'Tis the Season

We've been busy out here at The Crossing.

We had snow over the weekend and that eliminated our internet connection - the dish fills with snow and we've got no internet... they don't tell you about that when you sign up for satellite service. Without internet, there's no shopping, no email, no blogging, no facebook....  Mr. and I braved the snow to pick up my new glasses on Saturday. I'm still not sure I like them - they are progressive lenses and they make me a tad nauseous.  I've been told I'll get used to it.

I rang bells on Sunday - all day - as in 5 hours... And yes, my hands are sore, thankyouverymuch.
 If you want the real scoop on the evening concert, go on over to the other place I write, and I'll fill you in. Some of it was good, but some of it was more than annoying.

Yesterday I went on a field trip with LLB. We went to see the Terracotta Warriors at the National Geographic Museum. It was terrific! We enjoyed seeing them, but felt that the time away from school wasn't worth the trip as the exhibit is relatively small.  (I would have preferred that the teacher recommend that the kids see them with their families - we would have taken LLB and #1 in to see them and then stayed to see the rest of the museum.)  If the Terracotta Warriors come to your local museum, definitely go see them. 

Today I'm going to wrap up some goodies that arrived yesterday. I'm also going to do some laundry, pick up my house, and take Mini Kitty and Zeb to the vet. Getting the cat into the carrier is always an adventure... An adventure that only the bravest can attempt - umm... that would be me.  I have bandaids, peroxide, and leather gloves at the ready.  The appointment is at 2:30. I'll start to put her in the carrier at 1 - that should give me enough time to get her in the carrier, clean my wounds, take another shower, and get there. Wish me luck. I'm going to need it.

It's like this...

It's Merry Christmas - not happy holidays.
It's a Christmas tree, not a holiday tree, a Hanukkah tree, or even a Kwanzaa tree...
I'm not shopping for holiday presents. I'm shopping for Christmas presents.
If you don't celebrate my holiday, I'm fine with that, but 'tis the season, you know? If you don't celebrate Christmas but you shop the Christmas sales, that's absolutely terrific, but please realize that without my holiday, you wouldn't be gettin' these sale prices.

So, when I go into a store that has Christmas trees for sale. I'd like them labeled as such.
Ditto for the ornaments to go on said trees.
The stockings that are hung - those are Christmas stockings... it's okay to call them what they are.

Like it or not, it's the Christmas season.
So...
Don't tell me to have a happy holiday...
It's "Merry Christmas!"... dammit.

Soldier Shopping

My LLB signed up to shop for gifts for a soldier for Christmas. Her soldier has become a really important person to her. He is on the front lines and she is worried about him. (I wish we had a name - all we have is a number...)

When I asked her what her soldier needed, she told me to get wool socks to keep his feet warm. That was first on her list.  Then she told me to get him things that would make his box feel like a real present. So that's what we did. Her soldier will receive a real Christmas stocking filled to the brim with goodies - the necessary like toothpaste and toothbrushes - and the not so necessary like candy and puzzles.

Shopping for her soldier was a challenge. Nothing seemed good enough. We wanted the best of the best for this person. It was almost surreal. How do you fill a box with all the love and thanks you feel for the required minimal amount of cash?  You don't. We gave up trying to do that after the first 5 minutes! We filled the box with what we'd send to our own... because, someday, someone might be shopping like this for my kids.

So, if you know the soldier who gets the stocking - please tell him LLB sent it.

The Elf

I am the Christmas Elf at our house.

I do the decorating - although this year I actually had help with the tree and I almost fainted from the shock! Usually they help me for 5 min. and disappear. This year they stayed and decorated and laughed and giggled for over an hour until the tree was done. And I loved every second of it - even though I've spent another 2 hours primping the tree without their knowledge. (Ornaments need to hang, not sit on the branches.) Some things have to be done right, you know?

I do the shopping.
I'm the crazy person out at 5am on Black Friday.
I'm the one who is up at all hours surfing the internet for bargains.
For me, it's the thrill of the hunt...  I take pride in finding what they want at a price I'm willing to pay.
(Mr. only has to shop for me and I even tell him what I want and where to get it at the best price.)

