Husband Brag

Saturday was the best day! Why? Because of my honey. I left around 11:45 to run to the post office and I told him I wanted to run by Cato to look for some clothes. He told me to take my time and find something nice. When I got back, we ate lunch and he mentioned that he needed to finish a few Christmas things. I figured he was taking his dad with him, but he didn't. Guess who he took? ALL FOUR CHILDREN. What a man! I had the house all to myself. Since we had planned to clean around here anyway that afternoon, I worked around here while they were gone. I was simply amazed at how much I could get done without anyone around. I even made it to the grocery store for the week. It was so pleasant. They were home when I got here so while I made supper, Donnie started baths. What man would take all four shopping and do baths? I just had to brag.

A Mary Christmas

I read an article the other day about a little girl who made a card for her mother and it said, "Mary Christmas." The daughter didn't catch the significance of her misspelling, but her mother did. In Luke 10, the story is told about sisters whom Jesus was visiting. Mary sat at his feet and listened to his teaching while Martha busied herself with making sure everything was "just right" for Him. Martha was upset that Mary wasn't helping, but Jesus pointed out that she had chosen what was better. So, here I am at the end of my Martha week. Actually two of them. We had program after program, teacher gifts to prepare, brunches, drop-ins, you know the holiday drill. Not to mention the wrapping gifts (I'm almost done for shopping for them), the Christmas cards (really, they are coming), etc. My problem is that I love this season, I love the fellowshipping and the extra little things that go along with the holidays. I just wish they were spread out and not all bunched into two weeks. I want to slow down, savor it, have a Mary Christmas! So I have a few days to do this now that the kids are out of school. We are going to bake goodies, because we want to, not because we have to (well, I do have to for Christmas eve, but I'm taking the easy way out, mostly) and beyond that the children and I have no plans for next week. I'm hoping we can come up with some fun stuff to do around here, but I hope none of it involves being out of our jammies before noon. I pray all of you will have a Mary Christmas too!!

A Battle of Wills and Reverse Psychology

Allie is one we constantly have to battle about eating. She is very picky. Very. Today she had yogurt which she likes but after eating about 3 bites she wanted to be "done." I told her she had to eat it all. For one thing, it was a small container and I didn't think that was too much to ask. Secondly, it was one of those annoying containers with the foil top so I would have either had to ditch it or put in a separate container. After going back and forth, I told her her baby brother was eating his, thinking (for some odd reason) that she might be persuaded to eat hers. I don't know why I thought this as it's never worked before. To this she replies, "He can have mine." Stinker. We continued to sit and argue over this yogurt and informed her that was eating if she intended to get up from the table. After I saw this would work I tried a different approach. I took it from her and informed her that she couldn't have it. I also told her she couldn't have it anymore because she didn't eat it this time. It was gone in 5 minutes. Now who's the master of reverse psychology? Ha!

Oh, Christmas Tree.

Wednesday afternoon as I was looking over weekly folders, helping Hannah with her homework, and other mundane Wednesday things, I heard a crash in the living room. I ran in to find the Christmas tree sprawled out across the floor and I couldn't find Jon Tyler. Momentary panic, 2 older kids crying, and one thought - NOT AGAIN (more to come on that). To relieve your nerves at this point, I did find Jon Tyler and he was not under the tree. He was just beside it and is small enough to be hidden by a rather large tree. I lifted it back up, and held it in place while I called Donnie to come home. He arrived very quickly and we discovered that the stand had broken beyond repair. I was devastated. My big, beautiful tree that I've had for seven year, I thought we'd have to get rid of it. Let me digress here to say that artificial really is the way to go. There is just something about being able to manuever the branches to hide the "holes". This comes from one too many trees that looked great at the tree farm only to have a major deformity when I got them home. That coupled with the fact that we are too cheap to buy a really nice one has caused me to gladly embrace my fake tree. Thankfully I found a tree stand to replace that one and we were back in business. Can I tell you that decorating the tree the second time is just not as exciting as the first time?

Our moment of dejavu was met from a similar event ten years ago. I was very pregnant with Hannah and Donnie had just had surgery, so he took his friend Mark with him to get our tree. The story has two versions. One is that Mark cut the trunk crooked and had to trim it off straight. The other is that Donnie didn't want to pay for a taller tree and got Mark to cut it as close as possible to fall under the 6 foot mark. I'll let you decide which of those you believe, I have my own opinions (Did I mention we're cheap?) At any rate, the tree didn't have enough trunk to fit in the stand so we ended up wedging it in. Every so often I would look at the tree and notice it was leaning a little more than before. One night I was asleep in the recliner when I heard it. I didn't want to open my eyes, because I knew what it was. Donnie, on the other hand, only heard a loud bang from the bedroom and had no idea what had happened. I still snicker at my wild eyed honey flying into the living room at 3 am. We hoisted that one back up as well, but another tree stand would not help it, so we tied it to the curtain rod for the remainder of the holiday season.

How many people do you really know who've had a tree fall over ... twice?

Wordless Wednesday - bedtime snack

I Got Sold Out!

If you know me very well, you know I LOVE Black Friday. I would go if I had nothing, absolutely nothing, to buy and just watch people. I love the rush of a good deal, buying for people whom I care about, a hot lunch at a fancy sit down restaurant, the fellowship of good friends. But with 4 kids and a bunch of family, I'm never gonna have nothing to buy, so the planning begins weeks in advance. I am kind of obsessed, I admit. Black Friday websites, making my list, revising my list, copying my list into my Black Friday notebook as opposed to my master Christmas list. Did I mention I'm obsessed. (Why can't I be this organized about anything else?) This year, we found a flat screen TV we wanted and after 2 years of shopping for them, I decided I would do anything legal (and nice, not gonna spoil anyone's shopping day) to get one. Mom and I left about 3:45 to be in line at Walmart for this TV. I must say their new Black Friday was VERY impressive. Not having to wait in the cold until 5 when everyone rushes in all at once was a great plan. I am just very sorry it cost someone his life for them to make the changes. We got our TV (early - didn't realize it wasn't just an early bird special) and other goodies, dropped it off at home and headed for Toys R Us. That place is always a mad house but the line moved quickly thanks to some awesome managers and were done and to the mall by about 8:30. Long story short, we made many several a few more stops, met friends for lunch, it was AWESOME.

Here's the sold out part. Donnie was home with the kids. (I am supposed to tell you that he is wonderful for keeping all 4 children all day, giving me free reign on the shopping and virtually no curfew. He really IS wonderful, but he would have done this just about anytime and not just Black Friday, 'cause he's good like that.) I called to check in on them midafternoon and he told me he'd gotten a call from the bank a little earlier. I just KNEW he was pulling my leg! He said they wanted to confirm that some purchases were made from our account that day. "NO WAY!" I said. Then he quoted amounts. I was dumbfounded!! They really did want to verify and told him how much I had spent at three different places. DUH, folks! It was Black Friday. I mean, I appreciate their concern that I may have getting my identity thieved, but really, they could get a girl in trouble!! He, by the way, could not really verify that these amounts had been spent by me, as he had no idea where I was shopping or how much I was spending. (Dear Founders, Mark it down. I am going shopping next Black Friday. It may be the next time I get away to do this. I will be spending money. Please refrain from calling my husband to verify this. Your faithful customer, Tracy) Only 363 days til next Black Friday. ;)

Wordless Wednesday - Why Can' t We Be Friends?

In Honor of Saturday