One week until Santa comes!

We are thiiiiiiiissssss close to being on Christmas break.   Just one and a half days of school to go. 

Getting my tree up last weekend really helped me get in the holiday spirit.  So did some decorations outside.  I love that projector thing.  I call it "short-cut Christmas lights" because you get whole house effects with much less effort. 

 I also put up a second tree in my dining room.  That one is very planned and intentionally decorated.  Our "regular tree" is a haphazard mix of ornaments.   I love it.  But this one is slightly more elegant.  I love it, too, although this one is a little short. 

And don't tell Bassam, but so far, I'm not missing my live tree at all.   I know I told him I wouldn't be happy with a fake tree, but no sweeping up pine needles every day?  Heck yeah!

Christmas shopping is still not finished.   Cards went out in the mail today.  So I've definitely made progress.   But there is no way I WON'T be out shopping with the all the crowds this weekend.   But I've been so swamped with work and different school commitments for the last week, that there has hardly been any time to shop.  And of course the evenings have been consumed by studying for finals.  #ItsAFamilyAffair

No Christmas Tree, No Christmas Tree . . .

We are crawling to the finish line, y'all. 

On our hands and knees. 

It's not just the kids.  It's all of us.  Bassam had three late nights in a row at work.   There have been scads of tests, quizzes and end of the semester projects.

And lots of arguments about how much time should be spent preparing for said tests, quizzes and end of the semester projects.

I co-hosted a luncheon at the high school today and a breakfast at the middle school tomorrow, plus two days of work.

While I was pleased to discover I was further along that I thought in Christmas shopping, our tree is up, but still not decorated. 

Tomorrow.  we're going to decorate it tomorrow.

Maybe Saturday.

Made it to Saturday!

Made it to the weekend.   Whoo hoo!

The laundry is still stacked up and the dog isn't sleeping at night again, but the house is relatively clean, Matt survived his mid-state band audition this morning, and for the first time we saw snow on the roofs and trees.

It has already melted, but we saw it! Yay!

Unfortunately, my Christmas shopping is still basically stalled.   Things that seem like they should be easy purchases are suddenly difficult to find (even online!) and Matt still doesn't of anything he really wants.   Super helpful.   #SocksAndUnderwear   

But since I don't have our tree up yet, it's not like I have anywhere to put the presents that I can't seem find.  #SilverLining

And speaking of Christmas presents, have you seen this video?   I love a good international commercial and this one is awesome!  Come and get your love!

Shhh!

Here we are on the eve of the last day of 2017 (New Year's Eve Eve?) and for the first time since the kids got out of school, the house is quiet.

The Clarks were here first.  Then Lina, David and the boys were in town.  Finally, my sister, Rich and his kids arrived this week.   With all three families there have been outings, meals and gatherings for play.   I wouldn't trade a second of it.  But when my parents, Amy, Rich and the kids left tonight, we all sat down in the family room and for a moment,  the house was completely quiet.  Nothing cooking in the kitchen, no boisterous card games . . . heck, even the washing machine wasn't running.

Unheard of!

But before long, Bassam was watching college football, the dishwasher was whirling,  and the kids were giggling at a video on YouTube.

Back to reality, I suppose.

We are rarely blessed with a holiday where we get to see so many of the special people in our life.   It's been a fantastic, frantic, fun-filled 9 days!

Merry Christmas

It's hard to believe that Christmas is upon us.   The last few days have been a blur.   But they have been a blur filled with good friends, family, fun and of course, the end of finals.

Praise God on that last one!

The kids finished school on Thursday at noon.  Never seen such happy kids get in my car.  We were so ready for the break.  And I definitely include myself in that "we!"

Our dear friends (and former neighbors), the Clark family arrived from Virginia that afternoon.  It was such a wonderful gift to have them here. The kids picked up like they had seen each other just a few days ago, instead of a few years ago.  We saw Star Wars, ICE! at Opryland, took them downtown Nashville, a Vanderbilt basketball game and just hung out at the house.

Lina, David, Cooper and Cole arrived Friday night.  David and the boys joined us all at the Vandy game and dinner at SATCO.  A large gaggle of loud kids ensured we made it on the scoreboard several times, which made all the kids happy.  They even won a free pizza.   Oh, and Vandy won, too!

On Saturday night we had our extended crew, plus B's family over for dinner.  The house was brimming with people and a good time was had by all. We were so sad to wake up this morning and have to say goodbye to the Clarks.  They had a long drive ahead of them, but thankfully, it was an uneventful one and they are home safe and sound.

