Last two days of 2009....

Levi is fulfilling his role of "The Licker Guy"...thankfully, we were really the only ones to eat our shortbread cookies. so his saliva germs remained here.

Love this tree in downtown Indy...and our fun evening with the P family! Thank the Lord for new friends, with just as many kids as us! whoa!

Another highlight from December was a fun evening spent with our good friend, Jen. She is a busy high school math teacher and we helped her decorate her beautiful home for Christmas. She fed us delicious Parmesan coated chicken, potato casserole, broccoli, ice cream...Thank the Lord for long-time friends!

My li'l cookie decorators.

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Let's recap... ...............

Ok, let's not....

While I love December and everything that goes along with the Christmas season, I'm always slightly relieved when we get back into the mundane days of life. less hustle and bustle.

Then it begins to sink in that yes, I'm really 37. And we've just made it thru the first decade of the new MILLENIUM.

We will be having our annual New Year's Eve bash at our house Thursday night...hope to get lots of great action shots and such of our fun time...Nerfing, Hustling, ringing in the new year! Welcome 2010....hopefully you are a year of new and exciting things! Some interesting and exciting things are on the horizon. But I've been saying that for a while now.

I am most thankful for 2009 for many reasons...David's patent co. and construction co., good people to work with, friendships made and re-established, lessons learned and trials by fire!

Merry Christmas!

The nutcrackers that will haunt me forever.

the annual pajama open

Molly was asleep for the PJ Open but we did manage to get her Christmas Princess PJ's on...and we even left the food smudge on her face.

We call our style of decor Charlie Brown

Levi, trying out the new mini indoor tent from Gma and Gpa Y.

Getting Santa's plate ready...even though we really don't push that idea...it's traditional to put the cookies out. and oats.

All's quiet.

silent night....

ready for some praise and prayer time before commencing on the present front.

swimming in the sea of wrapping...

My fam came down after 4 p.m....the festivities didn't take too long, for no one felt spectacular and quite honestly, we were all worn down for this reason or that....

Gma and Gpa G always bring the loot...

see previous post...those little rascals? hard to believe that this is them now. Mel, you have so much hair. whatta lovely young chick you are. Will, Ethan? You are so dang handsome. and chivalrous.

Scotty and Beckaboo...love you guys too...

Can't believe I actually got a pic of Nora...there aren't many pix of her and Molly, for they were whirling dervishes this entire day.

Levi wanted me to take a pic of him with every one of his presents. funny guy.

Molly trashes her hair and feet pretty quickly....rips out the bow, takes off the shoes and socks.

Good evening!

Thought I'd better get some Christmas pix up!

That's all I've got tonight...that's it. nothing more.

Hope you and yours had a blessed Christmas celebration. Merry Immanuel!

Ghosts of Christmas Past

Christmastime 1998...Mel's first. I miss these little rascals. Such great faces...such bright futures. man. where did these little people go?

I'm gonna guess that this is my 6th or 7th Christmas...awww. Oh, to be a kid again, even for just one moment.

The li'l goofball in the red striped shirt is Becky (she looks like one of the Jackson's). We'll go around the table behind her...Aunt Nan in teal shirt (my Dad's sister), her son, Jon, you can see my head right behind him, then Gma G, Uncle Frank (married to Aunt Nan), my Dad, Aunt Mimi, Andy, Jenna (Aunt Nan/Uncle Frank's oldest), Tom, making a weird O face, and Aunt Darlene, who is married to my Dad's big bro, John, not pictured here for some reason. My Gma knew how to set a table...I will strive to be like her. I did buy a cute CLOTH snowflake table covering for this Christmas...and will put some neat o mosaic candles on it. But the plates will most likely be Chinet and the decorations are more like Charlie Brown Christmas....haphazard strings of random lights, Nutcrackers, and no bird chirping in my tree. We will sup on traditional Lasagna...Cappucino punch and whatever baked goods are left from our day of baking (which will be today)....sounds very Martha Stewart, doesn't it?

Oh Christmas TREE! I miss that bay window.

Soooo, are you all ready for Christmas?

I am, almost. Mom's calendar won't be done till just before the new year...I'm ready for some party time...

Tomorrow (ahh, can't believe tomorrow IS Christmas Eve), we will head to Illinois mid morning. Stop in to visit Aunt Linda and her brood....Kara and her fam are in from SC and will be moving to Jolly Ol' England in the late winter...so it's a must...lotsa cool peeps at that house! Then we descend on the ol' log cabin in Georgetown for an afternoon of mistletoe and merriment. Well, definitely merriment.

