For a Pessimist, I'm Pretty Optimistic

OK, that's not totally true. However when it comes to a few things, I am a pessimist. One of which is Matt's work schedule. It's nothing either of us can control, but I was fully prepared to spend Christmas by myself with two wild children on my hands. My plan was to get to our church service and then crash my wonderful friend and neighbor's Christmas dinner.

There was a very slim chance that Matt would be able to come home for Christmas Eve and Day. But when it comes to Matt's line of work, if there is "a chance" I usually take that as "a not." I really took it as a "not" when I turned on the news and saw that the visibility flying into town was less than half a mile... "Oh yeah," I said to myself "He's definitely not coming home." 

Will wonders never cease to amaze me? I get a phone call at 10pm from Matt telling me that he landed safely and that he would be home in a hour. It truly was a Christmas miracle! On the morning of Christmas Eve, Lily came into my room to say good morning and she was very startled at the sight of Dad home! Sophie didn't really know what to think but she was thrilled!

So I have put my melodrama on pause for a while. Now I just need a date for New Year's. I'll be kissing that imaginary elephant named Snuffy on Sesame Street come midnight!

My Longest Winter

If you were here

Winter wouldn't pass quite so slow

If you were here

Then I'd have a choice to live

Not be alone

From Winter '05 by Ra Ra Riot

Dear Butters,

We miss you very much...

With Love,

Marge

See I Told You it was COLD!

Poor Stoney... She's so cold that she curled up on the couch when I wasn't looking. 

Yeah, she's NOT ALLOWED ON THE COUCH!

Try telling that to a 120 lb. Great Dane...

It's 19 Degrees Outside!

But it feel like 9 degrees according to Weather.com. We're going to stay inside for the rest of the day because there's no use in putting the kids in heavy coats just to take them off to get into the car and then putting them on again once we arrive at our destination. Luckily it's not wet and icy outside, but it would have been nice to see some snow again.

Sophie was so grumpy from waking up early. I couldn't get her to smile for any pictures. This was the best one!

At the church this morning, there was a children's party to celebrate the birth of Jesus. There was a cake, stories, crafts and Christmas carols to sing! I didn't want the kids to miss the fun so I woke them up for the early service so that they could enjoy the party afterwards. It was a good thing too because there was so much cookies, cake and candy canes there that I knew that the kids wouldn't be able to sit still during the late service. Besides not being able to warm up the entire time we were at church, we all had a great time. 

Well, it's going to be one of those days where I am going to be cold all the time. Time for some hot tea and leftover chili for lunch. I'm sure all of our friends and family in FL are laughing at us right now. We're enjoying the experience, but we sure do miss the beach!

I Graciously Accept the Award for "Mother of the Year"

Leave it up to me to remember to bring the video camera to Lily's preschool Christmas program and then forget how to use it. I had everything set and I even reserved the perfect spot where Lily would be on the stage. I had Sophie at a friend's house so that I could pay all of my attention to Lily on her special day. I pull the video camera out of the case and start recording and after about 20 seconds, it starts beeping at me and stops recording. It didn't shut off and the tape in it was brand new, so there was no excuse for it to malfunction... 

It wasn't until I got home that I realized that it was switched onto recording on the SD card and not the tape. And yes, the SD card was full. This was probably something I should have checked at the school, but no! I didn't even think about it! Well, at least I got a couple of pictures.

Lily was very excited about the candy cane and she felt the need to have it with her in the picture. The program went very well and the kids got to sing all of the Christmas songs they learned in music class. They even sang Feliz Navidad in Spanish and Silent Night in sign language. Yes, they sang Silent Night in sign language. I hope I'm not the only one that finds a little humor in that!

Santa made an appearance, but of course, Lily said that he didn't quite look or sound like the one that visited last week at our friend's house. But she still enjoyed seeing him! 

Well, I don't know but I'm a little burnt out on the Christmas festivities and Christmas hasn't even arrived yet. I'm looking forward to the Christmas break and not having to go anywhere in the cold. But I'm guessing that the cabin fever will set in after a day before I start acting like Jack Torrance from The Shining. Except I won't be armed with an ax or anything like that. My only downfall is the tin full of chocolates destined to be eaten... 