I do the wrapping.
All of it.
I should train them, but really... I like to wrap.
This year I decided to beautify my presents with real bows made with real ribbon that I purchased at a real bargain after Christmas last year.  (We haven't had presents with ribbon in years.  I used to use curling ribbon, but the cats used it as dental floss. By the time Christmas day rolled around, it was quite disgusting and no one wanted to touch the ribbons to open the gifts. This is not exactly the response you want on Christmas morning. Trust me...)

I usually wrap gifts on our island in the kitchen. It's warm with the fire going, and it's a large expanse on which to spread out the paper, tape, and other wrapping goodies.  Mr. sits and works on his computer on a small corner of the island while I wrap.  We keep each other company and he gets a sneak peek at the kids' gifts.

I was in the midst of wrapping when Mr. had a realization:
Christmas is easy when you have an Elf in the family.

I grinned.
Yes, Dear, it is.

He is a very lucky man.
And I am one appreciated Elf.

Eyes..

I guess I have a "look" that makes me appear "mean".
Now I know that I can give a look that will melt ice and freeze fire. If you cross me, you'll be on the receiving end of that... It's a classic and I learned it from my mother. :-)
But that's not what we're talking about.

The women in my family have piercing blue eyes. We are watchers. We take it all in. We aren't fake or phony. We just are. We tell it like it is.
Maybe that combined with the piercing blue eyes makes us look mean scary?

What do you think? Do these eyes look mean?

Happy Birthday, Mr. Chairman

We have this friend who is afraid he'll do something stupid and show up on my blog.  So, since it's his birthday, I thought I'd write about him. It's the least I can do, right?

DT, or Mr. Chairman as I like to call him, has a big heart and is one of the hardest workers I know. He and my Mr. spend most of the fall marching season hauling band crap together.  He'll work at his job all day and then show up to volunteer at a football game, stay late to help pack the truck for a band trip early in the morning, and then show up before dawn to haul that equipment to the competition. He smiles and has a great time - he has the best attitude and some of the funniest jokes we've ever heard...
Mr. Chairman is as talented as he is funny.  He rings handbells, plays any brass instrument, and can even plunk out a tune or three on the piano.  He has played trombone at our Christmas parties, brought his baritone to the basketball games, and even hopped in to play at a Jazz Concert when one of the kids got sick.  He is a neat guy and dear friend of the family.  

So, please wish Mr. Chairman a Happy Birthday!  And if it turns out he does something funny or stupid, I'll fill you all in...

Hickory Farms

This arrived in the mail for us to sample last week. It is gorgeous!!!

When we opened the box, we were blown away by the selections. We immediately thought, "What a great gift for a family!"
This is called The Hickory Farms Storybook Gift Set. It comes with a summer sausage, a block of cheese, a small box of crackers, a cookie sampler, a plate with Mickey on it, and Mickey's Night Before Christmas hardcover book.
We thought the family could open this gift Christmas Eve. They could have some family time reading the book while chowing down on the edibles in the box. We also thought that if the family didn't have a special "cookies for Santa" plate, that this one could definitely serve the purpose - and with the cookies included in the package, no baking is necessary.
The package came exactly as you see it above except that the book comes wrapped in white butcher paper to protect it. The top layer of cookies were a little crumbled, but you can't eat them in once piece anyway, so it was fine with us. Everything in the box was absolutely delicious.  The crackers were yummy and intact. The cheese was phenomenal. The summer sausage was delectable. I can't say enough good things about this gift set.
I am a collector of children's Christmas books, so this gift set is right up my alley.  I'm going to add the book to the Christmas basket today when I set it out for the season.
If you need a different kind of gift, please go to Hickory Farms and check out the other yummies they have. There are fruit baskets, sausage and cheese boxes, petit fours - my all time favorite, and more. If you want to ship to your favorite soldier, APO/FPO shipping is free. You certainly can't beat that and you know it will be well received - Hickory Farms is the best!
So if you are looking for a terrific gift to give to friends - this is it!

"I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour campaign by Mom Central on behalf of Hickory Farms and received a Hickory Farms gift basket to facilitate my review."