Presents!

Do you ever start to write a blog, get halfway through and realize, this is a really boring post! Well, it just happened to me. So instead of boring you through the series of Illness Drama in my family the past couple months, I thought I would instead post a light-hearted video of Christmas that I didn't post after Christmas as I intended to do. Hopefully this is slightly more interesting than the plagues of my family!

as an introduction, we taught Brendan the sign language word for "Please" in order to begin teaching him manners (rubbing your hand in a circular motion on your chest). He is very good at saying please, and it cracked me up on Christmas morning. For every present he opened, he wanted it REALLY opened so he could play with it right now! I had to capture it on film. Sorry it is late, and not really Christmas anymore, but enjoy!

P.S. you can see that Daddy is a little impatient as well and is "helping" Brendan open his presents. I would have let him take his time, but that is just me.

Christmas Eve

For Christmas Eve this year, Scott's Mom and I (and Brendan) headed out to have a nice Breakfast at Mimi's Cafe (I told you it was one of my favorites). It is not too often when we get an opportunity to just visit, so we had a nice breakfast and a great start to our Christmas Eve.

Christmas Eve was spent at Grandma & Poppy's (Scott's grandparents) house out at the Salton Sea. This was the first time since Scott and I have been together that all the cousins were able to be together for Christmas. Which means there were 4 Great-Grandchildren running around with 2 more on the way! Although it was crowded, it was nice to see the family all together and to experience Christmas surrounded by those you care about!

Although I always seem to have my camera with me, I have been very bad about taking pictures recently, unfortunately, I was not able to capture most people at Christmas Eve, nor the real feel of the evening.

Brendan & Elyse watching the singing ornament on the tree. Brendan made us play it over and over and over....

Brendan cuddling with Daddy

Kevin (Scott's Cousin) & Holly. Holly is actually due with her baby 2 days after me! We are very excited!

Christmas #1

I guess the best place for me to start my updates is with Christmas, being that is what has "kept" me from my blog. Scott and I actually celebrated multiple times with family. That is one of the things I enjoy most about Christmas, spending time with family and friends, making time for each other and the time to spend with them.

Our first Christmas was spend with Scott's dad on Sunday the 20th. Scott's sister & niece were able to come up from San Diego to join in the festivities. Although it was not a tradition sort of Christmas gathering, it was really an enjoyable time with family. Grandpa Keys enjoyed seeing his Grandchildren together and spoiling them with toys and clothes.

Elyse is trying to get Brendan to wear the Angels Hat that Grandpa Keys got for Baby Keys for Christmas, it is the perfect size for Brendan to wear for now!

Brendan sitting in Grandpa Keys' Rocking Chair

Brendan with his first experience in unwrapping presents this holiday, he got pretty good at it!

The Grandchildren were not the only ones spoiled, Scott received a Shop Vac for the Garage as well as additional tools to add to his collection, which keeps growing every year! I received cash that was intended for me to spend on myself only! I did share however, and we purchased items for the family together at Target.

Since we don't get to see Grandpa Keys very often, it was really nice to spend the afternoon together, and really appreciate family.

Merry Christmas!

Family at Christmas

One of the Radio stations in town has started playing endless Christmas music, and I love it! As I was listening yesterday on my way home from work, there was a woman talking about her Christmas experience. “I just love Christmas time,” she explained “it was the one time of the year when my family got together and we hardly ever fought, everyone just got along!”

She defiantly did not come from my family! I laughed to myself as I thought about my family at Christmas. I feel like this was the time of year we were at each other’s throats! It just wasn’t Christmas without my mom nagging us to help around the house, help with the decorations, do the dishes, my dad stressed out about the Christmas service at church and the things that needed to be done around the house, all four of us kids with our stubborn and over-dramatic selves fighting with each other, my sister and I yelling at each other, with a constant competition around our parents. It was just a part of home.

I remember one year, my sister and I were driving home together for Christmas, an 8-hour drive across the state. I remember distinctively, we had just gotten on the freeway after fighting the mall a Christmas present for our brother. I don’t remember what it was about, but we were fighting. (My mother will tell you we were always fighting). Not just a discussion here, we were yelling at each other at the top of our lungs. When we stop and are dead silent, my sister turns up the radio, that same station with the endless Christmas music is playing. All of the sudden my sister starts laughing out loud.
Still mad (but curious at what is so funny) I snap “What!?”
“The song, listen”
*Radio* “…It’s the Hap-Happiest season of all!...”
Still mad at her, I try to hold it in, but it is rather funny, I can’t stop the smile. Happiest season of all and we are yelling at each other.
And like that, the fight was over. Until we got home I’m sure.

