Christmas Part I.....

 Love my family...

Love Christmas with them...

 Love sharing smiles and meals.....

 And getting to know cousins....

 And enjoying the wonder of the season....

 And emptying HUGE stockings!!!!!

And thinking Finley is liking little Eli!!!!

And I love my brother in law......

Because he loves these babies!!!!

And he and Pam are great hosts!!!!
Did I say I love my family????

Merry Christmas.....

From the girls!

Hope your day is filled with love, laughter, and family!

Tomorrow....

It is ten o'clock in the morning and I am sitting in bed, computer on my lap making last minute lists and trying to clear my head because tomorrow IT IS HERE!  All that planning, shopping, cooking, ect. and done or not, it happens.

Am I ready?  HA HA HA!

Are any of us really?  But does it matter?  

Every year I join the whole nation in trying to create perfect, and when it is all over I know it does not really matter.  With Tim on the other side of the planet this year, I am reminded that the only perfect is having your family together...PERIOD.

So, this morning before I leave for last minute errands I am going to sit down and enjoy what is one of my very favorite parts of the season.....

 MAIL!!!!!

 I love the UPS man!! 

 Online shopping is my best friend!  I do not like to fight crowds in the mall so when I see that brown truck pull up I "throw open the shutters and pull up the sash"!  Wrong story, but same thought.  It is like Santa arriving.  

 Inside these boxes are those presents carefully chosen on the screen of the computer.

Here they are!!!  As much of a surprise to me when I open them as they are to the one who is going to receive them.

And finally, the delivery of those cherished Christmas cards!!!

Toss the bills and credit card applications and delight in the pictures and letters from friends you have not heard from for a year.  Do I love to hear about your son who scored three touchdowns and got MVP twice this year?  I do!!!  It is the one time a year you get to sit down and brag because what gives us more pleasure than the accomplishments of our family?  

 I love looking at my cards and remembering why we have stayed in touch all of these years...because you are special to me!  Even if our contact is only at Christmas, you hold a place in my life that matters.

So...enjoy this last day before we rejoice with our families, not only in the arrival of Santa, but in the arrival of our Savior Jesus Christ who truly is the reason for the season.

Our First.....

First grand baby's first Christmas program!

Nothing but special!!

 With four kids and 13 years employment in an elementary school I have seen more than the lions share of holiday programs...and I never tire of them.

 Watching those precious little faces follow directions so intently and sing with such enthusiasm and pride can easily send me to the "cry room". 

 I am a sucker for kids anyway.
 They don't even have to be mine for me to enjoy a performance.
 It is part of the pleasure of the Christmas season!

 What preschooler doesn't love the after party, complete with SUGAR and a book exchange!

FYI daddy-o...the little guy in the green tee next to your daughter has a crush on her.  Just info from his mom yesterday.  He is the modern man with the cool jeans and the spiky hair.  What do you think?

I think that it was a perfect morning and a great way to enjoy just another wonderful part of being a GRAMMA!

Just Another Party!.....

 I would like you all to know that I really lead a VERY boring life.  I am a home body who is perfectly happy puttering around the house everyday...except at Christmas when some foreign soul takes over my body and causes me to love celebrating the season with friends!

 Today was a brunch with retired teacher friends.  We do gather once a month but I do not make it often so today was a treat.

 We were sadly missing about six of our bunch who took sub jobs for the day.  Really???  I thought we were retired, and the beauty of that is that you do not have to work unless you want to...and if there is a party I sure DON'T want to!  So missing friends...what I have to say is you lose!

 It was an awesome morning hosted by the ever gracious Sandy....who makes me rethink the fact that I say I do not covet.  Everytime I walk in her house at Christmas I want to run out the door and redecorate.  It is like being in a Southern Living magazine.  

A party with all the touches of perfect hospitality.

Yes, I do covet once again!  And as soon as Christmas is over I will be buying sacks of discounted garland because the warmth of her house that is swagged everywhere with greenery make me literally drool.

 I want to be that hostess with gold silverware and charger plates.  I want to snap my fingers and have everything picture perfect...at Christmas.

Someday...when Hobby Lobby marks their garland down and I find the energy and enthusiasm to hang it up my house might look somewhat similar!
Until then I will just covet.

And So It Begins.....

I am sure that from the number of times I have mentioned Tim's deployment, it seems as though he should be ready to come home....but sadly that is not the case.  Today he actually boards the bus and then the plane to begin the long trek to Djibouti.  Yes, he has been gone for three weeks but it has been for pre-deployment training.  Mandy and the girls were fortunate enough to be able to travel to South Carolina to spend the weekend and celebrate her birthday and their seventh anniversary before he actually took off.

