Taking Things Down

We didn't do a LOT of Christmas decorating this year because we were going away for the event. But we did get out all of my Christmas Creches, and about half of the decorations for the tree.

We'll leave them up until next Sunday as next Saturday my husband's family will come over for dessert and gifts. They're the family that lives locally and since we went away, we missed the celebration at their home.

Even with the traveling and being in someone else's home, this was the most peaceful and stress-free Christmas I've enjoyed in the last 16 years. Hmm...

At any rate, on Sunday when we put things away I will inevitably ask the question about some things, "Do we still need THIS?" It might be a hand-made decoration that is falling apart. It might be an item that seemed very "of the season" at the time but now just looks tacky.

Remember, I'm ruthless in getting rid of clutter. If my family didn't stop me I'd probably be down to near-bare walls. I'm particularly aggrieved at this moment because an alarm keeps going off in my son's room (who is in school).  I went in there to find it and turn it off. After much searching, I did find it, but the much searching was due to the HUGE MESS.  And then I couldn't figure out how to turn off the alarm. I could only get it to snooze . . . which means for the rest of the afternoon, I will periodically hear the beeps.  Argh. And we've only been back in town since Thursday night!

So, what do you think? How do you decide when ornaments or decorations are past their prime? What's a good standard to use?

Saying Bad Words

In case you're wondering, NO, I do NOT need to wash my mouth out with soap.

You see, I write the weekly e-mail blurb for our Parent Teacher Associations. It's a volunteer gig, but one that the school community heavily relies on.  On Monday, I send the draft for the week to my 'draft group', along with instructions to send inputs to me by Tuesday afternoon. Then I tweak based on inputs and get it to the principal who sends it out.

Today was a short one - not much going on, and school gets out 2 hours early on Wednesday. I wrote to the 'draftees' the following:

Need quick responses this week, by noon tomorrow (TUESDAY) please so we can get it out before school closes on Wednesday.  Thank you for all your support for the KIT this fall. Your attitude turns a "duty" into a "pleasure".  Merry Christmas! Kelley

Now, THAT intro paragraph to everyone on the draft list does NOT go into the KIT which goes out to everyone in the school community. It's just for those people who help with inputs.

But I'm sure there are some who will be uncomfortable that I used "Merry Christmas" in a quasi-school environment.

Well too bad. It's CHRISTMAS for gosh sakes. It's not as if I said, "Merry Christmas because the only reason we're celebrating is that God ripped through time and came to Earth in the form of a man because He LOVES us so much that He knew His Son would be the perfect sacrifice to pay for our sins."

No, I didn't say that...but there's still time...

GLORIA!

Get the Tissues

Watch this and smile.

Oh So Merry Christmas!

We've had a nice Christmas celebration.

Our Christmas always starts on Christmas Eve. It is m-in-law's birthday. She married into a family that celebrated the German way - on Christmas Eve - so her birthday was always a bit overlooked. Many years ago, her two d's-in-law and then granddaughters as well started taking her to high tea at the Ritz Carlton to make sure SHE felt celebrated. It's been over twenty years now! We've seen a definite change in the Christmas decor and attention to detail at the hotel. This year things were really tawdry (dishes not clean, service pretty marginal), but the guest of honor was happy, so we just paid the bill and smiled. My mother was with us and that was really nice for my daughter.

Later we went to Christmas Candlelight service at church.

Yesterday morning the kids stayed in bed as requested until 7 am (another thing that has changed!). I had prepared an overnight breakfast to pop in the oven. Here's the recipe:

French Toast Casserole

1 stick butter

1 cup brown sugar

2 Tbs Real maple syrup

1 loaf hearty white bread, crusts removed

5 eggs

1 1/2 cup Half-N-Half

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp Grand Marnier (optional)

Combine the butter, brown sugar and syrup in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Whisk until smooth, then pour into a 9 x 13 baking dish. Layer the slices of bread across the top of the mixture, two slices high. Mix the remaining ingredients in a bowl, and then pour across the top of the bread slices. Try to make sure each piece gets a wetting. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate over night.

In the morning, take the dish out of the refrigerator and let it warm up while you warm the oven up to 350 degrees. Bake the dish for 35 to 40 minutes until puffy. Yum!

And then the gift-opening began. I will say for my family who reads the blog - everyone was very loving and generous!

Mom and I worked on the dinner and finally, around 1:30, we sat down to a family feast. Mom cooking her cornbread dressing was what made the difference! It was delicious! Thank goodness there are left-overs!

Later in the afternoon we went to the in-laws for more presents and dessert. A lovely day enjoyed by all.

When we returned home we ate popcorn and watched the movie "UP" on the new big HDTV.

Perfect day!

Now It Can Be Christmas

It is pouring snow this morning. It's our first real snow of the season and every time I walk by a window I get a big grin! This video was just shot from my window next to my computer.



The soundtrack in the background is the London Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Sir Colin Davis. If you want to hear the whole thing and see the video of them performing it, click here

Merry Christmas!

Short Friday Observations

On Wednesday we answered a question on the Random Dozen about when Christmas Music should start playing. I (and most people) said the day after Thanksgiving, or that weekend.

Today I was in the car. Note that today's date is October 23, 2009. I switched on the radio to listen to one of the teachers I most enjoy listening to on Christian radio -- R.C. Sproul's "Renewing Your Mind."

And was very unhappy. Today they started the broadcast of the Christmas story, "The Word Became Flesh."

So I went back to rock and roll. Sigh.

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My daughter participates in a film contest each summer run by our public library system. Monday night they reviewed the films and announced the overall winner. We weren't able to attend because she was sick, so today we viewed the winning film on Youtube. It's awful. This has nothing to do with my daughter's film. This has to do with the library system rewarding truly tasteless cinema with an award that will encourage other kids to sink down rather than reach up with their film making.

Don't believe me? Go see it for yourself.

I'm not posting my daughter's because this isn't a comparison or a sour grapes thing -- but a "what the heck were they thinking?" thing. Ick.