The Christmas Catch-All

This is my last Christmas post, I promise.

I realized I didn't talk at all about Christmas with our families in Florida the weekend before Christmas.

On our way down to Florida, we stopped at Callaway Gardens for the night and did the Festival of Lights. If you ever go, you should choose to ride the trolley, especially if you have kids. Amelia LOVED it.


However, one of our favorite things we did was the butterfly exhibit the next morning before we left. Amelia was delighted by all the butterflies flying around us, as you can tell in this pic:


Then we traveled on to Florida, where we celebrated Christmas with my parents on Saturday and then celebrated with Darryl's family on Sunday.

I'm about to be super-lazy and say that if you want to read about our Christmas at my parents' house, you should go here to read my mom's account on her blog. (I would have used the same photos and told the same things...so why not? Plus, you should check out her blog anyway.)

On Sunday, we had a great time with Darryl's family. It's funny...at my parents' house, everything is very calm and quiet because Amelia is the only child there. At Darryl's sister's house, it is KRAZY because there are five kids. It's fun, though! Darryl fixed prime rib for lunch, and we had that with all the fixings.

Top Left--Amelia and her cousins Madison and Savannah look at the iPad.
Top Right--Amelia's Uncle Dayton tries to show her the proper stance for hitting a ball.
Center Left--Amelia loved hanging out in the back of a pick-up truck with Madison and Savannah.
Center Right--Opening presents!!
Bottom Left--Darryl and his sister, Ashley.
Bottom Right--Savannah was EXCITED to get a BB gun. (It reminded me of A Christmas Story.)

And here's a pic of all the cousins. Cameron, the only guy (bless his heart), refused to smile. :-)


Monday night, we visited one of Darryl's best friends from college. He and his wife have three daughters, and Amelia LOVED playing with them, especially the youngest one. When I saw all of them playing dress-up, it made me want to have four girls...for about a nanosecond.


It was a great visit with our families!

"Peace On Earth" (A More Serious Christmas Post)

(Disclaimer: I debated hitting "publish" for this post. I tend to go the way of "humorous" over "serious," but all this has been rolling around in my brain. So for what it's worth...)

When I was a young girl, the song "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day" was a musical fixture around the holidays. Mr. Patterson, the organist in the church where I grew up, often played it -- as only seemed appropriate -- on the chime setting so it would sound like bells within the walls of the church.

I heard the bells on Christmas day
Their old familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet the words repeat
Of peace on earth, good will to men.

All these years, though, that is the only verse of the song I knew.

Several weeks ago, I was listening to the Casting Crowns version of the song on the radio, and I heard verses of this song that were unfamiliar to me. At first I thought that these verses were added just recently, but when I looked up the lyrics, I learned not only that they were verses from the original song, but also that they were penned by American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow:

Till ringing, singing on its way
The world revolved from night to day,
A voice, a chime, a chant sublime
Of peace on earth, good will to men.

And in despair I bowed my head
“There is no peace on earth,” I said,
“For hate is strong and mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good will to men.”

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
“God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail
With peace on earth, good will to men.”

I think the song struck a chord with me (no pun intended) because the next-to-last verse sums up how I feel sometimes. As a Christian, I probably shouldn't feel that "there is no peace on earth," but sometimes it can be difficult to feel goodness -- whether because of trying circumstances, struggles, bad things happening to good people, unexpected tragedy, silence when we want an answer, and the list goes on. (Incidentally, Longfellow's life was fraught with tragedy; if anyone had reason to doubt the message of "peace on earth, good will to men," he surely did.) But like the speaker in the song, I find that these doubts eventually give way to the knowledge and assurance that God is still here. Goodness does exist.

This past week, that assurance came by way of a story that captured Darryl's and my attention the week before Christmas -- the story of the Greens. We don't know them directly, but we are good friends with several people who are good friends of theirs, and their situation has been very much "Tweeted" and "Facebooked" over the past few weeks. The Monday before Christmas, they welcomed a baby who had been diagnosed early in the pregnancy with Trisomy 13. I'm not an expert on the disease, but I do know it involves severe chromosomal abnormalities, and that many babies who have it do not even survive to be born, and if they do survive, each day is considered a miracle and a gift.

After a few days of life on this earth, Baby Hallie died just past midnight on Christmas Eve morning. The day before her death, her father wrote this blog post. I encourage you to read it.

For me, it is a beautiful reminder that "God is not dead, nor doth he sleep."

