Monday, December 26, 2011

The most wonderful day of the year!

Christmas day + 1

Ok so I didn’t post yesterday. I meant to, but. . . honestly it was a very busy day. We got up around 7am and rushed round and got ready for church. It was nice to be back with our FBC OKC family. Per the usual tradition they served breakfast instead of Sunday school followed by a nice service.

My personal preference for church would have been for the family to sit together but Kat wanted to sit with her parents and the boys really wanted to sit in the balcony with their friends, so I went with the boys. Paul’s buddy Aaron wasn’t there so I sat with him. It was maybe the best part of Christmas morning for me. I love to hear my Paul sing, and he loves to sing Christmas songs. The first song was “Oh Come All Ye Faithful” which he sang enthusiastically. The last song which we sang as the benediction was “Go Tell It on the Mountain” which is Paul’s all time favorite Christmas song. When Bruce started playing the music, Paul let me know that it was the same arrangement from when Paul’s Children’s choir sang it years ago. Paul said Bruce probably got that from Mr. Hicks, who played it for them when he was small.

Yes there was a hearty lunch and delicious dinner at home, and presents for the boys. But sometimes the best part of Christmas are the parts that might never come again.

Merry Christmas to all of you! I hope you had a happy holiday and were entertained this year!

Saturday, December 24, 2011

I heard the bells on Twenty-Four

Christmas surprise.

This year we managed to pull off a big Christmas surprise. Our first Christmas in Denver we travelled back to Oklahoma City to surprise Kathleen’s parents. It was difficult for Kathleen and the boys to keep it a secret from her parents. We had help from Kat’s other sister Ann, and Kristy Swinney. Erica Snook and Amy Powell also did a good job of keeping quiet about the fact that we had Katie and Kyle stay with us in Denver for a few more days so we could bring them home to OKC with us. The drive wasn’t bad. The roads were pretty clear, although I hear NM is in pretty bad shape. My Dad is stuck in Santa Fe when he planned to be in California for Christmas.

The closer we got to OKC the more excited the boys got. When we were about an hour away my Mother-in-law texted Kat that she was going to bed. We panicked a little, and then we began stalling her. We texted that Kat was trying to post her nightly Christmas merriment status update on facebook and that she, Elisa, should wait to read it. Then we posted that Kat was having internet trouble. Which is not untrue, we don’t have wifi in the car.

When we pulled in the driveway Matthew called his Gramma and asked her to come downstairs and let him in. Surprise accomplished. Kat’s parents were surprised, but I am not sure who was more excited, the boys or their grandparents. Last night as Nolen was trying to go to bed, Paul said, “wait I have some things to tell you I will probably forget. . . “ It wasn’t important what Paul had to share, but what was important is the huge smile on my Paul’s face, and the dimples that he gets when he can’t stop smiling.

Do you hear what twenty-three?

Do you have a favorite bible verse? Is it your favorite because it speaks to your heart, or because you memorized it in bible school when you were a child and have never forgotten it? I think both are equally valid.

Kat has Isaiah 54:10. Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed," says the LORD, who has compassion on you. Her dad shared it with her when she was in HS or College and she memorized it, and it has helped her through some tough times.

My boys both love Micah 6:8 He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly[a] with your God. They learned it at camp the first year my Matthew got to go and it has stuck with them. Twice since then they have heard sermons on that verse in church and it always provokes a conversation after church.

I know I have different verses memorized, but the only one that comes to mind is that one about sexual purity that I learned my freshman year at OBU. Don’t ask. And no, it wasn’t something that I thought really applied to me, it was one that OTHER people thought applied to me. I said don’t ask.

My Matthew’s favorite verse? It is found in Luke chapter 2 And the angel said unto them, Fear not, for behold, I bring unto you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you this day is born in the City of Bethlehem, a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; you shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel, a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God, and saying, 'Glory to God in the highest, and on Earth peace, good will toward men' Yes it is the bible verse from Charlie Brown, but that is not why it is his favorite, even though Linus is his favorite. About 3 years ago his children’s choir did a Christmas musical and he was selected to read that line. He had never been chosen for a speaking part in church before and even though he is the original class clown, he took it very seriously, and had it mostly memorized even though he was allowed to read it.

From that time on, when he hears it, he says ‘that’s my verse papa!’ Maybe he just means that it is the verse was his line. But I like to think he means more than that, because a verse about an angel sharing the good tidings of great joy is a powerful message for a child. For any of us.

Thursday, December 22, 2011

God Rest you Merry, Twenty-Two. .

In 2007 at work all the employees were given jackets with our company logo on them. The jackets were very warm but for one reason or another I never really wore mine. Last year when I started traveling to Denver I resurrected the almost new jacket and wore it to the office. My coworker Candi wears hers as well, and every time we wear them everyone in the office makes a big deal about how great they look and how can they get one. They were not popular when we got them the first time, and they were not an inexpensive gift, but to hear people talk they are much in demand.

So we did some looking and were able to locate the same jacket and ordered them for some of the office staff for this year. At $65 a pop I wanted this gift to be a huge success. Only, of course it wasn’t. The jackets fit differently and the people that got the jackets would rather have the thermal shirts and bags that the other employees got. All this to say, sometimes, maybe it’s better not to try and replicate things we liked about past Christmases.

