Holiday Hangover

Everyone left yesterday. It was emotional for me. I was happy to have a somewhat quiet house once again… but I knew I was going to miss having my family all around me.

Twelve people in this house is tight. Luckily we’re a close family – but even being as close as we are, emotions ran high at times… for so many reasons.

Here in Atlanta it is gray, cold, rainy… a bit dreary outside. I’ve heard we may see the sun again in a few days. Right now it’s a good day for curling up and not doing much of anything… or doing lots of laundry while wearing pajamas. (or watching someone else do laundry while wearing pajamas – whatever)

I did step out for a while and went to this place. Walking in the store made me forget about the gray day outside – because the sun was definitely shining on all that scrap goodness. Besides, I needed more Christmas paper. (shush Jen & Jules)

Now I guess I should actually get some pages done. It’s a matter of actually getting pictures printed and then sitting down to scrap them. I have lots of ideas (which is weird for me) and want to do it – sometimes I just don’t feel like doing what needs to get done so that I can do it.  (sorting photos, tweaking photos, getting photos printed, picking them up, etc) It’s kind of along the same lines of getting me to go to the post office. <<shiver>>

I still had sugarplums dancing in my head!

What time did my darling, precious little pumpkins wake up on Christmas morning? What time did I start hearing them creeping (pounding) down the hallway? What time did my parents also wake up and decide to start singing Jingle Bells outside my bedroom door?

That would be 5:00am. FIVE-A-M.

Girl: “Mommy, it’s Christmas morning!”

Me: “No, it’s still Christmas Eve.”

My Mom, the “instigator,” said that she never made her children go back to bed if they got up too early on Christmas Morning. I replied, “No Mom, you’d just make us sit in front of the tree and wait.” (my sister and I would have had time to scope out all the gifts, count them making sure we each had an equal amount, and rearrange the loot in the stockings by the time they got out of bed)

Okay, fine… five am. My Dad made the coffee and the kids bounced off the ceiling and floor of the house like ping-pong balls waiting not-so patiently to open their presents. (they obviously didn’t need the coffee)

Proof of Santa – full stockings:

My kids know they need to sit in front of the tree for a picture before they open anything. (we have gifts under the tree for all the cousins from us and my parents - not all for my kids – they wish!)

The best part was seeing their expressions as they opened their gifts. Skylar begged and begged us to get him this particular tent for his bed. What he didn’t know was that Noni and Grandpa were going to get it for him:

And Mack jumped up when she saw that Noni and Grandpa had gotten her High School Musical 2: Extended Edition!

My Dad cracked up over the gift from my Mom. It’s a ball cap with their house number embroidered on the front – a family joke about how many times he’s got the number posted outside their house. (the mailbox, the gate, the pole next to the mailbox, etc) Now he’s got it on a hat too.

We were done opening presents at 6:45am. Somehow I managed to stay awake until 10:30ish. I couldn’t take the fake cutesy banter between Regis and Kelly on the Disney Christmas Parade show. <<gag>> 

I fell asleep and napped until 1pm. A glorious cozy nap while everyone else was awake. The kids were involved in their new stuff, movies were on the TV, and I was warm and snug in my bed. Ahhhh…

After dinner my sister-in-law and her family came over for dessert. It’s too bad we didn’t have enough for everyone. (cough)

Note to self: the ‘honey balls’ taste the best on Day One.

Merry Christmas!

Santa is coming tonight!

(sorry for the not-so-great photo… trying to take it without the flash… need more practice)

Two important items on today’s agenda:

1. Wrap presents
2. Clean the girl’s room (my sister and family will be sleeping in there with all the kids)

Here are a few extra things I plan on accomplishing today:

1. eat spaghetti
2. drink wine
3. make hot chocolate
4. enjoy fire in the fireplace
5. watch holiday movies

Last night my Mom and the kids made a traditional Italian dessert. I sure wish we could remember the official Italian name of them, but we’re going with “honey balls.” All I could think of was Alec Baldwin on SNL and his “Schweaty Balls.” But maybe that’s just me?

You sure came a long way for a port-o-potty!

It’s Friday! There are four more days until Christmas! My parents are here! I’m on vacation for the next week and a half! All such good things!

