Category: family
twinges…
One day it felt nothing like the Christmas season and suddenly it’s December 3rd, we have two (yes, two) Christmas trees in our home, mornings barefoot are freezing and the TiVo is so full of Christmas movies that I fear it’s survival through this holiday season time.
Welcome, Christmas!
We spent chunks of our weekend adorning trees and placing other miscellaneous Christmas decor around our home. We decided, albeit a bit sadly, not to put lights up, outside, this year. It’s a good decision, a smart decision, and as long as we are inside where it most certainly feels festive- it doesn’t really matter. Those rare times though, when we return home after dark, I know we will feel a twinge of sadness at being on of the few dark homes in the neighborhood. Thankfully, twinges only last until we are inside where the fir garlands, sparkly trees and other dots of festivity will fill our senses and chase them away.
As we are still in thralls (though nearing the end) of our legal battle for Gen, it’s a much more frugal Christmas than anyone would hope. In light of that, with friends being injured and off work, or being laid off, we are certainly grateful. We are trying to shift the focus to being both generous with the world outside of our family through acts of kindness and other, and creativity. We’ve shaped our advent activities somewhat like that, while also keeping with a few annual splurge like traditions…
Day 1: Decorate the Christmas tree.
Day 2: Get pajama’s, mugs of hot cocoa and snuggle down for a Christmas movie. {What about making some peppermint whipped cream to go with that cocoa?}
and so we did. Well, by “we” I mean Gen did. While it was technically my idea, I was sort of reserved about the whole thing. My husband, who hesitates to try new things, was even less enthusiastic. {There was a bit of 13 year old drama, initially, but i am happy to say that the Peppermint Whipped Cream was AMAZING!!!! }
Also, I should point out, we watch a significant amount of made for tv Christmas movies, this time of year. Honestly, Genny and I are somewhat obsessed with them and Chw is not too far behind us. Some of them are so awful, {Like Lifetime’s modern day remake of Little Women. My poor 13 year old Genny was devastated} but sometimes you find one that is really, truly worthy. Last night’s movie was one of those. Love at the Christmas Table was so cute, And really fun to watch. We LOVED it!
Day 3: Make cards for neighbors.
This will be interesting. We don’t really know our neighbors well, something I would like to change though it has just been easier not to.
Has your holiday season kicked off?
If you need other holiday inspiration, here is what is inspiring us, this season…
”I arise in the morning torn between a desire to improve the world and a desire to enjoy the world. This makes the day hard to plan.” E. B. White
$%#&*%$!!!
How was your Thanksgiving?
Was it lovely and family drama free?
I hope so…
I have talked a little bit, on here, about this adoption mess which has consumed pretty much our entire year. For the most part though, I have spared you the sordid, ugly details. One thing I didn’t mention was around the start of summer we made the very difficult decision (together) to cut ties with several family members. You see, the adoption ordeal was beyond traumatic and it opened out eyes to the select number of family members who are so self consumed that they:
– say completely heartless and inappropriate things;
– have hurt and/or rejected one, two or three of our kids consistently;
– refused to even make an ounce of effort to be there for us when we, as a family, desperately needed people.
Sidenote: flat out begging people to take notice and care, and them still refusing to look past the nose on their own face is the worst feeling ever. It breaks children’s hearts, it breaks siblings hearts. While nothing is unforgivable, unfortunately it is unforgettable.
Since that decision, there have been two majorly manipulative and dramatic displays of instance, regarding said “family” members, but for the most part we have had a peaceful, easy feeling when it came to our decision. We knew instantly, in regards to our kids, that it was not only the right decision, but incredibly long overdue.
And so, since we had our Premature Thanksgiving celebration, earlier in the month, we decided to treat the “real” Thanksgiving like a day of luxury and laziness. We didn’t cook. We did no chores. We watched movies and ate pie. Friends dropped by to eat more pie and it was perfect!
We had delicious things to eat, (I discovered a deliciously amazing snack that I will share with you one day!) we had plenty to drink and we even had extra whipped cream for the pie- should we run out.
We had thought of everything-
Well, except for the one problem we hadn’t counted on.
“Family”.
There were calls, and texts. There was meanness, manipulation and guilting.
It was pathetic.
Unfortunately, cutting ties with self consumed and toxic people will not insure a drama free holiday.
At least we know in time for Christmas! :)
My prodigy…
I am making a pretty big deal about this, because, well, it’s pretty worthy of a big deal…
When I hurt my back, some four weeks ago, I was pretty sure I’d be down for a day or two. When it was obviously destined to be longer, I figured about a week. Or two.
I went ahead and planned out our rather extensive Fakesgiving menu. (Two meats, two stuffings, three potatoes, two veggies and four desserts.)
I scheduled photo shoots and promised my son that I’d do a quick shoot for him and his out of state girlfriend.
Eventually the menu lost a dessert and a potato, due to my inability to do it all. {ok, let’s be honest… I wasn’t able to do any of it without a LOT of help, and about 10 times the amount of time it should have taken.}
Photos shoots were cancelled and we were left with the very real promise that our son was days away from returning to his deployment, and his girlfriend would go home to the midwest…
And pictures needed to happen.
So, my awesome husband (who usually assists me on shoots, and adjusts my tripod 700 times, and carries my gear, and…) stepped up and did it. Out of 87 shots, he had 35 really great ones. (AMAZING ratio!)
I thought I’d share three of my favorites…
So, give the boy a hand, would you?
He saved my hide, once again played Superman and saved the day- and everyone is happy.
I am the luckiest of girls…
Fakesgiving…
This year we opted out of the traditional Thanksgiving, to celebrate the life and loved ones we are thankful for while Lucas was home on R & R, from Afghanistan. We had some friends (who are basically family) over and Lucas’s girlfriend flew out from Michigan.
It was, overall, really lovely. Good food, good conversation, lots of laughter and smiles.
After our shared meal and stuffed bellies were ready, we shoved dessert in our mouths and headed for the movies.
Wreck It Ralph was our destination and it was well loved by our group!
You know me, typically I have food photos and face photos…
sadly, this was as far as I got. I took three pre-celebratory shots and my back spasmed to a point that my mind forgot to focus on capturing anything else.
So sorry…
You’ll have to take it from me- it was really a great fake holiday…
And the gratitude was completely genuine. I am so blessed…
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