One 'those' weeks

Actually I think it has been months.....I officially celebrated 4 and a half months or 19 weeks of being in a below the knee cast and 6 weeks post surgical correction. I should win some kind of award. If you talk to my husband, that award would be that I get to wait on him now. If any of you know me...you know that ain't going to happen. I might reward him in some way....have to think on that one.

Anyway......it was a full moon Christmas eve and let me tell you it has been one loopy whirlwind week...and it isn't over. My newest grand-nephew L was just released from the hospital today after being there for the week with RSV. My FIL didn't know who I was (he had a stroke almost 2 years ago and is rapidly declining). One of my sisters fell down her basement stairs and broke her foot so we put her in a cast. Patients came out of the woodwork this week all trying to get into the office before their new deductible hits Jan 1st. Then we were blessed today with snow.

One more Christmas to go....my family's is this Sunday at my parent's house. Yes, I am bringing headache medicine and maybe something stronger. We do an exchange there...my brothers, sisters, and spouses all exchange names; then the older kids exchange names; and then the younger ones exchange names. We have my one brother and his wife who have yet to give us any clue as to what they want. Now any of you who know me know not to do that to me. They get what I want to get them then and I have been known to deliberately shop at a sex shop for items. I still have tomorrow to decide if I will do this or not. Son has one of my nieces names who was easy to do although he had us pick up the gift as he states he won't walk into a smelly store (Bath and Body Works).

Cross your fingers and toes that I get a walking cast Monday when I go back to the doctor. And cross your fingers I don't have the newest Chia Pet leg...I swear cast material has miracle grow.....2 weeks ago I could braid the leg hair.

Merry Christmas to all!

I don't know what all of you are doing....but I thought I would amuse myself by playing the game now and then............

Then: Hubs and I would get the munchkins to bed after midnight mass then start wrapping presents and putting things together. I will never forget the time hubs was putting a big wheels together for our daughter and of course didn't read the directions. The handlebars went on backwards...problem was they snapped it and wouldn't come out. I went to bed at 4am and he was still cussing. Kids got up at 6am. They wouldn't wake us up...instead they would stare at us giggling until we woke up. Then it was a mad dash downstairs for presents. Then breakfast then naps.

Now: It's 6:09PM CST and I am patiently waiting on daughter and fiance to come over for dinner (which is supposed to be served at 6:30PM) and presents. After midnight mass, hubs and I went to bed and then slept in this morning and woke up to a phone call from one of my sisters who fell down some stairs and has a Jones fracture. I gave her hints on how to cope and booked her an appointment for tomorrow. The ER put her in a splint. This afternoon we finished wrapping presents we had not done yet, stuffed stockings, did the dishes from yesterday, set the table and started dinner. Nice...quiet...relaxing. Presents after dinner.

Then: mad flurry of wrapping paper flying through the air punctuated with cries of yes and did you see what I got.....no order...complete chaos.

Now: We take turns unwrapping presents so each gets to see what the other gets. In some ways it is more of a pain because I make sure each kid has the same amount of presents to open.

Then: Someone was always sick for the holiday...and inevitably we all would get it, always destroying hubs and I celebrating the New Year.

Now: I send them home to their houses.

Then: We could leave unwrapped presents out under the tree.

Now: We always have to wrap and now it's fancy paper with bows.

Then: Christmas cards and presents were always done and sent the day after Thanksgiving.

Now: I did the Christmas letter, printed them off, stuffed them in envelopes, but I have yet to drop them in a mailbox. I bought Christmas gifts for friends, but I have yet to send them. Well, actually even put them in the boxes I got to send them off.

Then: Christmas present unwrapping was done in robes and no makeup and no coffee.

Now: Makeup is on. Clothes are on. Coffee way way earlier....now into decaf because caffeine would keep us awake all night.

Then: We would find remnants of wrapping paper everywhere for days after. We would be lucky to find the family room floor and even luckier to get the kids to put their new things away after a week.

Now: Wrapping paper is bagged for garbage as we unwrap. Kids tidy up their piles and son takes his to his bedroom...daughter takes hers home. Hubs and I take care of our own piles. Family room back to order within 3 hours.

Then: I would have just the kids who were into their presents so I would have peace and quiet for a few days and lots of leftovers so I didn't have to cook.

Now: I have to work tomorrow. And early.

So Merry Christmas all!

Christmas Song Titles

In the spirit of the Season, see if you can decipher the following Christmas song titles...the 1st I did as an example:

• Move thitherward the entire assembly of those who are loyal in their beliefs.
Answer: Oh Come All Ye Faithful

• Listen, the celestial messengers produce harmonious sounds.