Mom and Dad’s arrival last night was much anticipated. Mack and I were standing on the front yard waiting for signs of my Dad’s truck and trailer. Turns out, their GPS system navigated them through the scenic route of Atlanta to get to my house. (I guess that’s one less thing we have to do while they’re here – ha!) They made it safe and sound and I could not be happier!

It was a lot of work getting Mom into the house. My little house has way to many stairs. We did it though & none of us want to do it again soon. She’s already given me a list of errands she needs me to run since she’s a “prisoner in the house” (her words) this week.

Ahhh… family.

When did I become so judgemental?

Tonight when Mackie wanted to watch “Zoey 101″ I wouldn’t let her.  I told her to change the channel.

When I found out today that the star of the show was pregnant at 16 years old, I was surprised. Didn’t we all think/hope that the younger sister would be the “good” kid?

I don’t remember being so judgemental. I’m the liberal one! ”Live and let live!” “As long as they’re happy and not hurting anyone, let them do what they want” I think my judgemental’ness (made up that word) came when I had a daughter. And now I don’t want my daughter to become a fan of this show and the actress who finds herself in a very un-Nickelodeon-like position.

On the other hand – I haven’t stopped her from watching High School Musical after one of the stars was found to have naked photos of her on the internet that she herself sent a boy while she was “under-age.”

Is there a difference between that and this current celebrity “scandal?” Does this mean that I’m not only judgemental, but I’m also a hypocrite?

Being a parent is hard. Maybe I’m not ready to have to explain all of this to my kids?

Don’t chipmunks hibernate in the winter?

Before I had kids I used to think that I’d take them to see every new kids movie that came out in the theaters. I love movies and I hoped my kids would too! Won’t that be F-U-N? That was before the summer of 2005.

That particular summer we did take the kids to see almost all of the movies that came out. I don’t know what I was thinking. Why didn’t anyone warn me?  

I sat through movie after movie and as the summer came to an end, I started to tremble when a new commerical came on TV for the latest kid show. Sitting through Shark Boy and Lava Girl in 3-D and then Valiant - about a pigeon who helps the war against the Nazis during World War II, I was done. Finished. Kaput. 

I developed a nervous twitch when someone mention the word “matinee.” I can’t sit through them anymore. I just can’t.

So – the fact that my kids are singing songs from Alvin and the Chipmunks around the house and that my son has now added three “chipmunks” to his bedroom menagerie has me less than thrilled.

If I hear that damn song one more time where Alvin sings how badly he wants a hula-hoop, I might just start digging holes in the backyard and taking out my frustration on the innocent “real” animals who are soundly sleeping dreaming of acorns and dragonflies or whatever-the-hell they dream about. (and I’m sure it has nothing to do with singing Christmas songs, hula-hoops, signing a record deal, or getting into mischief with a guy named Dave)

I’m also realllllly getting tired of the song that my kids (especially my son) keeps singing over and over again that goes like, “ooh-eee-ooh-ahh-ahh-ding-dang-wadda-wadda-bing-bang” in the Chipmunk tone of voice. Like, reallly tired. That nasal-high-pitched squeal is starting to grate on my nerves so badly I may snap.

I’ve already banned the hula-hoop song while I am around. I was accused of being a “Chipmunk Hater.” I said that I didn’t hate chipmunks… but I was looking for a little more variety in the kind of holiday songs that came out of his mouth in a regular more human tone of voice, thankyouverymuch.

The boy has added movie tickets to his Christmas list just so he can see that movie. The thought of sitting through that movie makes me yearn for a root canal. Maybe my wisdom teeth need to get pulled the day he wants to go? I’m also thinking that I could probably persuade Santa not to bring movie tickets.

Is it wrong to bribe St. Nicholas?  

Conversation from 15 minutes ago

My Mother-in-law is in town… and that means the kids are on a perpetual present high. During the wrapping paper massacre I said, “Oh, another Cabbage Patch Doll.” (How many does one child need? She’s practically running cabbage-related daycare center in her bedroom – and I don’t think my neighborhood is zoned for that sort of thing. Not to mention that Santa was planning on getting her the walking/talking CPK for Christmas.) The reply from the purchaser, “But she was dressed up so nice for Christmas!”