It is a reminder that, even in the midst of uncertainty and heartbreaking sadness, the message of "peace on earth, good will to men" does indeed prevail.

Christmas...Finally

Well.

I didn't mean to take quite the hiatus there right at Christmastime, but the truth of the matter is that I'm a bad procrastinator when it comes to blogging "events" like holidays, vacations, and such because it means I actually have to plug up the camera and upload some photos. (Mindless things like face creams and my 40th Birthday Party Celebrity Guest List? I can blog about those things till the cows come home.) This time procrastination was even worse because I "de-Christmased" our house Tuesday, so in my mind, Christmas is O-V-E-R.

But, two of my blog readers -- which I figure might be half of my blog audience, and maybe one of those was my mother -- are chomping at the bit for a Christmas report, and who am I to disappoint?

You might want to wait until you've read this post before you answer that question.

I'll start with Christmas Eve. Our church did something a little different this year and had our entire church "schedule" on Christmas Eve...so essentially, we treated it like it was Sunday, but we just did everything Saturday. The only problem with that is that I was so discombobulated about what day it was that I didn't know which end was up.

(It also apparently confused Amelia because they celebrated Jesus's birthday is Waumba Land -- our church's version of preschool Sunday School -- so on Christmas Day, she was adamant that it wasn't Jesus's birthday anymore because they had celebrated it the day before. And maybe on Christmas Day she said it was Santa Claus's birthday. Oops. That's something to work on for next year.)

Anyway, church was great, and then we went to Panda Express (Amelia's choice) because nothing says "Christmas" like a bowl of chow mein noodles and String Bean Chicken. Then we went home because my cousin and her husband were coming over that afternoon for what has become our traditional "eat dessert and open presents extravaganza."

Here are a couple of photos of that.

This is a Delta Mocha Chiffon cake (from the Southern Living 2000 cookbook). I've made it about five times in my life, and each time, I vow it is the last. It is a PAIN to make and is very time consuming, but it is oh so delicious.


Here are Vicky and Robert. I tried to get Amelia to pose with them, but by this point, she had lost her charm and willingness to do what I asked of her. And yes, Vicky is posing with Amelia's dog, Lily.


That night, we went to Chili's for dinner -- because nothing says "Christmas" like Southwestern Egg Rolls -- and then we came home to get ready for Santa. Here's Amelia with cookies and milk for Santa and carrots for the reindeer. And she also drew Santa a picture of Woody and Buzz that she insisted I roll up like a scroll and tie it with a red ribbon. (It looks like Santa is finally getting his high school diploma, doesn't it?)

I also like how you can see Darryl in the background with his laptop. He was in the Christmas Spirit, yes?

On Christmas Day, Amelia woke up at about 7:30. I think we have just a year or so left before she wakes us up at, say, 3:30 in the morning.

Santa brought Amelia some Toy Story toys and a chalkboard easel, and she was happy.

Now, I'm about to get a little lazy on you and give you a photo collage of Christmas Day.

I also love this next photo. Someone was very excited about the Hello Kitty umbrella that Santa left in her stocking.


(In the above photo, you might also see a "Jackasses" Calendar for 2012. I get this for Darryl every year because sometimes he likes to be a jackass. I say that in love, and it has been a long-running joke between us. Anyway, I think he has a collection of five of these calendars hanging in his cubicle. One year I didn't give him one and he was so disappointed I had to go out the day after Christmas to find one.)

(Sorry to get sidetracked with a story about Jackass calendars. Where were we?)

For lunch, we ended up having steaks with assorted butters on the top (1--I don't think I've ever typed the word "butters," and 2--Darryl's had garlic butter and mine had blue cheese butter), and
smoked gouda mashed potatoes. Delicious.

We had a low-key day, but that evening we went to Waffle House (because nothing says "Christmas" like Waffle House and because we wanted to get out of the house).


Then we went to look at some cool Christmas lights in our town that were synchronized to music. That was pretty cool and seemed like a great way to end the day.

It was kind of an unusual Christmas for us because we typically travel to see our family AFTER Christmas, but this year, we went the week before because Darryl's sister and her family were heading out of town Christmas Day. But we did enjoy a nice day just the three of us, even if we did get a little cabin fever.

If you have made it to the end of this post, I thank you.

Merry Christmas!!!

December Catch-Up

Yep, I did it again. I fell out of touch with the blog world.

But I have my reasons.

Since the last time I wrote, I...

...have baked and decorated sugar cookies.

...have taken Amelia to see The Nutcracker.

