21 December 2007

I just wanted to quickly drop in and post these pics of Dallas. I finally got them off my phone, so here they are!!

I took these on our City of Lights walk. I have one for each member of the Holy Family.

Dallas wanted to go outside, but we'd just had an ice storm so I liet him have an icecicle instead;)


Excited by all the papers, boxes and decorating, Dallas decided to take matters into his own hands and decorate himself in a gingerbread box.

20 December 2007

Christmas Tag
Because traditions are important, we decided that Josh should also include his family’s traditions, to show how we’ve combined and changed things around. So we’ll start off with his:
-Visiting Grandparents Christmas Eve, and opening the gifts their gifts.
-Looking forward to Dad coming home (he was and still is a long-haul truck driver)
-Picking out gifts for everyone (there was just the two of us kids and mom and dad)
Now for mine:
-Watching and waiting for Santa, falling asleep before he arrived nearly every time
-Picking out and setting up the real tree, lights put on by Brad (being the pickiest) and ornaments arranged by all
-Singing carols accompanied by Melinda or Wes on the piano
-Putting up lights on the house
-Caroling to the neighbors on Christmas Eve
-Helping Mom set out all of her decorations
-Guessing what could possibly be in the biggest package under the tree
-Trying to pick out our Christmas Pjs, and never getting it right
-Reading Christmas stories by the light of the tree
-Tacking up the newly-arrived cards all over the entryway
-Winding Rudolph’s nose…just once
-Gingerbread houses
-Making candy, cookies, and yummy foods
-Eating with as much family as can get there for a Christmas lunch at Grandma’s
Of all the things I remember about Christmas, I probably best recall all the laughter, the excitement, and the not-so-subtle efforts at trying to get whoever had your name to tell you what you were getting, and failing. I remember the feeling of coming home everyday, and the difference it made to just walk in the door. At Christmas the feeling was particularly strong, but it was always there, just the same.
Our combined and mixed-up traditions now are:
-Decorating the tree together
-Listening to the most annoying Redneck Christmas songs we can find
-I make candy, Josh and Dallas eat it
-Gingerbread houses
-Going to Grandma and Grandpa McDonald’s house for Christmas Eve, and opening their gifts
-Christmas stories
-Watching all our Christmas movies
-Eggnog…..mmmmmmmmmmm
Although we’ve already set some of traditions in stone, some are ones we just haven’t managed to implement yet (ie. Christmas lights on the house). We’re hoping to add to our traditions, just like we want to add to our family. But whether our traditions stay the same, or change with each passing year, we will always keep the meaning close in our hearts, and the love we have for each other and our family will always be a tangible presence in our home.
Merry Christmas, everyone!

Well, there's the good news and then there's the bad news. The good news is that our ice storms are over and we didn't lose power for more than an hour all told. We also have warmer weather this week. The bad news is that we have another storm on the way, after Christmas, and I'll have to figure out a way to keep Dallas busy while we're cooped up in the house again. So far we've manage to keep him occupied by giving him new things to play with and do. One day I gave him a big bucket and he climbed in it, and promptly fell out and smacked his head. Another time, when Josh was home, we rigged up a slide with a clear sheet of plastic with each of us at an end, me holding it down and Josh lifting when Dallas ran to his end. After we realized we couldn't keep up with his energy and desire to slide a lot, we hooked a folding table over the back of a couch and he climbed up and slid on his own. We also found Josh's old cars from when he was little, and Dallas has had a lot of fun scattering them all over the house and returning them the box several times a day.

I have discovered the price if Dallas gets too bored: a few days ago he tried pulling ornaments off the tree and ended up on the floor with the tree on top of him. So we moved it, but it doesn't stop him from trying to get to it anyway. His favorite ornaments are the little gold ones that can be engraved for special "firsts", we put them on the bottom because Dallas can't really hurt them and Josh has about ten of them. By far, though, Dallas and Josh enjoy my Christmas candy efforts the best; Josh likes the cheese crunchers, and Dallas loves the buttercream mints.