Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from my family to yours!

My amazing niece and nephew with me on the last seat of the train at the zoo.

My talented niece and nephew with my wonderful mom on Christmas Eve.

Thanksgiving Break 2014 and Toys for Tots 5K

We had a great Thanksgiving Break.  I have had this feeling that keeps me thinking . . . what if this is our last Thanksgiving with Mom.  Tomorrow isn't promised, and we have no idea what a year will bring, so I have decided to live up each holiday, moment, etc.  This may all be made up in my mind, but it is still a feeling/thought I have.

We went to spend several days with my niece, nephew, brother, and sister-in-law.

On Tuesday, after we arrived, we enjoyed a great dinner and went shopping for all the groceries needed for our Thanksgiving lunch.  We also picked up the last of the Science Fair project materials.

On Wednesday, we decided we weren't going anywhere until both Science Fair projects were completed.  Both needed to do the experiment portion, but they had the majority of the write-up finished.  By the time we left for lunch, they had done their experiments, finished their typing, and printed off their pages to put on their boards.  We then went to lunch and ran several errands and picked up a few Christmas gifts.  We also picked up the turkey, ham, dressing, gravy, cranberry sauce, and rolls, which we ordered from Luby's.  We find ordering the larger pieces makes things so much easier.  We ended our day with my niece making two pie crusts almost from scratch and then the two pie fillings.  My niece loves to bake, and I love to watch and help.  This time, I helped, but Mom helped even more.  I loved watching the two of them.  My niece loves Pumpkin Pudding Pie, which she learned in 1st grade from her teacher when they made it in class.  She also tried Pioneer Woman's Chocolate Pie, but in the end, it did not turn out.  We will try it again another day.

The kids did a great job helping to cook Thanksgiving lunch.  I realized days later that I never took any Thanksgiving Day pics.  Here is one of my nephew with the green bean casserole that he made.

On Friday morning, our first task was to go to Walmart to get the pics I had printed.  We needed them for their Science Fair projects.

Here is their finished work:

On Friday evening, my nephew was to volunteer with his Young Marine group to put out chairs, usher, and pick-up chairs at the San Antonio's Holiday River Parade & Lighting Ceremony.  My brother signed up my niece, Mom, and me to help.  This got us free lunch from a food truck, free viewing of the parade, and free dinner.  They will also get to attend a dinner in a few weeks put on from the sponsored for their gratitude toward volunteers.  While we worked hard to set-up hundreds of chairs, it was great helping people, meeting new people, and watching the parade.  It was a fun evening!

 These are just a few of the parade pics.

One of my favorite scenes was looking over to see Mom and my niece watching the parade together.  My niece had the program and was reading about the floats/companies as they entered our viewing area.

This morning, we woke up and got dressed as fast as possible to be at the Toys for Tots 5K by 8:00.  We made it just after 8.  Whew!  My nephew and his Young Marines group led the opening ceremony with the flags and National Anthem.  They also helped with the water station.  My niece agreed to do the Fun Run with me.  Yea!  It wound up being a 4K, and there were no more than 25 runners/walkers.  It was the weirdest thing I've ever experienced.  All the 5Ks I've done have had thousands of people.  This one had 25 max!  We were the only walkers, so we only did one of the two laps. I hated the thought of everyone being finished and us still out there.  My niece was great, seemed to enjoy it, and was happy to stop after one lap.  My niece and nephew have both agreed to do a Color Run with me at some point.

We celebrated at Starbucks with Frappuccino and Hot Chocolate.

It was a great break, and I absolutely hated leaving.

No Signs of Christmas

Today, after returning from my niece and nephew's, I immediately began putting away the Christmas decorations.  In about an hour, everything was put away and ready for next year.

How long do you keep your Christmas decorations out? 

Mom, who is very superstitious, believes everything must be down by January 1st.  We normally get it down by the 30th or 31st.  I had the energy and the time and I knew we were going to start painting, so we just got it all done quickly.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas, everyone!

We had a good day together.

I don't think children are ever too old for playing with boxes. Ha ha!  My niece was obsessed with this box and sat it quite a bit when we watched movies.

