Christmas 2008

Since Brian and I have been married, we have spent every Christmas in Dallas with our extended families.  With Rockwall as our base camp, we have driven miles and miles back and forth across the metroplex as far out as Little Elm near Denton as close as Garland and everything in between.  We have enjoyed it though – especially having kids and being able to share them with our families. Our tradition has been that a couple of days before Christmas, we would have the Rozell Christmas with Brian’s dad and siblings.  On Christmas eve, we would go to church with Norman and Melodi.  On Christmas day, we would spend the morning with Julius, Jan and Steph’s siblings and the afternoon/evening with Liz.  Finally, on the day after Christmas we would enjoy time with Kathy.  It was a full holiday.

This year, however, we decided, rather our pocketbook decided for us, that we would have Christmas at home.  Once the decision was made, Brian and I began to get excited about the opportunity that we now had to start new traditions that our children will grow up with.  We pieced together the best memories of our childhoods and created a Christmas that we will always remember.   While we miss our family in Texas, this was probably my best Christmas.  

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One special and unexpected gift this Christmas was a necklace from Jamiee.  It is a gold necklace with a heart pendant and it says “mom”.  It made me tear up to see and know that she has finally opened her heart up fully to me and is allowing me to be her mom.  When I thanked her for it again later that day, she also said, “I think permanent guardianship sounds pretty cool.”  Wow.  We’ve come a long way.  I am so thankful for that and look forward to our next year together.

Decorations

We put up our family Christmas tree and hung stockings this weekend.  We let all the kids participate in decorating, and then, after everyone went to bed, I rearranged the ornaments so that it wasn’t so bottom heavy.  It was a lot of fun.  Brian took photos, and I’m sure will post them soon.

As I looked at the stockings on the wall, the sudden size of our family took me by surprise.  It’s still so strange that in just three and a half years, we went from being two, to a family of six, plus a rabbit.  Craziness!

This year, I stole an idea from one of my friend’s family.  Each Christmas, they had the nice tree in the living room, but they also had kid trees in their children’s rooms.  I thought that would be fun for the kids.  Jamiee loves purple, tinsel, and multi-colored lights, so she has that on her mini-tree in her room.  

On Sunday night, I let the boys decorate their tree.  After going bulb crazy at the top of the tree, the boys hung sea animals all over their tree.  I bought some really cheap sea animals out of an Oriental Trading type magazine around Halloween.  I stuck hooks in each one and Jacob was in heaven decorating his tree.  Then, instead of our nightly reading, I sang Christmas carols to them and encouraged them to start singing along.  They’ll be caroling in no time!  

Family photo

We took our annual family photo today. We did it up at the church this year in front of their Christmas tree. We were going to do it on the staircase, but the tree was set up in the foyer and made for a nice background. Last year, I thought it would be a good idea to do it outside since the snow was so pretty. I did not take into consideration though that it was right around zero if not just below and we were all freezing!

This year, we managed to get a photo with no one crying and pretty much everyone smiling! That’s a rare treat with two toddlers and a baby!

Last year as we were going through all of our friends’ and family’s photos, we noticed that there were a large number of photos of just kids. We were a little disappointed because while all the kids were adorable, we wanted to see the people that we have known and loved for a long time. We talked about how it’s often easier to get the kids dressed up and that most of us are reluctant to take a photo of ourselves since it would reveal that we are getting older and wider wiser.

I thought about that this year as I was getting ready. I would much rather not be in the photo since I am getting older, getting white hair, and have definitely gotten a little “wiser” this year. It’s part of me though, and in the end, I know I can’t hide all that. I hope you feel the same too and we get to see YOU in your holiday photos!

Thankful

I’m thankful for my husband, Brian. There are so many things that I am thankful for about him, but one is that he does always take care of us. He does things differently than I would do them, and I question him like mad, but when it comes down to it, he takes care of us.

I’m thankful for my children. They bring laughter and joy into each day. They have occasionally brought tears, but I know that sometimes pain is part of what makes us grow closer.

I’m thankful for my parents. They raised me well and encouraged me to treasure family and time together.

I’m thankful for my siblings. They are people who I know will always be there to support and encourage me.

I’m thankful for my friends. I have REALLY good ones.

Most importantly, I’m thankful for my God and my Savior. We had a trying time this fall, and without Him I am not sure how we would have made it through it as well as we did.

Happy Thanksgiving. We have so much to be thankful for.

Preparations

Thanksgiving has always been a favorite holiday – as I’m sure it is for most people. The past two Thanksgivings though, in Circle, seemed very lonely and quiet. With the kids still so young, it was pretty much just me and Brian eating a huge dinner together.

This year, we will be having dinner with some friends and their kids. I’m making the turkey, green bean casserole, and stuffing. The kids will all enjoy running around and being loud together. Not knowing what our tenant was doing, we decided to have it at their house. I’m looking forward to it.

