Annabelle-isms

Over the last couple of weeks, Annabelle has been saying some of the funniest things.  I thought I would put them down so that I won't forget my girl and the things she said when she was 5.

• She told me that she was a beagle.  I was pretty impressed.  We don't call dogs by their breed, just call them puppies.  So I asked her what a beagle was and this is what she told me.  She's brown and white with a big yellow beak.  Yeah, she meant Eagle.
• She walked up to me and started snorting like a pig.  Except she called it snorkeling.
• She loves to sing one of the songs fromThe Nightmare Before Christmas.  The one line is "pumpkins scream in the dead of night", except Annabelle says "pumpkins scream in the head of mice".
• She says married treasure instead of buried treasure.
• On Saturday she told my she was ready for a husband and that she would have a girl child named Rosabella.  I'm so glad that she has everything all worked out though she she hasn't yet decided on who will be the groom just yet.

She makes me laugh every day.  I'm seeing her grow up right before my eyes and I'm not quite ready for it yet.

Christmas Blues

Every year I get a little case of the Christmas blues.  I get teary-eyed at the more sentimental Christmas songs and remember when Christmas was perfect for me, back when I was a child. 

I have wonderful memories of my childhood Christmases.  Christmas Eve at my Aunt Kathy's house.  All of us piled into the den, fire roaring.  We'd pass out songs sheets and sing carols together while Matt and Dave played their guitars.  I looked forward to it every year.  The love, the family, all of it. 

And then one year, I saw how my family wasn't being treated as well as some of the others.  Better presents for some cousins and leftovers for my sister and me, my mom ignored by most of the people there. 

The first year that I didn't go to my aunt's house, 1999, no one noticed I was missing until it was present time.  Everyone seemed so upset that I had been given permission to spend the holiday with Mark's family that year.  They said I had no reason to skip out on my actual family, even though the reason I wasn't there was sound.  Mark's Grandma O.  was battling breast cancer.  It was very obvious that this would be her last Christmas and when she asked me to spend it with her, I knew I both needed and wanted to.  She was an exceptionally loving lady and I was blessed to know her.

After that, I stopped going to be with my father's side of the family on Christmas Eve.  I had a new family, Mark's family, even though we were still years away from getting engaged or married.  It just felt so right to be with him, but I missed my family's singing tradition.  I missed that 40 minutes or so when my family acted like a family and we all loved each other for a little bit.

My Aunt Kathy has passed away but her son is trying to get Christmas Eve going again.  I got an e-mail asking us to come.  He mentioned there would be singing.  I was so happy!  I couldn't wait to share my favorite memories with Mark and Annabelle...  but then I decided to turn Scott down.  We aren't going to go.  I realized that I wouldn't able to recapture the joy I felt as a child, now as an adult.  I realized that just the thought of having to spend a few hours with my family made me anxious, nervous.  I don't want this Christmas marred with my own apprehension.  It would ruin it for all of us.

I'm sorry that Annabelle will not ever experience the joy that I had singing with everyone all together.  I know she would love it.  But I know that we will make some new memories that will be important to us as a family.  Memories that she will tell her future husband about.  Memories that will not be clouded with sadness, only love.

The First Snow

We finally got our first snow. 

Can you tell by all the footprints that I have one very excited little girl?



Making Cookies

And thank goodness we are done!  My kitchen is a disaster but I just will not scrub it down when there will be more flour and sugar and frosting and sprinkles thrown around the room the very next day.  Baking Christmas cookies together is one of my favorite traditions.  I can remember being little and helping my parents make them every year.  Now Annabelle helps me and even with the mess, I love it.

Her first ever Christmas cookie, 2007.

Now she's old enough to help, 2009.

Such concentration, 2010.

This year, she's a pro. 

The Polar Express

Every year, we have tried to do something fun and memorable at Christmastime with Annabelle.  This year is no exception.  Annabelle is Christmas crazy this year.  Everything we do, she associates with Christmas, Santa, presents, snow, etc. 

For Annabelle's first Christmas, we went on a train ride.  She was only 6 months old.  Gosh she is cute!

That first train ride was disappointing to all of us adults.  It was hot, the train wasn't decorated, no carols were being played.  The only thing that made it Christmas-y was that Santa stopped in briefly to visit each child.  We had so many ideas how to make it better.

