One Long Christmas Season

It seems like so many people are taking down their Christmas decorations this weekend.  We didn't get the inside of the house done until about six days before Christmas, so I can handle a few more days of Christmas cheer.  However, Rick wants to keep the decorations up until his parents get here, which I believe is about the 15th of January and I am sure I will definitely want to de-Christmastize the house by then if not two weeks earlier.  Also, it is going to make it very difficult to clean the house with all of the extra chotskies littering every surface.  If it was up to Katie she would leave the decorations up all year.  Thank goodness she doesn't have a say so.  Anyway, wish me patience as I grin and bear Christmas until the middle of January.

Christmas Part Deux

For Christmas Katie received three gift cards.  Today we headed over to Wal-Mart so that she could spend her moola.  She picked out five toys and initially I was only going to let her spend $45, which meant she was going to have to put at least two toys back.  However, it was painful to watch her try to narrow down her choices, so I let her spend all of her money in one shot.  I tell you it was like a second Christmas for her.  She was so excited that she got to get five, count 'em five, toys in one shopping trip. She has never gotten five toys all at once.  The norm for her is to maybe get a small bag of M&Ms.  Anyhoodles, before heading to the toy department, I had done a fair amount of household shopping, so our cart was overflowing as it was and the added toys on top made me look like Santa with his laden sleight.  Adults were looking at me like, "What, didn't your kid get enough for Christmas?" while the kids were looking at Katie with envy.  She was so proud of those five toys teetering on the top of our cart.

Katie says, "Thank you Auntie Maryel, Auntie Linda and girls ("girls" are her three cousins).  Being able to buy almost everything that she wanted was a one time experience.

When we got home Katie said she missed her credit cards.  I asked her if she wanted to return her toys to get her credit cards back.  She promptly said, "No!" and has not brought it up again

Katie with her loot.  Her Auntie Maryel got her the Barbie Kitchen which came with a Barbie doll; her Auntie Linda got her the Barbie swimming pool and Thumbelina; and the girls got her the Toys Story 3 Barbie (she is sitting on top of the pool box) and the Pop The Pig game.

If you are not familiar with the pig game, the premise is that you feed the pig little plastic hamburgers until his growing belly forces his belt and shirt to pop open.  What will they think of next?!  Actually the game is just right for her age and we have played it once and I lost because my last hamburger over fed him.

Gotta go.  Katie wants to play Barbies and she has to twist my arm to do that. 

Christmas 2010

What a wonderful Christmas we have had. Christmas Eve we went to the candlelight service at our church. Katie was disappointed that there was no Children's Church. Once we got home, we took a few pictures of ourselves dressed in our fancy garb and then settled down to a meal of beef stew.

The Kirschners

Christmas Eve 2010

Katie was so, so excited. We almost forgot to put cookies and milk out for Santa, and Rick had to get her out of bed to do so--not that she was asleep. We also left some cheddar fish crackers for the reindeer. When Katie finally fell asleep, Rick and I had a few hours of work ahead of us. All the presents were wrapped, but locating the said presents was challenging--should have wrote a list of the gifts and their respective secret hiding locations.  I think we got to sleep at 2 am.

Amazingly we got up before Katie.  Pretty soon we heard little squeals.  I thought she was in the living room; however, she was in her bedroom where we had left the goodies for Santa.  And the cookies, milk and crackers were gone!  That pleased Katie to no end.  Santa also left a note for Katie.  When we got into the living room, Katie was amazed at the sight.  Wrapped gifts spread from the tree and a new, little, black leather recliner with a big red bow sat to the left.

After Santa visited our house.

Oh how the wrapping paper flew as it was ripped from the packages.  One item that Katie had asked from Santa was a Rapunzel Tower, which is a Barbie sized home for the Rapunzel doll.  Katie, being the smarty pants that she is, immediately deduced what package could be a tower--there were actually two packages that size, but she focused on the correct one.  She wanted to drag the tower package from the back, but we said she had to open the presents in front and around the tree first.  She systematically opened the presents that cleared a path to the tower. 

