Christmas 2010

Christmas was both beautiful (white!) and memorable. Memorable for the good and the bad! The good was obvious. Everyone enjoyed safe travels to and from Mom & Dad’s on Christmas Eve and Day.

Dad & Trent share a sweet moment

Erica

Luke, Holly, Brooke & Sophia

Dad reads to Grant

On Christmas Eve, everyone but the Mozingos made it to Mom & Dad’s. The Mozingos spend Christmas Eve with Steve’s dad’s side of the family. The rest of us enjoyed pizza and goodies, several games of Family.

Rachel, Minda & Caleb

Sarah, Mom & Trent

Cameron

Monica, Sarah & Rachel during "Family"

Noah and Jordan

and then on to caroling. This year, we made it to all 3 houses we planned on caroling at. First was the Richards (Mom & Dad’s neighbors). When we kids were teenagers, caroling at the Richards’ was one of our yearly traditions. After the Christmas Eve service, we, along with Steve & Mike Mozingo, headed first to the Potts’ (Mike’s future in-laws), then down to the Richards’. The Richards always celebrate Christmas with Kim’s side of the family on Christmas Eve. We caroled there on Christmas Eve for many years, even after we started getting married and starting our families, and Mike’s Christmas Eves took him to his in-laws. For several years, we didn’t make it down for caroling, but this year we were able to do it! It was fun seeing their family, and how they’ve grown.

Then, it was on to the Noots. This is the 2nd year we’ve caroled for the Noots. Their home was also full, with Mrs. Noot’s side of the family. When we came in singing, her niece said “I’ve never been caroled to … ever!” Moments like that make it all worthwhile! We sang several songs, including “I’ll Be Home For Christmas”, which Mrs. Noot requested. I don’t think the kids knew that one, but they looked cute, watermeloning their way through it. ;-)

From there, Mom & Dad and the Ramseys headed back to make it in time for their Christmas Eve service, while we went on to our friends, the Dennys. The Dennys’ Christmas Eve was a little more low-key, with no extended family when we were there. But Terry & her husband Derek are the parents of 8 kids (20-something down to 11), so they’re a party all by themselves. :-)

From there, we made the snowy drive up to church for our candlelight Christmas Eve service. Our ladies’ madrigal group was scheduled to sing “While By My Sheep”, but since we were missing 2 members (and that’s a lot for an 8-member group), Pastor Mark made a last-minute change and asked Rachel, Courtney & Erica to sing their arrangement of “What Child is This.” They were a little nervous at the last-minute request, but of course did beautifully. The kids were pretty wiped out after all that excitement, so we drove home, had a simple dinner of cereal and they went to bed around 9:30. Mick and I stayed up … correction: Mick stayed up, then woke me up around 11:30 to get the gifts ready. About 45 minutes later, we were done and Mick headed upstairs, while I crashed on the couch with Trent. I blinked and woke up around 6:30 or so. Got things ready – even took a shower! – and woke Mick up, who also took a shower (I think that’s a first for us – not showering, mind you … showering before the kids came down to open presents ;-) After the gift unwrapping, we enjoyed a nice breakfast of scrambled eggs and bacon, hash brown casserole, Glazed Orange Spice Bread, and fresh strawberries – a real splurge this time of the year, but they were delicious!

This year, we were all at Mom & Dad’s on Christmas Day except Chuck & Monica and the boys, who were with Monica’s parents. Each year, we struggle to come up with a good solution for gift opening. It’s difficult with so many kids, but we figure if Mom & Dad spend so much time carefully picking out gifts for the grandkids, they should be able to enjoy watching them open the gifts. Easier said than done! What we ended up doing was having each family sit on a couch to open their gifts. If there were duplicate gifts, those kids would also come over to the couch. It worked out pretty well, so we may keep that tradition next year.

On Sunday, Mick and I drove back down after church, since the Ramseys weren’t leaving until Monday. It was very relaxing and good to spend the extra time with them.