I am telling myself this in attempt to let go of the feelings I have when I heard that the church here in Denver is not having Christmas eve services. When Kat shared that info with me I said the most unchristian hateful things. I know you are shocked. But really, it is Christmas Eve. The night that we are supposed to be celebrating Jesus’ birth, right? And no church?

I maybe am not the most devote Christian, and I am certainly not the most conservative or traditional one, but I do like Christmas Eve services. I have mocked the one at the UU church in Tucson, but I’d visit it again in a heartbeat. I attended and participated in so many Christmas Eve services at First Christian in Tucson, and I know I would be disappointed to go back, but I would in an instant. First Baptist FBC was not the same, but still familiar when I went back in 1999. And really, I don’t know that I am looking for someone to recreate the Christmas Eve services of my past, but. . .

I fully admit I must be old, or at least ‘old school’ when it comes to this issue. I get it, Christmas Eve on a Saturday night, when you have to have church again on Christmas morning is a lot of church. But how often does it happen? Once every 5 or 6 years? I almost feel like this is the new version of the churches that canceled Sunday morning church because it was Christmas morning back in the 90’s. Really, what is this about? Making more time to be with families? My family wants to be in church on Christmas Eve. Or at least, I want my family to be in church on Christmas Eve.

Sure I could find another church service to attend. With strangers. And maybe I will, but I have a hard enough time making myself go to church with the people I am just beginning to get to know. So I don’t know that I can make myself just pick a new church with strangers for one service.

I remember a conversation that I had with my Granddad Kinkade in 2002 about church. I was telling him I didn’t like the big contemporary churches with the praise bands and choruses projected on the walls, and I asked why it was so hard to just find a regular church like what I was used to. He said you can’t go looking for those churches anymore, because they aren’t there, and even if you find one like that, it’s not really the same as what you want it to be. He said God wants you in church.

So on the one hand, that conversation tells me to accept that maybe those Christmas Eve services I miss don’t exist any longer and that what is important is that I am trying to join in with other believers on Christmas morning. But the part where he said ‘God wants you in church’ also makes me think that maybe God wants everyone in church Christmas Eve.

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Do they know it's TWENTY-ONE at all?

The other night, before the Snook Powell tribe journeyed home, I took the children to Target to do some Christmas shopping. I know, I know it sounds like a weak idea, but it has its own subtle genius. A few years back Amy, Kat and I had taken Paul, Matthew, Katie and Elijah to Target right before Christmas and the kids were so busy with each other the adults were able to get some major gift shopping done.

This was my intention this time. Except, Paul was more interested in the gifts he was getting for other people, and Matthew decided to do his gift shopping in electronics. He was shocked, SHOCKED I tell you, when I said no to his plan of buying iPads for everyone on his list. Kyle was a pretty good trouper, he pushed a cart through the store, but every few minutes or so he would stop and ask me to buy him something.

The evening was not a total loss. Katie made most of Paul’s gift selections for him. Or, as she told it, she just gave him some good options to choose from. Unbeknownst to her he managed to sneak in a few gifts for her. A few weeks back he had called her and asked her what she might want. I believe he managed to get her everything she asked for. She was also a big help picking Kathleen’s gift. If not for her sage advice the boys might have purchased her feather earrings.

When it was finally time to check out little Kyle had reached a sugar induced fever pitch in his quest for someone to “buy me something!” Now Kyle is a very well behaved kid, and his behavior was in no way anywhere near the fits I have seen some other people’s children throw. In an attempt to change the subject I asked him if he knew what Santa says? He looked at me puzzled. “Ho,Ho, NO!” He shook his head and argued, “That is not what Santa says, Santa says ho, ho, YES!” To which I responded “ HO HO NO!” again. We went back and forth while waiting in line, then he made another effort to persuade me, “Jedsen, I can go all night with this ho ho yes, ho ho yes, ho ho yes, see? All night!” (This is actually pretty funny from the boy who is usually in bed before 8pm) I held my ground, “HO HO NO!”

Not to be dissuaded he tried another tactic, he picked up a Hershey chocolate bar and held it between two hands looking up at me with his most Oliver Twist face, “Please mister Jedsen, if you buy this we could share it” I admit I was tempted to give in, but I could see his cousin Katie making the OMG-are-you-falling-for-this face so instead I asked, “Does this work for anyone? Really? Who falls for this?”

Kyle sighed dramatically and put away the candy bar. “Amy falls for it”, he said.

“Really? Your Aunt Amy falls for that?”

“Well, sometimes, when she wants a candy bar”

From the mouth of babes.

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Oh Twentybaum

This year in 4th grade my Matthew has been learning to write personal narratives. He wrote several very detailed and expressive accounts for class. I had seen him working on them and read over his rough drafts at the home. The one small detail about the personal narrative assignment that he neglected to share with me is that the point of the assignment was to recount TRUE past events from his life.

His first personal narrative involved the time he fell down the stairs at his grandparents house and broke his arm. A perfect account, that never happened. He probably would have never been found out, but his powers got away with him and his second paper was about the first time he and Paul went sky diving. He would have gotten away with that but his teacher made a chance comment to Paul that she was looking forward to reading about the skydiving experience. Paul had no idea what she was talking about, which gave it all away. Rather than look at this as a negative, his teacher LOVED the fact that none of his personal narratives done for class were true.

I asked Matthew if he wanted to use his skills to write a blog entry this year, and he graciously agreed. This is what he wrote.