Katie got all of the Rapunzel/Tangled toys of her dreams.  She couldn't contain her excitement when she opened her 3' tall Rapunzel doll; or her Rapunzel Barbie-sized doll; a Flynn doll (Rapunzel's boyfriend); Rapunzel's tower; a Rapunzel dress for her; moon dough; DVDs; CDs, Mr and Mrs. Potato Head; a Leapster Explorer and a few games; clothes and more and more and more. I seriously cannot remember everything that Katie got, but she was lavished with gifts.

Rick received socks, lounge pants, a Wet/Dry Vac for the pump/lake house, a Ryobi tool combo set and another Ryobi tool.  His stocking was overflowing with Nestle Crunch bars, his favorite.  As for me, I got a deep fryer; a sign for my parking space in the parking area that says, "Reserved For The World's Best Mom"; pajamas; a music box;  and a diamond bracelet from Rick.  I have come to realize of late that I love getting fine jewelery as a gift.  It is something that I would never buy for myself.  It also makes me feel decadent.  Luckily, Rick does not believe in giving practical or house cleaning gifts for presents.  I like sparkly things, which reminds me Rick got me two large "snow globes".  One is an angel and one is a snowman.  When you switch them on, the sparkles inside move and a light show commences.  Like I said, I like sparkly things. 

As a couple, Rick and I received a hot chocolate whipper; candy dish WITH candy which I promptly ate a few and a bottle of wine.  I know that I am forgetting something, but to list all would make this post ridiculously long, so "Thank You" one and all for remembering us at Christmas.

All of our stockings were hung by the chimney with care and judging by the strained loops, Santa was definitely here.  We have enough candy to rot the teeth of a family of ten!
 

 Ummmm.  Sparkly.

  After the unwrapping of presents, or more properly stated as after the wrapping paper massacre, the living room was knee deep in shreds of wrapping paper, boxes, ribbons and bows.  Thank goodness we have a burn pit or our trash container would be overflowing.

Mounds and mounds of evidence that we do not adhere to "green living" when it comes to Christmas presents.

 Katie decorated the envelop that came with the card from her.  Rick said she poured her little heart into decorating that envelope.

 Maximus, the horse from Tangled, hiding in the presents.  I love that horse and the expression on his face.  He is pretty true to how he looked in the movie.  The bow that I stuck on his head makes him look all the more grumpy and upset about the situation. 

 Katie Rapunzel with her Rapunzel dress and Rapunzel hair.

Katie disrobed her 3' Rapunzel doll and discovered that Rapunzel had a painted on bathing suit, which I think is actually a strapless corset with underwear.  Anyway, Katie decided that they needed to go swimming.  After I told Katie it was too cold outside and that the pool was empty, they decided to go "swimming" in the box in which the tower came.  I had to lift her into the box and then squeeze Rapunzel in there too.  After a bit, of course what I fear happened.  The box fell over, but Katie dusted herself off and decided not to "swim" any longer.

For brunch I made a hash brown, egg and sausage casserole, which we all devoured.  For Christmas dinner I made a prime rib roast.  It was delicious!  Best prime rib that I have ever made.  It was melt-in-your-mouth and had great flavor.  Once again Lawrence Brothers in Stamford came through for me.  I seriously prefer their meat to anything that I can find in Abilene.

I hope that your Christmas was as comforting and joyous as ours was.  Merry Christmas!

"In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there."

Here are a few pictures from inside our home.  They are more for when I have this blog printed as a book for Katie, but you are welcome to take a look.

 Snow globes on side table.  Hey!  That's where that piece of fudge disappeared to.

Christmas Tree.  I have since removed the train track because it took away from my new tree skirt and it stuck out into the living room too far.

 "The stockings were hung by the chimney with care..."  Also the 3000 stuffed Christmas animals surrounded the fireplace.

 The little tree on the dining room table.

The musical carousel that Rick bought me the first Christmas we were married.  Matter of fact, that Christmas was also the first Christmas we ever spent together.

 Wreath above the fireplace.  We actually have four wreaths throughout the house.

Katie's bedroom door

The guest bathroom.  I like this picture because the mirror shows the hallway behind me, as well as part of the living room.

