Thursday, December 15, 2005
Thursday Thirteen #8
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1. As you all know from last week, I collect nativity scenes. I have a story that has NOTHING to do with any of mine, though. A friend of mine won a beautiful nativity at a raffle at her kids' school, and she brought it to my house to show it to me. When she was ready to leave, we gathered up the pieces of the set, but there was no baby Jesus! We looked all over the house for Him, since the nativity is kind of pointless without that piece. Whenever we'd bump into another searcher, we'd ask in a loud, televangelist voice, "HAVE YOU FOUND JAYSUS?!?" 2. Earlier in the week I mentioned that I'd had a freak out and refused to sit on Santa's lap. I called my mom for confirmation of the facts of the story, and found out a couple of other tidbits about that day. The first may have had a lot to do with why I wouldn't just willingly go with the jolly old elf. Apparently we'd had to park quite a ways away from the bank because their lot was full of folks going to see Santa. So, we parked up the street, threaded our way through a department store where we saw one Santa photo op, and then passed a Santa house on the street where we saw another. Apparently, seeing the third Santa in just a few minutes was just too much and I could no longer suspend my disbelief...it all came crashing down. 3. That same day my younger sister Julie eagerly sat on Santa's lap and did a complete gut spill, listing everything her little heart desired for Christmas and posing nicely for the picture. As mom was helping Julie with her coat to leave, she asked her, "What did you tell Santa you wanted?" You parents know why, she needed the information for her own shopping list. Julie replied, "Well, I'm not gonna tell YOU!" Uh oh, mom thought, Santa may just strike out this year for both kids! 4. My brother Mark had a similar crisis with Santa. One year, my dad and step mom gave him the race car track he'd asked Santa for, they were so excited for him to open it, they knew he'd love it. Instead, he opened it and just burst into tears! When they were able to calm him down and find out why, he said there was no Santa. He'd conceived of a diabolical test and carried it out. When he saw Santa, he told him he wanted a train track set, and then he told his parents he'd told Santa he wanted a race car track. When he got the race car track he knew Santa wasn't real. Scary-smart little kid, don't you think? 5. When I was in high school, I had a step sister who was really cool. She was one of those people who said whatever was on her mind, and got away with it. (Those of you who know me will recognize that this is a skill that I possess, but not to the extent that this girl did. You would not BELIEVE the stuff she could say to people!) She also had the ability to say what everyone wanted to say, but couldn't. One year we had a huge family gathering for Christmas, and we were all trying to decide if we should go to Christmas morning services at church. The conversation was going around and around, and finally she broke in and said, "Why don't we just open the presents before we decide? That way, we'll know if we got a lot of good stuff and we'll want to stay home and play with it or not." We must have gotten good stuff, because I don't remember going to church that year. 6. I have always loved Christmas music. I will listen to it year round if I can. When I was a kid, my mom had a couple of 8 track tapes of Christmas music that I just adored. For years I wondered if I could find those recordings and somehow transfer them to a more modern type of technology. I don't know if anyone even does 8-track to whatever anymore, though, or if I could get a hold of the originals anyway. Imagine my joy when I found them on CD, in the bargain bin, no less! Woohoo! Now, if I could just get a hold of those Johnny Horton recordings on CD... ;-) 7. When Davin and I were first married, we decided to make up our own traditions since we didn't have any of our parents in town to get together with. One of the things we thought would be fun was to only have snacks and appetizers all of Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. We had cheese balls and crackers, nutella on bread, Chex mix, sparkling cider, etc. That ended one year when we attended midnight services at church and I nearly got sick, I thought I was going to faint. I felt pretty stupid explaining to everyone it was because I'd been eating crap all day... (We still eat crap all day, we just add some meals to it.) 8. Anya's first Christmas was spent in the NICU. She was (let me look at a calendar) 65 days old, and would be there for 40 more days before being discharged. It was actually a rather lovely Christmas, considering. We made a little note for each of the other beds in the NICU and stuck a candy cane to it and had our nurse deliver them, and many of the other patients and nurses gave us cards and gifts. Even the midwife who was going to deliver Anya had she been full-term stopped by and brought her an ornament. Her day nurse had dressed her up for the occasion, and had even taken a picture of her earlier so we got a card from Anya. It was so wonderful to have something "from" her to take home :-) 9. OK, maybe this