Christmas Evening

Tonight is Christmas evening. Presents have been unwrapped. Lots of food has been consumed. The kids are consumed right now with the new video game console. We are sitting here relaxing and enjoying the "remains of the day." Tomorrow, hubby and I have to work and the kids have to go to their daycare.

It bothers me when people talk about wanting Christmas to be over. I think these people are probably trying to try to do to much and the spirit of Christmas has been lost to them. We spend a lot of time with family during the holidays. I always plan to cook a lot more than I actually have time for. I always get a little carried away with the decorating. I want the holidays to be so special and sometimes think that the results are actually in my power. When in truth the kids are happy without much work. Give them time to play with their new toys. Don't ask them to get dressed before noon.

I have a large extended family. My cousins are all grown with large families of their own and when we get together now our kids play like we did. I enjoyed so much spending time with the family.

I hope you had a good holiday with your family and find this season peaceful and not too over scheduled. Take time to sample the holiday dishes you've worked so hard to prepare. Watch a movie or watch your kids playing video games. Spend time catching up with family. Take a drive and enjoy the lights. Remember what is important in life regardless of your particular Faith.

Happy Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is a great holiday. The primary focus is to be thankful and to eat. What a great combinations that is. My parents are coming for a few days and we are having Thanksgiving Dinner at our house. Sometimes we drive an hour or so away and spend the day with other relatives. This year I have to work all weekend and so we've decided to stay in Huntsville. We will be having the traditional Thanksgiving meal that I have grown up with:

Chicken and Dressing
Turkey
Cranberry Sauce
Green Beans
Fruit Salad
Sweet Potato Casserole
Rolls
Pecan Pie

If you are unfamiliar with the dish, chicken and dressing, allow me to educate you. In most southern families the Turkey if prepared at all is roasted without any sort of "stuffing". Instead we serve dressing. Dressing is a mixture of breads (both white and corn) cream of chicken soup, spices, onions, and chicken baked until golden brown. The recipes and preparation vary from family to family. We tend to eat ours a little soupier than some. We usually serve it with a gravy made from cream of chicken soup. We also traditionally eat dressing at Christmas time and on occasion at Easter. When my Mama was alive and we had Thanksgiving dinner at her house she would make several large pans. There was usually enough for everyone to take home as leftovers. She made the most wonderful dressing and my mother after many years of practice is able to duplicate the recipe. We're not having a whole turkey this year for such a small gathering. Mother bought a Turkey breast from the Honeybaked Ham store. I am not that big a fan of the traditional roasted and usually dried-out bird.

Years ago while I was in college my parents moved to Pennsylvania for a few years. I flew up to join them for Thanksgiving that first year. We drove the four hours to my brother's in laws house in Olney, Maryland. Their Thanksgiving meal was quite different from ours. But the overall tradition of sitting down together for a family meal and being thankful for God's blessings on our lives remains the same regardless of the food served.

Thanksgiving at our house is a wonderful time of fellowship and family time with lots of eating. Regardless of your families traditions I wish all of you a wonderful holiday.

Monday

We had a good weekend. Friday night I took the kids to Jump Zone. (Basically, it's a warehouse filled with giant inflatable slides and moonbounce type structures.) It isn't terribly exciting for parents. But the kids had a blast. Saturday we spent the afternoon on the Tennessee River with my cousin and her family. We boated and rafted and swam and generally enjoyed ourselves. Sunday morning we went out to bruch and Sunday night we had our VBS program. I found time to dig up and replant my New Guinea Impatiens trying to give them a better chance of staying moist. We are experiencing a serious drought. Sunday afternoon I watched my new hero, Lewis Hamilton, win his second Grand Prix. We looked hard for hubby who attended the race but didn't catch sight of him. Despite all the activity I felt well rested and relaxed. It was just over too soon.

Long Weekend

I had a nice 4 day weekend because of the holiday. Friday I went with B to Chuck E Cheese for her end of the year party. Have you been to CEC? It is really more fun than most adults can stand. We then met hubby at Beauregard's for lunch (no greasy pizza for me, thank you). Saturday, I baby-sat our friend's little boy, David, for a few hours. I drained, cleaned, and refilled the hot-tub (with the kids help). The kids and I went swimming next door (the next best thing to your own pool is a neighbor with a pool). I got the rest of my plants in the ground and watered everything. Sunday night we went to O'Charley's to celebrate J's birthday. We got him a basketball goal. We have a really large, flat driveway. We got a few balls so everyone could join in. I can't help thinking how good I might have been at basketball if the goal had only been lower. Yesterday, we all went to see Shrek III. I'm sorry, Mike, that I didn't listen to you. We should have waited for the video. We really wanted to see the new Pirates movie but since it's PG-13 didn't want to take the kids without seeing it first. We ate lunch at Casa Blanca. So overall, we had a great weekend. We got some work done, and had a lot of family time. I'm excited that I have finished planting flowers. Thanks, hubby, for fixing the sprinkler.

