. Kacey was a godsend. Because of my still-aching back, (pinched nerve, I think) and knowing that I get a bit crazy as I prepare to entertain, she made herself available to do whatever I needed her to do. She’s growing up too, and that means I miss her a lot. But I am really proud of the adult she has become.

We had such a good time, and as expected, it all went by too fast. The Christmas tree is still up and I think I’ll leave it until next weekend. It’s so pretty and I’m in no hurry to take it down just yet.

I tend to get the blues after the holidays have passed. My focus before the holidays gets so centered on being with family and the happiness and fun that the holidays bring. It’s hard to go back to the same old same old. And I’ve realized that I feel the worst when I have nothing to work towards and nothing to look forward to. So maybe some resolutions are in order – nothing too rigid – just some things that need continued improvement.

So I’m resolving to get back into a good routine at the gym. I’ve been a slacker of late. I got sick over Thanksgiving weekend and I let it keep me out of the gym for more than a week. That chest cold hung on for weeks and even when I got back to the gym, there were days I just gave in to the urge for an extra hour of rest instead. And then came the back pain and there were days I couldn’t get out of bed without assistance, much less go run on a treadmill. It’s eased up now, and I think getting these muscles back to work will help heal me completely. And once that happens, I want to just push myself harder than before and get into better shape.

Last year I resolved to cook more and eat better. I made some improvement, but I’ve still got a long way to go. As I began to improve my cooking skills I realized that I needed better tools in my kitchen. I’ve added some cookware and better utensils and they deserve to be put to use. So I’m going to work on better meal planning and learning to say no when Mark says, “Should we just order a pizza?”

I don’t want to set unrealistic expectations, so I only have two other resolutions. Read more. Write more. These are two things that bring me serious fulfillment. They deserve more effort.

So while it is hard to say goodbye to my kids as they go back to their lives, I’m not going to dwell on the sadness it brings. I’ll look forward to the next time and while I wait, I’ll give myself things to work toward. But today? I’m dedicating today to some serious lounging!

… and so is Lucy …

 

Happy New Year, all!

Holidays and Family and the Wisdom of our Elders

So what’dja get for Christmas? I got back pain. It arrived on Christmas Eve and stayed through today. That was fun. Good timing too! ‘Cause I’m usually an insane maniac over Christmas and having to move like a hundred year-old lady just gave all that holiday stress a nice twist. Thank goodness for my daughter who made sure she covered all my bases for me while I hobbled around in pain. She was my Christmas angel.

I packed up the contents of a supply room at work last week and moved it all out in preparation for our move to the new office. I was supposed to have a partner, but she never showed up to help, so I did it all by my lonesome. Pretty sure that was the catalyst for the back pain. I went to the chiropractor on Wednesday and he suggested that I’m not as young anymore as I might think I am. Oh, he padded those comments with statements about how he knows that I work out and all, but I might want to think about doing some stretches before doing a whole bunch of bending and twisting and lifting that my back is not accustomed to. I know he’s right, but the aging remarks still sting a bit.

Other than that, Christmas was good. Our holiday celebrations are stretching out even more than usual this year. We had to work around a few things, like a husband who had to work on Christmas and a son who was taking a turn celebrating the holiday with his girlfriend’s family this year. So we’ll have our family Christmas this weekend. And even though the kids are all adults now, they’re still giddy with anticipation for their gifts. And I will not give in and let Kacey open “just one!” She has to wait.

Those of us who were home on Christmas Eve attended my family’s celebration at my sister’s house. We got this nice picture of the siblings where we’re all smiling and looking happy. Think I’ll make a copy of this for my parents. It will make them happy to see all of us getting along so nicely!

Three, One, Two and Four

And as crazy as family Christmas can be, I still love to see the little ones get excited over their gifts. My nephew, Josh (a hockey fanatic) loved the hockey themed clothing that Brad picked out for him.

Happy kid!

Christmas Day was spent with Mark’s family – all fifty-some of them. It was chaos, but the food was good. And there was an adorable baby there too. Too bad I couldn’t catch him on camera with a smile. He has the most beautiful dimples when he smiles!

Blue eyes

And the nerve of that Kacey, photobombing the adorable baby picture!