Look at these sweet, sweet, amazing gifts I got from my niece and nephew!

Gosh, I love those two!

Christmas Eve

How did you spend Christmas Eve?

My entire life, we went to Granny and Grandpa's house, had sandwiches, chips/dips, and pie, and opened presents.  Most years, my aunt, uncle, and cousins were there too.  The last few years, we may have opened presents with cousins a different day, but we always went to Granny's on Christmas Eve.  Last year and maybe the year before, we brought her to our house, but we still ate and opened presents.

This year, Mom and I went to my brother and sister-in-law's house.  We had our Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve.

My niece wanted a new comforter, so we bought a plain white one for her to paint.  She did various designs in the squares, and the flowers all glow-in-the-dark. (Sorry the pic isn't better.)

Since we didn't think that was a "guy" thing to do, my nephew got a t-shirt to paint.  He has his own logo and did a great job.

Annual Christmas Pageant

The annual Children's Christmas Pageant was postponed due to the ice we had several weeks ago, and it was rescheduled for today.  I'm glad b/c I wasn't going to get to see it when it was originally scheduled.

The children reenact and tell the Christmas story, and they do such a great job.  Throughout the story, we sing Christmas Carols, which I love. My BFF's children were adorable.

The thing that makes me sad is thinking about my niece and nephew not having the opportunity to experience a children's or youth group and being able to perform in programs like this.

Secret Santa

I LOVE participating in Secret Santa!

I just realized that I didn't take pictures of any of my Secret Santa gifts.  This year, as we gave our gifts, we were to put a clue about ourselves.  I did a terrible job with the clues about myself.  I loved the clues the person giving to me wrote, and she kept me guessing all week.  I had no idea who it was right up to the unveiling.

Each day, she gave me a glittery ball ornament with a clear, glass ornament filled with "snow" and made to look like a snowman head wearing earmuffs. Throughout the week, I got 2 bottles of Coke Zero, a package of cashews, hot chocolate, candy jar with candy canes, a snowman coin purse, two snowman kitchen towels, Taco Bueno gift card, breakfast burrito/orange juice, and more.  Great gift ideas!

I gave my person a family picture frame, Christmas ornament that holds a picture, Christmas socks, necklace with earrings in our school colors, kitchen Christmas hot pads and towel, Santa salt/pepper shakers, creamer shaped like Santa, stacking mugs to look like Santa, her favorite drink from Sonic, kettle corn for the microwave, glittery cup with lid/straw filled with chocolate, bag of notepads and colored pens, and chips/salsa and a gift card from a Mexican food restaurant.
In turn, she gave me a Sonic gift card and two flameless candles.

Christmas Tree

How do you decorate your Christmas Tree? Is yours huge, small, sitting on a table, in front of a door/window?

This particular tree was bought for $10 after Christmas many years ago.  At the time, we thought it was about 7 feet tall and full.  What we learned the next Christmas was that it is just shy of 6 feet and fairly skinny.  Oh, well!  We have used it and loved it ever since.

My parents have blue glass ornaments that they have used since they got married.  When we use those ornaments, I prefer white lights and silver tinsel.  If we use all the various ornaments collected over the years, I prefer to use multi-colored lights and gold tinsel.

You might notice we have a star on top, but it is not lit.  It is silver, to go with the tinsel, but it has multi-colored lights, so I didn't plug it in.  We need to get a silver star with white lights.

Even when we choose the blue ornaments with white lights and silver tinsel, we choose a few special ornaments to add to the tree.

We used to put it in the formal living room in front of the window, but the last few years, we have put it in the den/living room in front of the back door.

Christmas Paintings

I love to paint.  I considered doing paintings for Christmas gifts this year, so I started with these two.  While they look OK, I was too nervous about giving them as a gift, so I just hung them on the wall in my living room.

