(Almost) Wordless Wednesday...Flashback Christmas 2004

This is all of my siblings, and their spouses and kids, on my Mom and Stepdads side with the exception of my sister Lisa and her family, and my sister Jaimee's husband, Andrew. In case you are wondering, I have 6 sisters and 4 brothers...more on that when it is not WORDLESS Wednesday.



Snake, Big Daddy, Laughing Momma, the Beez and Crack

Mom and Stepdad with 3 of my sisters and two of my brothers.

The grandest of them all...Pops and Grammy

Wacky pose with the g-kids.

Real Giving

This year I have tried to do one thing different for Christmas. Along with spending less and buying fewer gifts for fewer people, I have really tried to buy things that are not just "things". I have tried to find some type of attachment, or some memory that makes this particular gift, really a gift. I have not been able to do it with every gift, I mean what kind of attachment can there be with a Wii game or a baby doll for the kids, but for others, I have tried to pick something out that shows them that I thought of them, or us, when I saw the gift, and that it brought me happiness, and therefore hope it does the same for them.

I also got involved with World Vision for the first time and did some Christmas shopping through their site. you can buy llamas for families in South America, or ducks or cows, or like this video you can buy a well for clean water for families. Check out this site if you would like to do the same.

Merry Christmas Friends

Not Me Monday 12/8/08

Is is Monday already??? Goodness, where did our weekend go??? Here are my official confessions for the week...oh wait, I mean, my official denials for the week.

+++UPDATED at 10:47pm Monday Night+++++++
I had to add one more Not Me since it is so fresh and the evidence is still on my lips...literally.

I DID NOT send the kids to bed and then go into the kitchen and make a batch of chocolate chip cookies just so I could eat the raw dough.

I did not get literally giddy while shopping when I purchased $2195.00 worth of high end clothes from Dillard's for only $225.00...cause that would mean that I only paid 11% of retail...and as good of a bargain shopper as I am...I am NOT THAT GOOD!!!!



I did not run over my sisters FAVORITE stroller...cause that would be ridiculous...surely I would have remembered that I placed the stroller behind the car, so I would not forget it....and having NOT forgotten it, I surely could NOT have backed over it.



I did not sleep till 10:30 on Saturday while my husband got up and not only watched over our boys, but also over their friends who had spent the night...and he made them breakfast. Oh, I did not have the same husband bring me coffee in bed(@ 10:30 am) cause I was surely up and about.



I did not watch iCarly when I was home alone last week...cause it is a kids show...and I am so not into that kind of stuff...truth be told I LOVE iCARLY!!!!



I did not show my kids the "safe" way to be pyro-maniacs last night while we sat around the fire pit...."because ONLY YOU can prevent forest fires"

TIMBER!!!!

Every year we head out to cut down our Christmas at a local tree farm. It never fails, it is either raining or freezing...this time, it had just finished raining and was now in the low 30's. We hopped on the "Sleigh" and headed for the same field we found our tree in last year. The cold egged us on, as did the setting sun, and we had her picked out in no time. Every year I claim to have found an even better tree than last year, and of course this was no exception. My one request was that it be on the skinny side, as not to take up the whole living room like it did a few years back.



This is Big Daddy, Laughing Momma and Beez freezing their booty's off.



This was Beez's first year helping with the cutting...she was really excited...and so strong!!



This is Crack taking a whack at it. He informed me today that all my blog readers would think he is a drug addict with his code name...but I assure you...drug usage is NOT where that comes from.


Snake getting into the action...that other guy is not my kid..I am NOT THAT old yet.

Big Daddy always gets the first and last cut...He is Man...Hunter and Gatherer...Man of steel and all that stuff.


Me and My Girl

Me and Crack

Momma and Snake

Here it is just before its life is forever changed...It'll never be the same after a season in OUR house!!!!

Oh, and just in case you are wondering....this outing marked the millionth time I have tried to get a FAMILY photo...but it was too cold and even I couldn't make everybody suffer through countless automatic timer photos in the hope of a good family shot.

Thanksgiving,Black Friday,and Krispy Kreme

Here is part 2, if you missed part 1 you are so out of the loop, you may never recover. Just kidding, I am the one out of the loop and this is my attempt at catching up. Today's make up topics include Thanksgiving, Black Friday and even our "field trip" to Krispy Kreme.

Every year we head to the Outlaws house down south and spend the Thanksgiving holiday with them. It is not really a HUGE gathering, usually just the Outlaws, my husbands two uncles and their wives, and the 5 of us. BUT, you would NEVER know that by how many things we prepare every Thanksgiving, or the shear quantity that we surround ourselves with on this day every year. Here is the rundown:

Turkey
Spiral Ham
Dressing
Sweet Potato Casserole
Homemade Mac-N-Cheese
Green Bean Casserole #1 with water chestnuts
Green Bean Casserole #2 with artichoke hearts
Corn Salad
Fruit Salad #1 with coconut
Fruit Salad #2 without coconut
Deviled eggs - appetizer
Pinwheels - appetizer
Pickles and Olives and Pimento Cheese on celery
Raspberry Jello Salad
Panseet-uncles wife is Filipino and this is like a rice noodle chow mein....so yummy
Lumpia - same wife, these are like tiny egg rolls, more like a taquito...also super yummy
Rolls and Gravy
Pumpkin Pie #1
Pumpkin Pie #2
Pecan Pie

So, basically we had 13 people and 20 items....that is so INSANE!!!! In our defense, this is the ONLY big meal we make all year. We don't do an Easter meal or a Christmas Feast...we just do Thanksgiving in a HUGE way.