I have been, most honestly, an emotional wreck for a week....okay I have been an emotional wreck for two months but this last week has been a breakdown around every corner.  It is the Christmas season and we should be doing all of the fun things we always do each year....together.

But, we aren't.  We are missing an integral part of our family and I am sad.  I spend my time trying to be some kind of pillar of strength because I am not good at weakness.  But, in the moments I am alone I say bad words and get mad and wish things were different... they are not.

When I am at my lowest point God shows up, in strange and unanticipated ways.  I went to church for a meeting last night.  There was a speaker and the topic was the crosses we are given to carry.  Be joyful when we are given a burden?  I am not sure that I have prayed enough to be in joyful 

mode yet but another part of the message was very clear....

Carry your cross with strength, spirit, and dignity

and that is exactly what I have seen Tim do since he was handed this assignment.
Yes, there was God....staring ME right in the face with this message.

I miss my son, but if he can do that surely I can do that because I am the one that has the easy part of the job.  I can stay here and enjoy my grand babies and the comforts of home.  I am not the one leaving everything we thought was secure for a duty we did not see coming.  

We will be fine, and I know Tim will be too.  And Mandy? She is incredible.

  We will have one seriously faded yellow ribbon around the old oak tree when he gets back but there will be much rejoicing in the Shubzda family.  Next years Christmas will be the best one yet!

Thank heavens for those that are willing to do this job and there are hundreds of thousands who do.

Cast all of your anxiety on Him  because He cares for you..

          1Peter 5:7

I'll Take That.....

 Yes, it is the holiday season so it is time for our annual Christmas Bunko gathering.  We were sadly missing several of our friends this time, but the party must go on!  Armed with food (of course) and our gift of choice we met for merriment and that always nasty gift exchange where you will fight your best friend for something you really don't need just so you can say "Sorry, that is frozen"!

You see, over the many years of this game we love to play we have covered almost every gift idea under the sun.  We have had seasons of snow globes (I know Vicki, you collect those). I will gladly will all of those to you because the few I have collected just lost all their water when I stored them in the attic....so take them please!  

We have gone with the ever popular throw (or blanket), and Santa trays are always a hit...right Lori?

But the gift I covet, yes, seriously covet are the bowls.  

My friends know this.  

It is no secret.

I have even gone so far as to steal the gift I brought back if it is a bowl.  Sorry, Lisa.

So, no Linda you can't keep that one because not only is it a bowl, but it is red and you all know my favorite color is red.

My suggestion....take this one.  It is flat, meaning it cannot be a snow globe or a bowl and so there is little danger of it being on someones collection list.  

Next year come prepared to battle because there is not a bond strong enough to keep someone from taking that red lantern with the faux candle if it will look good on their mantle...
trust me I know!

The Thaw (Finally)......

After three days of freezing temps and sheets of ice everywhere we can see signs of a thaw.  Lo and behold there is sunshine!  Oh happy day! For the first time in what seems like forever you can actually see the pavement.

And for the first time in over a week I believe the garbage men can navigate the alley.  It is a good thing because the pile is beginning to thaw like the ice and soon the food that remains in the bags is going to become more than just moldy.  I guess garbage collection like electricity is something we take for granted until it is no longer there.  

 The need to escape after days of confinement was at the top of almost everyone's list...as noted by the amount of traffic on the streets and in the malls.  It is becoming increasingly necessary at this late date to get started on the Christmas list...as panic is beginning to set in.  The positive of being unable to shop for an entire weekend before Christmas?  Seems like the retailers are offering below black Friday prices.  That is a plus to consumers like me who refuse to battle the crowds the day after Thanksgiving! Sometimes there is a win in being so incredibly stubborn.

 The sad part of the event we are calling ICEMEGGEDEON 2013....

unbelievable tree damage.  Twenty to thirty year old trees are spit and shattered.  The destruction in so sad.  The Bradford pears that are so beautiful in the fall and spring are laying across sidewalks everywhere.  

As for us...we were lucky.  Our landscape escaped damage.  Not a broken tree or bush.  

However, my new car was not quite so fortunate.  I sadly found that one lonely patch of ice left on our driveway and slid right across it into the fence.  I am saving that news for  day when my not so jolly roommate is dosed up with some holiday eggnog.  Maybe it won't seem quite so predictable then.  

I do guarantee that the repair man that hangs out in the Target parking lot WILL NOT get my money again.  I am just going to keep the Car Collision Center on speed dial on my phone!

Someone Is In The Kitchen.....

