Grateful Friday

Today I give thanks...

That my tree is still standing and my cats are not crushed.

Advent. This year's calendar is much fun and very inspiring. T. Bone turned in his do an extra chore ticket the other day after dusting the master bedroom. Miss Bit redeemed her lend someone a helping hand ticket after helping her Dad shop and then unload the groceries. Both kiddos were very proud of their good deeds.

Cooking comfort food. My Mom's tuna casserole and Martha's chicken pot pie. Everyone ate the pot pie happily and hubby even requested another soon. I pretty much had the tuna all to myself just the way I like it.

Simplicity and snippets from my own childhood. This was our nativity.

Baking has begun. Taking it day by day or pound of butter by pound of butter. Don't know how many family favorites I'll get to, but that's just fine.

T. Bone geared up for snowboarding tonight. He likes his colorful, patterned get up, and spent his own money on a new pair of goggles.

Sharing scarves. Peanut wrapped in Miss Bit's. And sharing mittens too. This morning my girl begged to wear my new fuzzy mitten/glove combos and she's quite impossible to deny.

Report Cards. Both kids worked hard and did stellarly. T. Bone got all As!!!
My Dad's soups. A bowl of his turkey chili for lunch this week perfect after a long, cold walk.
Sweet St. Nick's treats left on my doorstep by a kind and sneaky friend.
Hubby went on a much neeeded Costco run even if it is more expensive when he does the shopping.
A Martha Stewart Holiday book for sale at the library.
Miss Bit blew her wad. Almost all the allowance she has saved this fall on a gift for her brother. Her Daddy tried to gently nudge her to a less expensive choice, but she would have no part of it because she wanted to give him what he really wanted. Wow my girl totally gets it!
T. Bone got us up at 6:20...yes, 6:20 on Tuesday morning so excited was he to see what St. Nick left. After the boys left, Miss Bit and I had plenty of time to cuddle on the couch and read her new Bad Kitty book.
The little things. She went to school wearing her new striped scarf, sparkly belt, earrings and head band on St. Nick's Day.
The other day my girl said, "There's literally 18 days until Christmas!" with some surprise. I responded, "That will go fast." To which she replied, "I dunno Mama. You do know there's 24 hours in a day!?" Priceless.
Tix. to see Junie B. with Miss Bit next week scored with coupons.
Breakfast with Santa Saturday.
Movie nights this week. The Nightmare Before Christmas one night and A Christmas Story another, or half of it thus far. We're loving little Ralphie.
The way the house looks and feels with only the Christmas lights on.
Snow. Best when the flakes are big and billowy and the ground too warm for any accumulation.
My Candy Cane Shakes.
This message from Miss Bit last weekend while she was away: "Hi, It's Miss Bit. I'm just calling to say goodnight to Mom. Goodnight. Thank you." It was 11:00 and I was already in bed!

Busy

I made a pact with myself.

I said self, refrain from using the word busy.
When people ask you how you are, DO NOT say the B word no matter how applicable it feels.
don't let it cross your lips.
It sounds so obnoxious.
Obnoxious in a my mama can beat up your mama or my house is bigger than your house way.
Let's be real here...everyone is busy.
And let's be honest, each one of us is as busy as we choose to be careers and family dynamics aside.
So if we accept 24 party invitations, decide to bake 8 dozen of 15 different kinds of cookies, buy tickets to the Nutcracker, The Christmas Carol, and Breakfast with Santa, put up and decorate 2, 3, 6 trees, and shop every single sale all on top of the demands of daily life (and I'm not going there today because that's another whole rant for sure), then I'm sorry but I have only one thing to say. We asked for it! Please tell me what did you expect? Is this not what you wanted?

If you think I'm being unfairly harsh, do me a favor. Keep track of how many people say busy and then go on and on to detail their laundry list of activities and commitments when you ask them how they are. They carry on like it's them against the world and oh but my aren't they important and in demand and somehow better than you, and in my head I'm saying, 'I'm so sorry for you.'

And PLEASE, but really busy is WHAT they are not HOW. Proper responses to the question how are you include happy or sad, hot or cold, annoyed or amused.