A Pat on the Back

Just had to share... At the gym today our Zumba instructor had called out sick and several of the students asked me to fill in unofficially. A lot of people, including myself, were there just for the class and with the inclement weather (and my cabin fever) I decided not to disappoint. This is a huge deal for me because I'm a natural wallflower.

I got the gym's OK to "practice" and my 5 unofficial students and I went for a full hour! Thank goodness I practiced my choreography all of last night. Heck, I even missed Heros to practice. Typically I would have been so nervous to teach a class, but I really can't miss an opportunity to Zumba. Just ask the husband and the kids...

We all had a great time even with my blunders! Go me!

Ode to December 21st (or How I Plan to Make or Break Christmas)

Winter taking days...

Nights filled with longer hours

Winter solstice

Passing by us

Temperatures dropping

Try us with colder feelings

-From A Jagged Gorgeous Winter by The Main Drag

OK, need I say more? This cold, windy weather makes me want to just curl up on the couch with a warm blanket, a good book, drinking Sleepytime tea with honey in it. Nevermind the holiday festivities and beautiful twinkling Christmas lights; give me warmth!

The weather and the holiday season has left me with a lot of mixed emotions. I am one of those people whose mood heavily depends on the weather and today, I'm feeling a bit ornery. Our pastor's sermon this morning really hit home with me (and with my dear friend who claimed she was "just tired from last night's festivities") and has had me thinking about how I wanted to keep the holiday cheer going for the kids. It has been very hard for me to see past all of the unpleasant stuff going on here to motivate myself back to the festive side of the season. Will I make this Christmas, or break it? 

Despite my tired, grouchy self, I made the most of the day after church and spent it snuggling with Lily on the couch. I helped and watched her play the new Wii game that Grandma and Grandpa gave to us. Sophie was already napping so I got to take this time to strictly focus on being with Lily doing what she enjoys doing at the moment. 

Lily is a complex child with a lot of questions and inquisitive thinking. I often think she's older than she is and expect her to do things that exceed her level of thinking or skill. Silly me when I get upset when she doesn't do what I ask... she's only 5. I never underestimate her though, but I admit that last night's festivities surprised me and leveled my thoughts about Lily.

 There are 2 words that sum up the whole of last night: Santa Clause...

I have already blogged about our Christmas nativity scene at home and how every week a new character in the scene "magically walk" to the stable. Lily still loves looking forward to seeing new things in the scene and still checks on it everyday. Well, last night we went over to a friend's house for a little holiday get together and who would appear but Santa himself! I knew all about the set up and pictured Sophie all bright eyed and full of excitement. I expected Lily, in her analytical way, say that it wasn't Santa. Just a guy dressed up as Santa for the little kids. I feel bad about thinking that way, but that is just the way she is. She has a way of separating things in her world that are real and that are make believe. Santa was just one of those things that she was very skeptical of. So leave it up to Lily to react completely the opposite of how I thought she would react. Maybe it was the fact that HE came to the house and that HE brought My Little Ponies for all of the girls. She was face to face with Santa and it wasn't for a photo at the mall. She was absolutely thrilled!

That crazy Lily... Silly Lily... And so isn't that what the holiday season is supposed to be about? Advent? Anticipation? Patience? Joy? Perhaps this will be the thing to keep me moving for the next 2 weeks because God knows I can get grouchy when it's cold and cloudy. 

Happy Winter Solstice!

It's Christmas, Charlie Brown!

The Russell family will be celebrating Christmas this weekend and the girls and I decided that we needed to spruce up the house a bit. We put up our little "Charlie Brown" Christmas tree and got to thinking that maybe we need to upgrade next year. 

What do you think?

Yeah, we think so too! 

Lily had the great idea to put the silk poinsettia flowers in the tree to fill it up a little... But the girls enjoyed decorating our little fake tree and that's really all that matters! 

We found a Little People Christmas Story set that I put out on the mantle and every couple of days I'm going to add another character to it. Starting with an animal up until the last of the 3 Wise Men. I think that it will keep the kids involved and really get to understand the true meaning of Christmas. In fact, Lily has already started looking for the animals and checks in on the stable every couple of hours. She learned the Christmas story at school and she's totally convinced that the animals, Mary and Joseph are walking to our house to magically appear in our Nativity scene. It makes me happy that Lily is still young enough to play along with me!

Here are some more pictures of the kids decorating the tree!