Christmas

Merry Christmas Everyone!

From our home to yours, I wish you a joyous Christmas and a blessed New Year!

Our Christmas has been very peaceful and calm and nice.
We attended communion services last night at church together and enjoyed the simplest of meals when we got home... chicken and dumplings.  The kids donned Christmas pjs', though they're hardly toddlers, they still look forward to getting new pjs' on Christmas eve.

Early this morning, the 16 hear old bounced me from sleep but was convinced to go back to bed for a while, until the older ones woke up.  We had our traditional beignets and coffee and opened our gifts to each other.

We've shared greetings with friends and family from far and near.
We've enjoyed the company around the fireplace and around the table.
For all of my blessings, I am deeply grateful.

A hunting they will go...

Shall we play 'find the boys?"

This afternoon, they decided to rabbit hunt. 

Never mind that we have no hunting dogs...

...and they were duly warned that they'd be dressing out and preparing any game they took.

I simply did not have the time today, nor was I inclined.

In the end, there was nothing to dress out or cook.

Most of the time, I'm pretty sure it's not about what you take...

I'm fine!

I've been so busy, I'd forgotten to bring you up to date. 
I've survived the head cold, which was actually a wimpy little thing... just enough to aggravate with a vengeance and throw a kink in the process of getting the December things done.

Kicking the cold was assisted by the arrival of nice, healthy band fruit... fresh from Florida... the perfect breakfast or snack.

Yesterday was my last day of work for a while.  I have a built-in break, which has both good and bad components, but at this moment, frees me up to get caught up on the Christmas crush and slow things down and enjoy the season, and most importantly, my family.

Since Saturday, I've had 2/3rds the right number of kids in the house. 
The college kid migrated home and has taken up residence in his upstairs domain.
You forget how much you miss them... seeing their sleepy faces in the morning,
hearing them bump around in the night... trying to keep food in the house.
He's an amazing cook and has produced some excellent meals which is a huge treat for me!

We're churning out snack mix at a rapid pace.  A big double recipe batch each evening, is not lasting until the following afternoon.  The first two batches never even got cool... and they were GONE!

I'm cranking back up the sourdough starter.  Looking forward to bread and homemade soups.

I've a stack of sewing projects to attend, beginning with mending which has been gathering about the sewing machine like a multiplying mound.  Mending is a good thing and a source of satisfaction when it's done.
With growing kids and living on a farm, it's a necessity.  When you get used to doing it, not doing it simply doesn't make sense.

And I'm finally in the mood for some decorating.  I love simply fresh decorating.  It needs to get done!

And last but not least, I promised a young lady that I'd help her learn to crochet as part of her 'Senior Experience'.  This afternoon, I'll spend a couple of hours getting her started, so that she can make a project over the holidays.  This is my first look at a 'senior project'... just in time to see it in advance of the kid having his own Senior Experience next year.

So, this is 'coordination' day for the next 10 days or so...
  uhm.... I'd better get started!

December crush!

I must whine... I absolutely MUST whine...

I have a cold... a sore throat, stuffy nose, ear-achey kind of cold.

And I have this cold in DECEMBER!  

I have the day off and need to do laundry and clean.  I need to Christmas shop and bake.
I have projects in the sewing room and several household tasks that have been put off too long.
I don't feel like doing any of that stuff.  None of it!

And I have a calendar that looks like this:

And that calendar doesn't include the 'regular' stuff.. the practices, the normal day to day activities.
It contains appointments and exceptions.  You notice that Christmas week in December is empty...
I refuse, REFUSE to schedule that week.

I spent this morning rearranging things, to fit in more things and to try to arrange the itinerary in a manner that makes sense and order.  Prioritizing... a massive, massive task.  Especially when you're 'under the weather'.

I want to find the time for dinner with my oldest and dearest friends.
(Ok, David, so you're not THAT old... you know what I mean!)
I want to make the Christmas eve pajama's and I want to make them now... not on December 24th.
I want to borrow someone's babies and little kids and make and decorate Christmas cookies.  
I want to take fruit and a bit of Christmas greenery to the shut-ins from my church.
I want to have time to sit a while.

For the record...

my adorable brother in law brought me HIS meds from his cold, in an effort to make me feel less miserable.

My best buddy and pal called and listened to the whining.

And the band director offered to order the kid to come home and do dishes...

and SANTA left me chocolate candy on my chair this morning and a nice fire in the fireplace...

Thanks, Santa!

Folks are trying to help!  They really are and I appreciate it.

Next year, remind me ...  remind me what December is like...

Remind me that I will struggle with the schedule and the hassles,

in the effort to keep the holiday. AND I'll catch a cold in the middle of it all.

Man, I am whiney...


So, I'm going to have some tea...

and I'm going to take a nap, then I'll get up and try to tackle the day again.

Thoughts on being champions...

Saturday night our football team became state champions  by virtue of hard work and practice and devotion of many dedicated men who are coaches and a team of young men who are athletes.

The excitement was palpable, the air charged with that electricity of a big thing about to happen.

The community at large and the devotion of a small town to her youth was impressive.

Nerve wracked parents... fathers who played a generation ago, with faces so full of emotion...

a student section, both pensive and wild in anticipation, cheerleaders with pom poms...

folks for whom this was a first ...

and folks who have seen a lot... who have been in this place before.

I recall a time, more than 30 years ago, when, in the aftermath of a state championship game, I got bear hugs and kisses from a football player, who became the man that I would later marry.

I know what these memories mean.

 .

May they enjoy the victory

and carry with them

the amazing feeling of being champions as they go.