Of course, there was still a lot to do today.  Bassam took our kids and the nephews to JumpStreet while I did some last minute wrapping and got the house ready for tonight's festivities.  I also made a Target run.

They were putting out the Valentine's Day stuff, y'all.

Tonight we had my parents, Rundi, plus Bassam's family all over for dinner.  Afterward, GG, Gus, Rundi and our crew finished the evening at St. Andrew for Christmas eve worship.  It was a long day, but I'm always so glad to end it at church.

Of course, I forgot to take pictures.  Again.

As I kick myself for that, I did grab a couple of our tree tonight.  The calm before the storm, I suppose.

Wishing you a very Merry Christmas.

Ho Ho Oh No!

Parents of multiple children, what say you?

If you have an easy time Christmas shopping for one child, is it rule that you must struggle on the other child(ren)? 

I tried not to worry about this phenomenon because I had "plenty of time," but it's now December 19th, I have a full schedule and still no ideas.

Scenes from the mall . . . .

Last night Matt had something in Nashville.  Traffic was a mess, so I decided to stay out that way while he was busy and hit the Green Hills mall.  As I'm woefully behind on Christmas shopping, this seemed like a good use of my time.

While it wasn't incredibly fruitful, I did get a birthday gift for my dad and a little something for Dana and Amy.

Oh, and I ran into Steven Tyler from Aerosmith.  I passed him as I was walking in to The North Face store and he called out, "Hey!  I really like your coat."  I was a bit off guard (although instantly recognized him--he's pretty unique looking), so I just smiled and called back, "Thank you!  I'm a fan!"

This is Nashville--and we treat celebrities like anyone else. So when he said, "Merry Christmas,"  I said it back and went on my way. 

Confession:  I would not treat Dolly Parton like anyone else.  Because let's be honest, she isn't anyone else . . . she's freakin' Dolly.

Fast forward to today when I attempted Christmas shopping part deux at our mall in Franklin.  I walked that mall from one end to the other and all I left with was a candle.

And there wasn't a sign of Steven Tyler either.

Christmas carols, fires and pets . . . oh my!

We have had Charlie for 7 1/2 years and not once has he ever glanced at the TV.  Sure, he'll occasionally  hear a door bell on a TV show, mistake it for ours, and bark and run to the door.  But he's never actually looked at the television.  

That all changed tonight.  He was utterly fascinated by "A Very Happy Yule Log" on the Hallmark channel.  A roaring fire with a cat, dog or a combination of several cats and dogs sleeping, playing or wandering by the camera with Christmas carols playing in the background.  That's it.

And Charlie is transfixed.

Merry Christmas!

Wrap it up!

Christmas is in 5 days.    FIVE DAYS!    A couple presents still to arrive in the mail, but I think I'm otherwise my shopping is wrapped up.  

But then there's the actual wrapping.  Oh, y'all.   I hate the wrapping.   

Of course, before I can wrap, I need to dig out the presents I have stashed in various places around the house.   Then after you finish wrapping those, you undoubtedly find one or two that you missed.   

Trying not to let the craziness of finals, school parties, shopping and wrapping take away the true joy of this amazing season.   

Making a list, checking it twice . . .

Not only did I buy several Christmas presents today, but I also went to the UPS store and got packages mailed to North Carolina, Virginia, Kansas, Michigan and Illinois!

Not done yet . . . but feeling the forward momentum!    Whoo hoo!!!!

Gingerbread house

Today we finally made our gingerbread house.   It should have been "houses," but one of the houses had major structural problems and before I could attempt to rebuild, several of it's pieces were eaten by Matt, Gracie and the dog.

So they decorated one house together.

I'm not sure if more of the candy ended up on the house or in their mouths.   It's a bit of a hot mess, but they had a ball making it.

Of course, they also left the carnage of the gingerbread experience all over the table.  Time to clean up?  Not a child to be found.

I was less than pleased with this discovery, until I spotted a little something they left for me, made one of the walls from the house that didn't make it.

Sunday night ramblings . . . .

After my last pathetic post, were you wondering if I did NOT survive last week??!?

Okay, probably not.  But the good news is that I did survive.  I'm alive and kicking with a to-do list the size of a yardstick.  But I survived!

While the end of last week was insanely crazy, it was fun.   On Thursday and Friday I served as a parent volunteer for Gracie's field trip to JA BizTown, where she was CEO of the bank.  Meanwhile, I was "across town" serving as the parent volunteer in the Memorial Foundation (philanthropy) with a foursome of highly distracted, but very enthusiastic boys.