Christmas In July – by Matthew

One day I was walking home from school, when I saw 10, no 15, no 20 owls sitting on a roof! Then I saw a group of pelicans on a red car! Three minutes later I saw 19 ducks, 7 owls, 10 pelicans, and over one hundred baby chicks on a wedding dress!! Then it started to snow! (oh by the way the date is July 19th, 2011) I thought I even saw a dodo bird. . . not that I know what they look like. Then people started coming outside dressed in layers! Then all the animals I saw started to come closer to me!! One person even started to say, Merry Christmas to people and started to give presents away. The next thing I knew there were people driving down the street with Christmas trees strapped to the roof of their cars! The last thing that happened before I ran home in terror of Christmas in July. . . was me hearing a lot of Christmas movies. When I got home I heard Christmas carols outside my front door!

the end

Monday, December 19, 2011

Nineteen to Remember . . .

I am a little stumped on today’s blog. I was back in the office and my brain is kind of work addled at the moment. The Powell Snook contingent is still here at the house, and tonight after dinner the boys were playing on the wii in the living room. I thought I would take a small survey so I asked them what their favorite part of Christmas is. The boys range in age from Kyle who is 8 to Matthew who is 10, Elijah who is 11 and Paul who is 13. What was I thinking?

What is your favorite part of Christmas?

Elijah – presents and food

Matthew – being with family

Elijah – Are you serial?

Matthew – Well I like MY family.

Kyle – Hmmm hmmm hmmm hmmmm (he was eating a giant candy cane so the answer was not clear)

Paul – What is my favorite thing about Christmas?

Me – that is what I asked you

Paul – oh, did anyone say being with family?

Elijah – (passes gas loudly)

Paul – LIGE go stand over there

Matthew – I don’t want to be that close to family when Elijah does that.

Elijah – what? It smells like pizza

Katie (age 13) enters the room and I ask her

Me – Katie, what is your favorite part of Christmas?

Katie - I don’t know. What is that smell?!?!?! ELIJAH!!!

I should have known better!

Sunday, December 18, 2011

An Eighteen to remember. . .

Christmas Party Memory

Last night was our annual Christmas party. It was good. It was smaller than the last few years, with a slightly simpler menu but good nevertheless. I wish you could have been there.

Every year when we do our menu there are certain items that get left off the list from previous years. Sometimes it is a matter of time, sometimes no one ate it last year so why bother, and sometimes it is one of those ‘how much is too much situations?’

Last year I ran out of minutes to make the cookie press cookies. Kat assured me that no one would notice amidst all the other abundance of other cookies. Then Christmas eve Kristi Swinney said, “you know the other night at the party I was looking for those cute Scottie dog cookies and I couldn’t find them.” I hate to let people down.

One of the more recent additions to the menu is those tiny bonbell cheeses. I call them baby cheeses and serve them from a pretty silver bowl and then I say things like, ‘it is Christmas, you need baby cheeses’ or ‘let's not forget baby cheeses is the reason for the season.’ I know, it is horribly inappropriate. In my defense I stole the idea from my fake sis Jen-O. When Jen brought her sainted mother to last year’s party, Miss Shirley laughed so I figure it isn’t off the charts bad, right?

As we were setting up yesterday I was thinking to myself, at least this year with so many new guests, no one will ask about something I left off the list. Only then Elijah, who is 11 says “hey where are those little cheeses in the wax? Those are my favorites. What do you mean off the menu? Are you kidding me? MAN! What kind of party is this?!?!?”

I just can’t win sometimes.

Saturday, December 17, 2011

O little town of Seventeen

The Jingle

IF you are not now or have never been a resident of the greater OKC area then today might not mean much to you. The oldest jewelers in that area is BC Clarks Jewelers. I bought Kat a pair of earrings there for our 10th anniversary but that is not today’s blog. What makes this store so ingrained a part of so many people’s Christmas is their Christmas sales Jingle.

It is kind of famous. My freshman year my roommate Jay explained it to me as drove all over OKC doing his Christmas shopping before I flew home. The jingle plays every year starting right after thanksgiving and going till Christmas. It is not a particularly catchy tune, but it is insistent, and the singers are extremely chipper and there is just something about the combination that gets stuck in your head.

I won’t say everyone knows it, but I will say more people know it than don’t. Megan Mullally of Will & Grace fame hasn’t lived in OKC in years, but she sang it on Jay Leno a few years back. You can check that out here. I know people who downloaded as their ring tones during the Christmas season, and several people say it isn’t the Christmas season until you hear the jingle.

The words to this magical tune are as follows;

Jewelry is the gift to give, 'cause it's the gift that'll live and live
So give the gift you know can't fail From B.C. Clark's anniversary sale.
Most sales are after Christmas But Clark's is just before.
'Most everything is marked way down,
Savings you can't ignore At Oklahoma's oldest jewelers, Since 1892.
So give the gift you know can't fail From B.C. Clark's anniversary sale.


See? It isn’t really all that but it is part of the holiday season in Oklahoma.

My best Jingle memory was my senior year at OBU when the hand bell choir played it during the Christmas chapel. Now if you never went to OBU you don’t know that Christmas chapel was one chapel no one missed. Combine that with the fact that for all intents and purposes our hand bell choir led by THE Mary Kay Parrish were essentially rock stars on campus will give you a better perspective of how well this went down. Seriously. It brought the house down.