But really, the highlight of Christmas Day was sitting with Mark’s parents and enjoying dinner and conversation with them. Since there were so many people in attendance, there were several tables to seat all of the family. Mark’s parents picked a small table and were sitting alone until I joined them. 83 year-old Dad-in-law was contemplating how big the family had become over the years. He said to me, “It’s hard to believe we have such a big family considering that Mom and I came from such small families.”

I nodded as he reminded me that he only had two brothers (both now gone) and mom-in-law grew up alone, her only sister having died at a very young age. I looked around at all of Dad-in-law’s children, their spouses, the grandchildren and great-grandchildren. As I marveled at how far-reaching this family was, Dad-in-law motioned with his thumb toward Mom-in-law and with an air of wisdom and experience, said, “This is what happens when you have an over-sexed wife!”

Mom-in-law didn’t even look embarrassed as she simply smiled at me. That’s okay. I’m sure my face was burning enough for the two of us and I don’t think they even noticed me trying to gather my jaw back up from where it had dropped to the table.

Ahh, family. Gotta love ‘em!

Christmas Calm

I woke up this morning while it was still dark outside. The dogs followed me to the back door and when I opened the blinds, I was greeted by the sight of huge, fluffy white snowflakes drifting gently down from the sky. Even Lucy and Bella, normally hyper and anxious to go outside after a long night’s sleep, stopped a moment to appreciate this scene.

I feel like I’ve been going non-stop for the past month; a combination of work stuff and the preparation for the holidays. I was still rushing around just yesterday, picking up a few last-minute things and wrapping gifts for my family.

Now Christmas is upon us. As soon as the family celebrations begin tonight, I expect it will all pass in a blur, as it always does. So I’m grateful for this quiet morning, taking some time to just sit by the Christmas tree and breathe. For a few moments anyway, there are no worries, no rushing… just an appreciation for how blessed I am.

Merry Christmas, my friends and family!

Christmas Activities

Wow, this blog has been sadly neglected. The Kitchen Aid, however, has been getting a workout. Kacey and I have been baking Christmas cookies.

Chocolate Crinkles

Peanut Blossoms

Spritz Cookies

The Spritz cookies were made with my grandma’s cookie press. It worked like a charm!

Old-fashioned, but still works great!

And we used Grandma’s recipe too.

A TYPED recipe card!

And we used Mark’s grandma’s recipe for these Sugar Cookies…

Frosted Sugar Cookies

We’re almost done with our baking. I’m almost done with my shopping. There is still much wrapping to be done. And then hopefully I’ll have time to write about a really important event. If you’ve got connections with Santa’s elves, please send some my way. I could use a helping hand.

Christmas Radio

One of our local radio stations goes to an all Christmas music format starting just before  Thanksgiving and continuing through Christmas day. I can’t get into it before Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving should get it’s due before Christmas takes over. But by the day after Thanksgiving, I’m all about Christmas. So after Thanksgiving, I’m the one you see in morning rush hour, singing happily along to the Christmas tunes in my car. And I am a GREAT singer… when I’m all alone in my car and no one can hear me but me!

So I was listening on my way to work yesterday morning and  We Three Kings was playing and I kind of liked this version. It was different and modern. And when I hear a song I like, I want to know who’s singing it. My car stereo has the function where it will display a song title and artist, if they are available. But there was no display for We Three Kings. So I thought to myself, “This sounds like Sarah McLachlan,” which wasn’t a tough guess because who couldn’t pick out Sarah McLachlan’s voice? It’s pretty unique. But she was singing with someone else, and I said to myself, “This sounds like Sarah McLachlan and the Barenaked Ladies.”

And I was pretty impressed with myself when I realized I was right. I know I was right because I heard it again today and this time the d.j. announced that it was Sarah McLachlan and the Barenaked Ladies. And is it just me, or is something just a little wrong with a group named Barenaked Ladies singing about the birth of Christ?

What I really love about listening to Christmas music though, is hearing all of the great artists from years gone by. There’s a cool version of Baby it’s Cold Outside where Martina McBride added her vocals to Dean Martin’s 1959 recording of the song.

Come to think about it, that’s not really a Christmas song, is it? It’s kind of a …. umm… lusty song. But it’s a great song! So many artists have recorded it.  And there’s just something about Dean Martin singing Christmas songs. Or Tony Bennet. Or Nat King Cole or Bing Crosby. The way they sing sometimes makes me wish I could have experienced Christmas in their day.

