Christmas Happenings 2009

I cannot get the left align button to work!  So this blog will be all centered!  Things like this irk me.

Ok, before we get into my Christmas happenings, I must address another spooky, weird thing that happened.  Again, concerning a Christmas decoration.  This time it's Pappy's Christmas mug.

See that coffee mug?  That's the culprit!

Someone give Pappy this mug years ago.  When you pick it up to sip coffee, it plays a Christmas song.  When you place it back down, the song stops.  I've wondered over the years why the battery doesn't go bad on this mug.  No telling how old the battery is.  (But then, again, remember Sleeping Santa that plays with or without batteries and my very old cassette tape player that still plays even though I've never changed the batteries!)  Back to the mug.

I have totally ignored that coffee mug since it's lived in my house.  Every Christmas I display my ever-growing collection of mugs, but I've never included this mug.  My family uses my Christmas coffee mugs and frankly, Pappy's old mug is annoying when it plays - I figure no one would want to actually drink from it.  Hence, I just display it in my year-round Christmas china cabinet. 

The day after Christmas Tom was outside taking down decorations and I was inside.  All of a sudden I heard Pappy's old mug playing.  Remember, it only plays when someone picks it up.  I walked into the dining room and there it was - inside my cabinet - playing away.  I picked it up, replaced it on the shelf and it stopped playing.  Several minutes later it began to play again.  This time Tom was witness to this strange occurance.  The mug played once more during the afternoon, but has remained silent since.  Weird.  Weird. Weird.  Moving on . . . . .

Papa and the girls played on Dec. 22

Aubrie loves to sit in this chair and watch TV.

Silly little Aubrie!

Christmas Eve tradition - breakfast at Cracker Barrel

Andrea, Aubrie & Mark

Michelle & Chad

Abby, Cadence & Matt

Another tradition is attending our church's Christmas Eve service. 

Cadence is all dressed up for Christmas Eve service.

Tom & I took Cady & Brie down for the children's time that night.  Both girls were so good during the service.  We took them out to the entrance area during the sermon so they could get out some energy.  We re-entered just in time for the candle light singing of Silent Night.

Christmas morning, everyone comes over around 11:30 a.m. for Santa.

Aubrie & Cadence patiently waited on opening those Santa bags.

Christmas' wonderful chaos!  Brie is pushing Cady's stroller.

Cady & Brie were intrigued with Bing Crosby Santa.  It was Pappy's . . . I'm surprised that it hasn't blared out in song with no prompting! 

Every Christmas we have a variety of soups for lunch.  This year we had Santa Fe Bean Soup, Baked Potato Soup and Paula Deen's Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup.  We also had turkey & spiral ham for sandwiches.  Yummy!

We had 15 people crowded around this table.  In this picture Abby, Cady, Mark & Tom are missing in action.

Unfortunately, Christmas night Abby began to feel poorly.  Today is Dec. 29 and she's still feeling poorly.  Plus, Cady began to run a fever on Sunday.  Cady stayed with us Sun. night thru this afternoon.  On Monday, Ab was at her doctor's at the same time that Matt met Cady & I at the pediatrician's office.  Poor babies!!!

2009 Stabs of Joy #3 and #4 plus Sleeping Santa

#3.  I have several Prayers Sisters who I can call on day or night and know w/o a shadow of a doubt that they will pray about whatever my need is.  PLUS they are a very fun group of ladies, ranging from age 35 - 62.  I love them.

#4.  I have a husband who is awesome.  Recently, he made me smile brightly:  (1) he, w/o me prodding, complaining or remotely mentioning the need for, vacuumed the entire house and cleaned three bathrooms, and (2) he surprised me with two glass bottles of Nehi grape soda that he bought in a little store near the mountains.  His big and little acts of kindess are truly a blessing.

Remember Sleeping Santa (Dec. 13 blog)??
I was wrapping gifts in a spare bedroom today.  At exactly 2 p.m. Santa snored again.  No one was in the house but me.  No, he is not plugged in and he does not have batteries. He is possessed, I am beginning to believe!  (Mimi, is that you saying 'hi'?)

2009 Stabs of Joy #2

#2.  I am so thankful for family harmony.  My three children are happily married and all of us love each other and get along together beautifully.  I am so very thankful that we don't have "drama" in our family. 

(Hope to post pictures of the G.G.s later today or tonight.) 

Joy, Joy, Joy (And I'm Not Talking About Me)

Today at church was the annual "Stabs of Joy" service.  The congregation is encouraged to think back over 2009 and make a list of things that have "stabbed" our hearts with joy.  For the next few days I'll share a few of mine.