Friday, December 16, 2011

In Sixteen-is Gloria

This is another Christmas blog borrowed from my buddy Darryl Grimm. As I said before, I never met Darryl in person, but one of the aspects of our friendship that always impressed me was that except our ages didn’t correspond, he had so much in common with so many people I do know. My first year at OBU I was always surprised to hear that this friend or that friend was going to be at some other church Sunday because they were singing or playing the organ or hand bells or doing readers theater (but that’s another story). In any case, that’s who Darryl was as a young man.

What is it about Christmas?

When does that little bit of melancholy begin to creep in?

For me, it was the year that I played the pipe organ for the Christmas Eve service at a little church in a neighboring town. As everyone left saying "Merry Christmas", the snow started falling and everything started looking like the picture inside of one of those snow globes. After a while, I was all alone on the street; my father wouldn't be able to pick me up for 15 more minutes, the time it would take him to get from the church where I had always spent a part of Christmas Eve to where I was standing, waiting.

It was the first time I had spent any time, even a minute, away from my family on Christmas Eve and as I stood there, I felt it; that first little twinge of mortality. I felt really alone for the first time.

It's all part of leaving childhood and growing up. A very natural process. But somewhere inside there is still that kid waiting for his Dad to pick him up soon on Christmas Eve, knowing that the rest of the night will be wonderful, standing and waiting with tears in his eyes and wondering why he's crying.

Thursday, December 15, 2011

Bells will Fifteen-ing

Holiday Entertaining

This time of year you can see in magazines or on TV that everyone seems to have entertaining tips to share. In the spirit of the season I thought “hey I know about entertaining, I could give some pointers.” So here we are with today’s blog.

According to Martha and Sandra Lee and countless others the table or ‘table-scape’ is a great way to spice up your house during the holidays and up the wow factor when entertaining. Would you be surprised to know that I am largely responsible for our fabulous table setting at our parties? It is true. No really it is. Stop laughing. Do you think that after Kat has spent hours cleaning the housing and making all that delicious food and candy that she honestly really cares what plates go where? Or what food goes on what plates?

Last year our party goers oohhed and ahhed about the “tower of truffles” that was at the center of the table last year. “It is so pretty, how did you ever think of something like that?” we were asked, and we just smiled and nodded. The truth? It is all about real estate, when you have as much food as we do every year, you have to be creative or it won’t all fit on the table. A tower of truffles combined a cut glass Christmas platter, a silver and glass cake stand and a 3 tiered silver serving dish stacked on top of one another to eliminate the need to have 5 silver bowls and a plate or two side by side taking up space. Take that Martha!

Another secret to our great table set up? We have a bajillon serving platters. How did we end up with so many? We don’t throw anything away. For years my mom re-gifted us with Christmas platters or tarnished silver bowls. We put them away and then shine them up and use them at the party. Kat used to get little mikasa bowls or candy dishes as gifts from her office mates when she worked out of Children’s Hospital in OKC. We put M&M’s in them and people ooh and ahh. Friends buy us plates to use, and Kat’s parents have hooked us up a few times too.

I have talked about my silver punch bowl? (eBay with a dent on the side). Do you know where our glass punch bowl came from? Wal-Mart, 1992. It cost me $5.99 and came with 8 punch cups. I have been picking up the rest of the punch cups at garage sales and thrift stores for about 50 cents a cup for the last 18 years or so.

I could talk about table cloths and table runners and things like flowers or holiday decorations on the table, but you know what really says festive? Covering the table with delicious food. What I know about table cloths is that if I have three tables of food, the table cloths should be the same color on each. Or if I only have two that are the same color then the round table for the punch needs to get a plaid table cloth that has some of the colors. Table runners we have, and sometimes use, but once all the food is on the table who knows if I used one or not. Although, if the table cloth has a stain or a hole, a table runner is good for covering that up. That thing where people put a big bowl of decorations on the table or candles or flowers? Do you know what that really is? It is people who are too lazy to cook enough food and think that hungry party goers will be distracted from the empty space and not wonder how come no one thought to add another plate of cookies.

You also see in those entertaining guides stuff about gift bags for party goers. For years I have been doing up a little gift bag for the kiddies to take home with them. You know what is in those gift bags? Left over Halloween candy and a handful of starlight mints. One year I also included a happy meal toy from the unholy pile that my Matthew had been hoarding in his closet.

With great tips like these I wonder why I don’t have a book deal?

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Fourteen Navidad!

I may have mentioned that Kat and I have a Christmas party? Every year? Well it is true. In 2000 I pulled all our photos from past parties into one album and started keeping a separate album just of party pics.

It is fun to look through them and see how much everyone has changed. How my boys have grown, What a good looking man baby Scott turned out to be, how my nieces Elisa Gail, Rachel, and Julia, and family friends like Najah, Kourtney, Lexi and Thalia have all grown into such beautiful young women.

Tonight, I was looking through last year’s pictures, getting ready to put the pages in the album and it really struck me how amazing our friends are. It moved me is that so many people showed up. Some people in the pictures are those who came year after year. Some guests came for the first time last year, I suspect because we said it was the last party every.

The pictures that really stood out the most, that will forever be burned in my memory, are those taken by my friend and co-worker in the church nursery Sandy Ferree. I can only assume that it was too much egg nog or something else that led to the down the shirt, headless, cleavage shot. On second thought it must have been champagne. Because the companion shot to the aforementioned picture is one where a champagne flute was wedged into place and suspended hands free in that same cleavage.