This year we also had a first.

This photo is serving as PROOF that my husband actually helped with the cooking once in 13 years. Of course after this photo op he was back to watching the parade and eating the deviled eggs(his normal activity of choice during the prep)

This photo is NOT a first. My F-I-L (half of the Outlaws) ALWAYS cleans up behind me on Thanksgiving day...I love a man with dishpan hands!!!!



This is Crack and Mamaw(the other half of the Outlaws)


I love this pic solely because it looks like I am shorter than my Man...which I am, but only by an inch...this pic either makes me 5'8" or him 6'4"...I'll take either.


Saturday we trekked to Krispy Kreme, where the boys handed in their report cards(yes, even homeschoolers get report cards) and received a donut for each "A". Beez was not pleased that I left her out of the report card/donut give-a-way...but cut me some slack, she only eats the sprinkles off the donuts, not the donuts themselves(such a travesty, I know) I promised her next time I would have her a report card too.

Husband and the Outlaws...can you tell he loves Krispy Kreme?


Mamaw, Beez, and Pappy


He is his fathers son...the kid LOVES Krispy Kreme.

He is SO NOT JOKING...he claims the fallen glaze is like fries in the bottom of a Micky D's bag...you have to eat them..and so it goes with the glaze. Although I did make him restrain himself enough from actually LICKING the box...instead he licked his finger and dipped it in the pile of yummy goodness.

Last but not least, and really this should be a post in and of itself. We are those crazy people who go shopping the day after Thanksgiving. We are the REALLY crazy ones. We were up 2:30am, and were the FIRST in line at Target at 3 am. By opening time (6am) there were 500+ people. We split up and had all of our loot and were checking out at 6:04(me) and 6:07(him). We had everything in the car and were heading back into Target at 6:09 for a potty break when the local TV station stopped us for an interview for their live broadcast. (we had already been interviewed for being the first in line)

After that we headed across the street and made a quick dash into HomeDepot. I grabbed a buggy full of items, and even three 99 cents poinsettias and checked out. While I was doing that, my husband found one more item and got in line himself. Now, while we do set aside cash for Christmas shopping every year, we actually charge everything the day of because the one year we carried cash I was a nervous wreck. It also makes it easier for returns so that way if we buy something and then find it for less somewhere else, it is no problem and doesn't tie up twice the cash.

Anyway, I say all that because when he got to the checkout our credit card was declined, which was shocking beacuse I KNEW we had 4x the amount of what we had budgeted for Christmas free our our credit card, and it was weird since his amount was only $20. I told him not to worry, just use the debit card instead.

Well, 8 hours later, when we got home I was checking email and I received a notice that our card had been frozen due to fraudulent usage. I was worried because my credit has been hacked into before and it is such a headache!!!! But, I called the number and this is what the nice lady told me (after verifying like 100 different things from age, address, 2nd born's birth weight, what I ate last night(see previous list) and so on....and I quote, " Mrs. Laughing Momma, we froze your account because BOTH of the cards assigned to this account were used minutes apart at the same store, and then again just a few minutes later at a different store. Can you verify if you did indeed make these purchases???? They were at Target- 6:04 am and 6:07 am and then HomeDepot at 6:13 and then 6:15" I replied, "Yes, I am happy to say that my waiting in line for three hours paid off, we are guilty of power shopping,(and later dropping) the day after Thanksgiving" Mrs Credit Card closed our conversation with, "Well, Mrs Laughing Momma, I am sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused you(that would be a glare from my husband...you know the kind that turns him into the Incredible Hulk...and a hundred questions on whether or not our last bill had been paid....not so pleasant) and we hope that you continue to enjoy our services...I will flag your account so that next year when the computer tries to falsely accuse you, the card holder of fraud, it will overlook the fact that it is practically impossible to be 4 places almost simultaneously, we will remember that you are Super Woman...just out looking for a good deal."