So, I started this post saying that Christmas was both good< and bad. The bad hasn’t been mentioned yet … but we’re still dealing with it. Yes, everyone, except me and Trent, has come down with a particularly nasty cold. It’s so bad that I think it could be influenza. Lots of hacking, sneezing, runny noses, congestion, high fevers, even Pink Eye for Grant & Claire. Since it started a couple of days after Christmas, we had a very low-key New Year’s Eve and Day. It’s almost a week after it started and we’re still in the midst of this. I haven’t wanted to let anyone hold Trent, to try to protect him from it, so I’ve been pretty busy. Everybody looks and sounds pretty pitiful. I’m hoping they get some relief in the next day or so.

Today, I go back to work for the first time since Trent was born. I’m pretty nervous about it – especially since everyone is sick. Thankfully, Mick is still on vacation today. I have no expectations of being gone all day, just long enough to train the 3 new employees.

Making a list, checking it twice ...

or three times ... or four. :-D

I think we're starting to see some progress as we close in on Christmas in just 4 days! (I started typing this on the 21st.) Today, the girls and I spent several hours making goodies; some for us, some for friends. We made a load of Peanut Butter Balls, a double batch of Tiger Butter, 81 Thin Mints (Erica counted :-), 1 1/2-batches of White Chocolate Party Mix and Spiced Pecans. We spent an inordinate amount of time making everything, packaging it up, then cleaning up after ourselves. By then it was about 3:00 and no one had eaten any lunch. However, many had eaten a fair amount of chocolate! ;-) Rachel & I showered, got everybody loaded up and made a run for the border. By the time we did all this, it was 4:35 before we were heading over to Dr. Moon's office to deliver the goodies. While en route (but still very close to Lebanon), I decided to check to see what time their office closed. Turns out it was 4:30! So, I made a U-turn, then headed back in to town to mail our Christmas photo cards. It was actually pretty enjoyable – we were all in good spirits and Grant & Trent both slept!

The rest of the evening was spent eating dinner – yummy Baked French Toast, provided by a kind soul at church – and gift wrapping with Mick while the girls cleaned up from dinner and took turns holding Trent. We probably got at least half of it done! I'm determined to finish before Christmas this year!!

Phew!!

What a weekend! It started out bright and early Saturday morning with a shopping trip. Mick and I (and Trent) took off around 9 am. First stop was church so Mick could help move pews. I stayed in the car and tended to Trent. Then we drove down to Castleton and finished up our Christmas shopping. I spent 2 hours in Jo-Ann's picking up 3 patterns and picking out fabric for those sewing projects for Rachel. It was pretty crowded and very confusing for this novice seamstress. I made about 5 phone calls to Kelly during that shopping trip -- she was an invaluable source of information. I'm going to put all the fabric and materials in a big box and wrap them together. I can't wait to see Rachel's expression -- I think she is going to be very excited! While I was in Jo-Ann's, Mick went to Target and Dick's Sporting Goods to finish up his shopping.

From there, we drove back home, stopping by for a quick lunch on the way. We had made plans to go sledding in the afternoon, so we had asked Rachel to get the snow gear packed up and ready to go. True to her first-born nature, she attacked that mission with much vigor and organization, as is evidenced by these pictures:

How funny is that?! Yep, I would've done the same thing ... separate trash bags, with typed-up contents taped to the sides. ;-)

Heather & Ron were finishing up moving things to their new house, so their girls were at Mom & Dad's. We picked up Holly & Ellie and I dropped everyone off at the famous Maze Road hill and went back to Mom & Dad's with my sidekick.

The sledding only lasted an hour or so, then we ate dinner with Mom & Dad, then drove the girls back to their new house and got a tour. Got home by 10pm!

Today was just as busy ... up at 5:30 to put a roast in the crockpot, and make the communion bread and baked oatmeal. I woke Mick up around 7:45 and he was a tremendous help -- cleaning up the mess I'd made in the kitchen while I bathed the younger girls. After church, we had a nice dinner, topped by our Advent readings and gifts. For this last Sunday in Advent, we gave the girls their own giant Hershey's Special Dark bar. Boy, were they thrilled! During dinner, we got a call from Bob, who was on his way over with Melanie. They hadn't gotten to meet Trent yet, plus they had a Christmas gift for the girls ... a new Wii gameset! Very exciting! Hopefully, we'll get it all hooked up in the next day or so.