This year, we decided to try another Christmas train ride with a different train company, the Medina Railroad.  This time we did the Polar Express train.  We had such high hopes!  They would be reading the book while we rode the train.  There was a conductor to punch our tickets and a hobo and chefs to pass out almost cold hot chocolate and cookies.  And Santa, we can't forget him.  Each kid got a special bell.  No one would join in our attempts to start caroling.  We just sang a few songs by ourselves while the other train passengers started at us like we were weirdos.  Again we had ideas that could have really made the ride spectacular but the kids seemed to have a great time and in the end, it's all that matters. 

Annabelle got her face painted.

Here's our train.

Anya, Austin, and Annabelle sat with Papa.

Hot chocolate, cookies and Skittles.  The perfect combination.

The conductor punching Annabelle's ticket.  She was very reluctant to let him sit with her in the seat.

My mom bought the kids little stuffed anaimals to play with on the ride.  Austin's mouse was looking out the wondow.

I just couldn't help adding this one because she looks so darn cute.:)

My sister and the three amigoes holding up their little animals.

Telling Santa what they wanted for Christmas.

They each got a bell from Santa's sleigh.  As long as they can still hear it ring, they will always believe in Santa.

My mom and dad.

So even though my high expectations were crushed just a littl bit, the kids had a great time.  I love making memories with my family.  I love that they want to make these memories with me.

Tree Drama!

We went out on Saturday and bought a really gorgeous Christmas tree.  It was basically the best tree ever, the perfect shape, color, height, width, smell.  We went with a plan, no Scotch pines.  I love them to pieces but the needles are so pointy and I'm allergic to them.  But we stood out in the cold for a long time and still ended up with a Scotch pine. :)  We get it home and the trunk is too big for our stand.  We tried everything we could but it just didn't work.  The tree was so top heavy that it kept falling over. 

So Sunday rolls along and we are back at the tree farm for tree number two.  At this point, my Christmas cheer quotient is low.  I'm annoyed with the first stupid tree, my back is bothering me from carrying the kids all over the train museum the night before, and I hate that we will now be spending way more on a Christmas tree(s) that I would ever do normally.  But we do it, we get a new tree.  We make sure the trunk is the right size, that it's not too tall, and bring it home.

Only we find out that this tree isn't working either.  No matter how hard we screw those bolts in, the tree is leaning over.  Maybe if no one touched it, it would be fine.  But I have Annabelle.  She keeps hugging the tree and telling me how precious it is.  This tree will not be standing much longer.

Mark runs to Lowes and buys a new tree stand.  It works!!!!!  Except now our tree is almost a foot away from the ceiling because the new stand is much lower than the old one.  But at least the tree is up and steady even with the hugging and playing.  We have now had two trees in our possession for more than 48 hours and it's still not decorated.  I don't know when we'll get around to it either but at least it's there right?

Here's our tree as it stands right now.  We can't decorate tonight because I put Elf on the Shelf in the tree.  What if we accidentally touched him and he lost his magic?

There's tree number one.  I'm pretty sure our neighbors think we're Scrooge's, throwing out our Christmas tree before we get to actually use it!  He looks so sad out there.

Christmas Cards

I have received my first Christmas card already this year!  That makes me so happy.  I hate the way all of my card holders look so empty right now.  Cards make me happy.  I love to see people's photo cards, especially since many of them I don't see very often.  It's crazy seeing people's kids growing up in pictures.

Every year, we go out and get family photos taken.  That way we have new pictures to hang on our walls and everyone gets a new picture of us as well.  I don't know if anyone really cares, but I do it anyways.  This year though, we didn't do that.  Last year, we felt very rushed.  I know it's a busy time of the year but Mark was so unhappy with the lack of customer service, that we decided that we will wait for our family portraits until sometime in January.  Then we will get the more personal attention that Mark wants out of the experience.

But I needed to come up with an idea for our Christmas cards.  I didn't want to just buy some cards and sign our names.  I like the thought process that I have when writing people's names on their cards, writing our own and putting their addresses on the envelopes.  It  makes the procedure longer when I'm personally thinking of each individual family as I do it, but it matters to me.  I usually watch Christmas movies while I do it.  It puts me in a good, Christmas-y mood.

This year, our card is simple.  It didn't take a lot of time but I think it came out too, too cute.

So what do you think?