All I Want For Christmas Is a Photograph...

Maybe I'll just let these pictures speak for themselves...(probably I won't though...I always have something to say)

One is either missing...

not looking...

getting the heck out of dodge...

singing...

or any number of miscellaneous, non-picture-taking activities.

Feel free to name the following photo...I would love it.

"Uh...Where do I go for a picture?"

Whoops!

Can I blame it on the hot chocolate?!

This Moment of Peace Brought To You By...

Hot Chocolate.

Does the trick every time.

Hot chocolate with no shirt on...he couldn't decide if he were hot or cold. 

Okay, the more I look at and read the last part of that sentence, the more wrong it seems, but I looked it up and had myself convinced that it is actually grammatically correct.  And I was an English major!

Anyway, the two older kids have been pretty squabbly lately, so I was happy that some warm milk mixed with cocoa and a bit of sugar (also a drop of vanilla) had them relatively peacable and content for a few minutes this afternoon. 

I won't comment on other parts of the month day...

"Oh, Christmas Tree, Oh, Christmas Tree"...WHERE ARE YOU?!

We set out on our quest to find the perfect Christmas tree for our family this year on Friday, December 11, 2009.  We had no idea all that this journey would hold for us, the adventures on which we would embark, the discoveries that we would make.

Well, it probably wasn't quite that dramatic, but it did take a little longer than any of us anticipated!  Here is our story, in pictures and a few words...

We began at Home Depot...and the kids were just as excited about the horses and carriages that were using the parking lot as a home base as they were about getting a Christmas tree.

Once we entered the tree yard, it was hard to tell what these trees were really like.  They were either wrapped up in twine, or lying down on their sides.

How about this one?

Well...maybe we'll look for one a little bigger than that!

Aaand of course someone has to go potty...any guesses as to who?

(Sorry about the blur...I was trying to figure out the best setting on which to take pictures since it was dark and had passed the camera over to Mike.  It's not his fault.)

We decided that we would check out Lowe's across the street.

So, on to place number two.  They have "Fresh-Cut Christmas Trees"...that's promising!

They were fine, but a little on the small side, so we decided to check out one more place that a friend had told us about.

It was very dark by now, and dinner time.  We were driving separately (I had already loaded the kids up in the van, and Mike drove into our driveway and said,"The truck makes sense for a Christmas tree."  So we drove two vehicles.) and when I pulled into the parking lot of this third location, Mike walked over to the car and I rolled down the window.  "You guys...this is the place we want to buy our tree!" he said.  He paused and then continued,"But it's closed."  I think we all groaned.  We decided to go out to eat dinner, then head home, and then try again in the morning.

It was actually after noon by the time we headed out.

This time we left all together.  This is what Eliana thought about riding in Daddy's truck.

It is a pretty sweet ride.

Our destination...a nursery, and we thought we had hit the jackpot.  What we discovered, however, was that we needed to actually hit the jackpot in order to buy a tree here.  The lowest price we saw was $199, and the highest we saw was $695.  They probably had trees higher than that, but we stopped looking.

Eliana was so sure that this little guy was coming home with her.   She said,"This mine!"  She says that a lot these days.  I tell you what, she has the two-year-old thing down pat!

"Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference."

I couldn't resist.

All right.  We decided soon enough that this was not the place for us to get our tree.  We got back on the road without any real clue where we were headed, and told the kids to look for trees.  As we immediately passed several trees in yards and along the side of the road, you know, actually growing in their spots, Christian of course said,"Tree...tree...tree...tree...tree..."  We clarified.  "Christmas trees for sale."

Finally we saw a giant blown-up snowman (and when I say giant, think along the lines of Macy's Day Parade floats) next to a crane holding two fir trees up in the air.  I thought that looked like it might be a place where we could find some Christmas trees!  (Yes, that's me-Sherlock Holmes.)

This Christmas tree search was proving to be exhausting.

But we forged on.

Here was a beautiful tree...

Let's check the tag...

Well...that is a bit high for the Walkers. 

But wait!  What is that I hear?  Such heavenly music...and I see a ray of light shining down upon a lone tree...

The kids went running and yelling,"This is the perfect tree!  We found the perfect tree!"

We all checked it out, and it was a good looking tree and definitely less than $400.  Bonus!

The kids urged us to go tell the folks up at the front right away, before someone came and took our tree!  They were very worried about this.

But we were triumphant in claiming this perfect specimen of fir tree fit for Christmas ornaments and lights like no other tree we had seen!

And we drove it home, brought it inside, and began stringing the lights.  Eliana was beside herself!

The kids had a very good time putting lights on this tree, and once it was inside we were so glad that this was the one we ended up with.  It fits just right.  It's lovely.

And this child is just a goose.  That's all I have to say about her.

A goose.

It got a bit late, and so we'll have to finish decorating tomorrow.  I can't wait.  I love hanging ornaments, and it's so much fun to watch the kids have such a good time making the tree pretty, making it ours.

My Mom Sent a Package (My Dad, Too) (Sent a Package, I Mean)

The other day my mom told us that she was going to send a package of some things that she wanted us to have before Christmas...how fun is that?!  It arrived yesterday, late in the afternoon, and the house was full of screaming and running around, and that was before we even opened anything up. 