 The two parent volunteers in the bank reported Gracie did well in her post.  One also said she looks like an American Girl doll.  I wasn't entirely sure what to make of that one, but I'm pretty sure it was a compliment, so I smiled and said, "Thank you!"

As soon as I got back to from BizTown it was on to my Girl Scout meeting.  As the last part of the aMUse leadership journey, they had a talent show and invited parents and other special guests to see them perform.   There were dancers, singers, joke tellers, piano players, a girl who showed art and a baton twirler.

Guess who that last one was?

All the girls did fantastic and although sometimes being a scout leader stresses me out, it was a nice reminder of why I do it.  They are an awesome group of girls!

While Gracie twirled, Matt was off at a math competition over at Ravenwood.  He managed to snag third place on the Algebra test and helped his team finish first overall.  Proud mama!

Friday was the second day of BizTown, plus the end of book fair at the middle school. The second day of BizTown was as crazy as the first, but still a lot of fun.  The kids had the hang of what they were doing and so did I.  When I got back, I packed up the library at Woodland and thanked my lucky stars that book fair season had come to a close.

Then that evening, Matt was back at school for the holiday dance. He went with his pal, Sam, and a few other boys. I was thankful he a had a crew, because there's no way he would have gone otherwise.  Details from the dance were sketchy at best, but he came home sweaty, so I know he danced for at least part of the evening.

On Saturday, Gracie was off to her own math competition.   You might be wondering if these kids are a "chip off the old block" in terms of these math skills.  They might be.  But be assured, the "old block" in question is not me.   No one ever asked me to compete in a math competition and if they had, I certainly wouldn't have won anything.

G, on the other hand, came home with both a 14th and 12th place medal, which was pretty nifty considering here were around 200 students at each level.

We finally got our Christmas tree up today.   We bought it on Home Depot and I swear we somehow came home with a different tree then we picked out.  Okay, not really, but when we looked at it Friday night none of us noticed the big gaping spots with no branches that were incredibly apparent when we put it up at home.

It's bad, y'all.

Regardless, we decided to decorate the tree tonight after my concert.  Unfortunately, Bassam was on the phone a large portion of the time dealing with stuff at the hospital, so it was just me and the kids.   I sat on the floor putting on hooks and the kids put them on the tree.  As a result, it's a hot mess with 75% of the ornaments taking up residence on 25% of the the tree.   I want to rearrange them, but quite frankly, I'm too tired.   Maybe tomorrow.

Or maybe never.

Ta da!

Still working on Christmas decorations.  Still haven't gotten our tree, but hope to get it purchased this week and up this weekend.  

My banister, however, had a full makeover!  Last night, I arranged my boxes of greens, ribbon, ornaments and other stick-ins. 

And today, thanks to my sweet friend, Dawn, my hallway looks like THIS . . . 

Of course, my tree, which sits just feet away, is full of mismatched ornaments and handmade creations from my kids.  Does the banister raise the bar? 

red x 2

Just when I thought Gracie's love of American Girl was winding down, they finally came out with a TRUE redhead.  Gracie's first doll, a "look-a-like" is very pretty, but definitely a strawberry blonde.  But this fall, AG debuted a beautiful redhead and Gracie went crazy.  Apparently every redhead doll lover did, because by a couple weeks before Christmas, she was on back-order on the American Girl website.  According to the gal who works in the store here, she was the #1 selling doll this holiday season.

And tonight, at Christmas IV, Gracie got the beautiful redhead doll from her Aunt Tammy.  As her first doll was named "Lizzie" (after herself--since her middle name is Elizabeth), it seemed only natural that she also name this one after herself as well.  Meet Lulu!  This is mostly a nickname that I use for Gracie (think Gracie Lou Freebush from "Miss Congeniality") although I have heard a couple of her friends use "Gracie Lou" which makes me giggle.  Except for the fact that Lulu has green eyes, I'd say as far as "look-a-likes" go, this one is spot on, don't you?

The day after . . . .

Christmas has come and gone.

It was a wonderful, albeit a very long, day.   Since we didn't get home from church until 9:30 pm on Christmas Eve, we told the kids they couldn't get up until 7.  However, the weather was rainy and stormy from a very early hour.   The thunder woke me up around 4:45 am and I could hear both kids moving around by 6:15.  By 6:30 they were downstairs, which meant Bassam was up too. 

Santa was to good to all of us.  There was no car with a red bow for me in the garage, but I did get a new Clairsonic facial brush, new PJs/robe and some perfume.    The kids were very happy with their gifts, which always makes my heart happy. There were even some surprises for each of them, which is the best! 