• Nocturnal timespan of unbroken quietness.

• Embellish the interior passageways.

• Exalted heavenly beings to who hearkened.

• Twelve O'clock on a clement night witnessed its arrival.

• The Christmas preceding all others.

• Diminutive masculine master of skin-covered percussionistic cylinders.

• Omnipotent Supreme Being who elicits respite to ecstatic distinguished males.

• Obese personification fabricated of compressed mounds of minute crystals of water

• Expectation of arrival to populated area by mythical, masculine gift-giver.

• Natal celebration devoid of color.

Christmas Carol Game Time #2

Same rules.

Christmas Carol Game Time

This game is easy. All you have to do is look at each image and post which Christmas Carol the image portrays. I will start with #1....answer would be Jingle Bells. You do 2-8. Don't worry I have more for tomorrow...prize for the most that are correct: to be determined....maybe some homemade cookies but if M wins then I have to come up with something that can be sent overseas....Good luck :)

Making a list.... checking it twice....

Today I am finishing my Christmas list of things to do. OMG when did it get to only 16 days before Christmas? It seems to come so fast and as I age....faster and faster. I remember thinking when I was 16 how far away 18 seemed. These days at 53, time passes me by so fast and I can't seem to make it slow down.

I have pretty well gotten most on my list and seeing what has to be finished and am starting my Christmas cookie and shopping list. I had another setback this week so my activities are being restricted again.

Today's project is making sure I have everyone done on my list. The family we provide for has been done. The abused shelter has been done. Hub's family exchange has been done. I am still waiting on my brother and his wife to give me an idea of what they want for that exchange. Cards have been made for our employees and the 4 mail people. Hubs and I decided on only stocking things this year and they have to be under $50.00 since we are doing the countertops and cooktop and have the wedding. Each of the kids are getting one big gift and then a few small ones to go into their stockings. I, like most parents, always make sure even to this day that each child has the same number of gifts to open.

I must say I hate being almost done and not being able to participate in doing any of the shopping or seeing things decorated. I keep thinking I need more things although I know I have spent enough. Do you ever find you just pick up more things if you do finish early?

Snow

For once Chicago area has been bombarded with snow and it is sticking! Most people from this area know that although we get snow this time of year, it rarely sticks as our temps bounce above and below 40 a lot. It was just a few years ago I remember Christmas being a balmy 60 degrees. We have a family tradition of playing football in the snow and it has been years since we actually played football in the snow.

I thought I would post some pics of our recent snow...more is expected tonight and this weekend. I think I heard our area has gotten 8 inches already.

Here is a pic of the top of one of our patio tables.


This pic is of one of our bulldog granddoggies trying to squat in the snow to do her business.


This is of the other granddoggie bulldog trying to jump through the snow.


And finally, a pic of one of our concrete deer that normally rests in the middle of one of the front flower beds but with the new landscaping, he had not made it back to his regular spot yet so he sits in the middle of the front yard...as you can see only his head is showing.

Decorating for the Holidays

"It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas..." We are decorating the house today. As you can see it started with my new cast I got put on Friday after they removed the sutures. I would have taken a picture of the smiley faces but truthfully I forgot the camera. Purty? Then we got an inch of snow and ice yesterday....ground covered.....Sure put me in a festive mood!

So I decided we were decorating today. I hired my daughter to help decorate the house. Her price: a pot of beef vegetable soup. Of course I negotiated her down to a half pot....but threw in a homemade loaf of oatnut bread. Son tried to negotiate too....but I got him down to dinner for free (I have been making him pay rent and for dinners since he is 24 and still living at home).

Only thing we needed was the tree. In the old days, we would make a day trip and go to this farm in Wisconsin to chop a tree down ourselves but haven't done that in a few years. I called the farm we normally get ours from and they had actually chopped some down and brought them to IL and were selling some in a nearby town. The family knows what we usually got so they chopped 2 down for us and brought them down. Hubs went to pick them up today (one for daughter and one for us). OMG it is gorgeous! As a thank you for doing that for us, I sent hubs with a 9x13 pan of homemade lasagna and some pizzelles which they were already cooking before hubs left the lot.

Pot of homemade vegetable soup simmering on the stove......4 loaves of oatnut bread cooling on the counter. No pain pills needed today yet....life is good!

As I sit here watching my family decorate....I leave you today with a quote from Maya Angelou:

"I've learned that you can tell a lot about a person by the way he/she handles these three things: a rainy day, lost luggage, and tangled Christmas tree lights."