We will then visit a local church (here in Indpls area) upon our late evening return for a lovely candlelight service...important to focus on why we celebrate what we celebrate and that is Emmanuel, God With Us.

Hopefully the kids won't wake up too early. It's not like they are getting anything besides a lump of coal in their stockings...I'm kidding...I have a couple of things for them...and then my fam will be here mid afternoon for more moonshine and merriment...er, I mean, mistletoe and merriment...followed by an evening of delight and fellowship! A good time is sure to be had by MOST.

This will probably be my last post till after Christmas, so Feliz Navidad, Mele Kalikimaka, Merry Christmas and God bless YOU.

Birthday's past...and the bad hair continues....

I am tight in nostalgia's grip today....

Dug out some old pix to reflect on the past thirty seven

wonderful years.

snazzy dress there, birthday girl. I love that my mom dressed me in Christmas clothing! How appropriate. :)

there is no method to the madness in the order of these pix....this was my 21st birthday and I had just gotten married 3 weeks before...my family came over to visit David and I for my b-day. We were living in his parent's basement apartment. how time flies.

This would have been my second Christmas...and Gma G has a grip on me, while Aunt Mimi shows me the stocking she made for me...I still have it though it's been empty for years!

look at me rippin' into that gift. I look a tad vicious. 1976

not sure of the age here but I would guess 7 or 8.

Fifth birthday. A fun birthday memory: Aunt Bee lived across the street from us. She was an AWESOME lady. Just awesome. mended clothes for us, always, without fail, thought of my sibs, parents and I on our birthdays and holidays. She actually saved my little newborn life. I was not breathing and she, being a nurse, rode to the hospital with my distraught mom, and cleared my airway. I loved that lady! maybe just a bit more than anyone else for that reason.

I even know what was in this box...hugging monkeys...their long arms wrapped around each other....love love loved them. I miss you, Auntie Bee. You were a GEM! everyone needs an Auntie Bee.

gosh. I'm getting choked up.

10 years and what sweet hair. and those overalls? stylin' fo sho!

My Sweet 16 and oh was it. My mom threw a surprise party for me at Orion House with female relatives and friends from church. This chick next to me is Sarah. I just found her on Facebook. She is one of those girls that was always the life of the party (we had to share the spotlight, ha ha), lots of fun and got even more beautiful with age...can you believe THAT? yeah. she did!

Awww. Mom, Beck and David threw me a surprise party for my 30th. It had been a rough year...I had just had Levi one month before this picture. (taken Dec. 1, 2002), he had had some complications from the get go...he wouldn't nurse, I was getting older and dealing with 3 older kids and such. What I remember most from this picture? that sweater was making me sooo hot. and I don't mean "Man, she's Hoooot!" I'm referring to my temperature. I can't believe it's been 7 years since this was taken.

Time? please slow down just a smidge, k?

thanks.

Birthday Eve...

Well, today is my last full day as a 36-year old (I can't believe I can even say that)

Tomorrow, I will greet 37 (actually at 8:40 p.m. according to my barely filled baby book, thanks, Mom, for at least getting that fact filled in)....with OPEN ARMS! Thirty. Seven. I mean, doesn't that just sound old?

Is it just me?

It's not that much older than 36.

but I think it's the odd number that I'm struggling with. and that I'm just three years from the big 4-0.

I'm in good company though...lots of cool chicks around me are 40 and up. So I'm convinced, as my Facebook friends have all encouraged, that it's all in how you feel, and that it's just a number.

Because I still feel like I'm 16. but I'm not as mature now as I was back then. and I definitely don't know as much.

Hope your Thursday is Magical...and that you've gotten all of your Christmas shopping DONE.

Christmas at the Zoo

trippin' man.

I like how Moo is looking out from under her too big hat.

ohh, another neat-o tree like down at the Circle of Lights.

I think the estimate of lights used is somewhere around 700,000 or so.

synchronized trees....to the tunes of some mean Trans-Siberian Orchestra....love that music.

I really think I have a light fetish

love the reflection in the half-frozen pondy thing.

Molly wanted NOTHING to do with this picture. She is really becoming very difficult...we were adequately frozen at this point.

I love when we actually use our membership more than once. If you have a membership to the Zoo, now is the time to get down there! They really go all out in the light department...and the mood is festive. The have carolers from 6-8, little bonfires strategically placed here and there, and synchronized tree light shows. We hope to get there again soon...hope to see you there.

Poop and tinsel

funny moments here of late....

these pix pretty much speak for themselves, don't you think?