And when I ask someone how they are and they say the B word, I am not very amused at all.

Extraordinary Ordinary

Last night we went to a local tree lot to pick out a tree. We literally took the first Frasier Fir we saw. It was perfect so what was the point in looking for better? When we heard they were $10 off, we almost bought two (kidding). I missed the traipsing through the snow through the rows of trees in search of THE one, watching T. Bone ambush his Grandpa with snowballs and Miss Bit make snow angels, taking our annual musical hat photos, and then caravanning back to a nearby watering hole for a little Christmas cheer. Sadly, this year we had to skip our tradition to get trees with Grandma and Grandpa in their neck of the woods lest we want to wait until New Years to put it up. And truth be told, there's no snow to traipse through or play in and I know we will don our silly hats to take pictures another time. Hubby smartly suggested we stop at our own local establishment to carry on the tradition of sharing some Christmas cheer. When we entered to see a complimentary wing buffet, it seemed as if it were meant to be. T. Bone snubbed the wings..."too spicy," he declared while Miss Bit licked her plate clean.

While hubby got the tree in a pail of water, I cued up the movie. We all settled in to watch A Nightmare Before Christmas. About 5 minutes in Miss Bit asked, "When's the action going to start?" She wasn't much enthralled by the psychedelic singing underworld. T. Bone was glued to the I Pad ogling over goggles. The more kaleidoscopic the better. He starts ski club Friday even though we have no snow. At least it's cold so they can make some. It's cold outside, but snuggled up beside Miss Bit I was toasty and warm.

Yesterday was really the best kind of day. An extraordinary ordinary day. Nothing special, and yet filled with precious prizes.

I have high expectations for today too. As I write here from my office, otherwise known as the kitchen table, I cannot help but laugh at the critters who have literally worn a path from the pines to the stump we call the buffet. The grass still a subtle shade of green for the most part is tramped down and russet colored on the route they travel all day long. A hawk is sitting quite still, except for his quick darting beady eyes, on a low branch on the outskirts of the yard. Clouds have covered the sun since she rose. I'm eager to get out and walk on this day that looks and feels like just what it is: one of the last days of fall. Then I'll come home and do a little baking, but I don't have to make dinner because last night's (pot pie) has become tonight's. After school, we'll shop for goggles, do homework and finish watching our movie. After dinner, we'll put up the tree. Before bed, we'll give thanks for another extraordinary day and pray for more of just the same.

St. Nick Stops Here

'Twas the morning after St. Nick,
when the sun had yet to rise
Surely it was a dirty little trick
T. Bone was urging us to wipe the sleep from our still so tired eyes.

We descended the stairs with severe cases of bad hair
only to find that the stockings hung the night before by the chimney with care,
Were full to over-brimming,
Showing that indeed St. Nicholas had been there.

Stuffed with sweet treats, spicy sauce and a few toys for the boy,
Abundant with swirly candy, pretty polish and frou frou frills for the girl,
Filled with new mice and fresh fish for the furry faces.
All four children emptied their stockings with smiles making sure to leave no traces.

Miss Bit and T. Bone redeemed their Advent tickets once they were through
for mugs of steaming hot cocoa with extra mallows on the cold December morn
Over sticky pastries and red berries,
We talked a bit of Jesus for us who was born.

We welcomed Fred home for as long as he stays,
and all hope our resident elf leaves with only stories of praise,
Tales of good deeds and kind acts
of fulfilling needs and peaceful pacts.

Seldom do we see such good will and excitement to start the day.
The magic of Christmas certainly makes us feel this very special way.

