Her Most Prized Possession

My mom has a lavish Snow Village that literally encompasses their entire dining room. It takes her and my dad two full days to set everything up - it has dozens of homes, businesses, lights, a train that goes through a mountain, roads, trees, snow, automobiles, people, an ice rink with skaters, sledders, a singing choir, and a lurking Santa that she hides each year for us to find. It has taken her years to acquire all these pieces and it brings her great joy to have it on display each year.


BUT....


That is not her most prized possession that is on display at Christmas.


This is:





Oh yes, this nativity scene has two contributors: my brother Aaron and myself. We both had the same 3rd grade teacher and this was the Christmas art project. My mom combined our two scenes to make one and has been setting this up every Christmas for the past 20 + years.


Well, as you can see from the evidence above, neither of us are artistic - AT ALL. I used to cry when we had art time in class because I was a perfectionist, but not artistically gifted, so it was torture for me. Aaron, as an adult, doesn't even want to play Pictionary and tries to wad up his drawings so we won't laugh at him.


So let's get to the analysis of who did what:

Hint: to enlarge, click on pic (please, you gotta get a close up of ole greenie there on the right)



This would be Aaron's depiction of Mary & Joseph...a little something we like to call "Have Yourself a Chernobyl Christmas." He actually poked a pencil in their faces to make the eyes which gives them that scary, hollowed out look. I will give him props though on the snazzy pin-stripe look. And since his Mary and Joseph were...let's just say rather ambiguous, my mom reclassified them as the shepherds.




And here are my versions of Mary and Joseph, albeit non-shalacked and rather like dough people. I just noticed that my Joseph looks like a creepy flasher guy due to the way I "designed" his cloak. And Mary...what can I say? Her face is a mess. Can you imagine how much pressure I was under? I mean, we didn't even have small, fine bristled paint brushes to work on the facial features. One wrong swoop with the one size fits all paintbrush and the face is ruined - why didn't I think of using a pencil?

Now I will have to give credit to Aaron for the baby Jesus. You can't tell much from the picture but he did a nice job. There is an obvious face on a head and the appearance of a swaddling going on while lying in a manger. Since for some reason the shalacking part was non-existent the year I made my scene, my baby Jesus was nothing more than a rolled up ball of dough. And then I went and painted it bright yellow...and my family called it Big Bird's Egg. No face, no distinguishing characteristics, just the classic: take the playdough and roll it back and forth on the table until it forms a ball. And then I mashed it out some to make it more oval like - OK, fine - more egg like. I took great offense to the mocking of my baby Jesus hence the reason Aaron's is the one on display.

I remember when we were younger that we would beg my mother not to display our Nativity Scene. And each year, she would tell us: "But I love it because you made it." And after stashing Wy's "art projects" from the past year, I totally get that. I must have 14 versions of some kind of project involving his hand print. And I can't bear to part with any of them. So thanks Mom for not listening to our whining and complaining over the years and for displaying our unique, one of a kind Nativity Scene.

P.S. The sheep and the cow were compliments of our crib mobile that we had when we were babies.

P.S.S. Not sure why Matt doesn't have one of these - he was probably smart enough not to bring it home in the first place.

Thank Goodness it is Photo Friday...

'cause you know I got some photos!!!

We had a WONDERFUL Christmas this year. We focused more on family and less on gifts although you can't tell it from the toys stacked up around here. We spent Christmas Eve with my side of the family - the wild side with 16 of us present this year. Then we had Christmas morning together as a family. Thankfully I was able to get Wyatt down for a good nap that afternoon before going to the IL's that evening. J deep fried a turkey for the first time and it was delicious! And, no offense to my dad or MIL, but I had the BEST sweet potato casserole ever that J's Aunt Jane made. We are a truly blessed family and I am looking forward to all that 2009 brings us! Now to the pics...