Right after they left, we headed back over to church for our annual Lessons & Carols service. Kelly & I sang with the choir and the Ladies Madrigal group (Rachel joined that group), the kids sang "Joy to the World" with a kids' choir, and Rachel, Courtney & Erica sang "What Child is This". They did a great job! Mom & Dad came up and we had nice time afterward visiting and eating goodies. We didn't get home until about 8:45. Trent was a fussbudget, so I quickly got wrapped up taking care of him, while everybody else fended for themselves for dinner. It was cereal for most of them, and judging by the surprise I found after everyone went to bed, it looks like Grant tried to pour his own cereal! :-D I think I fell asleep before anybody else (except for Brooke, who climbed up on the couch by Mick and fell asleep within minutes).

I'm hoping to get lots of baking/candy making done tomorrow. We're pretty well-stocked with ingredients, so we'll see how productive we are. A lot of it depends on Trent and how much he sleeps! We're hoping to deliver some goodies on Tuesday, wrap on Wednesday, then a tea party at the Orrs on Thursday. Fun!

Today was a productive day of preparing for Christmas, thanks to Amazon and their Free Super Saver Shipping! I focused on getting the rest of the gifts for the cousins. Unfortunately with our dialup, it still takes hours, but I'd rather spend the hours here at home, rather than driving through snow and fighting crowds trying to find just the right thing. I still have one more gift to get for Rachel, and 1 more cousin, I think. I also ordered Mom & Dad's gift and a couple of stocking stuffers for Mick. My goal is to get the Christmas shopping completely done by Saturday, then next week, we can hopefully just focus on baking and wrapping gifts.

Next Thursday, we are planning on going to the Orrs for a Christmas tea. Mom wanted to have one while the Ramseys are here, and they'll only be here from Wednesday through Sunday. I'm sure it will be a whirlwind couple of days, as always, but we're looking forward to it! The snow has been pretty amazing this year. I can't remember a December this snowy in recent years. We are hoping to go sledding on the famous Maze Road hill on Saturday. I'm not sure how many pictures I'll be able to get this time, since I have little Trent. We may just spend most of our time in the warm van. :-)

It's strange to have this much time to update the blog. Last night, Trent was awake off and on (mostly on) for most of the evening; most of the day, really. He just couldn't get settled in until very late. Tonight, I put him in the bath with Grant around 9:00. After that, Rachel put him in some snuggly pajamas, and he just quietly drifted off to sleep! Amazing! He's been asleep ever since (it's 11 pm now) and is laying on Mick right now. Too cute. I told Mick if it's because of the bath, I'm going to be giving him a bath every night, rather than the usual once a week. ;-) I'll close with Trent in those snuggly PJs ...

Wrapping it up

So, 2:06 am seems like a good time to wrap up the majority of my Christmas shopping. :-) It's hard to find time and privacy during the day, so, I'll take the night -- er, morning. I'm excited about what I've been able to find for everyone, mostly at Amazon.com. I took full advantage of their Free Super Saver Shipping and saved about $20 in S&H costs. So far, I've only gone shopping one time. Last Friday, I had my 6-week checkup, got some lunch, then went to several stores with Trent (aka "My Sidekick"). He slept beautifully from the time I got into the doctor's office, until about the 3rd store, which amounted to about 4 hours. Then he was awake...and hungry...and unhappy. And since pushing a large shopping cart while holding a crying 6-week-old is not the easiest, or most fun activity, I vowed to do as much shopping as I could online. I don't know that it's the most economical alternative, but this year, I really think it's the best.

Other than the online shopping, today was a pretty quiet day ("quiet" being a relative term, of course). Some friends were going to drop off their 2 girls while they went to a Christmas party, but one ended up not feeling well. We were disappointed, but the good thing was, we got the house cleaned up in record time, and just before we got the call saying they weren't coming over. ;-)

My sidekick has just woken up and decided now is a good time for a late-night snack. Guess he wants to celebrate the shopping wrap-up, too. ;-)

Our surprise, distinguished guest ...

We had an unexpected guest move in today ...

How funny is this?!! A Jane Austen action figure!! She comes complete with a quill pen, a writing desk, and what appears to be an original (and, I'm sure, signed) publication of "Pride and Prejudice"! Too funny!

