Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree

In the year of our Lord 2016 decorating the Christmas tree, for some strange reason, went down a little different than any past year I can recall. My husband was here “helping.” Now I get the song God Rest Ye Merry Gentleman! Just go take a nap already!

Last week some thoughtful male in our home brought the Jenny Craig imitation tree into the living room for me. How nice! Except that it didn’t get covered all year from Last Christmas and was filthy. Upon request, a son of mine dragged it to the backyard for me and I gave it quite the shower…. lights and all. I couldn’t remember if the lights actually worked and I knew we had 27 million strings of lights from our daughter’s wedding in the garage. Her wedding wasn’t IN the garage… that’s where the lights were.

A day later an extension cord was also brought to the backyard to see if the shower killed the lights. Surprisingly, they worked! Joy to the World! Back in the house that skinny tree was dragged.

Decorate-the-O-Christmas-Tree day quickly turned into clean-out-the-garage day, much to my chagrin. It all started at 10 a.m. with the typical where-is-the-box-with-the-decorations search and recover mission. Then the shelves got cleaned out and the toilet paper and paper towels were put on the clean shelves. Then we swept the garage floor. Then the camping equipment got put back on the shelves. Then a ton of junk got thrown out. Then I got a big scrape on my arm that produced blood. Then we swept the garage floor again. Then we threw out the dilapidated camping chairs that served their purpose for 11 strong years. (This is how my kids write stories. Every sentence starts with “then.” It really holds the interest of the readers and keeps the story moving along rapidly.) Then we found the bag of sheep’s wool that we will need to study sheep in January. Then we were all hungry. Then the Popsicle man came at the right moment. Then five kids from the youth group showed up and ate tacos at our kitchen table.

Side note: this was a stay-at-home-and-look-ugly day. I hadn’t even brushed my hair. I did brush my teeth because you can only be so gross on a stay-at-home-and-look-ugly day. I was sporting a red t-shirt, grey bally sweat pants that are floods, fuzzy black slippers and a light blue and pink Peter Rabbit apron covered with ruffles. The Popsicle man is probably used to this sort of housewife-dressing-down-deal. At least that’s what I kept telling myself.

It was 7:30 p.m. when Nora, our 13-year-old, could not take the suspense any longer and begged to decorate the tree. Okay, Okay! Don’t get pushy! Let’s get this Blue Christmas rolling!

We weren’t ten minutes into our mission when realization hit me that my husband hasn’t really helped hang ornaments on the tree for YEARS! He was not aware of the ornament rules and was breaking the ornament rules faster than I could instruct him in the ways of righteousness. Little ones on top. Big ones on bottom…. but not the last row of branches. Ugly ones in the back. Elvis ones in the back. (I had to make that two rules so Rick didn’t know I think the Elvis ornaments are ugly. Shhhh.) Expensive ones at eye level and next to lights. Sheesh. How hard is it? It was notably NOT a Silent Night!

Here is the front and center of our tree: (Several rules are broken!)

Then he figured since I had rules, he needed to make some rules. “Don’t linger by the ornament box! Just pull out your ornament and move away from the box!” Sheesh! I’ll admit I rolled my eyeballs toward heaven a few times and thanked God that He gave me All I Want for Christmas in this helpful man.

So, It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas at the Crosby homestead! I pray your decorations went up with glee! May your Christmas be merry and bright at this Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

Oh the Weather Outside is Frightful!

Really!  In Phoenix… in December… it snowed only 25 miles from our house!  We had rain … but we are not used to harsh conditions where we need closed-toed shoes… and a jacket!  I can imagine the sympathy in your heart for us!  haha.

December brought out Christmas decorations with a vengeance… lights, wreaths, trees, snowmen, etc.  First year EVER… I got the fake tree up with all the silver, blue and white ornaments… on December 1st!  A week later, we are still waiting to go buy a tree for all the non-blue ornaments.  A few years back, I came to the realization that red is not my favorite color.  In fact in the ROYGBIV list… I’m basically loving the rainbow in reverse order.  I’m a violet, indigo and blue gal from the boots up.  SO…. I went blue Christmas shopping and the blue tree was born.  I love it more each year… as the ornaments accumulate.  There are a few homemade preschool ornaments that made the cut… we have a popsicle stick Star of David with blue glitter…. and a dough star painted royal blue.  Yes, they are on the back, but they did make the cut for MY tree.

I love these stained glass snow flakes.  Rick and I bought these in Mexico two years ago at Christmas time.  Love them!

This stained glass trio was purchased last Christmas in Bogota, Colombia.  Yes, it’s supposed to by Mary, Joseph and the Babe Jesus, but I also like to think of it as Rick, me and our little colombian princess who joined us last Christmas!

