Archives for December 2008

Our First Christmas and a Few of My Favorite Things

We braved the 26 degree weather Friday night and went shopping for our Christmas tree. You know, because nothing says holiday cheer like frostbite…

We came home, had hot chocolate, put the kids to bed and strung the lights, then Saturday morning let them help us put up the ornaments. One of the ornaments we hang on our tree each year is a time capsule that we got on our first Christmas in 2000. In it is a small scroll where Lee and I wrote the details of our first Christmas as a married couple. This is what it looks like:Inside it say: Our First Christmas it was – cold and icy in Dallas
We lived at – St. Charles at Stonebriar apartment complex in Frisco, TX
At that time the new was full of stories like – Presidential Election Controversy, crazy snow storms in the north, the Rams beat the Saints and sqeaked into the play-offs – then lost.
We shared lots of Christmas traditions like – opening stocking on Christmas Eve. Getting up at the crack of dawn (this is a family tradition of mine that Lee has grown to love over the course of the last eight years – it fills him with such joy to creep out of bed at 5:00 am)
We celebrated the season with special people like: Herb, Barbara and Zach Dec. 10; Richard, Candy, Brett and Jared on Christmas; Old Baylor friends on New Years
We got each other presents like: Lee got Kelli a Karaoke machine, Anna Karenina in russian and clothes; Kelli got Lee clothes, “Rich, Dad, Poor Dad,” and an old LIFE magazine about JFK (that’s so random – I don’t know why I bought him that or where that magazine is now!)

Anyway, it’s always fun to read that and remember Christmas 2000, our first together. And here are a few more of my favorite ornaments.
I have no idea where we got his ornament but it makes me laugh. It’s a hula wearing Santa surfing on two dolphins and he kind of looks like he’s making an obscene gesture. Of course, that only makes sense right? Bizarre.

My First Christmas ornament from 1978. In a few years I’m not sure that I’ll like that one quite as much though – it’s starting to make me feel old.

Here is a picture of Lee when he was around 9 or 10. The ornament it’s nestled in is looking a little ragged, but he’s old too so…

There is a story behind this one. When I was a kid, my mom bought a blown glass Statue of Liberty ornament at some hole in the wall shop in Wisconsin. She loved the ornament, the rest of us thought it was ugly and a little odd so every Christmas she would hang it front and center on the tree and we would move it to the back of the tree. Back and forth we moved it throughout the entire season. It became the family joke – until college when it was mysteriously lost forever and we were all a little sad. But, low and behold, my mom was, I think, in Pennsylvania a couple of years ago and she stumbled upon not one, but two more of these horrendous ornaments which she bought for me and for herself. So now I hang mine on the back of the tree and every time mom or dad comes to my house they move it to the front and the tradition lives on!
And here we are, freezing our tails off to get our very lovely, very piney tree. I love the smell of a Christmas tree!

Merry Christmas everybody!

Christmas Past

A few pictures from Christmases past. This is not an original idea – I stole it from Tiffany. But I thought it would be fun to walk down the holiday memory lane. Enjoy!
Christmas 2003
Sloan is five months old and quite the brute.


Christmas 2004
Sloan at 17 months old and quite the ham.

Christmas 2005
Sloan is 2.5 and anxiously awaiting a new baby brother or sister.

Christmas 2006
Sloan (3.5) and Tia (10 months). The only way I could get her to stand still was to shove food in her mouth. Come to think of it, that’s still the only time I can get her to be still!

Christmas 2007
Sloan (4.5), Tia (22 months) and Landon (days old). My precious baby will be one in less than two weeks!

Maybe we need to show him Star Wars

The other day, Sloan came walking into the living room, Tia trailing quick at his heels. He grasped in his hand his new Light Saber, which he got as an early Christmas gift from his cousins over Thanksgiving. For some reason he is obsessively into Star Wars, which is a mystery to me because he’s never actually seen any of the movies. It’s not that we don’t want him to watch them, it’s just that I don’t really know that he’ll enjoy the movies all that much given the fact that they are a little slow and, well, boring.

Somewhere out there, I know there’s a group of Star Wars addicts who are putting some voodoo intergalactic hex on me. Sorry, I just never really got it with those movies. Anyway, moving on. Sloan rounded the corner and held his sword up proudly.

“Mom,” he announced, “I am Darth Vader.”

“Oh,” I murmered trying to sound impressed.

“Yeah, and Tia is my girlfriend. Her name is Melissa.”

At this point I look up, my eyebrows raised, trying to figure out how in the world I should respond to this.

“Wow, Melissa huh?” I said.

“Yep, she’s my girlfriend Melissa.” Turning to Tia, he throws his arms out wide and she ducks slightly to avoid being whacked across the head with a light saber.

“Melissa,” he exclaims loudly, “Bow down to me!”

Tia just stares at him.

“Bow down to me!” he repeats. And still Tia does not move.

“Tia, you’re supposed to bow down to me. I’m Darth Vader.”

“Uh-uh, Hol (Sloan),” Tia responds indignantly.

Turning to me Sloan throws his light saber down. “Mom, Tia is my girlfriend Melissa and she won’t bow down to me.”

Honestly, I had no response so I stood there silently for a minute before saying, “Okay, who wants a snack?”

I think it’s time we showed him the movies…

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It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas

The kids are at my mom’s house today. I have Christmas music blaring and I’m putting up all our decorations. There’s a dusting of snow on the ground and I think I’ll make some hot chocolate! I’m finished with my shopping. We’ll get our tree this Saturday and I’ll put the wrapped gifts out. I love this time of year.