 The angel in the green gown I won at a raffle quite a few years ago.  This year I used the fake snow to give her some hair.  When Katie saw it she proclaimed, "She has hair like Ga Ga!"  Not sure which grandmother, but believe me neither has white, long, cotton candy like hair.  At least it makes her look better.  Before she did not have hair and people gave her a crude name since her head looked like a part of a man.  Our Elf on a Shelf, Elfie, was on the mixer when we woke up that morning.

 The bears on the stove shelf.

 During the Christmas Season, I keep the dining room table set.  Last year Rick's parents got us a service for eight of Spode's Christmas Tree dinnerware.  The pattern has been around since 1938.  No danger of it being discontinued. . . .I hope.

 The Major Award as seen in The Christmas Story.

A White German Shepherd angel which signifies Max and Eric.

New Do

Here it is.  The new do and of course Katie.  Can't aim the camera without her America-Next-Top Modeling in front of it.

Big Girl

Katie wanted to drive down to the Quonset Hut in her Barbie Jeep.  Rick was down there, so I said it was okay, but she needed to keep her eye out for snakes and be careful.  (It is warm out there.)  She replied, "I will, Mom.  I'm a big girl now.  I can use a butter knife."  Aaahh.  A big milestone according to a 4 year old.

Music From Heaven

The trouble with posting sporadically is that you forget to mention various events. For example, I got my hair cut last week. Not that a haircut is an "event", but when you have not had your hair this short since 3rd or 4th grade it deserves a mention and a picture. I got it cut to the jaw and chin area. It has been so long since I had short hair, that I forgot that once free of its weight, my hair becomes rebellious. I have a few layers cut into it, so when I wake in the morning I have a crazy, poofy, bed-head do. Short hair gets pretty head strong--pun intended--and will not succumb to hair brushing, gel and hairspray. If it doesn't want to go that way, gosh darn it, it is not going in that direction. The haircut works for my face shape, but I am not sure if I like it. I still don't know how to style it and opinionated hair doesn't help. I don't have a picture yet, so I have included one that shows what type of haircut I got.

 This afternoon I was on the phone with my sister when I heard a voice coming from the heavens.  "Er. . . God?"  Nope, it was Rick with a microphone and his four, newly purchased P.A. loudspeakers perched on the roof.  Katie then got behind the mike and proceeded to sing Christmas carols for about 1 hour.  Now Rick has hooked up a CD player and is playing the Charlie Brown Christmas CD.  "How nice." you say.  Well, I am not sure that our nearest neighbors who are a little over a mile away appreciate the afternoon concert.  Believe me, the sound carries that far if not further.  Rick is a gleeful little boy with his new toy.  He must have one of the speakers right next to the vent pipe for the range hood because the music is pouring into the kitchen loud and clear.  You know what they remind me of?  The type of speakers that you see around football fields.  Not kidding.

Yes, life is interesting, but I asked for it when I said, "I do."

A Rat and A Man With A Red Velvet Suit

We finally put up our Christmas tree last night.  Rick has been on vacation and will be until after the New Year, so I am not quite sure what our problem was but I know how I contributed to it.  I wanted to finish decorating the inside of the house before we started on the tree.  I was decorating very slowly this year and couple that with our oodles of decorations, the decorating stretched across a few days.  Rick has been concentrating on the outside of the house.  He is putting up new hooks to hang the light strings.  Our old hooks and lights went the way of the wind when we got hit by a tornado.  Anyway, for those of you who know Rick, it is a tedious task to place the hooks on the fascia.  However, his OCD has resulted in perfection.  To give an example how thorough Rick is, he has been caulking each screw hole to prevent moisture from getting by the screw and into the wood siding.

Thursday night we took Katie to see Santa Claus.  She was sooooo excited.  We purchased two set of pictures.  One of Katie and Santa and one of Rick, Katie and I with Santa.  After Santa we went to Chuck E Cheese's.  We started the tradition of going out to eat after visiting Santa when Kate was an itty-bitty.  We do Chuck E. Cheese because Katie loves the place and it is her night.  Speaking of the giant rat and his pizza place, we have to remind Katie each time we go in there not to put her tokens down and forget them.  However, some kid wanted to share Katie's coins and when she asked, Katie gladly gave her some coins.  We asked Katie why she did that and she said because the girl wanted to share.  I don't think Katie realized that when you offer to share it typically is when you are giving away something not when you need something.  Another girl decided to take coins without asking.  All I have to say is that Katie has a big heart.