Nora has loved the thought of Christmas since her first days in the USA.  She arrived to her forever home on December 22nd and it was one big blur of Christmas bliss her first week home!  Her eyes sparkled when she saw Grandma’s house all decorated in every corner!  A village with ice skaters and lights in the windows… a sleigh full of teddy bears… brass reindeer with ribbons… embroidered Santa pillows…. snowmen that play the piano and sing…. little Christmas mice climbing candles… matching wreaths on the front doors… and Santa himself waving the lantern from the top of the tree…Spendid!  All year long she has repeated that Christmas is her favorite!  We have stressed over and over that it is our favorite too, because Jesus was born then and THAT is the reason we celebrate.

We are doing the Jesse Advent Tree devotional with the kids.  We bought a little tree for the kitchen table that looks pretty lame right now with only five ornaments, but it looks a little better each day as we add to the story of Jesus!  We review every night and Nora basically gets it so far…. just a bit off on a few stories!  It is a bit alarming that of the first five stories, death is talked about three times!  (Adam and Eve’s disobedience, Noah’s neighbors and Abraham starting to sacrifice Isaac!)  I never thought of it before, but it’s all part of the story of our salvation!

So thankful for a relaxed Christmas month to share with our little girl!

NOW it feels like Christmas… fa la la la la!

The goal upon eyes opening this morning was to get the Christmas decor set straight and the boxes thrown in the garage.  With three children instructed to complete the task given and report back for the next task, all was done in only two hours.  Marvelous!  Here is a peak at winter in Arizona… holding the prominent location at the entry table, Mary, Jo and the baby Jesus…. along with various animals, angels and others.  Precious Moments nativity pieces are the only thing I really collect… and with the entry table full and some angels still hiding in their boxes, I don’t know if I really need the lighted inn, the palm trees or the wisemen on camels.

The table is set and the snowmen are smiling.  So am I.  The cheesy plastic snowmen placemats are for every day use to protect the table cloth.  All was lovely and bright and in place for approximately 13 minutes before four blobs of Crunchy Taco Hamburger Helper missed the cheesy plastic snowman and hit the bright and clean table cloth. {{{sigh}}}  (Yes, votive candles are on my shopping list for the little snowflakes… and nuts and candy for the empty squares.)

With no snow in sight, we do what we can.

Without warning, I was overcome with emotion when I pulled three Precious Moments Baby’s First Christmas ornaments from the box, knowing that one is missing from the tree.  The minute I discover Zaza’s birth year, I’m on eBay finding her ornament to complete the set.

Yes, my Christmas tree is blue.  I love blue.  It makes me feel cool under our clear blue skies of December.  Merry Christmas!

American Graffiti

Please refer to yesterday’s post to see the circumstances that brought on American Graffiti.  When we left our homestead to attend my husband’s naturalization ceremony, our home was far less patriotic than this:

Our driveway was clean… well, in a used-oil-stained-driveway sort of way…..

“Not an exact replica” ??????  Try YOU’RE MISSING THE BOTTOM HALF OF THE FLAG!

Now I realize that to people in Canada the word Indian means people from India.  Well, this is referring to Native North American First Nations Feather-Wearing Bow-and-Arrow-Shooting Indians…. who were here FIRST.  And the 6 out of 7 was Rick’s score on his patriot test.  He obviously folded under the duress of the interview because the one question he missed was an easy one.  No need to mention it here.  But feel free to call him and ask him directly what the stripes on the flag represent.  His recall on this subject has dramatically improved since the said interview.

This is hard to read, but conveniently for the American Graffiti vandals, our garage door has the exact number of squares to spell both American and Maverick….   Speaking of Maverick, if you’re going to change your name… pick a cool name, like Maverick. Just a thought.

Now I think glittery confetti is cute in small amounts that unsuspectingly fall out of a greeting card…. but three gallons of red, white and blue stars, circles and flags…. ON THE FRONT PORCH.. tracks through the house worse than a fly sticking to flypaper.  We are leaving it for the Fourth of July, however.  Very decorative.

This is another decorative touch that goes unnoticed by the untrained yard graffiti eye.  There are 100 toothpick American flags in the tasteful desert landscape leading to the house.  The ground squirrels are sure to think something is strange in their territory.

The criminals returned to the scene of the crime offering an American berried-whip-cream-pound cake wonder of a cake as pittance for the crimes.  This is Andy and Jill‘s second appearance in my blog, this time minus the taped-shut eyes, wrist brace, bandaids and tensor bandages.  That visit was in honor of Rick as well as this one.  What dear friends.