Then again, Christmas today has its benefits. I remember when I was a kid, we’d stack my parents’ Christmas albums on the turntable and listen to one album at a time and then we’d have to flip them over to hear the other sides. Now I can put all my Christmas music on my iPod and listen to it for hours if I want. I have a HUGE collection of Christmas music. I listen to it all – the old stuff, the new stuff and everything in between.

Just a few of my other favorites:

And for some reason, this duo remains a long-time family tradition at Christmas time. I don’t know why, but we love these guys. I think they just remind my siblings and me of those Christmas Eve gatherings at our grandparents home. My goofy uncle would put this album on the hi-fi and we’d listen and giggle while we waited for the moms to finish the dishes from our Christmas Eve dinner sand then it would be time to open presents!

What about you? Got any favorite Christmas tunes?

After Christmas

Today was a day for sleeping in and doing whatever we wanted to do. We cleaned up some of the Christmas aftermath, lounged around a bit, ate Christmas cookies…

Brad received a bonus from his summer employer and the money was burning a hole in his pocket. He went to Gander Mountain to go price a new gun for hunting. Kacey wanted to get her new hockey skates sharpened. No, she’s not a serious hockey player, but she and her friends love to go skating and often play hockey just for fun.

While we waited for the skates to be sharpened, she browsed the selection of hockey sticks. As a thank you for all of the work she did helping me prepare for Christmas, I bought one for her. It’s pink! It’s a breast cancer awareness hockey stick. Pink and hockey don’t really seem to mix, but Kacey was excited. Now she wants winter to show up so she can put these things to use at the park. If it stays as warm as it’s been, she’ll have to pay to go skate at a local rink.

We came home to find Brad, Heather and Jake visiting with Brad’s good friend, Justin.

I downloaded my Christmas photos and thought I’d share some of them with you:

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Tomorrow it’s back to work for a short week. It will be good for me to get back into routine. I love the holidays and having everyone home, but it’s too easy to get lazy!

Merry Christmas!

It’s all over but for the mess that still needs cleaning up.

Christmas Eve is where the celebrating really begins for us. I was a maniac on Friday, up at the crack of dawn and spending the day making peanut brittle, baking cookies, wrapping presents, ribboning, gift-tagging and cooking lasagna for twenty-some people. I called it a night around 11:00 p.m. Saturday saw me up early again, cleaning house, doing all the last-minute preparation for a house full of company.

I remember sitting down late Saturday afternoon in my living room with my kids. We were watching something Christmasy on t.v. We were going to go to church with my parents and had about twenty minutes to spare before we had to leave. I looked around at the house, thought for a minute, then looked at the kids and said, “I think we did it! We’re ready and with time to spare!”

I would never have gotten everything done this year without the help of my kids, and I told them so. The house was festive and clean. The food was ready and there was plenty of it. We had covered every detail and were ready to host the best family Christmas yet!

So off to church we went. My dad was busy performing his deacon duties, and I got to sit next to my mom. My nephew, sister-in-law, brother and my kids were all in the pew with us. I kneeled and said a quick prayer, thinking how lucky I was. My parents were home with us for Christmas. My kids were all with me. I was able to buy gifts for the people I love without too much struggle. I thought for a moment that I wasn’t sure why I deserved this, but I knew I was beyond grateful. In my mind, I saw the perfect Christmas unfolding before me.

After church, the kids and I headed back home. Other family members were pulling up in front of our house before we were even in the door. The carefully cleaned and tidied house seemed to explode before my eyes as our house filled to the brim. We don’t have an extravagant home and there just didn’t seem to be space enough for everyone. Some family tensions bubbled to the surface momentarily, but thankfully, were set aside almost as quickly.

Everything seemed a blur. The lasagna I’d worked so hard to prepare was a big hit and the meal was over almost as soon as it had begun. Next the gifts were passed out. We tried to keep some semblance of order as we encouraged the younger kids to take turns opening so we could see what treasures each received. Before I knew it, the evening was done and we were already saying our goodbyes and Merry Christmases.

Our night wasn’t over yet though. Since Mark had to go to work early  the next morning, we had our “Christmas Morning” with the kids after our company had gone. When all was said and done, everyone was happy and we finally went to bed well after midnight.