And that’s how it was, we would fight, yell, I don’t know how many times I stomped upstairs to my room, making sure to hit every step. But we were a family. After the fighting was over, there we were; each other’s biggest allies and enemies all at once. My Christmas memories don’t include everyone “getting along” or peace on earth in any sense. But we were a family, and the love was always present.

I guess the song is right, “There’s no place like home for the holidays.”

Santa in the Mall

The other day I wandering the mall on my lunch break when a man caught my attention out the corner of my eye. He was an older man leaning against the edge of the second floor looking down at the first floor to what seemed to be people watching. Down below was The Children’s Place, Gymboree, Build-a-Bear, and so on. What really caught my attention about this man was that if I didn’t know better, I would have thought this man was Santa Clause.

Call me silly, I know, But there he stood in his wide-brimmed hat, his aloha shirt just as you would expect Santa to be dressed on his vacation. I could just imagine him make mental notes in his head of the children he saw below shopping with their mothers. “Naughty”, “Nice” and keep tabs on all of us. Gosh, I sure hope I wasn't naughty when he saw me shopping last week…just in case…

Back on the Farm

Although Brendan got a lot of toys as presents for Christmas, we spaced out opening them so he could enjoy each one. Then with the move, many presents just sat in the box. A couple months ago, we finally opened the farm and the tractor.

Brendan got a lot of nice things for Christmas, a Build-a-Bear with voice recordings from Scott's family, as well as a tool set, a giant Barney doll, nice clothing, a pull dog, Fisher Price Noah's Ark, all sorts of neat stuff. But from my family he got: a stuffed animal pig with "The Jolly Farmer" book from his Great-Grandma & Great-Grandpa Reed, a giant stuffed cow from his Uncle Jon, a John Deere Tractor from Aunt Norma, and of course the Fisher Price Little People Tractor and Farm from Grandma & Grandpa Reed. Can you tell my family is from Bakersfield?

Brendan just loves playing with the farm, I guess that apple keeps falling close to the tree. "Thank God, I'm a country Boy" (at heart at least).

The Tractor from Aunt Norma & Uncle Frank


The pig from Great-Grandma & Great-Grandpa Reed



And of Course the Farm from Grandma & Grandpa

More Memories

I have noticed that lot of the Christmas decorations in our house are mine or from my childhood, even most of the decorations on the tree are mine. So this year I really wanted to bring a focus on something of Scott's. We got his Santa ornament collection a couple years ago from him mom but we have never hung them. These ornaments are 17 Santa's from all over the world, made out of porcelain. I believe these Santa's were given to him by his late Grandma. Scott's Grandma was very special to him and he talks about her very fondly, so I know these ornaments are very special to him.

When we got the decorations, many were broken and Scott was very upset, he was ready to throw them all away. Instead, I found some super-glue and fixed what I could, most had a clean break and were not shattered so I could fix them, I then wrapped them all safely so they wouldn't get broken again and that is where they have stayed safe in a box - for two years now. This year I kept bringing up that we should hang them, being that they are so special to Scott. Scott declined this year saying that he didn't want them to get broken, so instead they stayed in the box.

Last weekend I decided to surprise Scott by hanging them on our garland above the window. I was very careful with each one and insured that they were securely on the hooks and hung securely on the garland. I think they look great, and it is nice to have something so special to Scott part of our Christmas decor!

Christmas Memories

One of the nice things about pulling out all the Christmas decorations after being in storage for 11 months is the memories that come with each decoration. Like the Gingerbread house my Grandmother got me that smells like gingerbread when the candle inside is lit. The Rocking horses that have been part of our Christmas decor since I was a little girl. The Rocking grandparents that used to rock in Scott's Grandma's house but now grace our living room. The teddy bears playing in the snow that my mother bought for me. New memories are added each year. In 2005 we were given a dated collector's plate to commemorate our first Christmas married. This year we added the Fisher Price Little People Christmas set with Santa & Mrs. Clause, I really wanted to get Brendan the Fisher Price Nativity set, but it was a little too much for us this year, perhaps next year.