...have gone with the family to see lights at Callaway Gardens.

...have gone to Florida and to celebrate Christmas with our families.

...have had a couple of lunches and dinners with friends.

...have tended to various other things like dentist appointments, doctor appointments, etc.

In other words, it's been a bit busy around here. We're really making merry around here, and I promise to post some pics soon.

But for now, I need to do laundry and straighten up the house.

(Random: This weather is the pits. Rainy and warm? GROSS.)

Since Santa

I sort of fell out of touch after the Santa visit, didn't I?

Well, we haven't done much "holiday" stuff since then. One day I scrapbooked, another day Amelia and I stayed in the house ALL day except for a trip to Publix, and we spent all day Saturday cleaning up the house (as in DEEP cleaning...closets, cabinets, and such).

HOWEVER, Darryl and I had a date night Friday and went to a program called "Classic Christmas" at our church. The music was awesome, and we really enjoyed the night out.

I'm posting my December Daily collage from that evening. The joke behind these photos is that Darryl was very uncooperative about taking a photo with me. (The photo of the lights is the ceiling of our church. I love how it is decorated this time of the year. Very twinkle-y.)

Amelia's Santa Visit

Amelia and I went to visit Santa today, and it was our best visit with Santa yet! This was the first time she actually talked to him. I was so proud of her! She told him she wanted "Toy Story toys" and then proceeded to list every character in the movie. :-)

This isn't her "official" Santa photo, but I was able to get a few good shots. I wish you could have seen the smile on her face when she was finished talking to Santa. I think she was proud of herself, too!





A Little Mom Note:

Let me tell you...the Santa at Mall of Georgia is AWESOME. We saw him two years ago, and he was great with a very hesitant Amelia and sat in the floor so she might be more likely to walk over to him. Yesterday, the little boy in front of us was throwing a FIT, and Santa was so patient with him and bribed him with candy canes. :-) And...as long as you make a minimum purchase, you can take as many photos as you want with your own camera.

Last year, we went to the one at North Point, and it was not a great experience. Santa made no effort to interact with the kids other than saying, "What do you want for Christmas?" AND they let you take ONE photo with your own camera if you make a purchase. So if that one photo isn't good (and ours wasn't), well, too bad for you.

It's good to know these things, right?

A Little Christmas Shopping

Yesterday, my friend Blayne and I needed to do a little Christmas shopping, so that's what we did. We both needed to make a trip to IKEA, so we loaded up and went. I don't think I have ever been to IKEA when it wasn't swarming with people, so it was nice just to browse around.

On our way back, we decided to stop at Lenox Mall, and Blayne asked if I would ride The Pink Pig with her because in all her years of living in Atlanta, she had never ridden it. So...since there was no line, we decided to ride it. (Mind you, every other adult in line had a kid wanting to ride it. There we were, two grown women, waiting to ride The Pink Pig.)

We had a fun day of shopping!

(P.S. For the third year in a row, I am doing the December Daily project by Ali Edwards. This is why I have been posting these 4-photo collages on my blog; these are usually the same collages I put in my album. I'm going to post more about this project later and actually show you the album--it's such a great (and simple) project even if you aren't a "scrapbooker.")

SEC Weekend

After LSU's win over Arkansas, our friends Damian and Rebecca decided to come to the big ATL for the SEC Championship. And, in a last-minute-deal-can't-turn-this-down-turn-of-events, Darryl got tickets for the three of us to go, too!

I was a little worried about how Amelia would fare during the game, but she did great! She loved cheering, "5...4...3...2...1...Go Tigers!!!!!!!" while waving her pompom. We had a great time!

The PInk Pig (and my mom's birthday)

Amelia and I went to Macy's to ride The Pink Pig yesterday.

I'm going to be honest: The Pink Pig is VERY overrated. The first year we went, we waited in two very long lines (probably an hour and a half, total), and the ride itself is, well, lame.

(However, I think the hype is because it used to be at Rich's many years ago and Macy's brought it back. Every time we've gone, there has always been a handful of white-haired ladies who are riding because they wanted to relive their childhood of riding the original Pig at Rich's. I think that's sweet. I get nostalgia.)

For some reason unknown to me, I returned last year on a weekday before Thanksgiving, and the lines were much better although there was still a short wait.

Well, who am I to buck a tradition I apparently started? So yesterday we went again and apparently a random Thursday the first week of December is the ideal time to go because there was virtually NO line at all. And Amelia LOVED it.