"Thank you, please see to it, cause I may be Super Woman, but I am no match for the Incredible Hulk"

What we did last night(and this morning) 12/3

We decorated our Christmas tree last night. You would think we could do somethings normal but there is always HIGH drama at our house. It started with one male child, who will remain unnamed, deciding that behavior worthy of a good whooping was the best way to start the evening. We actually had to stop the video camera so that he should get some "wise council" in our room.
Once we did get back to it, I was so excited because I bought some new lights day after Christmas last year and I was excited to see them on the tree. I should stop here and say that my Mom was kind of a Christmas Nazi when it came to decorating our tree when I was little. Every year the tree had a theme, usually based on a common color theme....Red and White, Blue and Silver, Purple and Gold. So we never were able to just go hog wild...until she finally wised up and got us a tree for our room that we could decorate with anything we wanted(except that years themed items) In the end, I was not warped or anything, and actually I really love symmetrically decorated trees. Even ones that are multicolored but maybe only have glass balls, or stars, or Santas, or Crosses.
If I was brutally honest I would have to say that I would love to have a tree like my Mom use to do, but my husband is a purist when it comes to decorating and that means ANYTHING goes.
For years, my only say so was that we had white lights. I lost that battle when the boys got older and decided that they wanted multi-colored lights(one of my least faves) and so the past 3 or 4 years, rainbow lights have adorned our tree.....But last year I found solid red lights and solid blue lights for like a buck a box. I was so excited to have unity at least in the light department. SO there I am, ready to do the lights...when I open the boxes and find that the cords are WHITE!!!! Hello, my tree is green!!!! How in the world am I going to cope with WHITE electrical cording all strewn through my already cosmically created explosion of every color and type of ornament known to man??????
The answer...colored lights again this year. I knew the white cording would bug me in an OCD neurotic way from now till tear down day and I couldn't do it...even for red lights.

Now for my pictorial review of the night. Every year the Outlaws buy the grand kids Hallmark ornaments. They usually buy something that represents what each kid is loving or into that year. Well last year was the best year ever because Hallmark did ornaments from DC Comics. You all know that we are secretly a family of Super Heroes right? Especially Beez...She loves Wonder Woman. Now, while the rest of the DC crew had really cool figurines-each hero in a really cool pose- I guess the best they could come up with for WW was her clothes.
Yep, in case you were wondering if you missed the rapture, here is proof. Hallmark designed the WW ornament to be a testament to her outfit and nothing else.


Don't ask me why, but I guess since we got married the week before Christmas 13 years ago, somehow we thought that a laminated copy of the newspaper announcement should be stored with the Christmas decorations...that makes sense right? So here it is...don't laugh.


Halfway through the kids decided we needed some comedy relief...so they posed a few times...They are total nut cases when it comes to Christmas...that is SO not my side of the family!!!!


Lastly, I have been itchen' to get my sewing machine out and I finally did this morning. I whipped this up in about 2 hours, half of that was spent ironing the the seams and basting the initial on....isn't it adorable?????

If you are on my Christmas list...you might be getting one of your very own if I can find time between now and then.

I was super pleased...I didn't use a pattern. I am kind of pattern illiterate sometimes...all the sewing jargon throws me, so when possible I just wing it.

Cakes and Closets

Every year, just before Christmas, I do a thorough closet cleaning. This year was no exception, and Snake's room was the one I really had my eye on. The kid is growing so fast I can hardly keep him in clothes(hint to a OK friend...need more 12's and 14's?) Anyway, I tortured him and required him to try on EVERY pair of pants...which of course is pure misery for an 10 year old. I finally wittled the massive pile down to just what was needed and even made him give up all but four pairs of shorts for the winter.
The best part about the whole closet and clothes ordeal was that the following weekend, my husband was volunteering at a local ministry and as he was leaving someone was unloading a BEAUTIFUL maple dresser with matching mirror that the manager said he could buy for $60 bucks!!!!....did I mention that Jake is the only one without a dresser???? He has had a 3 drawer Rubbermaid on wheels in his closet for underclothes and jammies but everything else was either hung up or on shelves in his closet.
It was perfect timing since everything was cleaned out and gone through...I couldn't be happier to say that all the closets are cleaned out and toys gone through...that is always such a huge undertaking and to have a checked off my pre-Christmas list is a weight off my shoulders.

Now to cakes. I make cakes as a hobby. It is very relaxing for me and I love the creative part of it. This month I had a bunch of cakes to make and even had a Wilton character cake in the mix...which I have not done in years. In addition to the following cakes I also made two cakes and 4 plates of gourmet jumbo cup cakes for a cake auction that our church has every year. My Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup Cake went for $75 bucks and a Red Velvet Crumb Cake similar to the one below went for $65. Each plate of (4) gourmet cupcakes went for between $20 and $35. I was super excited...mine didn't catch the highest bid(that was $120 for a cheesecake) but they were highly sought after which made my day.

Red Velvet 4 layer Crumb Cake....it was suppose to have five layers but in the middle of making-baking-frosting 5 different items...I misplaced one of the layers...I found it after I had frosted the stupid thing!!!!

My Niece, the Beast turned 2, and we celebrated with a Wilton Dora Cake. The recipe called for a different color for her skin, but it was super orange....so I altered it and ended up with a Caucasian version of Dora...I was cracking up...totally not a politically correct thing to do..but it was so funny to me after a late night and cramping hands from icing the darn thing.

Well, that was not so bad. I knocked two off of my list...more later.