makes me a bad mom, but I don't really remember Maya and Sage's first Christmas. That year I had 3 kids age 2 and under all in diapers, and I took lots of pictures so I know we celebrated Christmas, but the whole year is kind of a blur of screaming, feeding and poop. 10. For Tiernan's first Christmas, he was two months old. I remember really getting into the Christmas story that year, thinking about Mary and her baby. Here I was on my 4th kid and I still felt like I was not always doing things right. He was still semi-nocturnal, and we hadn't figured out yet that much of his crying was from reflux. I kept wondering how a young girl would handle all of these problems, and plus the stakes were much higher for her! If I screwed this kid up, he'd just be another screwed up kid. If Mary made a big mistake, she'd be screwing up the Son of God, that's a lot of pressure to put on someone. Yikes! 11. In our old neighborhood, a firetruck would come through on the weekend before Christmas with a guy dressed like Santa on top, and they'd hand out bags of candy to all of the kids who'd gather in the street to see them. We lived in a very small community then, and one year I recognized the guys on the truck as being the ones that came when I called 911 because Anya had locked herself in my bedroom. Just so you know, if this happens to you, if you can't figure out how to unlock the door don't unscrew the doorknob and take it apart. It doesn't make the door open, and it just makes the rescue personel laugh (politely) at you while they try to figure out what they're going to do NOW with your door... 12. Just one of the many traditions we have with our own children, alternately titled "Why you should make sure you're served a brand spanking new can of whipped cream at our house."  13. Two years ago, Anya, Maya and Sage begged and begged to stay up to watch the New Year come in. I talked with them about it, and tried to explain that it was much too late for them, and that they'd never make it. The conversation went back and forth for a while and we reached a compromise, I would wake them up shortly before midnight, and they could come watch the ball drop with us. Here's a photo of the lively festivities:  Anya's eyes are open, but she had no recollection of it the next day, the other two never woke up at all, even when I carried them up and down the stairs. Guess Mommy was right! Links to other Thursday Thirteens! 1. Leanne 2. Renee 3. Veronika 4. Sallwood 5. Better Safe than Sorry 5. Jennifer at Happy at Home 6. Holly at Holly's Happenings 7. Jak 8. squashedtoad 9. IvoryFrog 10. Texas_Ivy10 11. Just a Girl 12. Running2Ks 13. Kat 14. Party Pascha 15. Audra 16. Peri 17. MommaK 18. PractiGal 19. Rashbre 20. The Schooligan 21. Shelli 22. Megan 23. Lisa at The Shizzle 24. Twisted Cinderella 25. UziCue 26. Keb 27. Goslyn 28. Yellow Rose 29. Dawn 30. Nello 31. Ms. Crystal 32. Colleen at Musings 33. Bone 34. Sleeping Mommy 35. Barbara 36. Rowan 37. J&J's Mom 38. Colleen at Loose Leaf 39. Lisa at The World According to Me 40. Holly at Crazy Momma (leave your link in comments, I’ll add you here!) |
The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!
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oohhh chocolate ready whip. So anyway, it is cool to have the first Christmas be a blur--I was running on 2 hours of sleep and nursing 17 times a day myself. LOL. And then there was the year I wanted the baby to JUST COME OUT! at Christmas. Have you found Jaysus? LOL
My 13 are up.
My 13 are up.
Fantastic! We had a similar experience with our kids and New Year's.
Thanks for visiting. I always love to hear from you, Jen.
Thanks for visiting. I always love to hear from you, Jen.
Great stories. Your kids look like my kids did teh first time I let them watch teh ball drop...lol
Kat
Kat
# posted by 
: 12:52 PM
: 12:52 PM
I have a deep love for Christmas music too, I can not get enough of it between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Sometimes I tend to sing Jingle Bells in July cause it makes me happy
# posted by : 1:22 PM
: 1:22 PM
OMG, I LOVE the pictures. The whipped cream picture is priceless. And Anya, talk about sleeping with your eyes closed.
I can understand why you had a meltdown when you passed 3 Santas...that's a lot for a little kid to take in.
Your brother also sounds like he was smart...too smart for his own good! LOL.
My 13 are up!
I can understand why you had a meltdown when you passed 3 Santas...that's a lot for a little kid to take in.
Your brother also sounds like he was smart...too smart for his own good! LOL.
My 13 are up!
# posted by : 1:33 PM
: 1:33 PM
When I was little, I couldn't figure out how the heck Santa could be on all those corners and malls at once. My mom said that he runs fast! I like that whipped cream tradition.
P.S. Have you found Jaysus?
P.S. Have you found Jaysus?
Is that chocolate Redi Whip?! Mmmm! How cool is that?!
Your children are beautiful!
Thanks for visiting today...
Your children are beautiful!
Thanks for visiting today...
Good thing I wasn't drinking anything when I read #1 or it would be out my nose!
You've been to my 13!
You've been to my 13!
Yeah...my kids would be zombies if they managed to stay up that late at all.
Looks like fun with whip cream!
Looks like fun with whip cream!