No...EVERYONE is in the kitchen! 

 After three days of being "iced in" we decided that being "iced in" together would at least give us different faces to look at.  So we took advantage of all the groceries I had stocked up on and called it a "bake in".

And speaking of ice"ing"....we put the construction kings on the most tedious task...the great gingerbread house build. Do not laugh.  After many years of doing this in the classroom with teenagers I know there is a fine art to getting the pieces just right.  This is not a job for the faint of heart because the decorating dreams of a four year old are totally dependent on this house being sturdy enough!

Meanwhile, the women grabbed a wooden spoon and did what we do best...BAKE!

I am an admitted failure in the meal preparation category.  I do not like fixing dinner and if we could just go with grilled cheese and tomato soup nightly I would be a happy camper.

But, give me brown sugar and baking powder and I can compete with the best of the Food Network stars.

This is also a time to teach the "children" the fine art of measurement.  A teaspoon of salt is whatever fits in the palm of your hand.  Next step...the difference between a liquid measuring cup and a dry measuring cup....oh yes, it matters.

The best part of the whole day?  A GIANT sugar rush!!

What the kids did not devour I did.  Just think, we still have two weeks until Christmas to get our cookie fix.....followed by a diet of flaxseed and celery to repair our damaged digestive system.

Until the clock strikes midnight on December 25th, I am in a state of Christmas love.

That might mean eating about another dozen cake balls!

Icemaggedeon 2013.......

Yes, we are buried....and not under a blanket of freshly fallen snow.

Instead we are under a ton of paralyzing ICE that literally stopped life in the metroplex.

The kids were blessed with an unexpected holiday, teachers were notified the night before and did not have to set their alarm to find out if school was indeed cancelled, and everyone was able to rush the grocery store to get all necessary supplies for an "ice in".

Our local weatherman posted on his Facebook account that he is actually "giddy" because he accurately predicated this epic weather event.    That is what years of meteorology school will do for you....make you thrilled when you forecast correctly!

As pretty as this all appears, way to many people are still sitting in temperatures in the teens with no electricity.  Trees are broken from heavy hanging limbs, and property damage is extensive.

Reports from our "giddy" meteorologist are that we can expect to enjoy our ice covered scenery for the next 72 hours as temperatures are not going to be above freezing until Monday afternoon.

Nothing much to do but grab a cup of hot chocolate, turn on a Christmas movie, and be glad that we are not part of the population that is totally in the dark tonight.

Ready, Set, Go!.......

It is here folks....the month of December.  I have been playing Christmas Carols since mid-November and I am still shell shocked when I look at the calendar and realize I am a mere three weeks away from the big day.  The tubs and boxes are down and for the better part the house is decorated....well, as decorated as it is going to get.

 I love putting everything up, but what goes up must come down so I am thinking I have enough of the spirit of the season on display around here.

Besides that, every time I send my husband to the attic I am reminded that he does not LOVE the holiday like I do.  In fact he would be content if we just unrolled a paper cut out of a tree each year and called it a day....ah, if I could only will on him the gift of merriment!

 For those that are not living here in the area let me say that we are expecting one major arctic blast starting tomorrow.  In the words of our faithful and always correct meteorologist...the metroplex can expect to be entombed in ice starting on Thursday evening.  "Folks, this is serious"....a direct quote.  So, what to do in a situation like this...plan ahead.  I have on hand three gallons of milk and $107 worth of groceries meant to create nothing but Christmas delicacies. If I am going to be home bound, I am going to be productive.  And actually I am pretty excited.  I am thinking pajamas, holiday music, a fire in the fireplace, and the smell of cookies baking.  

If the weather lasts longer than my ingredients last, I have internet shopping to do.  I found out last year that sitting on the sofa, computer in my lap, scanning Amazon for the things on my Christmas list did not at all diminish my spirit.  I think it comes from the days that excitement reigned supreme when the Sears and Roebuck Christmas catalog arrived.  I did not need a trip to Toys R Us to make my Santa list.  Circling everything on the pages of this great book brought me much joy.  Just another memory from the good old days when life was so much simpler!
This year I was pretty much sucked in by the book Williams Sonoma sent in the mail.  I am certain that the pages are scented with peppermint oil and I am not going to be able to pass up ordering a box of peppermint bark marshmallows.  Perfect!  On the way with just a click of the mouse. Into my hot chocolate soon!

Last, but surely not least...toilet paper ready.  I honestly did not know I already had enough in the event of another Y2K scare when I ran in Sam's for another package today.  I guess if you have groceries and toilet paper what else can one need!

Stay warm and safe....and happy arctic blast to all!