The Year of Thomas and Peace

Apparently this Christmas will forever been known as the year of Thomas the Train and Peace signs. If there is anything with Thomas the train on it that we don't own at this point I would be very surprised. We have Thomas books, Thomas DVD's, Thomas underwear, Thomas shirts, Thomas pants, Thomas pajamas, a Thomas jacket, 3 different Thomas trains, a Thomas train table, a Thomas pillow, the list goes on...Zach is a full fledged Thomas fanatic.

Then there is my funky style, peace sign loving, Abby. If it has a peace sign on it she loves it. She has definitely developed her own sense of style: a little funky but very girlie. She wears a mixture of several different bracelet styles on each wrist, loves to layer a short sleeve, peace sign tee shirt over a long one, and of course, the jeans must have peace signs on them. She is currently pining away for a fancy pair of sneakers that are pink, glittery and has what else but peace signs all over them.  If you look closely you will be able to see peace signs on the pink jammies she has on in the picture to the right!

Then there is Molly. Molly has fallen in love with the Care Bears.  Bethanie can be credited with introducing Molly to the Bears. She arrived on the scene with 3 in tow and ever since Molly as secretly, and no so secretly, coveted them.  The look on her face when she opened her Bedtime Bear from Nana was priceless. She was completely surprised and totally smitten.  Her collection includes a computer game, a movie and several coloring books. She has already added Sunshine Bear to her wish list for her birthday, which is in 3 weeks.  This is a very bright child. As soon as Christmas was over she quickly remember her birthday is coming up quickly and began to put in her requests!

Sweet Bethanie has found hours of enjoyment with Polly Pockets. I really knew she would. She loves to play with Barbies and I had a feeling she would love these as well. Nana gave her a Polly Pocket doll house that she has provided her with endless entertainment.  I hope to be able to continue to add to her Polly collection, as it really is right up her ally. Bethanie is, of all the girls, our most "girlie", from the way she plays to the dainty way she walks. She is our princess.

Seems these children are starting to find their individual identities. It is a pleasure to watch them discover the things that make them happy. It is also quite enjoyable to watch how different they all are and for them to learn to embrace those differences, as we do.

Our Christmas Weekend

Whew. What a whirlwind few days. I can hardly believe it is all over or that I have already been off from work for four days. Thankfully my boss was kind enough to give me one more day. Then I only have to work 3 before I get another long weekend.

We had a great few days. We are fortunate to be able to stay home, since we are the ones with the young kids. My Mom and brother came over Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. My Dad and Stepmom came down on Christmas Day. Then Ed's Dad and his girlfriend and Ed's sister and her son came and spent Saturday with us. His sister and son spent the night Saturday night and we had a great time with a Wii tournament.

On Sunday we visited Ed's 90 year old Grandmother who still lives in her house in Charleston. I also took down all our Christmas decorations and tried to get my house as back to normal as possible. I have given up and now realize my living room will be owned by my kids toys. At least for a few more years. Up until now I have done a pretty good job of keeping toys in their rooms. However, now that Ed stays home with the kids and they are here all day most days, I suppose I can't expect them to only play in their room. So I have a nice straw basket we have placed in one corner, currently overflowing with toys. Santa also brought Zach a big Tonka road map rug to play with his cars on that has been placed in that corner. Add in the Wii and Wii fit and I have thrown in the towel of my house looking like it belongs to any adults. I guess I am now "living" in my living room...there are worse things in life!

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas with your family and friends. Just 363 more days and we get to do it all over again! Time to start shopping...

My Tree of Many Colors

When I first moved out on my own my Christmas Tree was a source of great pride to me. It was color coordinated all gold and garnet, had a distinct angelic theme and was my baby. I bought decorations in my "theme" all year long, bows, angels, balls, ribbon, flowers, etc. I took my time putting my tree together, everything lovingly and methodically placed just where it should go, evenly spaced around and throughout the tree. Oh, and WHITE lights...no colored stuff for me, oh no...It was a work of art.



I was so excited the first year my husband helped me decorate the tree. We had been dating just about a year (we met at a New Year's Eve party) and I pictured Christmas Carols playing in the background, hot cocoa and us lovingly laughing and enjoying our first tree together. I guess I forgot how anal I can be, how set in my ways I had become, how much I enjoyed my tree being "perfect". It was a nightmare. I remember holding my breath and gritting my teeth as he clumped angels together, put large decorations up high and just haphazardly decorated. THEN, he brings me a "gift" for the tree: icicles...you know the strands of silver tinsel that you just "throw" on the tree? I lost it...I think I actually left the room before he could see the tears in my eyes...I know, obsess much?  When he left on Monday morning to go back home (he lived an hour and a half away) I spent all Monday evening redoing the tree, he never knew. 

Fast forward to 2009. I am a Mom, married to my icicle loving, colored light demanding, amazing husband. As I put our branches on our tree (yes, fake all the way) and diligently placed the colored lights inside and outside of each level I reflected on how far I have come. My tree still has a few of my special angels, a couple of my garnet and gold balls and maybe a flower or two, but mostly it is covered in love. I have handmade ornaments that Abby has made through the years. There are pictures of the kids from Christmases past, 1st Christmas ornaments for my 3 kids, balls from trips we've taken as a family, Cocky ornaments, Mickey Mouse, Barbie and Disney Princess ornaments. I think it took less time to decorate it than it used to take me to just put the bows in place. 


I have never loved a tree more. I sat back and watched Abby, Molly and Zach pull each ornament out of the box and "ooo" and "ahhh" over them as if they were made of gold. I treasure each handmade ornament as if it were Waterford Crystal. When I look at my Christmas Tree now, I see love. I see almost 9 years of marriage, 3 children and a lifetime of memories. I see a work of heart.


I see in our Christmas Tree what this time of year is really all about: Love.