The OTHER twelve days of Christmas

I've written before about my youngest son's obsession with farm equipment. We've never entirely understood where this came from since we couldn't possibly have a smaller lot more in town if we tried. Granted, we live in a farming community, but we don't have any connections ourselves. However, going back to my great-grandparents, I come from a long line of farmers on both sides of my family, so I'm happy to reinforce my little guy's obsession. The other evening we were sitting down talking about Christmas and humming a few songs. My little guy (with help from Dad and I) decided to rewrite the 12 Days of Christmas.

On the first day of Christmas, Moline* gave to me, a John Deere plow in a tree.

And on it goes, until we had a complete list:
12 family farms
11 earthmovers
10 green golf carts
9 John Deere gators
8 farm wagons
7 green hat farmers
6 corn threshers
5 GREEN TRACTORS
4 hay bailers
3 riding mowers
2 green combines
and a John Deere plow in a tree.

It's been very entertaining!

*FYI - Moline, IL is the home to John Deere headquarters

The definition of classic

We were sitting at the dinner table Tuesday evening. The kids were very, very excited as it was the last day of school before the break. They had mostly watched movies and had a pretty laid back day at school. They were discussing some of the things they wanted to do while they had all these unscheduled days at home. My husband asked if they had ever seen the movie "Miracle on 34th Street." I said I didn't think they had. My husband stated, "They need to see that movie. It's a classic." HT was sitting beside his dad at dinner, slowly turned to him, and said (in a somewhat irritated tone), "DAD, classic means OLD!" I had to laugh pretty hard at that...I love the perspective of children!

They are going to drive me insane

I am happy, happy beyond words, to report that there was indeed school yesterday. Nothing major happened here as far as the weather. And it's a good thing too, because today, their very first day of winter break, I am absolutely ready to come unglued on them. I have informed them that we are not spending the next 12 days with the TV on, so they need to go find something to do. In spite of the closet full of games and puzzles and shelves upon shelves of books, all they can manage to find to entertain themselves is CHAOS. They are running around upstairs like a herd of elephants and making more noise than I thought a small number of children could possibly make. My, oh my! I don't know what else to say...I'm just going to try to hide out here at my computer for awhile.

One more day?

There is supposed to be one more day until the kids are officially on their Christmas break. Given the weather forecast for tonight and tomorrow, we'll see how this works out. To be on the safe side, my wonderful husband and I ventured out today to finish up our shopping for the kids. Stunningly, we were not the only people out and about at the stores (sense the sarcasm). We really didn't have much to finish though, and I'm so glad it's done! Now I can start wrapping after the kids go to bed each evening. The best part of my day was after the shopping, when we ate lunch at my favorite steakhouse. What a great Christmas present to me!

Grandma is home

My grandmother (who had her hip replaced two weeks ago) has been able to return to her home. She is doing amazingly well...I just can't believe that she is going to turn 80 in about two weeks. She's an amazing woman and I'm so blessed to have her in my life. She's got good genes...strong German farmers... and I know exactly which side of the family my Dad gets his traits from. Those are the same traits that have been passed on to me. I just hope that someday I can be half the person my Grandma and Dad have shown me how to be.

Getting excited

I am really starting to look forward to the Christmas holiday! Not that I wasn't already, but it looks as though we will be hosting our first big holiday this year. Because of the fact that we have family and traveling is involved, we've never had a set tradition about when we celebrate with whom. And because there is still so much of my extended family, Christmas celebrating often ends up lasting at least a week. This year, my in-laws are planning to be here again on Christmas Day. In years past, my parents have hosted a meal for various family and friends who would otherwise be alone that day. However, some circumstances with my parents made that a more difficult situation this year. Yesterday, I mentioned to my mom that I would really enjoy it if she and Dad, and whomever in the family wishes, would join us at our house on Christmas Day for a big meal. She is very excited about this! So it appears as though we will have my in-laws, my parents, and my aunt definitely here, along with possibly my grandmother, sister, and a cousin. I'm really looking forward to being able to use my Christmas dishes! I'm so looking forward to such a special day!

Another snow day

Everyone was home today. I was amazed how much the kids slept in, so I'm very grateful they were able to do so. My husband hadn't been feeling well at all, so it was also nice for him to be able to sleep in as well. We really haven't done anything exciting. The kids played outside for a couple of hours and came in to enjoy some hot chocolate. I've been working on finishing my Christmas cards and wrapping gifts. I think everyone will be back in tomorrow, even if it's a delayed start. Tomorrow is the last day for my husband before he's off for two weeks for Christmas. Can't believe it's the middle of December...where has the year gone?