 Anyway, I digress.

Mackie has been taking care of her new little baby since I took her out of the box. She has always loved taking care of her baby dolls. A few moments ago Mackie is puting Sophie to bed and says to me,

“Mommy, I think Sophie is lactose intolerant.”

Funny… I don’t remember reading that on the box.

Who stole Jack Frost?

It’s way too warm here in Georgia for this to be considered winter. I’m not even in a sweater and I’m fine. Who ever heard of 75 degrees? Wasn’t it just 30 degrees last week? Did I move back to Florida and not know it?

Anywho… (my son has been saying “anywho” constantly and I’ve been telling him over and over to stop… now look what happened?)

I had lunch today with some super-talented HR women who just so happen to work for my company at our other Atlanta properties. I brought them these hand-made little goodies:

I used some of my coveted (cough) Christmas Paper (Basic Gray Fruitcake – to be exact), some Making Memories tags, twine, ribbon, and GinX rub-ons. Mackie helped me roll paper for about five minutes before she got bored. That’s okay – it was fun for me to do something “scrappy” and it helped me get my brain a little straight.

(as straight as it’s ever gonna get)

How’d you snort wine up your nose this time?

This week has been a freakin’ whirlwind of activity for me. And I’m not a whirlwind-of-activity-kind-of-gal. So it’s taken a lot out of me and I’m still recovering from my week.

I had to travel again. This time I went to Virginia – right outside of Washington D.C. I had to attend the training classes so that I could be certified to become a Regional Trainer for the company. Here’s how my trip went:

• 3:36pm flight on Monday, December 3rd. Get to the airport at 1:45 and am told that my flight is delayed.
• Jen falls asleep while listening to her ipod.
• Flight is canceled due to high winds in D.C. and a closed runway at Dulles airport. Crap.
• Next flight is 9:15pm.
• Crap-crappity-crap-crap.
• Walk through Terminal C at the airport for hours and hours while waiting for flight.
• Flight is smooth except for the landing. And the women next to me gasping each time the plane dipped way more than any of us were used to. (I wanted to smack those women, btw)
• I stand up once the plane lands (so that I can be the first one to kiss the ground) and the dude in front of me decides to open the overhead compartment without looking back so the overhead compartment knocks me in the head.
• My luggage? It was waiting for me. (somehow *it* was able to get on the earlier flight)
• I call the hotel to find out where the shuttle is going to pick me up. Some confusion here… apparently the people giving me the directions to the shuttle at the Dulles airport have never actually BEEN to the Dulles airport.
• In the FREEZING cold weather I hike over to the shuttle (after 15 minutes of discussion with the hotel) while dragging my suitcase and walking in boots.
• The dude at the front desk (who has never been to the Dulles) airport was completely perplexed by my method of payment (a check) and looked down at his computer screen for a full five minutes without saying a word to me. Not. One. Word.
• I get into my room at 12:30am. My meeting started at 8am the next morning.

The rest of the week was spent in class – seriously tedious and intense training class. Being evaluated by the company whose certification we were seeking. *gulp*

And I felt like crap the entire time. Sore throat, congestion, sinus pain. Stinkin’ crap.

The next night I got to enjoy dinner with two dear sweet, funny, beautiful, lovely friends. And I also enjoyed a delicious Cosmo as well. My stomach hurt from laughing so hard and I spent way more time with them instead of preparing for my next day’s class. Totally worth it.

I didn’t sleep well that night and tossed and turned with all kinds of icky symptoms. I woke up feeling like I had just been scraped off the bottom of my boots.

BUT – when I looked out the window…there was SNOW.

I discovered that there is one thing that can make me forget about the lack of sleep, intense training, headache from the overhead compartment, and sinus pain. That would be SNOW. It snowed. Snowflakes falling on my gloves.

I was the idiot standing outside the hotel in the freezing weather looking up at the sky so the snowflakes could land on my face. It was marvelous!

It’s been about nineteen years since I saw snow… and almost thirty years since I remember seeing a snowfall. I was absolutely gleeful!

The six of us in the class successfully passed and became certified! Yayyy! There’s more work for us to do before the program rolls out and some logistical stuff to figure out… but we did it.

The plane ride home was much less eventful. Thank goodness.