I’m trying out a new feature that I found on WordPress. Where will you be spending Thanksgiving?

Satellite phone

About a month ago now, Brian was driving in from Circle and he encountered some bad weather.  Anxious to get home, he pushed through a tall snow drift and ended up filling his engine bay with snow and breaking some belts.  He had to spend the night on the highway (with an injury), and I spent the night wondering what happened and how he was doing. When I found out the next day what happened, I was concerned and wondered how we could put a $2000 phone into our budget.

I shared the story with my hairdresser that next week when I for a haircut. She immediately offered to let us borrow her husband’s Iridium satellite phone for the winter since they winter in Arizona. She brought it to work the next day and I picked it up. I bought 200 minutes on a card that you insert into the phone.

It’s been great to know that he made it over Eagle Summit each week and that if there is an emergency he would be able to let me know right away. This weekend, we had a date night planned and once again, the phone came in handy. His co-worker was also driving into town, and Brian found her in a ditch on the side of the road along the way. He was able to call and have someone dig the truck out and call me to let me know he’d be late. It’s been such a great help. I just hope that he never had to use it to let me know he’s spending the night on the highway again!

Planning for Christmas

Jacob’s birthday is in June, and he received a couple of gift cards for his birthday this year. He enjoyed going to Wal-Mart and walking the toy aisle looking for things that he wanted to buy. That was the first time that we just let him lead the way through that section. Since that time, he asks regularly if we are going to the store to buy some toys maybe? As he sees things that he wants, I have been saying “Maybe for Christmas.” Well, Christmas is coming and it’s time to start deciding which of all those many items he really should get for Christmas. That actually makes it pretty easy to shop for Jacob. He has lots of things that he wants and he has very specific interests.

Tobias on the other hand is hard to shop for. He doesn’t seem to have a passion for things that Jacob has always had. He likes trains, and plays with them daily, but he is also fine without them. And as I sit here trying to figure else what Toby likes, I come up blank.

I ordered some catalogs of teen clothing for Jamiee and gave those to her so that she could earmark things that she wanted for Christmas. She’s a pretty typical teen girl and just wants clothes or gift cards for clothes, so that’s easy.

A couple of months ago, I accidentally broke a camera lens of Brian’s. It rolled off a shelf and hit the floor with a shattering noise. He said at that time, “at least now you know what to get me for Christmas,” but when I brought it up he was not as enthusiastic about it. He’s had a lot of stress from work, classes, and traveling to and from Circle that he hasn’t had a lot of time for hobbies. I have a couple of other ideas, but he reads this blog, so I won’t write them on here.

Then there are the cousins and grandparents. I have ideas for all, and need to get moving since I have to send everything to Texas this year.

I can’t believe that it’s just a little over one month away.

Christmas is coming

Like, my sister Mel, I am adding a bonus post today!

I ran into Fred Meyer tonight to pick up some suckers for Jacob’s haircut tomorrow (I’m sure that will be a post!), and they had a huge Christmas section set out already. I’m sure all your neighborhood stores are doing the same!

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how this will be our first Christmas away from our family. We’ve spent every Christmas in Dallas since we’ve been married, so we’ve never had a real Christmas tree or stockings at home. I decorate a little and set out a table top tree, but it’s just to get us in the mood. This Christmas will be about starting new traditions. I have been thinking about cross-stitching our names on stockings (or buying some iron on letters, more likely) and trying to figure out what else we could do to make it ours. So, tonight when I was at Fred’s I saw a display of silver first initials ornaments with crystal stone accents. They look simple and elegant. I bought one for each of S, B, J, J, T, S. I look forward to having everyone put them on the tree this year and years after.

Picture Post

Brian brought the camera cable back to me this weekend. Here are the pics I took this week. Click on the photo for a larger image. Enjoy!

Jacob helping with Sarah’s bath

Toby’s Halloween costume

Two months post TAPVR surgery

Jacob and Toby

Four month old sweet Sarah

The three young’uns

Grandma

One of my grandma’s passed away this morning. My dad’s mom, Flora, died at home surrounded by family.

She’d had a few different illnesses over the past recent years, but was diagnosed with lung cancer about four weeks ago. They decided not to do any treatments and to let her go naturally with medication to manage the pain. I was planning to see her in December, but got a call a week ago that she had about two weeks left. I made a reservation to come in this weekend and spend the week saying goodbye. Unfortunately, I was enroute when she passed.

I was able to go and see her this afternoon at the funeral home. She looked beautiful and very peaceful. I was surprised. Most times when you see that, the person looks unnatural – filled with embalming fluids and make-up. She is being cremated, so they didn’t do much. Just dressed her and fixed her make up a little. She looked like she was sleeping.

The funeral is tomorrow – fast since everyone is already here. It was a full day today and will be another full day tomorrow.