Monday is Katie's belt ceremony where she will get her orange Taekwondo belt.  This means Katie is moving up to the Advanced Little Dragons class and she will be attending that class at a different time from her current one.  I am hoping the class is earlier.  Because of her class, we have been eating a really late dinner and I don't really fancy driving home in the dark.  Anyway, we'll see.

Let's see. What else can I ramble on about?  I only have one more dentist appointment left.  Yahooooo!  That appointment will be pain free as the dentist is permanently filling a hole in my front tooth.  A long, long time ago, I hit that tooth on a window sill and it has slowly died.  Because of its death, the tooth had started to discolor these past few years.  The dentist, Dr. Toogood--I just love his name--drilled a hole on the back of the tooth to inject bleach into the inside of the tooth and then he has been putting a temporary filling in it.  I will be getting a permanent fill on Tuesday.  Here's hoping that he likes how it looks or I will be getting a veneer.

Also on Tuesday I will have my mammogram.  My old OB-GYN left the area, so I didn't know how to go about scheduling a mammogram.  Luckily Dr. Kathryn Norton's office called to remind me it was that time of the year.  Dr. Norton is a surgeon to whom I went to last year for a second opinion on a suspicious area on my mammogram.  I used to go to Abilene Diagnostic, but I have switched over to Hendrix, which I am very glad that I did.  Abilene Diagnostic constantly bills incorrectly and the techs in their x-ray group are not very friendly.  I cannot understand why people, who don't like other people, go into a vocation that requires them to work with people.  Accounting would have been a better field for them.  Anyway...

Tonight Katie is sleeping over at her Aunt Gerri's and Uncle Don's.  They are not really her relatives.  They are our big-hearted neighbors who love Katie.  This is her third time doing an overnight at their house.  I miss the Doodlebug, but needed the uninterrupted alone time especially since Katie was not good Friday.  I was so frustrated that I had to walk out of the room because I felt like strangling her.  That child debates everything.  I mean EVERYTHING.   She always has a suggestion of how she should do something or a reason for why she does not need to do something or her perception of a situation.  Prime example, Friday she argued with me about what the printing on a box said.  She can't read, but she insisted again and again and again that she was right.  She stood firm and I ended up walking away because I wanted to scream.  Sometimes I think she does the debating just to yank my chain or to show her independence.  Or perhaps it's just the stubborn Finlander coming out in her.  She just wears me down some days.

I am done with my Christmas shopping and got the boxes out to our parents today.  We will not be traveling for Christmas and no one will be traveling to us.  I am looking forward to a relaxed Christmas with our little family.  Which reminds me, we spoil Katie.  She told Santa that she wanted the tower for the Rapunzel doll.  So there we were driving up to Stamford after Chuck E. Cheese to purchase said tower.  Thankfully they still had a few left and Katie was sleeping in the back seat.  Rick, who is the stricter parent of the two of us, said something that rather took me back.  I didn't want to get the tower at first, but Rick said she is only young once and we will regret not buying it.

I'll post the professional portraits of Katie and Santa, but I'll share the unprofessional, Mommy pics now.

Katie riding the race horse in Chuck E. Cheese's.  A video screen is in front of her that shows the race track and the backsides of other horses.

Katie chatting with Santa.  I had to stay behind the velvet rope, so it is not the cleanest shot.  You can also see that I STILL need to get my camera fixed.  Someday, someday.

Well, nighty night.  The electric blanket is softly and warmly calling my name.

Family Day

Yesterday Katie tested for her Tae Kwon Do orange belt.  The form or pattern that she had to learn while a yellow belt is the form that she has learned the quickest and the best.  She is also getting very strong and fast on her one steps.  I am not exaggerating when I say that of all the Little Dragons, she does the strongest take down.