Doll House Christmas Tree

When I was in the 1st grade, I got the Chicken Pox the last day before Christmas Break, and I had to go home early.  Of course, I stayed with Granny and Grandpa until Mom and Dad got off work.  We also stayed there while they were at work or finishing up Christmas shopping.  I didn't realize it then, but my Christmas present had to be moved and hidden in the garage. My grandparents made me a doll house.  They built it, decorated it, and filled it with some store bought items and some homemade items.  It was amazing!  I wish I could find a picture of it.  Any way, one room in the 3rd story had a Christmas Tree. 

I decided that my niece, who has her Barbie house readily available again, needed a tree, so I took her a tree and all kinds of little things that could be ornaments.  This is what she created.  Simple and beautiful!

Holiday Ceramics

Each year, we do some sort of craft.  This year, my sister-in-law got ceramic things that light up or are banks.  My niece, nephew, and I painted these the Saturday after Thanksgiving. The paint brush was too big and weird to do these justice.

Nativity

Growing up, we always had a Nativity.  It was the one my mom got her Freshman year of college to put in her dorm room.  She has put it out every year until this one.  This year, we brought Granny's to our house.  Granny painted every piece, and Grandpa built the barn for it.  (I am not sure why she never fired the pieces.) It has always been so special to me.

 

Mary, Joseph, baby Jesus, Wise Men, donkey, sheep, and angel

 

Shepards

 

Camels

Gingerbread Creations

We don't always make gingerbread houses, but we did this year.  I have the privilege of making them with my niece and nephew the Saturday after Thanksgiving.  She created the house, and he created the train.  Pretty good if I do say so myself.

Family Christmas Tree

Many years ago, my aunt gave Granny a lit Christmas Tree on a 2' x 4' that had a large star that said, "My Great Grandkids," and had 5 red ornaments, each with a great grandchild's name.  We didn't know what to do with it, so we repainted the star to remove the words.  We then repainted the ornaments, and put my name and the names of my brother, sister-in-law, niece, and nephew.  She even found 4 little starts that I painted yellow and we wrote the names of all the pets--our 1 and their 3.

Talking Santa

Every year, we went to Granny's on Christmas Eve.  She had a talking Santa hanging on her front door, and it would talk/sing all night.  Finally, someone would have enough and go take the batteries out.  Mom decided to hang ours up this year, and after a few minutes, we took the batteries out and hung it on a different door.

Christmas Cards

When I was in Kindergarten, my Brownie Girl Scout troop made Christmas card holders, and it is one of my favorite things to hand each year.  It has 3 ribbons, and each ribbon has 3 clothes pins.  We hang all the Christmas cards we receive from the pins, and we normally have quite a few cards on each one.  I even had my Girl Scout troop make one several years ago b/c it is such a vivid Girl Scout memory for me.

(Excuse the GS calendar behind it.)

Christmas Scenes

Granny collected all kinds of little houses, people, trees, benches, and so much more.  She had them on her mantel, hearth, in front of the fireplace, and on the other table top like surfaces of her living room. We have not had those types of things at our house.  This year, Mom decided she wanted a scene or two on our piano.  This is what we created.  It is even lit, which is a first for each of the pieces.

Church and Wise Men

Ever since I was little, we have put out these wise men and this church.  We always set them up so that the wise men are walking to the church.  I have no idea why.  The wise men are actually candle holders, but they have never held candles.  This is the first year we have ever put a light in the church.  Usually, these items are on the mantel or heart, but this year, we put them on the piano stool.

Holiday Boots

When I was little, Granny was really into ceramics.  I think she even took a class, and Mom even joined her at times.  Mom made these two boots one year, and we put them out every year at Christmas.  Sometimes, they sit under the tree.  Other times, they sit on the hearth.

Advent Memories

My second favorite thing to decorate with during the holidays is our Advent Calendar, also made by Granny.

The whole thing is made of felt.  The tree is trimmed with sequins.  Each of the 24 pockets has the date sequined on it.  There are 24 different ornaments, all sequined by hand.  There is an angel, as you see, a star, various shaped ornaments, a drum, gingerbread man, toy car, and more.  The Santa head goes in 24 every time.  Once we get all of the ornaments pinned on, I will post again to show you the completed tree.

On December 13th, I had a Girl Scout catch up. This is how she decorated it.