Amelia was so excited this time around, and that made it fun. So my point is this: the Pink Pig is NOT worth the two-hour wait that apparently exists on weekends and week of Christmas. It IS worth, however, a short line wait. And I guess if your kid is having fun, who cares???

ALSO...yesterday was my fabulous mom's birthday! I should have posted about it yesterday, but after the Pig, Amelia had a bit of a meltdown (actually it was a freakishly HUGE meltdown) in QT, so I was a bit distraught after that. Anyway, she has always been a wonderful mom, and I think she was born to be a grandmother, and we all love her very much! (You can also check out her blog here!)

First Dentist Visit!!

Amelia went to the dentist for the first time two days ago. She was really good, and we both loved the dentist. Dr. B talked to us first so that he could get to know Amelia, and he told me that he wasn't going to press Amelia to do anything she didn't want to do because he didn't want the visit to be traumatic.

Well, after he showed Amelia all the equipment and let her play with the water sprayer (she really enjoyed that!), she was good to go and he was able to do a complete exam with a cleaning and x-rays. (And everything looked good, thank goodness!)

Thanksgiving 2011--The iPhone Photo Edition

The three of us went to Florida the Sunday before Thanksgiving so that we could leave Amelia with my parents for the week. (That kind of sounds cold, doesn't it...like we just dropped her off at the door and waved goodbye. We actually got to visit a little with our families, and trust me...Amelia was quite excited about a week with her Nana and Paw-Paw!)



Monday, Darryl and I drove on to Biloxi, where we spent the night at the Beau Rivage. We were by far the youngest people there. Darryl's cousin Hayes and his wife, Brandi, met us there for dinner and stayed the night, too. Oh, and Tuesday morning, I was able to fit in what I have dubbed "The Best Massage I've Ever Had" at the spa before we left. I know. It's a rough life. (Also, the Beau was beautifully decorated for Christmas. See?)



We had to make an important food stop on our way to Baton Rouge. (Call me a chicken finger snob, but this is so much better than Zaxby's.)



Once we arrived in Baton Rouge, we did a little shopping because our friends Rebecca and Damian weren't home from work yet. We had to stock up on our Tiger wardrobe because finding Tiger merchandise in Atlanta is, well, impossible.



On Wednesday, I was able to meet up with my friend Martha for lunch. Oh, how I miss Martha. We taught together at LSU and our offices were next door to each other. (She's very petite and I look like Shrek when I stand next to her. Oh, well.)



I tried to fit in as many visits to the Community Coffee House as I could. This was trip number 1.



On Thanksgiving Day, we got off to a rough start when a mysterious substance in the bottom of the stove started burning and smoked up the house. There is speculation that it might have been the pumpkin cheesecake I baked the night before, but I plead innocent. There is no evidence to support that accusation.



But our culinary efforts prevailed, and we enjoyed a lunch of fried turkey, dressing, macaroni and cheese, "Not Your Mama's Green Been Casserole," and twice baked sweet potatoes.



While the guys went to the LSU-Arkansas game on Friday, Rebecca and I engaged in some good Black Friday shopping. Because of the game and the fact that most stores opened at midnight, the crowds really weren't too bad. We kept our energy up with some CC's. Again.


On Saturday, our retail excursions led us to the bookstore on campus. This is just one of the hundreds of huge oak trees on campus.


Here we are, waiting for a table at our final dining excursion, DiGiulio's. Yes, we miss the awesome restaurants in Baton Rouge, but we miss our friends even more! Good times!


Damian likes Darryl's bald head. I won't offer any further comments on that.



Before we pulled out of Baton Rouge Sunday, we had to make one more stop.


We had a really awesome week. We have had a lot of good "family time" with the three of us, and each of us has had some great one-on-one time with Amelia, but Darryl and I haven't had much time together lately, so this was a nice little getaway for us. And Amelia and my parents had a great time camping. (My mom is going to blog about that at some point, so you can see all the fun they were having.) It was a wonderful Thanksgiving week!

I'm due for a Thanksgiving post...

Y'all. I'm tired.

When I feel a spark of more energy--I hope in the next day or two--I will post about our Thanksgiving. Darryl and I went to Baton Rouge to stay with our friends, and Amelia went camping with the grandparents. Much fun was had by all!

A more in-depth update soon, I promise!

Amelia Turns 4!

Amelia's birthday was this past Saturday. (I cannot believe she is already four. Where did the time go?)