It is like Kathleen always says, when a champagne cork pops, another angel gets wings!

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Thirteen in Killarney!

Have you seen the movie “Buddy The Elf”? I am not a big Will Ferrell fan, but this is an amusing film. One of the best lines in the film is "SANTA!!!!! Oh my god! I know him! I know him!” Every time I hear this line quoted it reminds me of a very earnest 5 or 6 year old Elisa Gail.

I have told the story before that when my niece Elisa Gail was a baby, Stephanie and Clyde made a decision that they would not ‘do Santa’ with her. They were honest with her at a very young age and told her there was no Santa, and that her presents came from her parents and her family.

The only problem with this plan is that Clyde’s mother Dorothy told Elisa that Santa was real, and then made sure that there were tons of presents from Santa every year at her house. This led to some very heated conversations with a small determined child.

“No Uncle Judson, SANTA is real! My Granny knows him! She knows him! He works at the Wal-Mart with her! He is REAL!”

Hard to argue with that logic!

Monday, December 12, 2011

Twelve Drummers Drumming. . .

Let it Snow, let it Snow!

Do you watch the TV show Glee? It is a popular show about a group of misfit high school kids who bond in glee club. My boys like it. At least they like the episodes that we have let them watch, and they like the music from the show.

Last year they did a Christmas show and 2 of the main characters sang the duet “Baby it’s cold outside”. What makes this worth mentioning is that the 2 singers were both boys. My boys liked this version of the song. This year for the Glee Christmas show they recorded a version of the two boys singing “Let it Snow!”

The best duet version of this song I have heard this year? My Paul and my Matthew singing it in the car. Matthew sings the melody and Paul sings the low part. It makes me smile every time they do it. And they both laugh the whole way through. Trust me, this is not something they learned in children’s choir!

Sunday, December 11, 2011

Christmas in Eleven

Train sets

I know many people set up a train under their Christmas tree. I am not sure where this tradition started. I know that in my family I got my electric train set under the Christmas tree when I was in the first grade. It was the same year as the mutant Christmas tree.

I played with the train for several years and then when I was done; my mom put it away for me. In 1995 she sent it home with Kathleen and me. It no longer worked, and I thought someday I would figure out how to fix it. I did make a few attempts but was unsuccessfully.

In 2009 I was heading home from the office in Oklahoma City and drove past Whistle Stop Trains. Who knew OKC had a year round model train store and actually hosts a yearly model train convention? I stopped in and talked with the guys there, (sort of like talking with the guys in a comic book store). As it turns out, fixing toy trains sets is not that big a deal.

A week later I took the train set up there. I was a little embarrassed when the guys went on and on about how they had never seen a set that old that was in this great of shape. I choose to ignore the fact that it really seemed like they were calling me old. As it turns out I was just missing that you need to attach the worse to the track to get the train running. All in all it only set me back $7.50
That year when we set up the mini trees in the office I made a table from two trunks and big piece of plywood. It didn’t take very long to get the boys interested in getting up the train up and running. More than once that December I found Matthew curled up on the couch in the office watching the train go round and round with all the lights off except the Christmas tree lights.

Saturday, December 10, 2011

Christmas time in 10-sel town. . .

Some Christmas moments are orchestrated and some just happen. Our Christmas party is something that just happened, that now has become something that requires a lot of orchestration, but that is another story. Last night’s Christmas moment just happened.

Last Monday Matthew and I put up the tree. Paul wanted to help, but he had homework that was taking too long. After we got the tree up and the lights on, we waited to do the ornaments until everyone could participate. Tuesday night was haircuts, so we didn’t decorate. Wednesday night IT was 6 before I left the office and there was more homework. Thursday night Matthew had a drum performance and Paul had a youth party at church. Last night was another church event, but when we got home I was determined to make this happen.

The boys helped me bring the ornaments up from the basement, but then Paul disappeared while Matthew hung ornaments. I finally got Paul to come back and the tree was half decorated. We finished decorating the tree, Paul put the angel on top, then fighting ensued and Matthew went upstairs in a mood. Sigh. Boys.
Since my Paul was still willing to be involved in something I had him get my train set from the closet. I got this Lionel electric train set when I was a first grader. My 13 year old son, who is taller and broader than I am crawled under the tree and hooked up tracks, then unhooked them and re-hooked them, ran the cord under the tree and helped get the train set up. Then he helped test it, and made adjustments, and then played with it for about half an hour.

I am sorry that my Matthew missed out. But I am not sorry for that sweet interlude where my Paul was still a child, my child, who was having fun. I know that being a teenager is about shedding the child he was and becoming the man he will be, and I am excited about that process. I love the glimpses I see of that man, but I miss that boy, so I am going to hold onto those moments when I get them.

Friday, December 9, 2011

Silent NINE, Holy NINE . . .

I have said before that I have internet friends that I have never met face to face. Once of those Friends was Darryl Grimm. Darryl was a friend of my crazy friend Roland. Darryl lived in New Orleans for many years before moving to Las Vegas after hurricane Katrina. Darryl had a blog and a message board at durlix.com. I loved reading his blog and chatting with him. He is the man who used to run the cheese department at Whole Foods and gave me the fondue recipe that Kat and I use. I had asked Roland first but he tried to pass a biscuit and gravy recipe off as a fondue recipe. Darryl, of course came through in a pinch.

