...Mary and Joseph and their precious baby boy. Now that the hustle and bustle is behind us, I'll try to catch up with my gratitude and my photos of the day. Here we go. Eric was in France for a couple of weeks before Christmas. There's a lot more for me to do when he's gone as it is. Add Christmas stuff and a blizzard to that and I was a little stressed. Playing volleyball and being active saved me a couple of times!
This is Molly, under our tree. I was wondering why the tree skirt kept getting messed up. Here is the answer. Guilty cat.
Brian was busy on a Friday night, Billy and I went out for dinner, just the two of us...what a treat.
On Friday night it started to snow. It snowed and it snowed and it snowed. Almost 20". My snowman says "Let it Snow". I was thinking "Let it Stop!"
By Saturday afternoon, early evening, I decided to tackle the driveway and sidewalks. Our snow blower is small, I knew I had to move some of it before the pile was too high. This was round one. Then it snowed some more...and then the snowplow dumped a huge pile at the end of the driveway. Ugh.
But how can a person complain when they are safe and warm?
It seemed like a good day to take a Christmas picture of the boys, since they were stranded with me, so we did. I think they're awfully cute...but I'm their mom, what do I know?
The storm messed up Christmas shopping for a lot of people, but I was glad that it happened on a weekend when most people weren't at work.
These are Christmas packages used as a decoration on my front step...I wondered if they would stay there through the season, they have. We are in a good neighborhood I guess!
Eric was in France on business for his birthday, it made us all feel bad! Birthdays aren't as much fun when you are by yourself.
An officer tipping his hat in my snow village. There is as much snow outside as there is in my village. Crazy.
Some kids had a few days off from school because of the snow, not the boys, school as usual. I enjoyed the quiet day and cooked a roast in the crock pot. Yum.
After the snow it turned cold, bitterly cold. It gets dark so early, the Christmas lights make the early nights a little easier to take.
Brian was in a mock trial at school for his European social studies class. He played Horatio Nelson...also known as Lord Nelson. He borrowed a jacket from school, but needed a hat and a ruffle for his shirt...so after venturing out on Monday for supplies, I spent a couple of days figuring, cutting and sewing to make his costume look authentic. It was a hit!
The sewing was done in between removing more snow, designing a calendar to be given as Christmas gifts, designing our Christmas picture to send with our cards, more snow removal, picking up and dropping off, making Christmas to do lists, laundry, cooking, cleaning, and all that jazz. I was feeling a little overwhelmed.
Friday was a beautiful day though, and a day to get a lot of shopping done. I started in the mid-morning and shopped til I dropped...shopped until the sun went down. I caught the pretty sky with my cell phone camera on my way home. The only photo I took that day...I like it.
My niece asked me if I'd take some pictures for their Christmas card, what a nice break from the busy-ness. We met at the Conservatory in St. Paul, the poinsettias were beautiful! This is a shot that I took before they got there. Taking pictures of people makes me nervous, but they found one that they liked...so that made me feel good. Then it was off to the Airport to pick up Eric. What a perfect day.
Sunday night Billy told me that he needed some help taking pictures for his digital photography class. What? He couldn't have told me that when there was some sunlight? We had to take the pictures in the house. This is a picture showing texture. It's a garland on a mirror in the living room. I like it!
Monday brought some more snow. Of course. It was nice to have Eric home to help remove it!
This little sculpture was one of the first Christmas gifts Eric's folks game me after Eric and I were married, it's one of my favorite decorations to take out every year.
Eric and I send out a Christmas letter and a picture of the boys with our Christmas cards. That meant going through the address list, printing labels, writing, printing, folding and stuffing the letter into the cards. Signing, stamping and finally sending them. I like doing it, but it takes some time. And is on my excuse list for not blogging.
A Nativity set in my window, I made this from a kit when I was in High School. It came with the lead-like frame and plastic bits. I crinkled some tin foil so the "glass" would look textured, put the frame on top of that, filled in the spaces with the plastic bits and put the whole thing in the oven to melt. Good memories.
On Thursday before we left I made some Christmas treats to share. These are round pretzels, Rollo candies on top, melted in a 300 degree oven for about 4 minutes and then an M&M on top. Easy and yummy! Then it was time to load up the car to go over the river and through the woods to grandmothers house.
Christmas eve at my mom's, with most of the family there to celebrate. So much more fun with a little one to bring some joy to the day. Hi Avery!
Christmas Day was at Eric's parents house. The boys had a fun time with their cousins. They all got swimming goggles from Grandma and Grandpa....looking pretty cool I'd say.
We came home Sunday afternoon and found our gifts and Molly waiting for us. She was happy to see us after a few days by herself. The boys were happy to see their gifts! It felt good to be home.
This morning we were treated to a sunshiney day. I think most of the month was cloudy or snowing, the sun looked so wonderful! The trees and shrubs were covered with a sparkly frost, it looked like the branches were covered with diamonds.
The beauty outside made the pile of laundry, the boxes and wrapping and all that stuff we hauled home and haven't put away inside not look quite as bad.
And with that, the longest post ever, I think I am caught up. Four more days and it's a brand new year, full of hope and promise and fresh starts. I can hardly wait. :-)
