Christmas pictures

The sad truth of the matter is that little skunk is getting really good at not holding still. As soon as he sees the camera, it becomes an elaborate "bob and weave" maneuver to avid the lens. As a consequence I don't have that many pictures that aren't of the back of him. Here are the two best ones.

He added the bow himself! I am not to blame..... okay, maybe just a little as I lead by example on this one.

I am definitely to blame for this!! Hee hee. I bought his a bunch of musical instruments, including a tambourine and cymbals! You should have seen his face the first time I smashed them together!! I think his daddy will enjoy them too. I just better not get them back on my birthday....

"Christmas" Day

So
Tired....

Skeeter
Wore
Me
Out

Very
Happy
Day

Good
Night.....

Guess What? I'm a Hero

Last night I had a thoroughly wonderful telephone call with G. Usually our phone conversations go like this:

Gugu K: How is school?

G: Fine.

Gugu K: Have you been making any art?

G: Yes.

Gugu K: How is your kitty?

G: Fine


Well you get the picture.... But last night we had a really great conversation, She was animated and telling stories about school, so much like when they all visited in the summer of 2007. She made me talk to her kitty, and made me promise not to tell Gugu B something. (Already broke that one, sorry.) The enthusiasm may have had to do with the Christmas presents Grandma and I sent. Her favorites were a pink jewelry box of a watch, necklace and earrings that can have the dial, band and stones swapped out (six different looks) and a little tube of Egyptian figurines. Yes, I bribe her for her love, and I don't care. Sometimes she was so excited, I had trouble understanding her English, but she was very patient with her Gugu if I had to ask her to repeat something.

So it turns out she had to write a paper for school about her hero, and IT WAS ME! My overwhelming heroic qualities, in case you are interested, are that I love kitties and I'm an "art-er" (or artist.) She didn't even mention how I want world peace! I am so tickled this smart little girl looks up to me. A told to not let it go to my head, but I think it is too late..... Would purple be too bold for my cape and utility belt?

Hurray, It's Christmas

Good Morning! Merry Christmas, I hope you slept well. (Remember, we're pretending....)

When I was little, we would get up early on Christmas morning and open our presents from Mom, Dad and Santa. We would get to play with our toys a bit, eat breakfast, then is was everyone back in the station wagon and an eight hour trip to the Upper Peninsula to have Christmas Night with Grandma J, Dad's brothers, Aunt S and our cousins. Mom is one of 6 kids, around 30 first and second cousins on Mom's side. Dad is the oldest of 3 with 3 cousins total on Dad's side. The overall body count was higher in Mom's family, but the cousins in the U. P. were our ages, all our cousins on Mom's side were much older. Yep, we had playmates up on the farm, making it more fun.

There was also a LOT of snow at Grandma' J's, one year there was this EXCELLENT ice slide down the hill by Grandma's house that someone built. It was very fast (it was watered down and allowed to re-freeze every night) and very fun, but really quite close to the creek (pronounce that "crick") at the bottom of the hill. I remember winding up wet more than once, and having to go inside to thaw. I also remember the pajamas, Grandma J always gave us pajamas for Christmas.

Actually, today isn't really Christmas at all for me, which is probably why I am driveling on about Christmas' past. We are postponing Christmas until Saturday, because Skeeter and his parents are with Skeeter's other grandparents today. I understand why there need to be new traditions, AM NOT DISAGREEING WITH THE RATIONAL, but it still doesn't keep this day from being lousy and weird. It was a last minute switch, so even the Christmas dinner is postponed. So what to do for the un-Christmas dinner? The only restaurant I could find open was our favorite Chinese place, bless those non-Christians. Egg roll anyone?

Pretend it's still Christmas Eve....please

Okay, okay, only the fourth day of my vow to blog everyday for 2 weeks and I blow it....In my defense, Skeeter just wore me out!!! I went to bed at SEVEN. so lets use the "Way-Back machine" and pretend it is still Christmas Eve..........

Traditionally for my family Christmas meant a lot of time in a station wagon. Mom and Dad would pile us in the car. We would drive an hour to Grandma R's house and have a big pot lock with my mom's siblings and their family's. The food was always great, but the highlight was always that Grandma would make a bit pot of her homemade Chicken and Egg Noodles. And I mean HOMEMADE. Nobody could make noodles like my grandma.

