Uncle Eddie the Ed's Guitar Lessons

I have another Christmas story for you. This one illustrates how much my brothers understand, love and care for my girls -- even though they live so far apart and only see them once a year. You might think the distance would mean the girls don't know their far away uncles and aunts. Why, the aunts (my bother's way cool wives) have only even seen the girls a handful of times. But physical distance has not hampered their relationships with the girls. It does a mother's heart good.

So last summer my Little A wrote a letter to her Uncle Eddie. In the letter, written and spelled ever so adorably as only a 5-year-old could do), she asked him to come to our house and teach her to play the guitar (she calls it a "kitar.") It was so darn cute, I knew it would just kill Uncle Eddie to get the letter and have to tell her no, he couldn't come right now.

What he did was call her and promise her that he would find a way to teach her the kitar ... and he made good on his promise. And my other brother got involved as well.

First, Uncle Craig and Aunt Beckah gave her a kitar for Christmas. Just the kind my Little A would love -- all pink and sparkly and just her size.

Then she had a present from Uncle Eddie. He recorded her his own DVD teaching how to play. He even had a full-size pink kitar to teach her with!!! I'm told my father found that pink kitar, so the whole family got involved in the project.

The video is so cute and funny, and it just melts my heart. I have the best family in the whole world!!! Thank you all for granting Little A's wish and caring for us so much.

Here she is after opening the DVD. The look on her face says it all.

Christmas in review

There is so much to remember about this Christmas. For all of us, I think the most special part was simply being in our new home for the holidays. This Christmas gave new meaning to the phrase, "I'll be home for Christmas." What a blessing it was. I recently went back and read last year's Christmas letter where I wrote about the uncertainty we were facing. A year ago we had no idea how ...  or even if ... the flood situation would resolve. We didn't know if we'd have a home by Christmas 2009. And we certainly didn't expect things to end as wonderfully as they did. We never would have guessed that we'd spend Christmas in this house. We are truly thankful. We enjoyed the decorating (OK, we still had some of the traditional fighting involved in getting a house decorated for Christmas, but we still enjoyed it!)

We invited guests over several times during the season, trying to make the most out of enjoying our home for Christmas. We started with our "adopted students" from EU -- we all enjoyed a traditional Christmas dinner one Sunday afternoon before they wrapped up the semester and headed home for the holidays.

We also had some younger guests -- my friend J and her little ones dropped by with goodies one afternoon.

Of course we attended the annual Christmas party at Daddy's work -- where we ate very well and  saw Santa! This is one of the girls' favorite parts of Christmas. For Big A it is the fried chicken they always serve. For Little A it's the Barbie doll that Santa gives to each little girl.

We also attended a Christmas banquet at my work, followed by a wonderful Christmas concert. But somehow I failed to get photos of that event.

The biggest Christmas shindig we hosted was our LifeGroup Christmas party. What a fun night! Rather than exchange gifts with each other, we had each child pick out a new pair of pajamas for children at Isabel's House, a local crisis nursery. We also collected a variety of other toiletry items to donate. During the party, the kids all made cards for residents at Isabel's House. My kids and I drove out there on the 23rd to deliver our gifts, and we were able to talk to employees for a while and learn all about Isabel's House. It was very interesting, and it was a great opportunity for Big A and Little A to understand the need that exists for so many children in our world -- even so close to home.

In addition to working on the Isabel's House project, our LifeGroup party included lots of eating and laughing, and playing Catchphrase (the BEST party game!) Here are some photos from that evening:

Of course it wouldn't be Christmas without our annual cookie decorating party on the 23rd -- those are the girls' best friends, Big K and Little N :-)

Finally Christmas Eve arrived. And Big A and Little A were in for a VERY BIG surprise! Around 10 a.m., Santa made a surprise stop at our house to deliver a gift so special it could not be left over night. The girls must have been very good this year ... because their gift was a SHIH TZU PUPPY!

We named her Angel Noel, in honor of Christmas. We call her Angel. And isn't this baby just the most angelic little creature you ever did see?