One of the things that I most loved about Darryl’s blog was when he would write about “lil’ durlix” and the things he did as a young boy at Christmas time. One year, before I started my blog I had written something about my Christmas memories and he sent me a coffee mug he had printed a picture from the nutcracker ballet with his website logo on it. That is still one of my favorite Christmas mugs.

Darryl passed this year, and even though I never met him, never even spoke to him on the phone, I still mourn his passing. He was one of the good guys, and I miss him.
Throughout this year’s 25 days I am plan on sharing some of his Christmas Blog entries. I don’t think he’d mind.

When I was a lil durlx, I loved Christmas soooo much. At the age of ten, I had already started; I was a lil durlx/martha stewart. I put the first tree up the day after Thanksgiving; there were three more trees after that. I made angels out of paper mache and wire, and painted them. We were fortunate to have so many pine trees on the farm; I made so many wreathes and garlands. (Poor trees!)

I HAD to have candles in every window! And lights!

My parents let me do it; they were so nice about it. They put up with the remarks about the electric bill because there were so many lights, "It must cost a fortune, Margaret!"

But they knew me, and accepted me for what I was...
They came home early one July night when I was ten. I had pulled out all the Christmas lights and decorations and put them up. They had come home early because one of the neighbors had called them to tell them that our house was "lit up like a Christmas tree!"
My Mom and Dad tried to tell me why I shouldn't have done what I did, but they kept looking at each other and laughing. It made me so happy; I wanted to make them look at each other and laugh like that again and again.

Thursday, December 8, 2011

Destinys Child EIGHT days of Christmas

All I want for Christmas. . .

Last night when I got home from work, I found my Matthew sprawled on the floor in front of the fireplace with the Toys R Us sales ad from this weekend. I asked Kathleen what he was doing and she said he was working on his Christmas list. I was intrigued because this is highly unusual behavior for my boys. In fact, I don’t think either of them has ever done a Christmas wish list before.

I asked him about it and he explained the way it is supposed to work is that he circles the items he wants for Christmas and maybe he will get them as gifts. I asked him where he got this idea. He answered that he is pretty sure that is how all the other kids do it.

If you know us, or if you have read the blog, you know that we don’t do santa claus, and that all the presents the boys get are from Kat and I or family. What you may not know is that my boys don’t usually get a ton of presents, and that does not seem to bother them. Somehow Kat and I managed to instill in them the idea that Christmas is about something else. I don’t think that is a bad thing at all.

I don’t want for Matthew to be disappointed if he suddenly thinks that making a wish list means he gets a ton of presents. So I ask what happens if Christmas rolls around and he doesn’t get all those gifts? I should not have been concerned. Matthew just shrugged and said, “you know me, a few books, or gift cards for books, and a couple of Star Wars action figures and I am happy!”

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

The SEVEN Joys of Mary

Stats

Blogging is an interesting thing. The first year I did it, mostly it was just for fun, and I didn’t think anyone would read it. But then my mom’s friend Sybil read it and commented, and that was positive reinforcement. Then Sandy Tuttle read it and sent me an email and that was good too.

Last year I paid more attention to the stats that I get on the blog site. I could see how many page views each blog entry had. Last year it was the Granfa Owin’s fudge entry that was the most popular. But sometime recently the Advent Calendar entry pulled ahead.

The other interesting thing I get to see is where the blog is being read. I had readers from Canada, and Japan (Hi Becky!), Malaysia (which I think was just church friends on a mission trip). But I have been surprised to see that I have had visitors from Russia, Brazil, Slovenia, Germany, Netherlands, and Denmark. I don’t think I know anyone in those places, so how cool is that? For those readers I want to say ‘Hey thanks for stopping by and Pozdrevlyayu s prazdnikom Rozhdestva is Novim Godom! Boas Festas! vesel božič! Froehliche Weihnachten! Vrolijk Kerstfeest! Glædelig Jul!

But perhaps the most fascinating stats I get to see is what websites people find me from. Lots of readers come from facebook, which makes sense because I post when I blog. I also get readers from yandex.ru which is some Russian site that I think is like Google, which explains the Russian readers. I get some readers from my friend Jessica at Overflowingbookshelf. And of course I get readers who find me from Google. What I really love is seeing what Google searches led people to me. Judson’s 25 days blogspot is the big one, (duh, right?). Granfa Owin’s fudge gets a lot of hits, followed by JC Farrand, Shawnee OK. I hope that no one was disappointed when the searched the last one and found my blog about how I was disappointed in his Christmas eve service one time. It was all about me, not about what he did. I also had some people who found me searching for the lyrics to On December Five and Twenty say Fum, Fum, Fum. A couple of people looking for Advent Calendars in Albuquerque stopped by, and so did someone wondering why the advent calendar had no candy on the 24th. I didn’t provide any answers, but that does explain how Granfa Owin’s fudge got edged out in November.

My top favorite search that led someone to my site really makes me laugh, but then it leaves me wondering so many things. The stats don’t tell me who did the searching, or what they read once they were here, or where they were from or anything like that. And in the case of this last search I might be better off NOT knowing. Because what would I say to someone who Google searched “vinyl pants” Christmas? I mean SERIOUSLY?!?!?!?

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Holly Jolly 6mass

Topless Pasta Night, Christmas Style.

Sometimes I wonder if I will run out of things to blog about. Maybe my memory will finally give up and I will have nothing to go on? But then something happens like tonight and I think I can probably go on forever.