Stabs of Joy #1:
Even though Tom has taken volunteer furlough for 3 1/2 out of the last 6 months, God had faithfully supplied us with all our needs.  Honestly, this has been the most stressLESS and most peaceful Christmas season I can remember.  God has given both Tom & I a peace that He will take care of us and we absolutely trust Him in that. Tom actually worked a couple of days last week and will work a couple of days this week which is a PRAISE.  Things are beginning to look up at his company.  We're praying that 2010 will be a busier year in the engineering field and that those who are on furlough can return full-time and that those laid off can be rehired.  I have learned in these months that Tom will certainly enjoy retirement whenever he reaches that time in his life.  He was gone almost every day helping someone with yardwork or helping on a building project.  He doesn't like to sit around, but he's loved being out and about.  He told his S.S. class this morning that going back to work has messed up his free time! 
That's all for today.

Two More Pictures of My Little G.G.s

These monogrammed outfits were 1st birthday gifts from their great aunt and uncle.

Is this not the cutest picture?

I could just eat 'em up!!!!

The Mystery of Sleeping Santa

Around 20 years a very good friend of Jane's gave my mother Sleeping Santa.  During Christmas, Mom always kept ole Santa in her den.  Either via electricity or battery, when in the "on" position, Santa would snore very louding when someone passed by.  His fat belly was rise & fall during each snore.  I inherited dear Santa.

Santa now sleeps in my den.

During the past few years Santa began to stop snoring.  Not because we put him on a CPAP, but because something is amiss with his snoring mechanism.  Tom and Matt took Santa completely apart one year to see if they could repair the mechanism.  We thought he was fixed, but soon realized that he'd taken his last snore.  But, he was still so cute lying in his bed with his black boots on the floor right beside him.

I haven't put ole Santa out for the last couple of years.  This year, since my little grandgirls are so interactive, I thought I'd put Santa out and let them touch him.  I disconnected the electrical cord since he's out of order.  But I did try a new set of batteries "just in case".  When I first put in the batteries, Santa snored and I was so excited.  But he only let out one snore. 

One day last week I was in the kitchen and I heard Santa snore.  "Weird", I thought.  What in the world was going on?  When Tom came home, I told him and I said, "The power button better be 'on' or we've got a freaky Santa in here."  I checked and, yes, the button was on.  I turned it off and chuckled away.

Yesterday, while Tom was blowing leaves, I was working on the computer.  Santa snored . . . loud and clear. . .!!!!  Normally, I'd be a bit scared since Santa has a motion-sensor device (was someone in my house?),but I also knew he was a bit off his rocker, if you know what I mean.  I walked into the den, picked up Santa and saw the power button was in the OFF position.  Spooky.  Odd.  Weird. 

I may have to call "Ghost Hunters" and see if they'll drive down from Rhode Island and check out Santa.  He's possessed.  "EEka,eeka" as Pappy would have said. 

Grant, Jason, Steve & Tango:  Better plan a trip down south.  I may need you!

My Life The Past Two Days

• Thurs. Dec. 10 - Gingerbread House Construction
  

I arose early to begin the baking process for Gingerbread Houses. (I mixed all the ingredients on Wed. and it had to sit in refrigerator 24 hours.) Since Abby, Andrea & I were making houses, I made three huge pans of gingerbread. Each cooked for 25 min. then I cut the pattern, followed by taking out all excess gingerbread from around the pattern, followed by each cooking another 25 min. to harden. That's basically 6 pans of baking for 25 min. It adds up. I finished around 10 a.m. and the gals were coming around 11 a.m.

Last pan of gingerbread

Tom helped out by taking the plastic wrap from all the candies we used. That saved us tons of time.

Before we started the assembly, Andrea & Abby called into the den for a surprise. They had the little girls portraits taken and it was all laid out on my sofa -several poses and each one so precious. Here's one:

My little G.G.s

Before Andrea & Abby began, I was finishing mine up ahead of time. True to form, I made a huge mess - I spilled a bowl of little red hots all over my kitchen floor. Again, true to form, I laughed.

Cady thought it was such fun!

Abby, on the other hand, did not. She cleaned up the mess b/c my hands were covered with Royal Icing.

My creation

Andrea's house


Abby's house

That afternoon, I kept Cady while Ab went to the dentist. She was such fun. She loved my Santa hats.

I love her weird expression.


Looks like Cady may become a handbell ringer or a volunteer with The Salvation Army.

• Thursday night - Carriage Ride in Fountain Inn

The Ivester's visiting Santa after the carriage ride.

The Rucker's

No one was sure how the little girls would like Santa. Both surprised us.

Cady sat there like he was an old friend!

Brie did not cry or make a sound; but she immediately put her arms out for anyone to take her.


Mimi & Papa with Cady & Brie. It was COLD last night.

• Friday, December 11 - Sesame Street Live!

Andrea, Brie, Abby, Cady & I headed out this morning to see Elmo and friends.

Again, it was COLD.

We had good seats, including an extra one just for our coats and bags.

Aubrie & Andrea, enjoying the show.

At the very beginning, Cady whimpered; but when Ab gave her the Lovey & "Paci" (reserved for naptime only), she was fine and enjoyed the show, too.

