New Header

The new header on my blog is a white rose...to symbolize the wonderful hope and optimism that is the new year!

Traditions

Strangely enough, in spite of the fact that we have very few Christmas traditions set in stone, we have very specific New Year's traditions that we follow every single year. Several years ago, we developed new friendships here in the town in which we live...parents of our kids' friends mostly. We all wanted to celebrate the New Year, but we all had our own traditional New Year's eve plans that none of us wanted to give up. We decided to get together on New Year's eve eve (December 30) and a new tradition was born! We hosted last night, and even our friends who moved away last summer were home again for the holiday! Tonight we get to spend New Year's eve with our dear, dear friends. We hosted last year, and this year our youngest son's Godfather volunteered to host. We are so looking forward to seeing everyone! And tomorrow, etched in stone, is the fact that I sit on the couch and do nothing at all while watching football ALL DAY. I am so looking forward to all of this. Happy New Year!

Chrismas break

It's hard to believe that Christmas break is winding up here. We still have today and tomorrow and then of course the weekend. I guess I'm ready to get back at it, but it's been a nice break. Sunday we had the extended family Christmas at my parents, and as always, I loved getting to see my cousins and the little ones. Monday we had breakfast with my in-laws before they drove home and then we did some shopping of our own. I was surprised how many people had the same thought, both about eating and shopping! That afternoon JC spent with a friend, then that same friend spent the night here that night. Tuesday was spent getting the house ready for guys' poker night. I had originally planned to take the kids up to the lake, but felt lousy so we stayed home. Yesterday was a totally unscheduled day and today we are getting ready to host friends over this evening so cleaning/picking up is happening again. Tomorrow we'll be venturing out for New Year's eve at a friend's house, then Saturday is one of my favorite days of the year...college football ALL DAY! Sunday will find us getting ready to get back to school and all of the responsibilities that come with life. In the meantime, we are enjoying some quiet time!

The day after

Yesterday was an absolutely wonderful Christmas. I had hoped to get on and write last evening, but the one downside to hosting a meal for 13 people is the exhaustion that hits in the evening. We had the five of us, my in-laws, my parents and sister, my grandmother, aunt & cousin. I think the kids would tell you that Santa brought nearly everything they wanted, and the few things that he didn't bring were filled in among the other gifts they received, in addition to magical things they didn't even know they wanted. It was really a wonderful, wonderful day, and I hope that everyone out there had as special a day as we did!

Excitement is building!

The kids are really, really getting excited about tomorrow! It's fun to watch them and listen to them talk about what they hope Santa will bring them. I'm not sure our oldest still really believes, but I think he's wanting to believe to hold onto the magic for another year. Normally today would be spent at my parents, but it's a quiet day at home just the five of us. Tomorrow will be our big meal with twelve of us all together. My wonderful husband and I are finishing up some cleaning and he's doing some cooking prep to make tomorrow easier, but all in all we are having a relaxing day. Merry Christmas!

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!