Kat and I have a very good friend named Heather. Heather was at OBU a year behind me, I met her just after her freshman orientation, Kat met her soon after that. Heather sang at our wedding, and was there for much of the trouble, I mean fun we had at OBU.

Just before Matthew was born, Heather moved back to Oklahoma City and we reconnected. To know Heather is to love her and both of my boys are enamored of her. As Matthew gets older it really makes me smile to see how similar those two September babies are.

When Paul was about four, he and Matthew VERY messy eaters, (not that this has changed). In an effort to reduce laundry stains and make for ease of clean up, when we had particularly messy foods for dinner, like spaghetti, it was often easier to let them take their shirts off before dinner. More than once, not wanting to get tomato sauce on my work shirts I joined them. And topless pasta night was born.


It was strictly a family event, and Kathleen prefers that I point out that although she cooked the meal, and ate the meal, not once did she ever engage in topless pasta night. One night as our family was eating dinner sans camisas, out of the blue my Paul innocently says, “how come we never have Heather come to dinner? We should invite her, and have spaghetti when she comes”. Heather is very proud of her hourglass figure so there is much humor in the idea of her joining us for topless pasta night and when we told her everyone got a good laugh.

The next time she came for dinner we did NOT have spaghetti, but we were having some noodle dish, and as we sat down at the table, my Paul shyly asked if we all needed to take our shirts off. Heather accused me of putting him up to it, but I was innocent. Again we all got a good laugh and for years we told that story and laughed.

Last year, when I was traveling back and forth to Denver so much Heather moved in and stayed with us for a season. She was a great help to Kathleen and she and the boys really bonded over some silliness. One of the silly things was that when Heather had been with us about a month, Kathleen made spaghetti for dinner, and right before Heather came to the table, my Matthew suggested we all take our shirts off and surprise her. So we did, and once again I got accused of setting that up. Kathleen and Heather laughed but declined to join in with the topless pasta night so we put our shirts back on.

I am sure you are all chuckling to read this, but what does it have to do with Christmas? Tonight at dinner we had spaghetti, and just as we were finished, Mathew whipped off his shirt and said, “Hey it is Topless Pasta Night!” I took his picture to send to Heather, or at least I tried to. Matthew and Paul got the giggles and I had a hard time getting a good shot.




This story has 3 morals. #1 I am not the lecherous old man I get credited for, and #2 Merle Jennings was right, the friends we made at OBU are for life, #3 Christmas silliness can be about anything.

Monday, December 5, 2011

Angels we have heard on FIVE

Winter wonderland.

As you may know this is my family’s first Christmas in Denver. It is most certainly going to be a white Christmas, we have already had several inches this week. When we are warm inside our home and it is snowy outside it sure is pretty and Christmassy. When I have to get in the car and drive around in it, then it is slightly less Christmas like.

My boys are also learning about living somewhere that does not shut down entirely when there is snow on the ground. “Snowpocolypse” is probably not an event that we will hear about in Colorado. The first time it snowed and the boys had to go to school anyway, they were in shock!

They are recovering nicely though. The other morning we had 4 or 5 inches of snow before we woke up. After breakfast the boys were going outside to shovel the sidewalk and driveway. My Matthew was on sidewalk duty. I watched him for a while and gave him some instruction to get him started. Then I went back inside to hurry my Paul along so he could do his share. When we got back outside I discovered that not only had Matthew finished our sidewalk, he had gone ahead and done our neighbors sidewalks too, on both sides. I asked if he was trying to be a good neighbor, but he answered that it was just easer to keep going.

My Paul was disappointed he didn’t get a chance to do the sidewalk!

How did I get such good kids?

Sunday, December 4, 2011

"I'm getting nothing FOUR Christmas. . ."

Day 4

Today is Denver’s “Red Ball” in honor of World AIDS Day. The “Red Ball” is a big event with a fire and ice fashion show. Because At The Beach, the company I work for, is one of the official sponsors of this fundraising events, Kat and I will be there. It is not the biggest event we have attended for work this year, but it is a big deal.

In preparation for this event, Kat went and bought a new outfit. It took several shopping trips, and there was the whole question about how red her outfit should be, what was ‘red ribbon red’” anyway? Kat was not the only one with wardrobe questions however. As this event is not a black tie event, I don’t need to wear a tuxedo. I do have a suit to wear, but of course it’s not red. Texas Jay suggested I opt for a red tie and red vest with a black shirt. That is festive right?
I went to the formal wear store and let me tell you, renting a red vest and tie sounds easier than it is. Again with the whole, ‘what color red is best?’ Also, I really liked the red and black paisley vest, but can I get away with a patterned vest and a black and white pinstripe shirt? Sure mixing patterns is hot right now, but can I get away with it? Several text messages back and forth to Texas Jay and I managed to pick a vest.

Yesterday Matthew and I went to pick it up. I have been struggling with a concern that when I wear this vest that it won’t say hip and trendy, it will say fat man in a red and white suit. I tried the vest on at the store and was thinking that it looked good, and that I was definitely headed in the ‘hip and trendy’ direction.

When I walked out of the dressing room, Matthew looked up and said “Hey Santa!”

This is my own personal wardrobe malfunction!

Saturday, December 3, 2011

I saw THREE ships come sailing in. . .