On Christmas Eve we packed up Angel and piled in the car with all of our gifts for B's family and headed over the river and through the woods to grandmother's house. We had a wonderful dinner and time with the family, and we were all spoiled rotten by Grandma and Papa. They got us a fire pit for our rock porch (YAY!) and lots of other great stuff. The girls were delighted with their gifts. Little A says her favorite was a Madame Alexander doll named Gracie and her clothes (specifically: "The pony shirt and fancy jeans!") Big A's favorite was a big art kit with drawing paper and a new Nintendo DS game.

Here's a picture of Grandma and Papa with the grandkids.

Late on Christmas Eve, we gathered back in our living room by the tree as we always do to read the Christmas story from the Bible and pray together as a family. Before we nestled the little ones all snug in their beds, there was another surprise in store for us. My mom and dad had sent us a card with instructions  to open it on Christmas Eve. We opened the card and I began to read a letter that made me blubber and cry so much that I couldn't possibly have thought to take a photo of the moment. The news was that my parents are going to pay for both of my brothers and their wives, and our niece London, to come out to see us this year.

Christmas could have stopped at that moment and it would have been perfect. I can't thank my parents enough for this incredible gift. And I can't wait to show the gang our new home. We live far too many miles apart, and the distance is agonizing.

You can't top the Christmas gift of our Savior being born 2,000 years ago and the promise that we'll live with Him in the future, but a close second-best gift is the gift of family for today.

So as I said, Christmas *could have* stopped right there ... but it didn't. We woke up to many delights on Christmas morning.

That's the end of this year's Christmas review. See ya in 2010!

Merry Christmas!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Getting political again

I remember in college when I was a freshman, I made a comment in an American government class about party politics. I said that I believed in "voting for the man" and not "the party."

The way my professor responded changed my view of politics entirely. He explained that despite a man's (legislator's/woman's) best intentions, that in our political system the party controls the man (legislator/woman). You can vote for "the man" every time, but in the end, his party will control his vote. This plays out time and time again in American politics. Though it sounds very altruistic to believe that "the man" will vote his conscious, It doesn't happen that way. What's altruistic is not realistic.

What happened with Sen. Ben Nelson of Nebraska is a perfect example of my professor's lesson that day.

I wonder how much he was threatened.

Christmas is a Christian holiday -- U.N. liberals say so

There's always a paradox in the way  non-religious liberals attack Christianity. (NOTE: I am not calling all liberals non-religious. I am clarifying which liberals I am talking about.)

Contradictions can be found in most of their arguments. This one hit me today -- Bah Humbug, Christmas Trees not allowed at Climate Conference. The U.N. has banned Christmas trees from the world's largest climate conference, citing the fact that a religious holiday should not be acknowledged at a U.N. event, basing the argument on the fact that Christmas is, in face, a religious holiday.

I have very often read articles and quotes from non-religious types, who blame Christians for "taking over" a secular holiday. They claim the celebration of the winter solstice was stolen by Christians who are just trying to take every holiday away from them and make it religious.

So I wonder why these liberal types who say Christmas isn't even Christian would ban the Christmas tree. After all, the Christmas tree is really a secular symbol. They are not, say, banning nativity scenes from the conference.

I know Christmas, CHRISTmas, is a sacred, religious Christian holiday. But many non-religious types (I dare say who are all at the helm of this conference) say it's not. It's a celebration of the winter solstice. So if that's true, why ban the Christmas tree?

I think I will hold on to this article for the next time I read about how Christmas was never supposed to be Christian. Because now they've acknowledged that in fact it is.

Just thinkin...

$55 car repair? Just kidding

You didn't really think they would fix my car for $55 did you?

First quote: $55
Final bill: $214
Working from home the day they fixed it: Priceless

Fall fun

Over the weekend we had two beautiful 70-degree days. The kids played their little hearts out in the great outdoors, enjoying the yard -- climbing trees, playing with the dog, riding their bikes and scooter. I enjoyed it from my front porch swing and felt incredibly happy and blessed.