Christmas Day arrived and we were all exhausted. The kitchen still wasn’t entirely clean and stray boxes and trash bags filled with gift wrap were still in the entryway. All that hard work preparing and making the house perfect and afterwards? Such a mess!

We spent Christmas Day with Mark’s side of the family and nearly twice as many people. Again, some family tensions arose and there were some distinctly uncomfortable moments. I wondered why I always hope for the perfect Christmas when years of experience should have taught me it’s not possible.

A phone call from my mom today put it all in perspective for me, though. She called to say she hoped I wasn’t too exhausted. She talked about how cute my little nephew Josh was when he opened his gifts and his face erupted into the most priceless look of surprise and joy. She talked about how wonderful the food was and happily chaotic it had been. She told me that over the past few years, when she and Dad were already in Arizona at Christmas time, that Christmas was the most depressing time for them. It was hard to be away from home, celebrating differently, on a much smaller scale, with their children and grandchildren hundreds of miles away. She thanked me for giving them such a wonderful day and said it had been the best Christmas she and Dad had enjoyed in years.

All I had been able to focus on before that phone call was what hadn’t gone right. Mom put it all in perspective for me with her words. It wasn’t perfect. And it didn’t have to be. We were our usual silly, loud, obnoxious, dysfunctional and loving selves. And we were together at this most special time of the year. And as imperfect as we are, that is all that really mattered.

We’re Ready!

Favorite Days

No work for me today. I have a lovely four-day weekend ahead of me. But I was up early with plans to meet my workout buddy at the gym for our five a.m. workout.

Just as I was getting ready to put on some shorts and a t-shirt, I thought to check my cell phone for any messages. Sure enough, there was one there, and sure enough, it was from my buddy. Her little boy awoke with a fever so she was taking a necessary pass on the gym.

I decided to take a pass too. As always, Christmas seems to be sneaking up on me. I think I’ve done a good job of enjoying the season. I’ve celebrated the spirit of Christmas all month-long, and still, somehow, it is upon us and it feels too soon.

Between Mark and me, we’ve got a good amount of family and so our Christmas celebrations span the course of two entire days. Christmas Eve is spent with my relatives, Christmas Day with his. And it’s my turn to host the Christmas Eve festivities. And somewhere in-between all that, we want time to spend with our kids. Just us and them. I was worried there for a while. Between Mark’s and Jake’s work schedules and the family obligations, it seemed like we might not have that chance this year. But it all worked out and I am so grateful!

I have so much to do. We’re having lasagna for Christmas Eve dinner and I want to get it pre-prepared today. I think three pans should do it! The peanut brittle (which I was planning to make the other night, but didn’t) needs to be made. I wasn’t planning to bake cookies this year. There just never seems to be enough time and I figured that was one thing we could easily do without. And then my mother-in-law requested that I bring cookies on Christmas Day! Good thing Kacey is home from school now and loves to bake! She’s been knocking off a batch or two for a couple of days now as well as wrapping as many presents for me as she possibly can while I’ve been at work.

Did I mention the wrapping? Yeah, I’m sort of a last-minute wrapper too. Thank God for Kacey! She’s been wrapping away and putting Post-It Notes on each gift to tell me who they are for. I need to tie the ribbon on each (because I had some crazy idea that instead of the easy-peasy stick-on ribbons, real ribbon would be a fun change of pace!) It was too much to expect Kacey to tie the ribbon to my liking, so I have lots of ribbon-tying and gift-tagging to do.

I spent all last evening wrapping presents for my kids and Heather and Connor. And the house needs cleaning. And there are still some things to pick up from the grocery and liquor stores. And Brad comes home tonight with Heather and Dacotah dog. And… and… and…

It’s going to be chaos. Lucy Pie isn’t going to know what to do with herself with all of her people at home for the next few days and lots of visitors. There is so much to figure out and so much to worry about and so much to get done.

And yet… these are my days. My favorite days. We’re on the cusp of Christmas. My kiddos will all be under the same roof again. My parents are home for Christmas for the first time in… what… four years? I’ll get my wish – to have some time with my family, all together for a few hours for the purpose of being with just each other.

Three days from now, I’ll look back over these days and wish they hadn’t passed us by so quickly again. So right now, I’m going to try to remember to stop and appreciate every moment while I’m in it. These are the best days of the year. These are my favorite days.