Wordless Wednesday: Snow snow snow

Sunday Funday

A yes, a nice lazy Sunday. Just what the doctor ordered (side note, I am now calling myself "the doctor") Hh worked an 80 week this week and is sleeping late and looking forward to the prospect of going to see the Blackhawks play tonight AND coming home and going to bed while it's DARK out since he has tonight off (which means this coming week will only be a 72 hour week instead of 80 ha!) Bitsy and Gabe are both baking with Grandma Dyan today; it's time for her annual cookie baking marathon. Bitsy took her camera so I'm sure there will be plenty of pictures to share...and me? I'm going to do NOTHING today. I am going keep my pajamas on and crochet and maybe take a nap.

It's snowing quite nicely outside, the ground is starting to look more white than green, and the dog is begging to go outside. Silly thing can't stand rain but will stay outside for an hour if you let her when it snows.

Have a wonderful Sunday no matter WHAT you do today :)

Thankful Thursday: Friends

Tonight as I text and sit on facebook (gosh I'm exciting) I am reminded of how lucky we are to have such fantastic friends. Friends who are here for us when we're happy, sad, celebrating, moaning and complaining, just in general pretty fabulous people. Not sure how we got so lucky but here we are :) I

Wordless Wednesday: Find the Gabriel

Tell the Truth Tuesday: I Don't Care

....what you say to me this time of year to wish me a joyous Christmas.

A list of things that do not offend me when said to me this time of year:

Happy Holidays
Merry Christmas
Happy New Year
A Joyous Festivus
Merry Ho-ho


A short list of things that do offend me when said to me this time of year:
 "I am only saying Merry Christmas because tis the season of Christ's birth and that's it"

Here's that thing, Christmas is NOT the only holiday celebration in December. Is it a big one? Yup. Is it the ONLY one? NOPE. Happy holidays is all encompassing, you're acknowledging that there's more than one thing going on during December and that you realize that.  There's a Jewish holiday, a Muslim holiday, a Hindi holiday, and a non secular African American holiday this month (among other things) and quite frankly, to other people that's just as important as Christmas is to the "only saying Merry Christmas" people.

I don't care what you say to me as long as you aren't rude. Just be kind, that's all I ask. Don't preach to me, don't sneer if I tell you to have a nice holiday, don't act offended if I say happy holidays, just be happy that I didn't tell you to soak your head, pound sand, or sit on a tack. Likewise, *I* won't be offended either by whatever comes out of your mouth.

Funny aside, in my family we always greet one another on Christmas with "It's Christmas you idiot" because many years ago my father answered the phone in a rather unChristmas like way (something like "Pete's pool hall, Cue Ball speaking") and my mom yelled in the background "It's Christmas you idiot" and my dumbfounded father, said "It's Christmas you idiot" to the person on the other end of the line and it stuck. It's easily been ten years since that incident and we still all say it...and laugh like bastards as we say it. So really...it's hard to offend me when it comes to holiday greetings...you idiot :D

62 years

It has been sixty two years since the Greats said "I do".

Sixty two years.
Let that sink in for a minute...
SIXTY TWO YEARS

In the last sixty two years there have been eleven presidents, seven popes, a man landed on the moon, the Berlin wall fell, we fought in Vietnam, Martin Luther King marched for civil rights and was later assassinated, Elvis and the Beatles rose to popularity, and the Internet was created. (among other things)

In sixty two years, the Greats have had three children, two grandchildren, and four great grandchildren. They've seen all of their sons get married, both grandsons get married, and have watched their great grandchildren grow.

They have been married six decades, more than half of a century. They've been married nearly twice as long as Geo has been alive, six times as long as Gabriel has been alive, and thirty times as long as their youngest great grandchild has been alive.

Sixty two years. That's 744 months, that's approximately 22,630 days, not including leap years. That's 543120 hours of marriage, 32,587,200 and 1,955,232,000 seconds.


In other words, that's a long freaking time...and it's AWESOME. They are to be commended. In an era where celebrity marriages don't last and you don't hear much good news there's this fact: two people have been married for sixty two years. Two people have lived and loved for sixty two years. I don't know about you, but I am in absolute awe of these two human beings. They exemplify for better or for worse, till death do us part, in sickness and health, and in richer or poorer. How lucky are we that we have an example like this in our lives to show us what marriage really is? Lucky us...and lucky them for all these wonderful years together.

Let the Christmas Countdown Begin

Ah yes, December first...it seems like it took forever to get here, didn't it? (well I suppose it took 11 months as it always does...) Thanksgiving this year was wonderful; full of delicious food, bubbly wine, close family and friends, and we ended the night with a trip to the Christmas house where we all sat drinking hot chocolate and watched a fantastic light and music display.

Black Friday came and went without too much excitement; other than a quick trip to Menard's for a few Christmas gifts later in the day, we stayed home and didn't do a whole lot. Saturday we went and had family pictures done which I can't wait to see. We spent an hour playing at the playground and park while she snapped our pictures.

Today Hunky Hubby and the kiddos decorated the front of the house for Christmas; I still have to put the swag up around the mailbox and hang some giant ornaments from the tree, but we're all set outside. As for inside, we're taking our time. Putting things up a little at a time, leading to the big event of putting up the Christmas tree. Last year was our first year getting a real tree and we loved it so much we decided we'd do it again this year. We have a Christmas party at General Mills on the 21st and then we'll go grab our tree and spend the afternoon decorating it, listening to Christmas music, and watching a movie or two...maybe even "The Polar Express" as the kids have been begging for since about October 12th haha.

A few years ago we started a new Christmas tradition with the family; we try to watch a Christmas or holiday movie every night leading up to Christmas, it doesn't always work that way but it's become such an integral part of our holiday celebrations that we all look forward to it once December rolls around. We cheated a little and watched a few specials this past week, but we'll be kicking the whole thing off on Tuesday night (daddy has to bowl tomorrow night) with a full length holiday movie. I love this tradition and hope that it's one the kids won't grow out of as they get older.

This year the Christmas budget is tight; earlier this year we decided that we want to treat the kids to experiences rather than gifts, so we took a nice trip to gorgeous upstate New York where we all got to know the greats better. Quite frankly that's the only Christmas gift Geo and I needed. It was amazing to get to see Grandma in her kitchen and see Gramps reading on the porch and putting a place with the stories we'd all heard so much about. The kids will never forget their week with the greats in the mountains; I suspect they'll tell their own children about it. We took a trip to Michigan to see family, we had a lot of fun with friends and family all summer long. We really discovered what HAPPY is. It's not about the amount of gifts under the tree, it's not about the money we spend on ourselves, it's being surrounded with love and laughing and hugs and kisses and joking with people and scaring people at restaurants because you're laughing so hard. It's about bowling on Fridays with people you adore, it's about coloring with your friends and running to the park so fast you can't catch your breath, and dancing with the dog. It's being content with what you have and knowing that you have enough just because you have those things: love and family and friends and experiences.

Will the kids get anything under the Christmas tree? Fear not six regular readers (maybe that's generous on my part haha) They will have gifts under the tree. We opted to budget for one large special gift and one or two smaller gifts this year rather than spreading the budget thin. They're getting older and have gotten to the point where one or two meaningful gifts is what they love rather than ten or fifteen "generic" types of gifts. Barbies and cars are fun but they really do love the gifts that a lot of thought are put into. I cannot wait to see their faces when they unwrap the special gift this year. *I* may be more excited at this point than they are.

I'm going to try to be better about keeping this updated more often through the holiday season...even if it's just a picture or two. Have a wonderful holiday season everyone.