Happy New Year to You!

For the gifts brought in 2009 I am thankful, for the losses I am wrought with sadness, for the memories, opportunities, and lessons learned I am indebted.

I wish for you the same wish I write in every birthday card: May 2010 be immeasurably greater than 2009, but not nearly as great as 2011. Celebrate what you have, strive for what you want, and really question if the stuff in the middle is really all that important.

Happy New Year!!

Greg and Avery New Year's Eve 2009

Teaser

It sounds cheesy, but this really was the best Christmas ever. I don't have time to give the details, but I promise I will. So many presents, so many moments, so many memories. We really have been missing out, but I am so glad we waited. How lucky are we to have just had all of the firsts when so many people our age are done or have been done for years.

Just a few shots to keep you coming back for more!

My Sweet Boys

I love this SMILE

Did you say his belly shook when he laughed like a bowl full of jelly?

Does this shirt make me look fat? Is it velvet?

Yes, I Have Lost My Mind

So, I really started to feel bad that Avery didn't have a picture with Santa.... I started to get comments like, "What, you haven't? You have to take him to see Santa on his first Christmas!" It wasn't that I didn't want to, but working in Winston and living in Pilot Mountain, and having a husband in grad school at Wake Forest makes everything just slightly more complicated. Just slightly!

In an attempt to quiet the tightening feeling in my chest I planned to be at the mall at 10:00 a.m. Well, that would not be good enough. Not by a long shot. I stood in the line until about 11:40 when the not nice "elf" came around to tell us that if you weren't inside the gate at 12:15, it would be shut, and you would have to wait until Santa came back at 2:00. The girl behind me literally began weeping. There were 17 people in front of us and very little chance that we would make it in to the red gate.

12:15 came and I was three people behind the gate. Gate shut. Suck it kid, you ain't seein' Santa unless your mommy stands in the line for another hour and 45 minutes. I should mention that the very second I saw the size of the line I was ready to surrender, but Skylar felt it essential that he tell Santa what he wanted. I am a sucker for that kid. What choice did I have? I hunkered down, sent Mom and the boys to the food court and prepared myself for a long winters wait. I noticed that the line inside the red gate was moving with a quickness. I started to get very nervous. If they had time to get more people on the big guy's knee they would, problem was my bunch was MIA and my mom left her cell phone in the car.

A few minutes later comes the Christmas miracle. The "meanest" elf lady says to those of us in the front of the line that she is going to send some of us through. She asks the first three couples how many kids they had, and then she asked me. Before I could say a word, the weeper behind me says "ONE". Ummm, sweetheart you are precious, and I feel your pain, but I ain't about to let you pass me. Not on your life sweet cheeks. I hold up two fingers and she announces that the next 5 families can come through. Halle-freakin-lujah! As if on queue, Mom rounds the corner with three kids meals from Chick-fil-a! Suh-weet!

Needless to say, the rest was a mad dash. The pictures were ridiculously over priced, it was rushed, but it was over and I didn't have to worry about Avery someday thinking I was a piece of crap mother for not taking him to see Santa on his first Christmas.

Next year I will take a day off of work before Christmas Eve or I will participate in some activity that involves a Santa Visit. We are totally doing the the Gingerbread House session at the Children's Museum, hopefully breakfast with Santa at the Graleyn, and Leslie told me while I was in the Santa line that she went to some cool thing downtown with a Santa and you could take as many pictures as you wanted. What the what???

Water under the bridge. If I hadn't gone, I would have always regretted it, and imagined it much more glamorous than it was. Below are the fruits of my labor. They were too stinkin' expensive to get one of each of them and a combined shot. Ahhh, next year!

New Car

As you probably know, I love to take photographs. I really wish I could do it for a living, but I am not that good, and I hate getting paid by people that I care about. Over the years I have received some very creative "payments", but the best one to date is an almost new car. Can you imagine? It was so awesome. It has the quietest ride. You barely even hear it moving. I had an older one that sounded a bit like a covered wagon, but not this beauty and he handles like he's on rails (I have no idea what that means, but Julia Roberts says it in pretty woman, and I have been waiting on the opportunity to use it for years!). A low mileage car with less than a year on the title. I am in heaven!

I did Christmas pictures for the Wooten's and as payment, they gave me this car. As you can imagine, Avery couldn't be happier. This baby has logged many a mile up and down our driveway, in to our woods, and around our kitchen.

We call him BIG Blue. To Avery and to us, he is GLORIOUS!

Random Thoughts

1. I am super pissed that my mailbox was plowed over. No, it wasn't too close to the road. No, I cannot move it back any further. Yes, I thought of that. Did you think I secretly enjoy having my blood pressure sky rocket, so I purposely plant my mailbox too close to the road? The next thing you know I will be getting a bill from the state becuase they dented their snow plow. GRRR....
2. I saw a sign at Movie Gallery several days ago that said "FREE KIDS". I didn't get quite the shock and awe I was expecting, so here is a picture to validate my point:
   
   
   This sign is for real. Someone thought it was a good idea. Hmmm
3. I also saw a sign at the storage place on University Parkway that said, "Ho, Ho, Ho, come put your junk in our trunk". Really? Wow.
4. Avery hasn't seen Santa yet and I am freakin' out. Do I suck? Would it be insane to take him on Christmas Eve? Do you think if I was there at 10 a.m. I could get in and get out in a reasonable amount of time?
5. We got snow!! Real life snow. Avery didn't love it, but I made him a snowman and it made him smile! I was in a hurry, so I forgot arms and his eyes were made of Tums!!