The mysterious package was delivered by our postman and was addressed to "The Worley Girls". There was no return address, although it was surely a dear friend who knows how much Jane Austen fever that has currently gripped this household! Even our 4yo will sit through the 2-hr. Keira Knightley of "P&P", the 4-hr BBC "Emma" and most of the 6-hr BBC "P&P", which we just borrowed from the library yesterday.

I won't go into the details of the mania, but we have all noticed lately that 95% of our dinner conversations revolve around the author, characters, plots, scripts, costumes, etc. We're dragging Mick along through all of this. Grant is blissfully unaware at this point, but I have a feeling he will be growing up with an unusual appreciation for all things Jane Austen. :-D

For those who may be concerned that we're feminizing Grant too much, no worries. Right after I took the last picture of him, he threw the doll at Claire!

:-D

As you can see, there's lots of excitement about our new houseguest. I have a feeling she's not going to be getting a moment's rest for some time! In fact, within the first half hour, she already been given a wardrobe update. It seems her lovely early 19th century gown had been covered by a Barbie outfit! Horrors! It was a most unforgiveable crime, perpetrated by one of the younger ones, who hasn't developed a mature fashion sense yet.

I couldn't make up a story this silly ...

So, I got up at 7:00 this morning intending to get my morning 30-minute walk in earlier than our usual 9:30 or 10:00 we'd been hitting lately.  It's supposed to be 95 degrees with high humidity today, so I wanted to get an early start. 

I stepped out onto the back porch to check the temperature to see if it was as cool as I'd hoped.  It was, so I decided to wake up the girls who would probably want to go with me.  I turned around to head back in and realized I'd accidentally locked myself out!  I immediately checked all the other outside doors, but they were locked, too.  Then I started visually checking the windows, but they all looked locked.  I then made a brief mental note to stop procrastinating and get a spare key hidden somewhere outside!  Reluctantly, I tried the doorbell once.  I figured that with my luck, Grant (2yo and in a crib) would be the only one to hear the doorbell.  I waited, but couldn't hear any noises.  So, I tried the doorbell 3 more times, waiting and listening after each attempt.  Nothing.  In attempt to keep the kids from waking each other up, we have fans running in each room, and I'm sure the fans were doing their jobs and muffling the sound of the doorbell.  Maybe if I would have tried to open a bar of Hershey's Special Dark, they would've come running.  Hindsight is 20/20.  :-D

So, I stood there for a few minutes and considered my options, and came up with nothing.  Then, for some reason, I got to looking at the kitchen windows again, and thought it looked like one of them might be unlocked.  I inspected it more closely, and lo and behold, it was!  So, good news/bad news.  The good news was, the kitchen window was unlocked!  The bad news was, it's the smallest window, and is about shoulder-height from outside!  I was really wishing I could get into the garage to get a ladder, but the garage was locked, too.  So, I got a porch chair and tried that.  From that height, I could lean into the window, but could not shimmy myself up.  Remember:  I am 7 months pregnant (and, it goes without saying, barefoot ;-)! 

It was momentarily defeating to think I was this close to getting back in, but couldn't!  I even thought about yelling up to the girls, but wanted to exhaust all my other options before resorting to that.  I thought if I was just a little higher up, I could get myself through that window.  I looked around again and thought of the 2 ladders in the garage.  Then, I had a lightbulb moment!!  The pool ladder!!  So, I hoisted it out of the pool and it was the perfect height to get through the window.  Just before I climbed in (which makes it sound like I did it so effortlessly and gracefully ;-) I noticed how dirty the outside window sill was.  I was wearing white pants and a white striped shirt, but since I was just outside the kitchen sink, I was able to reach in and grab a washcloth and wipe the sill off.  (Martha Stewart would be proud.)  Then, I was able to get in through the window up to my hips -- but I kind of got stuck; I think I completely filled the window.  At this point, I was absolutely sure someone would drive by and call 911 to report a suspicious pregnant woman trying to break into a house!  :-D   (No one ever drove by throughout this ordeal!!  That's how remote we are!!)  So, how could I get the rest of myself through that tiny window?  I ended up having to rotate myself onto my back and scoot myself through until I could get onto the counter.  And thankfully, again -- since I was right over the kitchen sink and sitting on the counter, I was even able to rinse off my dirty feet!

After all that exertion, who needed a walk??!!