Each decoration has a story for me, each one either reminds me of previous Christmas celebrations or help me to look toward developing new memories and new Christmas traditions. I enjoy this time because it is not just about me and how I want the house to look for Christmas, but it is about Family, and sharing the joy of the season together.

Deck the Halls

One of our favorite Holiday Traditions is decorating the house for Christmas. Since Scott and I are usually away for Christmas and Thanksgiving, we like to decorate early so we can experience the Christmas Cheer as long as possible. We start our Christmas decorating the weekend before Thanksgiving. It may seem a little early to some, but we love it! So this year we started decorating right away. We usually go out and purchase new decorations to add to our collection to make each year a little better than the last. This year money was a little tight so we were happy with what we had. We did buy a new stocking and stocking holder for Brendan and the "Little People" Santa & Mrs. Clause, other than that we spread what we had around the apartment.

Decorating for Christmas is hectic at first (not only because we have a 4 month old around), we start with a deep clean of the entire house before setting out the decorations, we then take room by room setting up the decor together. Not a room is missed! Every year we have "discussion" (argument) about how we want the house to be decorated, I tend to lean more towards the elegant, matching Christmas, (white lights, themed tree, hallmark, nativity scenes, candles and order), while Scott enjoys more of the "family" style Christmas, (colored lights, cheap glass balls, snow-globes, Santa's, snowmen, and the fake silver garland). This year, I think we have finally reached a compromise, sure we had a discussions about why we don't have snow-globes in the house, but overall, we have come together in our decorating style. (I must admit, he has given in to my decorating style more than I have to his, you will notice we still don't have snow globes or that silver garland that we once did.)

Below are the pictures of our decorated Christmas house, here is a tour of our little but wonderful apartment!

*****Our living room is set up differently this year than it has been in the past, we usually like our nativity set to sit in front of the window, but our set up this year didn't allow for it. The garland hangs above the window, the tree in the center of the room, you probably can't tell, but both the tree and the garland are decorated with colored lights for my husband. My favorite part is the bookshelf full of Christmas nick-knacks that have stories of their own. One of Scott's favorite are the candy dishes set about the room that he insists on keeping full!*****
*****On the other side of the Living room is our little sitting area. More garland hangs above our Kitchen area, the stockings are hung with our initials and the Santa from Scott's grandparents stands in the corner.*****

*****Our Kitchen doesn't have as many decorations, we have a set of Christmas dishes with 4 place settings, my Grandmother bought me a beautiful set of Christmas dishes with 8 settings but we haven't pulled it out yet. There is a small Christmas Tree in the corner with glass decorations that were a wedding gift from Scott's Grandma & Poppy.*****

*****The Bathroom is actually my favorite room to decorate, as funny as that sounds. You can't get the full effect of the decorations because it is so small to take a picture. But you can sort of see the red shower curtain with Christmas balls hanging and the Green & Red towels (I know the color is a little off). I decorated it like this for the first time last year and I love how it looks!*****

*****This is the first year we have put decorations in the spare room, but being that it is now Brendan's room, Scott thought he should have decorations too, we have the lights above his window which Brendan loves to stare at, and a tiny Christmas tree in the corner by his crib (not pictured)*****

*****Our bedroom is pretty much decorated by the bedspread my Grandmother gave me last year, I really think it does enough for the room, and the cradle that is no longer being used has stuffed reindeer that I have had since I was little (some how, I also have my sister's reindeer)*****

*****Finally, our Christmas Tree, it's little and fake (Scott is allergic to real Christmas Trees) but it is just perfect for our apartment. Maybe one day when we have a house we can get a nice big tree to fill the room but for now, our little 6 foot tree is perfect for our little family! *****

Thanks for joining me on the tour of our apartment as I was able to show off all our hard work and Christmas decorations!!

Traditions

I was realizing last night that this is Scott's and my 4th Christmas married. In that time we have developed Christmas Traditions that we hope to keep as we now extend our family. I was thinking about all of Christmas Traditions and thought that I would share them as we continue with them this year. Tradition has always been big in my family, growing up in a family of six, we had a variety of Traditions at Christmas time. Scott and I are now at the point where we are taking the traditions from each of our family and combine them together while also adding traditions of our own. Christmas is our favorite time of year and it is a great opportunity to really enjoy your family, that is our goal as we develop family traditions together.