Before Church on Sunday:


Sunday lunch with 5 of his cousins:


Christmas Eve:


With my brothers and sisters-in-law


Christmas Day:

"You Be Marewee"

A couple of months ago I started reading Wyatt a children's version of the Christmas Story - it wasn't too complicated but it told the true story of the night Jesus was born - plus there were cute barn animals. In fact, for awhile, he was much more concerned about why the cow wasn't on page 10 than about the actual story. We certainly didn't read it every night but it usually made it into his pile of books a couple of times a week at least.

So last night Wyatt handed me his favorite "blue blank" and said "Here, you be Marewee." He handed J a pillow and said "You be Jofuf" (not sure how a pillow makes him Joseph - he may have him confused with the man in the red suit?) and he held up his favorite teddy bear and said "this is baby Jesus".

So I asked him "Well, who are you?" And he said "I be the Angel" and held his arms above his head almost like when you do the "A" in YMCA...not that I am doing that much these days. But anyway, here is Marewee, Baby Jesus, and the Angel. Notice the grip the Angel has on baby Jesus.




Here is Wyatt laying in the manger with baby Jesus who is now swaddled in Marewee's head wrap. The Angel knows how to make do with the supplies you have!

A Baby Changes Everything

I do love this time of year. I love the lights, the decorations, the Christmas cards, the need for hot coffee from Starbucks (OK, so that is pretty much year round), the family gatherings, the faces of happy children, and for a couple of weeks, I love to listen to Christmas music. I like the traditional songs the best - such an old soul am I - but this year, I have a new favorite - a song by Faith Hill entitled "A Baby Changes Everything." I get chills every time I listen to it.

I will admit that I never really thought too much before about Mary's perspective on becoming the mother of Jesus. Then I heard this song and it made me stop and really think about how she must have felt. These were the facts that she was going to have to try to convince everyone to believe. She was just a teenager - Check. She wasn't married - Check. She was still a virgin and also carrying the Son of God. Hmm, these days they would have slapped a 5150 hold on her faster than you can say Britney Spears!

Of course she had fears and doubts about the plan that God had chosen for her. After all, she was only human. And my guess would be that she wasn't worried about health insurance, where to buy maternity clothes, and what the nursery theme should be. So this Christmas, while my focus will be on the gift of life through Jesus, I will also be remembering Mary and her faithfulness in serving as the Earthly mother to our Savior and King. Merry Christmas!

Wordless Wednesday...and a Weary Woman

This photo was taken while my naughty little boy was sitting on his Time Out Chair (TOC).

Disclaimer:
The majority of the time, my son is a very sweet, loving, funny, energetic, and obedient little boy. But, that isn't nearly as "entertaining" to write about.

So, without further ado, other "Weary Moments" not captured on film:

A day prior to the above incident, I found Wyatt hiding in the bath tub surrounded by toilet paper. He had taken a roll into the tub and pulled all the sheets off. We were not going to waste perfectly good toilet paper just because it wasn't on the roll. So I gathered it all together and put it in a little basket next to the potty while Wy was on his TOC. That lasted one whole day and then he decided to put all of it in the potty.

Another day I found him on top of the washing machine. He had pushed a laundry basket to the front of it and climbed up to get to the top. I keep the Tide powder on a cart between my washer and dryer. He was sitting on the washer with the Tide lid opened and he had his feet buried in the powder. When I saw what he was doing, I shouted "Wyatt - no!". He quickly pulled his feet out of the powder while he turned around which scattered powder EVERYWHERE. Do you know how hard it is to get up every little pellet of Tide powder? I'd say harder than raw eggs.

This morning he opened up a drawer of a storage container that I keep under my bathroom counter. He pulled out a Batman slipper which I did not know was in there. In fact, I hadn't seen those slippers in several days. So I pulled out the other drawers looking for its match. I asked Wy where he put the other slipper and he said "in the trash can in the kitchen." Well, all the trash in the house went out to the curb on Monday morning so my guess is that the other Batman slipper is now RIP at the county dump.

Had enough? Yeah, me too. Not sure where I went wrong but I can't seem to keep him out of trouble these days. After he did the first toilet paper incident, I was having a pretty stern conversation with him. I asked him "Who do you think is in charge? Mama or Wyatt?"