After dinner, Aunt D would sit down at the piano and play Christmas songs and we would all sing along. When we got to "Santa Claus is Coming to Town", the MAN himself would come in to pass out presents. We (or our parents) exchanged names, so there was always a present from an aunt, uncle or cousin, but the best of all was always from Grandma. She would knit a hat or mittens to keep you warm (boring), but there was also a TUB of her dried fruit. Apples, peaches, and pears. Homemade. She had a good quality dehydrator long before the cheap ones were available on every other infomercial. Chewy and sweet, in jumbo recycled ice cream containers, they were always passed out with the understanding she would get them back in time for next year. Then it was time put on our jammies, lots of hugs and good-byes, then piling into the back of the station wagon into a makeshift "bad" of sleeping bags for the drive back home to our real beds and our own Christmas morning.

Okay, I'm going to take a break here, we will pretend it is time to go to bed on Christmas Eve, and I'll write more about Christmas day later.

Ta! Pretend to sleep tight!

Be@enie Tree

This is actually an idea I stole from my friend Jxxxie, to use be@nie babies instead of regular ornaments. The first time we did it because I didn't feel like hauling all the Xmas crap up from the basement. This year we did it for Skeeter.



It's a little hard to see them all from this angle, many are pushed back into the tree. The first time Skeeter saw our tree, he cocked his head to the side, studied it, then walked over and started taking be@nies off. He then handed them to me with a very solemn expression, as if he were saying: "Yea-yea, this is not where you keep your toys..." When I put them all back in the tree, he seemed a little annoyed with me. We will see what he does tomorrow. His day-care will be closed, and I get him ALL DAY!!! We are going to have fun! I am a little concerned, because we now have all our packages under the tree. He KNOWS how to unwrap presents very well, thank you. Let's see if I have to say "No-no" all day.

I wanted to mention I had a lot of fun this year decorating packages. Instead of adding tags, ribbons, and bows, I used a silver marker to address the packages and draw pictures. Very satisfying! No individual masterpieces, but as a group they are very cool to see.

Two days to go! Merry Christmas!

Remembering Pam Am Flight 103

I'll be honest, I had forgotten the exact date, but this morning when I woke up and @bc was showing news footage from 20 years ago, I was instantly transported back...

It was evening. I was folding a blanket, home on Christmas break. I had just gotten home from my holiday job. I had heard the tragic news earlier in the day, of course, but it wasn't until that instant it hit me. Jxxxie was flying home from London that day.

I sat down fast. And did nothing. Just sat there looking at the TV. My brother and his friend came in the room, (I don't know when.) A noticed I was acting strange, asked what was wrong. I repeated for him what I had just realized. "Jxxxie is flying home today."

It was all so very surreal. A and I had just visited Jxxxie for Thanksgiving break. I probably didn't even have my pictures developed yet.

A or his friend grabbed the phonebook and looked up Jxxxie's parents' number. Where do they live? How do you spell the last name? One of her brother's answered. With difficulty A explained I was her friend, he was my brother and I was worried. I remember thinking at the time how odd that my brother the word-aholic couldn't seem to string together a complete sentence as he tried to convey concern while not breaking the news to Br if he didn't know already.

She was fine. She wasn't on the plane. She was ok. Later we learned she HAD been booked on Pam Am 103, but raised a stink over the meal choice. She was put a flight leaving a few minutes later. She came to visit a few days later, and I was able to see she was fine for myself.

That dread came back so immediately this morning, I'm still a little numb. My heart and prayers go out to all those who lost someone that day. Bless you wherever you are, bless us all.

It's been a long time..

I'm sorry I have been away so long, I just haven't been in a blogging mood. Had a little dental drama, an abscess and root canal (and yes, I DID pronounce it Woot Cannnal for the better part of the day.) It now looks like the infection isn't all cleared up, and I have to go back to the endodontist for a recheck. Ho Ho Ho

As usual, I have been having a ball Christmas shopping. I refuse to admit I have gone overboard, but there are a MESS of presents under the tree for Skeeter -man, and I almost dragged my arms out of their sockets hauling G's packages to the post office.

Looks like I'll have a light workload the next two weeks, my office is closed both Wednesdays and Thursdays. Normally I would work the three other days of the holiday week. I think it isn't fair for those with children to be forced to leave their kids so I can have a day off during the holidays. If I had kids, or even plans, I might feel different.... However this year as a reward for good work done in a crappy year, anyone who wants the 12/26 and 1/02 off may take them. Management is not enforcing minimum staff coverage. In my section only one person is going to work the Fridays. So, two five-day week-ends in a row, Woo Hoo!

And thus, with all this free time, I plan to make things up to you.... I do feel really bad about not blogging, and in guilt and friendship, I think I will be blogging everyday for the rest of the year. A pre-New Years resolution, if you will. Get some better blogging habits ingrained before work picks up again in January.

And now a treat! Skeeter's very first school picture. I don't remember my daycare ever doing this, but then again, my pre-school wasn't attached to a real school that was taking pictures anyway. Doesn't he just look like he is planning some mischief.!