We have an exciting week. B's Kindergarten graduation is tonite. Tomorrow is J's end of the year party. Thursday is only 1/2 day of school. Friday they both start summer care, though.

Princess Confessions

Mom101 wrote a post on April 16 about Barbie Confessions (I can't seem to link to the actual post). I thought about how I didn't want my daughter playing with Barbie's either. ( I wrongly assumed with my infant daughter that I would have some say in the matter.) I think I was really disillusioned as a child by the whole Cinderella myth. I mean I really did keep waiting for my Prince in college. He finally did come around but not til I was 23. But I digress.

I grew up a tomboy. I have an older brother but I don't think that he is entirely to blame. I grew up in the country in a rural area. I proudly wore my brother's hand-me-downs until I was old enough to know better. I climbed trees and played a lot in the woods. I was a Girl Scout. I wore jeans everywhere but to church. I was a tomboy. When other girls started carrying purses and wearing lipstick in 5th grade I was like, "Why?" I still wear jeans most of the places I go. I carry a small pocketbook. I wear sneaker's everywhere too. See this post for more details.

So imagine my surprise when instead of another tomboy I beget a "girlie girl". Sometimes I don't know what to do with her. I think though that it must skip a generation. My mother paints B's nails because I don't own any nail polish. B loves dresses. She loves to shop. I remember when we were looking for a Halloween costume a few years ago she asked if she could have new shoes to go along with it.

I had some pretty naive ideas about the differences in the sexes and how much of their environment influences a child's personality. I wanted my children to be intellectuals. To grow up believing women could do anything and men could, too. My son started to play with cars at age 2 and I believe it is still (at age 8) one of his favorites. My daughter loves dolls, and dress-up, and barbies, and Lord Please Forgive me - Princesses. All this despite any environmental influences I tried to make.

But I hope that instead of finding out that the dream of Cinderella is just a dream and being somehow negatively influenced by the body image of Barbie, my daughter will take away other lessons. I hope she will see that her mother is a strong independent woman who balances career and family. I hope my son will see how much his father respects and loves his wife and how much he contributes to raising a family.

And so if my daughter wants to grow up and be a stay-at-home mother like her grandmother I think I can accept that. (Of course she will still be required to complete her degree first.) Just as long as she doesn't want to grow up and be a princess.

Thursday Thirteen

Thirteen random thoughts:
1. I am not having the best day.
2. Yesterday, I blew off my diet and went a little crazy. I drank a strawberry cream slushie, I ate a Reese's peanut butter egg, I ate french fries. It was all worth it.
3. Despite blowing off my diet yesterday, I am back on it today.
4. On Tuesday my daughter learned to ride her bike just like that. I took pictures. She smiled alot!
5. J's teacher called me from school a little while ago to tell me J had fallen and warped his glasses. Again. The spare pare he broke last Monday. Now I am going to have to go to WM after work and see if they can be fixed because he is taking SAT's this week.
6. It is amazing how quickly everything is blooming and turning green. Last week there were no leaves on our Japanese maple and this week you can no longer see the plastic eggs hanging there.
7. My neice's birthday is Sunday and my mother just reminded me this morning and I was lucky enough to have some greeting cards at work and my checkbook. I quickly dashed off a card and check to her.
8. Yesterday I drove to Albertville to visit my grandfather who is not doing well. He is bedridden and on Hospice. He called me by name.
9. I payed the bills this morning. We are still in the black.
10. Next week, my mother is coming for a visit.
11. Pilates is going well. I am almost ready to try the advanced workout. Almost.
12. Tomorrow I am going to clean off my porch, wash my car, and buy a sofa.
13. I am off the next three days!

Bicycle

My daughter, B, is learning to ride her bicycle. She is 6. J was almost 8 before he learned but we did not start working with him early enough. I know that practicing everyday is the route to success but sometimes it is hard to convince children of this. B, while learning (just like J) has spent a lot of time complaining and whining (we are raising two whiners). We try and convince her of how wonderful it would be when she can ride independently, and she is looking forward to it. Right now it seems so hard. I told her everyone has to learn to ride a bike. It is like potty training or learning to drive. It seems impossible now but later it will be so natural. (She was difficult to potty train, too. I do not look forward to teaching her to drive.) She is starting to ride 20-30 yards alone but isn't very good at catching herself when she starts to fall. She also wishes I wouldn't nag her so much. (Really, I am only offering advice on where she needs to improve.) I hope that in a few weeks I will be able to report that we are all riding bikes.