Christmas at Grammy's House

The kids and I went to my mom's house for Christmas Day.  

We left 3 hours before we were supposed to arrive, just in case we hit traffic.  But other than one slow down, we did pretty well, so when we were getting close, I realized we'd have time to make a quick stop.  

Between Annaliese and Josiah, we lost a baby boy to second trimester miscarriage.  He's buried at the church we were married in.  I hadn't been in town in ages, and it was good to dust off his marker and remember.  Perhaps not the most Christmasy thing to do, but I'm glad I did it.  

More presents!  Jack got a watch.

Katie got art supplies.  She drew me a nice picture for Christmas this year.

Grammy, opening a cat calendar.  

Hannah in another book.  

Grammy's husband, C, with the train mug that Jack gave him.

That long drive is tiring, and Jack crashed out at 8:30.  

Next morning, we were treated to the turkey flock coming by for some birdseed.  There were about 3 times this many turkeys.  

Grammy and I took the girls to the Charles Schultz Museum, while C took Jack to peek at the air museum (it was closed, but they looked through the fence) and to Epicenter, which is kind of like a grown up Chuck E Cheese.  Arcade games, trampolines, sports bar, all kinds of stuff.  So everybody had fun.

My 2 cents worth was worth a whole nickel for a minute.

Trying their hand at cartoon lettering.

The pen & ink supplies used to create the Snoopy comic strips.

Reclaimed wall from his kid's bedroom.  

Pictures about his military service taken for Jack's benefit.  

Recreation of his workspace.

Hey, look, there's Big Ben!  (I'm so ready to travel again.)

The gift shop was tiny, and although these Mona Lucy magnets were cute, there was nothing that we really had to have.  

Faux Gingerbread House Day and a Special Visitor

I love this tradition.  It's fun to look back over the years and see what interesting creations everyone has made.  

I went pretty simple this year.  The roof tiles are chocolate melts left over from the year that Josiah made Sam chocolate crayons for Christmas.  The windows are Mike & Ikes.  And there's a bunny for each family member, including spouses and grandkids.  Three rows of bunnies.  Lots of bunnies.  

Hannah's structure collapsed, so she added an attacking army pillaging and plundering.  And cannonballs.  

Miss M had an ambitious plan involving Pocky and Rolos.  

Who me, eating the building materials??

Jack's finished AT-AT.  (Which later became a flat flat.)  

Spraying silver food dye.

Katie's red truck

Josiah and Miss M's collaborative piece.  It's from the video game Fallout.  

It's Sam!  We had a "micro visit" from Sam between him finishing school in Temecula and starting work in Denver.  

He missed all the festivities, and I only got 3 pictures while he was here (not sure why I didn't take pictures of him opening his Christmas presents), but it was so good to see him.  

Even if it was too short.  

Happy New Year!  Next post will be what we did on Christmas Day.  

Christmas at Our House

Due to Paul's work schedule, we had our home Christmas on Friday instead of Sunday.  

Jack's boss gave him snacks for Christmas.  The way to every teen boy's heart.  

Hey, look, it's that blanket again.  Everyone wants to feel how soft it is.  

Grumman found his present.  It's the pink one with the gingerbread men on it.  

Katie's new backpack and lunch bag.  (Hannah got a Starry Night lunch bag that I bought after our Van Gogh experience.)  

Having Christmas a couple days early meant that Miss M could join us, since she didn't have any family commitments that day.  

Some of Paul's new books.

When I bought this flannel shirt, I was under the impression that my poor child had no long sleeved button up shirts.  Turns out, he does, it just hadn't occurred to him to wear long sleeves to church yet.  

Katie was obsessed with Ford F-250 trucks recently.  I asked Paul to get her a truck model.  They've spent a couple mornings in the garage, working on it.  I'll be sure to share a picture when it's done.  

What's in your present, Grumman?

Truck puzzle

Hannah opens books, and immediately starts reading.  

It's a stick!  

Grumman's gift this year was silvervine sticks (affiliate link).  They're said to be a good alternative for cats who don't react to catnip (which he doesn't).  

Lego flowers

Jack recently built himself his own computer, so he asked for a chair for Christmas.  

After all the gifts were open, people wandered off to play with their new toys.  

I had art supplies in my stocking this year.  

Katie's finished Lego set.

Up next, the annual faux gingerbread houses... 

Our Pre Christmas Week-ish

Without the structure that school puts into our routine, I have no idea what day it is, or what I'm supposed to be doing.  I keep thinking every tomorrow must be Sunday, because every day feels like Saturday.  Pretty sure this covers about 2 weeks.  Ish.  

You know you're a book person when a storm knocks the power out, and you grab a lantern to read in bed.  As a side note, we've had this lantern for more than 7 years, and it's been to camp several times, and only needed new batteries once or twice.  

Katie performing hand chimes at church.  Hannah played piano for the offertory the following week, but I didn't take a picture.

One of my coworkers posted a video about a mom who made her kid's teacher a pencil dispenser from a straw dispenser and then Crikey-ed on it.  I thought to myself, "I can do that."

This particular teacher's classroom is decorated in Alice in Wonderland, with old play props, so I thought her pencil dispenser should fit the theme.  It seemed to be well received.  

Jack continues to say, "You see that sign?" when we're out & about.  Makes me smile.  My boy installed that corner sign.  

The school Christmas program occurred.  It was mostly not horrible.  

Sent packages to my big girls.  Added a few stickers for that festive look.  

Expect to see more sword type books.  Hannah is going through a weapons phase.  

Paul had a birthday.  I keep the upstairs noticeably warmer than he keeps the downstairs, hence the sock hat in the house.  

I swear she's going to give me a heart attack.  She was up there, chasing her tail on the post.  :facepalm:  

 

 

There's a rose garden beside the post office.  I was surprised to notice these (and many other) hearty flowers, continuing to do their thing in winter, so I stopped and took a bunch of pictures.  Just a moment to notice the beauty around us.  

My kids give me grief for being a proud military mama, so I had to send them this over the top Marine Mom car.  Makes my single blue star magnet look downright mild in comparison.  

It's been gross foggy lately in the mornings.  This was 9:45 a.m. on the way to church.  Bleh.  

I've been working with Hannah on cooking.  She's really stressed out about it.  She's very much a perfectionist, and I'm very much a "close enough!" fly by the seat of my pants sort of girl.  We've done spaghetti, mini pizzas, and a couple other things so far, but she's still not relaxing yet.  I'm ordering up some cookbooks from the library.  We'll keep going until she mellows out.  

Fiona, you're not helping me wrap presents by napping on the gift bags.  

I guess I'll sit somewhere else.

I'm not sure how it started, but Josiah and I used to leave a potato in each other's room.  This was a while ago.  Well, with the Christmas stuff out, and some fingerling potatoes in the house, I revived the tradition last week.  It's my turn again.  I think I'mma go put it in his car.  :evilgrin: 

I made Hannah a flannel/minkee blanket while we were waiting to adopt her, and I brought it to China with us.  It's been in her bed ever since.  It's gone to camp with her.  And after 12 years, it was... falling apart.  So when I asked for her Christmas list, one of the the items listed was a new mama made blankie.  I used cat flannel and gray minkee for the replacement.  It's bigger than the old one (which was made to cover a 3 year old) so I ran out of binding and had to go buy another pack to finish it.  Grumman wanted me to know that no project is complete without cat hair, so he made his contribution before I wrapped it for her.  

I'll share Christmas pictures next time.  Hope you had a lovely Christmas!