Last night was the Christmas parade in Anson, which we drove in to see.  It was chilly last night and Katie ended up wearing three sweaters.  She got bucket loads of candy because she finally figured out that if she waved and loudly said, "Merry Christmas!" they would throw candy to her.  After the parade we went over to the pump house.  Rick had a few small things to which to tend.  I packed sandwiches and sodas and Katie packed her markers and colored pencils.  While Rick was working, Katie and I colored wooden ornaments that I had bought from Hobby Lobby. 

Today I started putting up the Christmas decorations.  I got the fireplace done and a few other spots, but there is still so much to do.  I don't want to put the tree up until the house is done, so I better get cracking.  Regardless, our tree will be put up earlier than normal for Rick actually has been on vacation since the 6th and will be so until after the New Year.  He had oodles of accrued vacation time and was losing days because he did not take them.  It's good to have him home, but it will be hard to get used to his traveling schedule once his vacation is over.

Below are the pictures from yesterday.

 Katie standing at attention with fellow Little Dragons before her orange belt testing.

 Bundled up for the Christmas parade.  She wore a pair of light-up antlers.

 Here's the annual blurred picture of the Court House in its holiday lights.

A decorated fire truck from the parade

Katie in the pump house.

The last picture is from earlier last week after I started feeling better.  Katie and I are making a garland string for her bedroom.  Please excuse my hair-do and lounge wear.

The Dentist, The Princess and The Elf

(Another title of a post that sounds like the start of a joke.)

I haven't posted again in awhile.  I have been having dental work done.  Not fun.  Yesterday's appointment was the worse.  My entire mouth was numb and I kept on thinking that I would swallow my tongue--it was hard to swallow.  On the ride home, I started gagging every time I swallowed, so of course I threw up like crazy when I got home.  I am still not 100% chipper and I have never had this reaction before from Novocaine or nitrous oxide.  There's a good possibility that I have the flu because of the chills, sweats, aching and headaches on top of the mouth soreness.  I have done nothing but lie around last night and poor Rick has had to pick up the slack, which means running Katie to Tae Kwon Do and ballet.  Because my husband does not cook, Katie and he have been doing McDonald's for dinner.  Not crazy about it, but I seriously couldn't cook right now.  It hurts to stand up, not to mention the feeling of being on the verge of throwing up is constantly present.  At least it is before Christmas.

I am very slowly decorating the house.  I have only gone through two of toters.  Eight more huge ones to go!

Now for the Katie pictures. . .

If I recall correctly, Katie said this was her Christmas bride outfit.  I think the sunglasses add a nice touch.

Here she is looking model fierce.

 We bought a microwave for the lake house.  Once Katie saw the big, empty box, she requested that Rick and I pack her in it and ship her to the North Pole.  We of course obliged.  Here she is waiting outside at 8:00 pm for Joyce, our mail lady, to pick her up.  We even turned the porch light off and went inside.  Pretty soon we heard a big ripping sound.  Katie decided against making the trip.  I think it was because I put four Goldfish crackers through the slot and told her that was all she was going to have to eat on the trip.  As a side note, it is great having a fearless child.

 Here's another Christmas Princess.  She nabbed the garland when I was decorating the house.  I don't know what it is about that kid, but everything has to go on her head.

I bought an Elf On The Shelf for Katie.  The Elf watches Katie all day and flies at night to the North Pole to report to Santa if Katie has been naughty or nice.  The next day he flies back from the North Pole and hides somewhere else in the house and Katie must find him.  She is not allowed to touch him because if she does, he loses his magic.  I have caught her singing to Elfie--yes, quite the original name that she gave him--reading to Elfie and writing a letter for him to bring to Santa.  Unfortunately, he did not leave last night because she was naughty and Elfie didn't want to disappoint Santa with the bad news.  She had a few slip ups today, but I think he will report to Santa.  Katie really gets into the concept of Elfie and gets tragically upset if we tell her that she is on Santa's Naughty List.

That's it for now.  Hopefully by this time tomorrow most of the house will be decorated and I will be able to eat.  Cheerio!

Matching Gummies

Katie takes gummi vitamins and the current ones are Toy Story themed.  The interesting point is that when I fetch her two out of the bottle, they must match in shape and color.  Many a morning I have all of the vitamins dumped on the counter as I search for two identical ones.  **Sigh**  She is her father's daughter.