There was one condition for opening up the box.  We had to get on Skype so that she could see us get into our stuff.  The kids love to do this, so we all fought for a seat in front of the computer and got her online (onscreen?) and then the ripping open frantically of all things sealed began. 

There were new Christmas ornaments for our tree, one for each of us and then one for our family.  I love getting new ornaments!  It's useful, and pretty or fun, and so meaningful.  They can be passed on in the family.  I think they are a great gift.  I have to be careful and not give them away as presents to other families too many times (not my new ones, but ones that I buy for gift exchanges).  It's not because I'm a doof (although I am), it's because I would like to receive them myself and so I do for others what I would like to have done unto me.   Or something like that.

I'm babbling.  Amidst the tissue paper and the bags the kids discovered that Grandma and Grandpa had also sent little foam sticker tablets.  They were immediately sucked in to the world of foam stickiness...what is it about these sticky little foamies that is so completely engaging?! 

You'd think they had never seen a sticker before, they were so excited.  I love it that such simple things are so entertaining for them.

They made little scenes and were able to show my mom their handiwork right away!  Technology is your friend when you are thousands of miles from your family.

Back to the ornaments...

(I know this is all mixed up, like the files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler...sorry.  My brains feel like scrambled eggs, so that's what you get.  Read on, if you like chaos!)

Eliana grabbed this up and hugged it to her chest...

She said,"This mine!"  She is skilled in the art of the two-year-old.  What is funny is that it actually is hers.  And just the other day she told me,"I love snowman!" exhuberantly.  How does my mom know these things?

Wait.  It gets stranger.  She really does have this uncanny sense of knowing (like that time when I took a road trip my freshman year of college with two girlfriends and we didn't tell anybody and then when we got back I told my mom that we had done it and she said,"I just had a feeling you did that!").  When we (the five of us, at Thanksgiving) were in Florida with Mike's family Michaela mentioned wanting ice skates for Christmas.  She was telling Mike's mom, Grandma Diana, about it, and we were discussing whether or not it would be the best idea for a gift this year. (We wanted to make a good decision, given how often we make it to an ice skating rink...like, oh, never.  Except when we're in Florida, of course.  I know, we make no sense.)  Anyway, we decided to hold off on the ice skates for a while, maybe until her feet stop growing.  So...now we're back here and opening this box from my mom.  And Michaela unwraps her ornament...

And there are Michaela's new skates!  This may have been inspired by the ice skating post from the other day, but I still thought it was funny that Michaela had really asked for skates as a gift. 

And then there was Christian.  My hilarious little guy.  He opened his ornament and started reading,"St. Nicholas Square...frame ornament!" and by the time he got to the last word he sounded so excited.  I got tickled because he was having a hard time seeing the forest for the trees. 

He had a soccer ball picture frame, and was reading the slip of paper that comes on the inside.  And he sounded just as thrilled as he could be as he said all that, although I'm pretty sure he didn't understand what he was saying.  I pointed out to him that the whole thing was a ball and that you put a picture inside, and he said,"Ohhh!" and nodded his head happily. 

Ne-e-e-xt!  Mike and I got matching ones!  Aren't we cute?!  Actually, aren't they cute?

And then...this made me squeal.  Here's the background...many years ago, my mom and I made a joint purchase.  We bought a wooden rack that looks sort of like a ladder, but it's wider, and it's for hanging cute little whatevers on it.  I'm sure you can't imagine it at all based on that description, and I'm too lazy to go take one more picture tonight, load it, and then upload it.  At any rate, neither one of us has ever hung it up anywhere, but she did send it here so that I could use it (I suppose we'll have to take turns somehow) but it has yet to make it up on the wall.  It's leaning right now.  Wait!  I think I have a photo...

Goodness, that took forever.  And then I wrote a bunch of stuff and put some other pictures up, and the power went out.  Again.  Of course, I hadn't saved what I had written after the last paragraph, so now I am trying to remember what witty and clever things I said an hour ago, and will they be as good now, or just a copy of some former fabulous post that never was?

Oh, and the picture that I went looking for did not have the rack in it.  I think it must have been taken just before she sent it.  But, here are the things that arrived, both for Christmas-time, and the ones for any time...

(Did I just say that technology was my friend?  Because I'm about to change my mind.)

I really love these; I love that they are a bit older.  I also have my grandma's old hand-cranked egg beater.  I can't wait to get all of them hung up.

Of course, I will have to get the rack hung up first.  There is a proper order to these kinds of things.  And we all know what an expert I am on "order".  Hmmm?

We had so much fun opening the box, Mom, and we are even more excited that we will get to have a Christmas morning with you guys when you come, even if it will be a little after Christmas Day.  I say, spread out the joy!

Speaking of joy...I got Eliana to eat bananas!

There are bananas in there!  I promise. 

No, that doesn't have anything to do with anything.  Scrambled eggs...remember?

It's All About Order Around Here

Like...In order for some people in this house to settle down...

and in order for them to finally go to sleep...

they feel the need to be near mommy...

and in order for mommy to get the things done she needs to get done, for this night...

JUST PICK A COUCH AND GO TO SLEEP!!

And that's an order!

(Obviously, I showed them who's boss...)

(In case anyone is worried...I did move Eliana to bed-like, a real bed-shortly after this.)

(Why, yes!  I would be honored to accept a nomination for Mother-of-the-Year!  Thank you, and what a nice surprise!)