2 day pass

the weekend was in a word...quiet.

well, except for the carols sounding through the house.

could not get enough of this one or that one.

i pretty much had the house all to myself for the most of it save for my furry little elves who took it upon themselves to help me decorate...or more like undecorate.

miss bit cheerfully spent the entire weekend with grandpa and mostly grandma doing all things christmas...cookies with santa, shopping, muppets.

t. bone was on the phone with grandpa making plans to do all things guy...wings and football and hikes with the dog...before his friend was out the door saturday morning after a friday night sleepover.

hubby left as the day dawned saturday for a road trip to watch our badgers clinch the big ten championship.

everything's coming up roses baby!

he was like a kid at christmas getting his picture taken with some of his favorite players after the game.

it was all good.

yes, all.

i was happy for the time alone so i could take my time decorating what is now called nanny's tree.

no surprise it was a little emotional for me in a peaceful and reverant light.

i passed up an invite to join my family and another to join my friends to stay home.

i was basking not wallowing.

it was good.

all good.

early to bed and early to rise.

jess and i joined for a refreshing morning loop around the park nearby first thing sunday morn.

from there i was energized all day to take care of some of my shopping, and a little more decorating too.

hubby couched it and the kids didn't make it home until almost bedtime.

boy were they ready for bed.

it was all good.

yes, all good.

Dear Santa,

Yes, they do know how to use their manners, that Mr. Claus has millions of households to visit and that even Mom doesn't have a fancy phone. No, they do not expect to get everything on their lists, but you cannot blame them for asking and hoping because they know that Santa's magic makes things happen for good little girls and boys. Darn right I exploit their sweet naivety to ensure that we have a December that is as peaceful as possible. Truly, it's a win win in all our books.

Grateful Friday

Today I give thanks for...

It's Friday. Miss Bit declared herself "So relieved" by this fact from the backseat this morning.

Operation Tree Stand last night. I bid on and won this little tree at a charity event. It's going to be a blue Christmas in my dining room this year. Come to think of it blue is the perfect color since I plan to decorate it with my Mom's ornaments. After a fun night with my Aunt and Jess, I brought the tree home, plugged it in, and sat in silent reverance until my cats tried to take it down and spoiled the moment.

Miss Bit's pretty in pink tree is up too. Now looking at this photo, I see that Peanut was very involved in that project as well. Miss Bit knelt on an ornament and it shattered into many sharp pieces, thus reducing her to tears. It was a gawdy peace sign left by St. Nick last year so it could have been worse...more sentimental, but her's is a sensitive soul.

Enjoying Szechuan noodles and buffalo chicken enchiladas this week.

A friend picked up our treadmill, took it to be repaired and then delivered it just because he could. I am also grateful we didn't surrender it as useless.

Plans to take Miss Bit to the children's theater this month for a Junie B. Christmas play. When I asked her she said, "Oh YES! I love going to plays."

My hubby is going to Indy to cheer on the Badgers Saturday. T. Bone wanted to go too, but he seems content with making plans to watch the big game with his Gramps.

Miss Bit will be away enjoying Grandma and Grandpa's whirlwind Christmas weekend. She is very excited and it sounds like Grandma is too. My girl...my kids are blessed to have grandparents who think spending time with them is a gift. I'm going to savor a calm, quiet house immensely and consider that a gift too.

T. Bone came to the car in tears the other day. He was written up by his homeroom teacher. It was his first infraction and he wasn't happy about it. Apparently, the night before he was to have a parent fill out a survey. He was late getting home after a play date then practice then a JV game and forgot all about it. He took it upon himself to fill out the survey on our behalf. The survey was to get feedback on the appropraite amount of homework and whether or not students were being challenged. He didn't want a late assignment on his clean record. Oh, and if the survey was returned the next day he earned a homework pass for a night. I want to say that he learned his lesson.

Letters to Santa are signed although not sealed or delivered. They are also so sweet.

Since each one of the many stores I stopped at were out of Advent calendars, I had to make my own. I think it will be a new tradition.

St. Nick comes next week. I L-O-V-E the morning of December 6th!

The connection that this kid has with this cat. They are really quite smitten with one another.

He's also smitten with peppermint ice cream especially served out of a pretty glass dish on top of the counter by hand.

An afternoon at the art museum. Inspired and baffled by the beauty and the creativity.

T. Bone decided on Tuesday that he wanted a haircut on Wednesday. This is the before picture that he asked me to take. There's no after because it looks just about the same even $20 bucks later.

Big Gray snacking on a petite painted pumpkin.

Real life lawn ornaments.

Double trouble.