Day 3

I have said before that my Matthew loves Christmas music. I mean Really, REALLY LOVES Christmas music. He swears that the best sleep he gets is this time of year, when he puts on Christmas music at bedtime and dreams the night away.

However, that does not mean he doesn’t have standards! The other day, several days BEFORE Thanksgiving, Matthew and I were driving in the car and listening to the radio. Mariah Carey’s “All I want for Christmas is you” came on the radio. (Please note I was NOT listening to the Christmas music only channel, this was the regular channel I swear). In any case, Matthew was incredulous. “Really Papa? Christmas Music? BEFORE Thanksgiving?! That’s ridiculous?!”

I asked him what he meant, and he gave me the look that said clearly I was an idiot. “Papa, it is before Thanksgiving, as in BEEEE FOUR!” I reminded him that he likes to listen to Christmas music. “Well yeah, AFTER Thanksgiving!” I pressed him further and reminded him that the night after Halloween he was asking for Christmas music at bedtime.

“PAPA! You are not supposed to talk about that! That is not for listening! That is just for sleeping! And sugarplums, not like listening!”

Clearly, I am 'slow to learn' these things!

Friday, December 2, 2011

TWO steppin around the Christmas tree. . .

Light it UP!

Kat likes Christmas lights. I know that often people think it is me going overboard with the decorations, but the truth is that Kat really likes Christmas lights on the outside of a house. The first year we were married we had one little strand of white twinkle lights in the living room window. When we lived in apartments we had lights hanging from the balcony. If you knew us in 2001 you saw the house on 15th with the 21 foot tall gabled roof hung with icicle lights. Kat won’t admit it but I suspect that that may be part of the reason she liked that house so much. Can I add that hanging icicle lights from a gabled roof like that requires a crazy long extension ladder, which is not my favorite thing.

In 1993 we were still living in Shawnee in our house at 2525 N Broadway. We had done twinkle lights in the window, and hanging from the front porch. In 1993 Kat talked me into going all out and hanging lights along the roofline of the whole house. One small problem was that we did not own a ladder. Most of the house we were able to get to the roofline standing on a chair. The tricky part was the peaked roof over the garage.

The problem was that the chair was not getting it done. I thought about trying to climb onto the roof of the porch and then from that angle climb up on the garage roof to hang the lights. Repeated attempts to get on the porch roof were unsuccessful. Then Kat had a stroke of genius. In her new plan we would move the Nissan Sentra right up against the house and then I could stand on the roof of the car to hang the lights. Sounds like a plan right?

It was still sounding like a great plan up until SOMEONE (who shall remain nameless) backed the car into the corner of the house. In her defense, (see I didn’t give any names), it was dark when it happened so maybe she didn’t see the BIG HOUSE STANDING there? Yeah, let’s go with that.

But hey, the lights did look pretty that year!

Thursday, December 1, 2011

"Once in Royal David's City. . ."

Welcome back! It is December 1st and once again I plan on sharing a funny, cheesy, moving or something memory a day for the next 25 days. Why? Because it entertains me, and for no other reason. But isn’t that reason enough?

So for day one let’s look back to Christmas Eve 1991. Kat and I had been married only a few months and could not afford to go home to either one of our parents homes for Christmas. We planned to spend Christmas with Kat’s sister Stephanie and her husband Clyde and his family in Wister. I had never been to Wister, and Kat had only been once.

This was in the dark ages before gps, so Stephanie called Kat and gave her directions, which Kat wrote down on a piece of paper, with a pen. Oh man, how did we ever survive?!?! Stephanie told Kathleen to take I-40 to Sallisaw, then take 59 south till you get to Poteau, where it becomes 271, once you get to Poteau, you keep going to Wister, but do NOT cross over lake Wister, go past the road to lake Wister.

It was cold and dark and the car had a heater that barely worked. We didn’t have any trouble getting to Poteau, other than the cold. We left Poteau, saw the sign that said Lake Wister this way, and we turned to avoid it, crossed over the lake and could not find the house. So back across the lake and all the way to Poteau. We regrouped at the Tote a Poke (go ahead and laugh, but I am not making that up). After reviewing the instructions, we tried again, once again avoiding the road that said LAKE WISTER and once again crossing all the way over the lake. Once again we could not find the house.

Getting a little frustrated we returned to the Tote a Poke and called Stephanie. She was relieved to hear from us and gave us the instructions again. Third time is the charm right? Wrong. Still back and forth across the lake and could not find the house. So back to Tote a Poke. This time we ran into Chad Brooks. Chad and I had run track at OBU together and running into him well after midnight on Christmas Eve in a Tote a Poke in Poteau, where he was wearing overalls and no shirt and buying beer was just a small part of the increasingly surreal evening.

This time when called, Stephanie had us wait and she came and got us. We got to Clyde’s parents house well after 2am, and eagerly went to bed. Around 530 am we were awakened a loud banging sound. Clyde’s mother Dorothy was running through the house banging a pot with a big spoon shouting for us to wake up wake up because Santa was here. Really? Did I mention that the only child in the house was Elisa Gail and she was less than 3 months old? But how do resist Dorothy Forrest? So Kat, Stephanie, Clyde, Marqueta, Jay and I dragged our very sleepy selves into the living room and opened presents. I don’t remember what I got, but I do remember a nap before breakfast!

2023.2

efore anyone points out that I am already behind, I know, believe me, I know.  I’m not offering excuses, today, but just letting you know, I...