The beautiful weekend quickly morphed into a 40-degree, rainy and drizzly Monday, which morphed into an even yuckier Tuesday. And wouldn't ya know it ... the heater quit working on my car over the weekend! Thank the Lord it's just a $55 fix (switch). All in all, life is good. The weather now has me feeling Christmas crazy. They announced our Christmas bonuses (and a whopping 2 percent raise) yesterday (but hey, in an economy where so many are getting no raises and one out of ten workers have no job at all, I'm quite thankful for a bonus and a raise.) So bring on the winter weather and the Christmas shopping! Until then, here's a picture of the little monkeys playing in the yard.

Fun with EU students

Last weekend we had six EU students over for a big dinner and game night. I remember my college days when it felt so good to spend an evening out of the dorms -- in a real home with a home-cooked meal and enjoying some family time. College kids are great fun to hang out with. And Big A and Little A just love having the "big kids" pay attention to them.

The girls helped me prepare a nice meal. On the menu: brisket, Texas potatoes, corn casserole, green beans, Jell-O salad, rolls and Big A's famous pumpkin cake. We even had cider brewing in the crock put. YUM! We then played a Cranium. It was a fun night. More fun because my team won. (To be fair, I should admit that I had a secret weapon on my team: Big A!)

Little A and CATS

Little A started her adventure in CATS yesterday. CATS stands for Curriculum for Academically Talented Students. It is the "gifted" program in our school district. The program takes her out of the regular classroom one day a week. She is one of seven students in her CATS class. There are two first-graders (one is Little A) and five second-graders. Aside from a rather traumatic lunch period -- because she did not like eating with "big kids" -- she loved it. They are studying "great thinkers" right now in CATS. Yesterday they learned about the Wright Brothers and learned all about airplanes and flight. They made several different airplane models, did experiments, etc. It sounds like it will be a lot of fun for her. (Even though she currently says she's not going back due to the little lunch issue ... I think we can get past that.)

Little House on the Prairie ... The Musical!

Yesterday, thanks to Grandma D, we were able to go see the Broadway production of Little House on the Prairie the Musical, starring Melissa Gilbert as "Ma." It was fantastic. It was such a treat, and it was a wonderful gift from Grandma. Our family just loves Little House. B and I begin reading the books to Big A when she was about 4 and a half. It was when Little A was born, and I was looking for something quiet I could do with Big A to keep her occupied while I was rocking and nursing the new baby. I had been looking forward to reading the books with her since the day she was born, but I wasn't sure if, at age 4, she would have the patience or comprehension skills for chapter books yet.

Well, she did! We read through all seven of the books right in a row. One day she asked me to make her a calico dress. Being that I can't even sew on a button (I'm no Ma!), I wasn't sure what to do. But Papa P saved the day when he paid a friend's mother to make her two. She has been wearing those dresses now for six years. They just used to be almost floor length and now they are knee length. She says she has worn them as long as Mary and Laura had to wear their calico dresses! In fact the dress she is wearing in the Halloween post below is one of those dresses.

The farm where Laura and Almanzo raised Rose is about an hour from our house. We've taken Big A there a couple of time. We also own most of the Little House on the Prairie TV shows on DVD and watch them regularly.

We are, in every sense of the word, a "Little House" family. So, yesterday was really special for us. If Little House the musical comes to your town, go see it ... it's well worth the ticket price! Thanks again, Grandma!

Job advice from Big A

My 11-year-old just said to me,

"Mom, if you ever want to be an inventor or a saleswoman, here is what you must know. The job of an inventor or a saleswoman is not to meet needs, but to create needs."  Woah. I always knew she would write a book some day. But I think she may be ready now.

The perfect fall weekend

Halloween weekend was perfect. B and I had a little (belated) anniversary getaway, and the girls spent the night with Grandma and Papa. We picked them up just in time to take them to the big "10-31" party at church. Big A dressed up as Mary Ingalls and Little A was Pocahontas. They got plenty of candy at church, so we bypassed trick-or-treating. Since we live out in the country, we really don't have a good place to go anyway. Little A played her first game of Scrabble that evening. The only trouble spot of the night was when Big A BEAT Mom and Dad at Scrabble. We were not trying to let her win. It was not pretty. This is war kid! Here are some pictures.