Since I'm not working right now (anyone want to hire me?), I decided to do the party myself rather than have it at a "jump and bounce" place like we've done for the past two years. We had the party at a local park so that the kids could play on the playground and enjoy the nice weather.

Amelia wanted a Toy Story party, so I did my best to oblige. Only about six kids were able to come--along with my parents and my cousin and her husband--so it was a small group, but I think that made the party more laid back and enjoyable.

Here is the main table. (That pennant banner drove me NUTS, thanks to the wind. Fortunately, Darryl was able to get it to stay put.)


Here's the birthday girl, blowing out her candle. (Excuse the "mess" of the Potato Heads in the background. They were meant to be centerpieces but ended up being played with!)




Actually, I guess those were more like "looking at her candle" shots.

Anyway, here are some other party photos...

Here are my parents. (I think my dad was eating pizza.)



Here are Amelia and Anna, our next-door neighbor, chasing each other.



Here are Amelia and her friend Ava.



I probably should have stopped Amelia from going headfirst down the slide, but haven't we all broken the rules at some point??


Anna and her mom:



Sophia and Ava, swinging:



This is Alejandro. If he stays as sweet as he is now, I would totally be okay with Amelia dating him in about 12 years.


Here are the three of us. Five of us if you count my double chin and sunglasses.


When we got home, we opened some presents. Amelia got many nice things, but here are a couple of my favorite shots.

She received some boots from her Nana and Paw-Paw:


And she received this doll from BeeBee (Vicky) and Robert. Is it just me, or do she and this doll look alike?


It was a super-fun day with friends and family. Amelia is truly a blessed little girl, but we feel even more blessed to be her parents!

Stuff

I definitely need to get back on the blog train. Amelia's birthday was this past Saturday, and I most certainly need to write about that, right?

Here's hoping that I can muster up some blogging energy and get some posts up this week...

Sweeney Todd Confessions

Confession #1: I miss working with high school students. Now, I don't regret leaving my job when we did because I think I did the right thing for personal reasons, BUT what I do miss most is the students themselves (and my colleagues).

Confession #2: A little over a week ago, I saw my former school's production of Sweeney Todd at Region One Act Competition and fell in love with the show. I had never seen Sweeney Todd before -- I knew Sweeney was a barber who killed his clients and something about pies baked out of the bodies -- but that's all I knew. Well, after seeing the 50+-minute version for One Act, I went back Tuesday night, with Blayne, her daughter, and her daughter's boyfriend in tow, to see the full 2+-hour version. (Submissions for One Act have to be 55 minutes or less, thus a shorter version for competition and the full version for the community's enjoyment.) And once again, I loved the show!

The music is AMAZING (I have listened to the soundtrack daily since purchasing it a week ago). The story is compelling and sad (poor Sweeney Todd). But...BUT...the best part is that these students, under the direction of my friend Kim, performed this extremely difficult show EXCEPTIONALLY well. The voices were beautiful, the ensemble numbers were powerful...it was just so very good.

SO...put those "confessions" together and I ended up going to the State One Act Competition in Warner Robbins to see these students perform this show yet one more time. I've wanted to go to the state competition several times before, but I was always prevented from doing so by either conflicting plans or stacks of essays that needed to be graded. Nothing stopped me this time!

Tim and I were the only ones from "our" group to watch all eight shows in the competition. This is what we felt like after watching essentially eight hours of plays/musicals:



Our school was AWESOME...in a league of their own. There were some other strong competitors, but in the end, the best show won! I'm so proud of Kim and these students! This honor was well deserved!

It was a fun day. (And, as a bonus...I got home just in time to see LSU beat Alabama. Woot woot!)

38

Last Thursday, I turned 38.

For the first time ever, I was able to spend my birthday with my girl all day. In all actuality, it probably was more of a day full of things Amelia likes to do, but if my girl is having fun, then I'm having fun, too!

The day got off to a delicious start when my friend Blayne brought over a chocolate cake (my favorite!!), and we had cake for breakfast!


After that, Amelia and I went to the mall where Amelia scored a Rapunzel doll at the "Mickey Mouse Store."

Then we had Auntie Anne's pretzels for lunch.


Then Amelia and Rapunzel rode the carousel.


And then we went to see Puss in Boots.

It was a fun day with my girl, and then when Darryl got home, we went out to eat. (Originally my request had been for us to have chili dogs at home--because who loves a chili dog? I do!--but it was pouring rain outside by that point so Darryl couldn't work the grill.

All in all, the day was a great start to being 38!