# posted by : 3:39 PM
: 3:39 PM
Hey, if you ever want to paint your own nativity, contact me or Sleeping Mommy at our website. (see sidebars of either blog). :) And yeah, the finding out about Santa sucks, but hey, I still believe! It's all about the magic. . .
Trying to Catch Up: Thirteen Things - All time Favorite TV Shows
Love that whip cream picture! You've got a lot of nice Christmas memories. Your brother with the race track story - that takes the cake!
Love that whip cream picture! You've got a lot of nice Christmas memories. Your brother with the race track story - that takes the cake!
I loved your list and your Christmas memories were a treasure. I'm wishing you a memorable Christmas this year too.
I posted 13 great Christmas movies if you are interested. Elmo Saves Christmas is a Classic your kids might enjoy!
Lazy Daisy
I posted 13 great Christmas movies if you are interested. Elmo Saves Christmas is a Classic your kids might enjoy!
Lazy Daisy
That last pic is such a riot. Those kids are really enjoying all the New Year hoopla!
I agree that your bro Mark was a conniving little rascal. Well, he proved the truth about Santa that way.
I posted a gift for you at my blog. Hope you like it.
I agree that your bro Mark was a conniving little rascal. Well, he proved the truth about Santa that way.
I posted a gift for you at my blog. Hope you like it.
That was fun reading! The picture of your daughter up late with glazed over eyes was priceless! Thanks for dropping by and reading mine.
# posted by : 9:10 PM
: 9:10 PM
OK, so your brother DOES sound scary. I think that's the kind of thing my older daughter would do.
I love the idea of eating nothing but junk for Christmas. I think the nausea brought on by snacking would still be less than I usually have from stress.
Kajsa's first Christmas was in the PICU. She was admitted two days before we were to fly cross-country to see my parents. I've always been grateful that she didn't get sick two days later. We wouldn't have been able to do anything on the 7 hour flight. NICU/PICU holidays are just no fun. But it sure sounds like you made the best of it.
I love #10. If I'd been Mary, Jesus would have grown up to tell the multitude, "You get what you get. Now don't throw a fit."
My husband's family gets into the whipped cream suckling, too. This would have never flown in my family of origin. I'm still trying to get used to it.
I always look like your kids on New Years...and I'm 36. Oh well.
I love the idea of eating nothing but junk for Christmas. I think the nausea brought on by snacking would still be less than I usually have from stress.
Kajsa's first Christmas was in the PICU. She was admitted two days before we were to fly cross-country to see my parents. I've always been grateful that she didn't get sick two days later. We wouldn't have been able to do anything on the 7 hour flight. NICU/PICU holidays are just no fun. But it sure sounds like you made the best of it.
I love #10. If I'd been Mary, Jesus would have grown up to tell the multitude, "You get what you get. Now don't throw a fit."
My husband's family gets into the whipped cream suckling, too. This would have never flown in my family of origin. I'm still trying to get used to it.
I always look like your kids on New Years...and I'm 36. Oh well.
# posted by : 11:29 PM
: 11:29 PM
You're too funny! I don't think that there is anything wrong with sucking ready whip out of the can at all... we also eat frozen cool whip. :D
Well you know in my house that Darly stays up wayyy past midnight on most nights. So NYE is no big deal for her...but the ball drops here 3 times so they could always catch an earlier version...like when it drops live from NYC.
See ya tomorrow at GS!
Well you know in my house that Darly stays up wayyy past midnight on most nights. So NYE is no big deal for her...but the ball drops here 3 times so they could always catch an earlier version...like when it drops live from NYC.
See ya tomorrow at GS!
HEHEHE!! TOOOOO funny! My kids were pretty much zombies the first New Years they stayed up too, now I can't get them to sleep. And we do the Redi Whip out of the can too...LOL! Thanks for visiting my 13!!
**huggles**
**huggles**
Your kids are beautiful!
My son's first Christmas was spent in the NICU, too. I can't hear "I'll be home for Christmas" anymore without wanting to cry.
Thanks for visiting; you're linked!
My son's first Christmas was spent in the NICU, too. I can't hear "I'll be home for Christmas" anymore without wanting to cry.
Thanks for visiting; you're linked!
Oh my yes! I love your blogs, Jen! They can whip me out of the crappiest moods!
And chocolate whipped cream! Oh my!
And chocolate whipped cream! Oh my!
# posted by : 8:24 AM
: 8:24 AM
Oh my gosh, that picture is priceless! The New Years one. Well, actually, the whipped cream one too :o)
"a blur of screaming, feeding and poop"... yeah. I can relate. And I only have two!
Great list, Jaysus it made me both laugh and tear up!
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"a blur of screaming, feeding and poop"... yeah. I can relate. And I only have two!
Great list, Jaysus it made me both laugh and tear up!
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