During the 15-min. "halftime", we sat and fed the girls a snack from home. We noticed that Elmo balloons were on sale down front. Honestly, I didn't even have a moment of "Oh, my girls need a balloon." Nope. But there were many parents and grandparents who could not resist the $10 balloon. $10 . . . are you kidding me?

Here's your $10 balloon.

Two ladies in front of us were discussing the disgusting price tag for a balloon. Here's how their conversation went:

Lady #1: Can you believe people pay $10 for a balloon. They may as well just throw their money up in the air.

Lady #2: Well, now you can look around and see where all the idiots are sitting.

SO FUNNY! And so true!

Next, something very odd happened. Very odd. To my left was an empty seat, then an older-looking father with his small daughter. During the intermission, he leaned over to me and said, "I need to go to the men's room......" I thought he was about to ask us to pardon him as he climbed over us to get out. No, no. He continued, ". . . . My daughter is scared to death to go with me to the restroom. Can she sit with you while I'm gone." WHAT???? She's scared to go with you to the restroom, but she'll sit with a complete stranger. AND YOU ARE LETTING HER SIT WITH A COMPLETE STRANGER? Weird, very weird. Perhaps I looked like a sane grandmother; maybe he was desperate. It's still strange, especially in today's world. In my mind (which sometimes can be slightly overactive and very imaginative), I decided that he had a child late in life, divorced his wife, doesn't see this little girl very often, took her to Sesame Street Live to get Daddy Points, and didn't know what to do with a 3-year-old girl when he needed to relieve himself. Reese sat very timidly on my lap and told me how old she was and that she liked Elmo. Daddy did return and thanked me. Is this odd to you or is it just me, Abby & Andrea???

During the end of the show, I'll admit my mind wondered and my eyes roamed. I began to notice that in the auditorium on the right side seemed to be almost exclusively daycare children. The middle section and left section seemed to be mostly parents/grandparents with a child or two. Let me tell you - when the boogy music began to play, I almost fell out of my seat laughing. The "daycare" section was moving and grooving! Those kids have more rhythm in one toe than the other two sections did in all their toes combined! That side of the auditorium was definitely the happy section. The kids were constantly singing along with the on-stage characters and dancing to their hearts content.

Okay, there was at least one exception on that side of the auditorium.

This lady slept throughout the entire show!

She was right across the aisle from our seats and was surrounded by kids, who apparently did not have any supervision today. For her, the show was "Sesame Street Asleep"!!

Christmas Tree Decorating

Last night was the annual Christmas Tree Decorating event. It's never on the same day of the year, but it's always a family affair in early December. Unfortunately, Mark & family couldn't come. Andrea & Brie had just returned from their Canadian Christmas trip; Andrea had to work last night and Brie had a terrible cold. Mark put her to bed at 6:30! That little one needed rest more than she needed more family time. We missed you three!!

We celebrated Michelle's birthday last night, then decorated the tree.

Cady was such help; she loved putting on ornaments.

Almost finished with the tree.

Tom's dig to Mark - Ga. Tech ornament!

Chad carefully placed Mark's Furman football ornament UPSIDE DOWN!

This morning I mixed up the dough for some Gingerbread houses.

My kitchen was a mess and so was I!

Tomorrow morning is baking time, then construction begins.

I'll post pictures of the houses tomorrow, hopefully.

And The Answer Is . . . . . . . . ?????

My new grandson, due in April, will be Crosby Rucker (don't know the middle name yet.) Isn't that precious! I LOVE it!!!!! This post is short but sweet.

Where Have I Been??????

No where, really. Disappointed, aren't you? You thought I'd been on some worldwide trip, huh? Nope. I've just been enjoying life. Tom has been off work for a while and we've just been busy doing this and that. (No projects!!) For those of you who don't know, Tom took volunteer furlough in July, half of October, all of November and most of December. I'm married to one special man. 2009 has been a very tough year for the engineering business. Tom has laid off dozens of employees. It just tore him up. In early summer, he decided that he would do everything in his power not to lay off or furlough any more men. He decided that he could handle a furlough better than men who had college-age children or several small children. It's just Tom & I and we don't have any unusual expenses. We're just watching our money and praying the economy picks up in 2010. The projection is that things will return to normal early next year. Tom hasn't had a normal paycheck (meaning 40 hours a week) since, I think, June. But ya know what? We're good. We're making it fine. And honestly, this is the least-stressed Christmas season I've ever had! I absolutely love it. We're scaling down in a major way as far as gift giving goes. But I always overspent every year any way so cutting back is a very good thing. This year we are truly enjoying what Christmas is really all about - a very special baby boy named Jesus. Sometimes I think Baby Jesus got lost in my manic gift-wrapping sessions in the past. I've had many, many days lately of just listening to good Christmas music, cooking some favorite dishes and counting the blessings God has given me.

So, I'm not posting any pictures today. I'm just saying, "Hello, again", good friends and family. I'll try to post pictures in the next few days so you can see how my little G.G.s have grown. And, tonight, we find out the name of our little Mr. Rucker who's due in April! I'll be sure to post that information!!!!

Tootles