Our Christmas Tree: A Reflective Analysis

After Ginger's insightful breakdown of their Christmas tree, I found myself inspired. It feels a little like 5th grade and I am copying the pretty girl's outfit, but then, that really is just what it is. So, credit to Ginger, what a great idea. Here's our tree, and a little of it's history:

First of all, we have a white tree. Why you might ask. Why indeed. Have you noticed that we never get any snow anymore? Really. When I was a kid it snowed all of the time, and it snowed a LOT. So, climate change, global warming, I don't care what you call it, it just plain doesn't snow as much as it used to. Just ask the polar bears if you don't believe me!

So, I decided I would bring in my own snowy tree, and that is what I have done. Over the years I have had all purple lights, last year all blue in honor of Avery, and this year multi since I thought Avery would like seeing all of the colors. Turns out Avery is more like his Father than I realized. He's not very impressed with the Christmas tree. Oh well, I like it, and since all of the effort that goes in to putting it up (other than Greg lugging the boxed up and down the steps) lands on me, isn't that what really matters?I have no idea where this little guy came from, but I think it might have been in a Ziploc of ornaments I bought at the Junior League Rummage sale. He has a sticker on the back of him that says handcrafted in Japan. I think he is so cute. I love his rosy cheeks and his Christmas tree in his hand. I sure hope he wasn't hand made by a child laborer!

I have a bunch of these and they are so precious to me. They are some of my mom and dad's original ornaments. I am not sure if my mom realizes it or not, but if I keep smuggling them out, she won't have any left. Mom loves to tell people how dad busted in from work, snatched one off of the tree, and proceeded to eat it thinking it was a cookie. Not a cookie, Styrofoam. Lesson learned!


This is a bell Mom made for us the year we were married. I love it!

Greggie is a drummer, so I try to find drummer ornaments. He is one of my favorites. Cymbals count as a percussion instrument you know!


I also smuggled this little lady from my Mom's tree. She is as old as me. Poor old girl!


Hmm, she is also stolen. I wonder what my Mom put on her tree this year? I just love these old ones. They take me back to a time when my hair was down to my butt and I had a house full of family at Christmas. My teeth were as big as Chiclets and I didn't have a care in the world. I miss those big family gatherings full of Grandparents and Cousins.

Crap, also stolen. In my defense, Mom asked me to bring her home and glue her ski back on. Can I help it if I forgot to return her?


Ok, this is one of my favorites, and she can't count as stolen because she was mine to start out with. No one besides me likes her anyway!


In an effort to endear Greg to Christmas, I buy things that I think would make him excited about the Christmas tree. It doesn't really work, but it does land me with lots of footballs on the tree. This Santa is tucked back in the limbs wearing his old school football uniform and holding the pig skin. I heart him, but don't tell Greggie!

This little guy and the green one in front are both "borrowed" from Mom's. I am sorry, they don't make ornaments like they used to!

Ah Ha!! I bought this one myself and two others just like her. She's retro, but new. Remember Rhonda Reindeer? You could get them at Hardees. Her boyfriend was Rodney. Dig back, you remember. I recently found an old one at Goodwill for 50 cents. She lives on my desk at work!

This is Avery's first ornament. Hand made by my mom. He put it on the tree himself, and then ripped it down, stuck it in his mouth, and threw it. Gesh!

I like to call these guys the love birds. They were in the arrangements at our wedding and I saved them all. I put them on the tree every year. There are all different colors. How's that for tradition?

Greggie loves owls and we have incorporated them in to Avery's decor as much as we could. Amy got us this one last year. Isn't he cool?

The newest member of the family. Avery's very first Hallmark ornament. I do love it!


While I am in the mood let me also show you just a couple of my decorations too!

I am such a fan of these two. They are pretty old. I bought them at a Thrift store with every intention of giving them as a gift. I always chicken out though. I don't know that people would appreciate such a gift. Would it just seem like you were giving them old junk? I would find them precious, but as we have discussed so very many times before, I am weird. I have several pieces that came to me in the very same fashion. One day I will get up my nerve and wrap up something that isn't brand new or priceless, but just adorable and thoughtful!



Paige and Jody gave me this Santa the year I got married and he is so beautiful. Doesn't he look so serious double checking that list? Hope you are on it! His furry friends came from Pottery Barn after Christmas last year. I want to live in the Pottery Barn!



My sweet Mom made these for me when I was tee-tiny. I can't remember a Christmas without them.



Now go make your own memories and write about them so I can stop reading the blogs of total strangers!

Got Christmas?

The time for talk is over, it is time to get serious. There are only 8 more days. EIGHT! And that is until Christmas. Only gas stations are open on Christmas, so unless your dearly beloved wants a Little Trees air freshener for Christmas, might I suggest you get your butt in gear. On the bright side, should you continue to procrastinate until this is your only option, there is a light at the end of your tunnel. With the purchase of only 6 Little Trees, you qualify for a free hat. Now that is what I call an incentive!!