And you know what he said?


Without hesitation?


"Bee-Bee (Phoebe)."

Party of Five...for the night

Two of Wyatt's cousins spent the night with us on Friday night: Emma, who is 6, and David Aaron (DA), who is 4. This was the first time that Wyatt has had company over to spend the night. He was so excited when they got in the car and he wasn't stuck in the back on his own like usual. For those of you with more than one child, even though I am sure it is tougher in many ways, be thankful that your children have each other. As much as Wyatt loves us, it just isn't the same playing trucks with mom versus getting to play with another child. He was beaming the entire time they were with us.

We took them to Cheeburger, Cheeburger for dinner. I experienced a "potty break" with 2 boys in the ladies room on my own for the first time. Interesting conversation, let's just leave it at that. When I got back to the table with them, Emma had discovered that she liked, no loved, onion rings and she and J had polished off a basket of them.

First stop on the way home was Movie Gallery - I went in alone (loading and unloading 3 kids - not so much) and scored the last "Horton Hears a Who." I called J on his cell to have him ask them if they had seen the movie and I hear him ask: "Hey Emma, have y'all seen 'Horton Hears a Hoot?'" Poor J - did they not have Dr. Suess books at Huntland Elementary?

Stop number 2 was Publix where J ran in to get some ice cream. While he was inside, they all decided they needed to go to the bathroom. With Wyatt, you can't afford to wait too long so I just took them all in with me to the "Family Bathroom." There was just the one potty with no stall so there was alot of "don't look; turn around" type comments.

On the way home (how come you live so far away Mimi?) the conversation turned towards Christmas. We were having the standard "what do you want" conversation when little Emma said the sweetest and the truest thing I have heard out of a 6 year old's mouth. And I made sure to repeat it to myself several times so I could get it right for the blog.

Emma said: Do you know what the 2 best things are that we get for Christmas? God's word and His Love.

Emma has already announced to everyone that she plans to be a missionary and I think she is on the right career path.

The kids camped out on the living room floor but Wyatt got kicked off the island b/c he would NOT settle down. I managed to get a few pics of DA on Saturday morning while they were playing trucks. Emma loves to take "silly pictures" on my computer so I am posting a few of those too. Thanks for spending the night with us DA and Emma Bean - Wyatt had such a great time playing with you.


DA:





Emma:


Emma's silly pics:




DA & Emma:

Desperate Times Call for Desperate Measures

Well, we needed a little extra Christmas cash this year so we've been performing at the local "chitchen bon" (see 'You Know You Live in the Country...' post) to earn some extra dough. Mama needs a new pair of shoes! We are the most popular act as even our canine companion in all her elderly glory can boogie with the best of us. Enjoy!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Hi, My Name is Emily, and I am a Facebook-aholic.

Now everyone say together: Hi, Emily

So I joined Facebook and it is addicting to say the least. And it drives me crazy b/c I know I haven't figured out everything that I can do so I keep playing around on it trying to figure it all out. But. Miss Social that I am (ha), is actually "reconnecting" (told you I drank the Kool Aid - I don't use words like that typically) with so many people that I haven't "talked" to in years - even people I went to elementary school with. So I have been neglecting my blog but hope to carve out some time to work on it soon. Since it is after midnight and my sweet little prince will be up in about 6 - 7 hours, I am choosing sleep at this time. But I promise to post soon. They are supposed to break ground today so I hope to scoot over there and get some pictures. And of course there is the exciting grocery trip and dentist appointment that is also on my to do list for today. And dinner with 2 of my good friends after getting in some Christmas shopping. So today is shaping up to be jam packed already. Will post soon.

Should I drink the Kool Aid?

OK, I need to know. How many of you are on Facebook? I have a friend who keeps telling me I need to "join" or whatever. I think I may be the last person on Earth not to be on it.

If it takes a lot of time to keep updated then I am gonna have to pass. That is why I had to break up with MySpace. So tell me what you think about it if you...Facebook, or if you are a member, or whatever the appropriate lingo is.