Peace and Quiet

Nothing is better than a Christmas afternoon. It's time to relax after days of parties with families and friends. Good times have been had by all.

The traditions of our family were observed again this year. After an evening at Grandmama's house enjoying soup and chaos (28 people in two rooms?) everyone came back to the house to get ready for Santa. The pjs were unwrapped and put on. A new Christmas book was opened and read. The kids were sent to bed to try and go to sleep. Parents stayed up late to finish up last-minute tasks and to laugh and talk about Christmas' past.



Five hours of sleep went by quickly. This year the Littlest Ms. Eris got a sneak preview of the Santa haul. At her young age she was fully aware that there were good things in all those packages!

The kids were allowed to come upstairs once Grandmama was securely settled in her chair to watch the festivities. A special thanks to Mr. Athena for venturing out early to go get her after last night's beautiful snowstorm.

After an hour of opening gifts and eating breakfast it was now time to relax. As usual, Eris was the first to crash, followed shortly by Athena.

By 10 a.m. the loot has been packed up and the kids are leaving. Ahhh, it is quiet. Almost spooky. The cleaning up happens very slowly. The bed probably won't get made at all. Yes, that's right! Leftovers for lunch and supper.

Why should I cook when there is a plate of homemade chocolates right next to me!


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Those left behind...

How come the other dog got to go?
Not fair (stomping of paws and growling).

It's back!

I got a call on Friday that my camera was back after two weeks in the Nikon repair hospital. Picked it up yesterday morning and made sure that it was working, which it is! I haven't been able to give it a good workout yet but hopefully that will be soon. After being told 4-6 weeks for repair this was a great surprise. Now Festivus can go on as scheduled. And Deke can get married!

I realize this probably means little to the rest of you, but imagine Athena being without her cell phone or Ipod, or Eris having to do without her computer!

Something's not right here..

Part of my family is in Disneyland today. I'm not.

Is it time to begin the Airing of Grievances?

Seriously, I hope you are having a great time!
(Meemoo, are you with me?)

Festivus progress

Shhhh.... Don't tell anyone, but the pjs are done! This is always a big relief. Each year I am surprised all over again at how much these simple pajama pants mean to the kids (and big kids?). Last week Jakers asked me if I was doing them this year and when I told him "no" he looked like I had slapped him! I quickly reassured him that they would be waiting for him on Christmas Eve. The kids might not remember the other gifts they receive from Grandpa and Grandma but they can all tell you what their pants were for the last few years. Recently I was shown Pearl's pants from last year. Totally, absolutely threadbare! Now that makes it worth doing them!

Looks like there will be enough scraps for another coveted pajama quilt. Bubba received it last year after spending Christmas morning at the hospital getting his appendix removed. If you look closely at the Pajama Gang photo at the right you can see the pale, pained look on his face. Let's not have that much excitement this year, okay?

Oh yeah, the stocking for little Lily is finished as well.

It has been extremely cold, dark and icy this week. My street totals are pretty sad.
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It's Festivus!

I woke up this morning at 5:00 a.m. with a feeling of dread. Today was the day set aside for starting my holiday shopping. Aarrgghh.

All of the sudden it hit me: FESTIVUS!!!!! I have been waiting for nearly a year for this day to arrive but just didn't know the exact date that it would happen! I jumped out of bed and began frantically getting ready for this exciting day!

The first order of business was to get the Festivus pole up for the entire neighborhood to enjoy. I'm sure they all appreciated my pounding away at 8:00 a.m. Special thanks to Kari for coming over to take this photo.

The next item on my Festivus Festivities was to deliver gifts. As you can see, Athena was totally delighted with her PeeWee Herman talking doll. Jubee was unsure about her used ring but wore it anyway. Eris was simply grossed out by the talking Wendy doll (sorry, no photo) because she has always said it was possessed. Jan was pleased with the ugly picnic set that she received.

Although Jubee did not participate in most of the Festivus Festivities she was certainly a good sport. (Notice that she is showing off her gift!) She did mention more than once that she was getting a little worried.

Overall, the shopping went very well. As usual, I found a special treasure, one that will stay in my studio all year to put a smile on my face!

On the way home I was pleasantly surprised to see that the esteemed leaders of our fair city have seen fit to observe Festivus by putting out this fabulous Festivus Tree display. Hmmm, R & O Construction may have helped with this as well.

The celebration of Festivus is very open to individual interpretation. I have chosen to forgo the Airing of Grievances at this time because I have done it so well for the past twelve months. After all, why should these feelings be enjoyed only one day a year?

The wresting to the ground of the head of household is a private matter that will not be discussed in this blog.

If you are now totally confused you may opt to take a few minutes at this website:

www.vidlit.com/festivus/

Always remember: FESTIVUS FOR THE REST OF US!!!

Happy Birthday to Mr. Athena(?)

The hairy guy in the red suit

Lucy already knows how to shmooze the big guy in the red suit.

Pearl hasn't caught on yet.

Happy Birthday to Eris!

Can it possibly be 26 years ago (okay, okay, 31)? Nothing has been the same since that day. Athena's life was turned upside down (see "letters and numbers"post) and the rest of us have had a hard time keeping up with her as well. There is always a new challenge waiting for her and she can't wait to conquer it. That is why no one will be surprised that she is spending the day working on her final research papers, and loving it!

I love to look back through my albums to see what changes the years have brought. With Eris the eyes and smile will always be the same. Now we have added two more little Ms. Eris to the mix. Life will never be boring!

Happy birthday to you! We love ya!

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Sis, you asked for it!

It took Athena a few minutes to figure this one out!

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Every family has one

Every family has one. This is the kid who keeps everything in an uproar at all times. The surprises come one after another and after a while you wonder why you are surprised at all. This is the kid who takes every unconventional turn and ends up landing on his feet, running at full speed.

Meet my nephew Deke. He has been the one who has kept everyone in turmoil his entire life and gets great pleasure out of it. He loves to tease everyone and everything, cousins, aunts, dogs, cats, anything that breathes. A straight answer never comes out of his mouth. To him, rules are meant to be broken, or at least bent severely.

Deke has always been fascinated with fire. I have heard more than one story about how my sister's house or something else was nearly burned down. Fireworks were especially fun. When this kid was 14 he tried to break a telephone pole in half with his head while on an ATV. Thank heavens he was wearing a helmet. That little stunt got him a ride in a LifeFlight helicopter and great big scars on his chest, which he proudly showed off to his missionary companions. One of my favorite times with Deke was visiting him in the hospital while he was recovering and taking a bunch of boxes of Poppers, those little firecracker things that explode when you throw them at the ground. We had a great time on the second floor balcony throwing them at people walking into the hospital below!

About a month ago Athena called me with another Deke story. A reliable source had told her that he was going to get married soon. I told her "no way". Surely, his FA would have known about it. By the end of the day the rumor had been confirmed. No one had even met this lovely lady yet. Well, I finally got a chance to meet the fiance last Saturday and take some photos of the soon-to-be-wed couple. She is a delight, as are her two little boys. A date has not been set yet, but the tentative plans for the party afterward is a large bonfire at the home he is building. Is anyone surprised?

By the way, every family has a Deke. If you can't figure out who yours is, chances are it is you!

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