Jan 8, 2025 | Holidays, School Days |
I’ve just returned from bringing Lucielle to the vet. I’ve been concerned about what looks like a lump on each side of her stomach. Naturally I diagnosed her with cancer, and ran through all scenarios of surgery and eventual early death, leaving Linus all alone. Turns out, it’s nothing more than sister cat is packing on the pounds and, like her mother, she holds her weight in her stomach. To add insult to injury, she was diagnosed with asthma and got a steroid shot in said fat. She’s now refusing to look at me. I don’t blame her. Who wants to deal with this so early in the new year?
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Because December is not busy enough, the powers that be at school decided we needed to fit in a Christmas Around the World extravaganza. I enjoy all these events- World Day, Faces of History, science fair (to an extent), etc. I just wish they didn’t happen three days before Christmas break when we all have seven thousand other things to accomplish.
No one was surprised to hear that AB’s teacher was overwhelmed as well. So what did I do? I offered my services even though I had moaned 50 million times that we had TOO MUCH HAPPENING IN DECEMBER AND WE NEED TO STOP COMMITTING. That’s how I found myself hand cutting a paper Christmas lights banner and taping it to fairy lights so it glowed. I did accidently tape the word backward. Ailartsua wasn’t studied by anyone, but it was an accurate representation of my brain. 
I also put together two palm trees with questionable lighting. I didn’t choose the placement of the trees and food table, but I liked it by the flag. ‘Merica! 
This photo is another award-winning treasure for AB’s childhood memory book. She is but a blur. You can’t even tell it’s her, carrying a candle during Silent Night. The children had been told time and time again to sing loudly as they walked into the sanctuary. Only the solitary voice of her teacher could be heard, singing about a silent and holy night. Miss Amanda carried the entire performance of eighty children. I didn’t offer to help with the singing. The way things were going, I would have sung Tnelis Thgin next to my Ailartsua banner.
Jan 8, 2024 | Holidays |
decorating Grammy’s tree
Elizabeth had the idea that we cut words out of magazines to describe (either accurately or not)
the gift recipient and tape them to the package. It brought us endless entertainment.
This is one of AB’s. “Lively” and “unlimited talk.”
Sesame loves looking at photo books so she had the idea to give Christopher one.
Her secretary put one together and her accountant handed over the cash. She took all the credit. 
Baby Ivy isn’t a baby anymore!
The above secretary/accountant took Christopher on an overnight trip to Boston.
We stayed in a lovely old hotel, walked for miles around the city, and visited the prettiest bookstore.
Dec 31, 2023 | Holidays |
Dec 26, 2023 | Holidays |
We purchased our real tree from the store that inspires all Hallmark Christmas movies- Lowes. There was one random, lonely tree sitting out by the grills which is obviously where you would expect to find a tree. It was just the right shape, the perfect ratio of fluff to scraggly, and had the Christmas tree smell. I fell in love. 
Our theme for the year was Noah’s Ark. All the animal ornaments marched/swam/flew two by two around the tree. Our cats also showed up in a pair the minute I pulled out the roll of blue water ribbon. AB hasn’t played with our ark toy in years but I haven’t been able to make myself get rid of it. I pat myself on the back for being so sentimental and unable to get rid of toys because it’s the perfect tree topper. Noah and Mrs. Noah sit onboard and watch the goings on. 
I recently painted the mantle after no less than six trips to the paint store and trying five paint samples. I may repaint it in a few months but for now, it’s this unexpected hue. I painted the nativity sign with my friend at work last year. We got so frustrated doing it and there was a spot we could not fix even after hours of painting. Neither of us can identify the spot now and I love it so much. It’s on my list of items I’ll grab in a fire.
And so, they all followed the stick of butter until it stopped over the manger. There, they found Joseph and Mary engaged in a heated debate about why they suddenly had two babies instead of the one that Mary had told Joseph about. Did Mary misunderstand the angel’s words and, in her shock, forget about the second baby? Was Joseph too stressed by his sudden fatherhood that he zoned out when Mary told him it would be twins? Did someone lose the first baby Jesus under the couch, buy a new one, and then find the first, resulting in twice the holiness at the nativity? Who’s to say. Rumor has it all the guests at the manger were awkwardly silent except for a loud “Happy birthday” yelled by Pedro the wild-haired donkey on the left. Some people can’t read the room.
Oct 31, 2023 | Holidays |
Dec 26, 2022 | Holidays |
We got our real tree from the tree mecca featured in all Hallmark movies- Home Depot. It was hanging up like a ham at the butcher and didn’t look like it had much potential, but after several shakes, taps, and sniffs I deemed it worthy of our home. Even after all these years, Christopher does not remember my multi-step tree picking process. “Sure, that one looks good. That one is nice too. Whatever you want. Why are you taping it against the ground? What do you mean, the branches will settle?” AB was running laps around the garden center and would have agreed to a pansy as an appropriate tree.
All the morning shows and the BBC have been on me about announcing the 2022 theme tree. Here it is in all its slightly scraggly glory. It is a book tree. It’s in my top three favorite theme trees. I was going to do only books we had read this year, but that would have required a great deal of effort, so it’s a combination of books we read this year and favorite books. We discussed making a library card topper and AB suggested a topper that said “shhh” but there again, time was not on our side. 
Everyone who was within a 150-mile radius of the stable is represented in our nativity scene. Jesus is the size of a middle schooler. He came out the size of his mother.
I made the nativity sign at work and we made the wooden houses last year. I was trying to create a little town of Bethlehem. 