Around 10:30, we celebrated Christmas: Part Deux with my parents  

Then at 11:30 we all headed over to B's parents for Christmas III.

We wrapped up Christmas III after a long day of eating, visiting with family, opening presents and playing with cousins.  Both our hearts and tummies were full, so once we got home, everyone settled into enjoy a bit of quiet time with new toys and books.   

This morning, I fought the urge to start taking down the Christmas decorations and enjoy the season a bit longer.  After some morning rain, it cleared up to be a beautiful and warm (74 degrees!) day.  The kids and I headed to church to help clean up the luminaries, we had lunch on the patio of our favorite Mediterranean restaurant and spent as much of the day as possible as we could outside. 

74 degrees on December 26th?!?   Life is good. 

And to all a good night!

Shopping and pictures, but not pictures of shopping. . .

So it's now 4 days before Christmas and I have spent the last couple days WITH THE MASSES at the mall.  Two trips in two days...I am clearly a glutton for punishment.   I don't think I've ever been finishing up shopping so late.

Thankfully, there was one bright spot in today's trip.

apologies for "scan quality" photo

Matt and Gracie amused mom by allowing her to get her annual photo with Santa that she treasures so much.   Incidentally, the kids also saw Santa yesterday. 

On Sunday when we walked into our "usual" after church lunch spot, we were surprised to see Santa behind the counter.   This is a small place called Mediterranean Cuisine (or "Cuisine" as we call it) run by a group of brothers/cousins from Egypt.   They are a hardworking group and the food is delicious.   But as Bassam pointed out, what makes this picture more special is this man (who we've known for years) left the Middle East because he is a Christian and he was living in a place where Christians are persecuted.  Now he is living in Nashville, celebrating Christmas and dressed up as Santa.  Awesome!

Other weekend highlights included Bassam and I chaperoning the holiday cotillion class on Saturday.  The focus was entirely on dance and my husband was delighted to discover that his duties did not involve dancing whatsoever.  We did have to shake hand with every child upon arriving and departing and serve punch and cake.

Neither Bassam or Matt were thrilled that Saturday's attire also required a sport coat (usually they can just wear a shirt and tie).   I was so thankful for my friend Rebecca who saved me from purchasing one that would undoubtedly fit for about 2 seconds when she gave me this navy blue one her son Andrew had outgrown.

I suppose those are the big highlights for the last few days.  Our trip to Sam's this morning, which involved mass purchasing of gift cards, all but wrapped up our holiday shopping. At least until Gracie remembered that we have a "Favorite Things" Girl Scout party tomorrow afternoon.

Okay, one more trip for Christmas shopping....THEN we're done!

I'm trying . . . .

NOW it's Christmas!

Although we had three parties  the last three nights (work party, 40th birthday for our friend Les and my cookie exchange), THIS was my favorite part of weekend.

As we have been attending a new church since October (and are still technically "visitors"), I wasn't sure if my kids would get to participate in the Christmas pageant this year.  Since I have both written and directed the program at Holy Trinity for the last 7 or 8 years, it has always been a big part of our holiday season.

Thankfully, the music director approached both of my kids after we had attended only a couple weeks and asked them to be a part of it.  Gracie had one of the big parts as a shepherd, who were the storytellers.  Matthew was not only a narrator, but was invited to play his trumpet during the prelude to the program.   They both did great!

As for Mom, I was scheduled to play the very important part of "spectator" until the dress rehearsal on Saturday morning.  My plan was to drop the kids and grocery shop.  But before I could leave, the director asked if I would be willing to help with the staging and getting kids in the right place (Gracie told her I had been doing the program "forever" at our old church.  Busted!).   I officially went from "spectator" to "herder," except I didn't have to wear a shepherd costume to do it.   I didn't mind doing it, though.   As much it was great not to have the stress of being in charge, I felt a little out of my element simply sitting back and watching.

So despite the stress of new car hunting (more on that another day), holiday shopping (still not done), Christmas cards (nope!) and the craziness of the last week of school, I am in a better place having watched the children share the story of Jesus' birth!

TGIF

Helllooooooooooo, Friday.

Another week has raced by, another busy weekend ahead and way too few things accomplished off the to do list.

But that also means we are another week closer to Christmas break,  another week closer to being done with homework, tests, packing lunches and carpools.

WHOOO HOOO!!!!!!

I have to admit, my attempt to "keep it positive" has been thwarted by the fact that there has been no official resolution in my car saga, except that it looks like my van will be totaled.  It turns out that an 8 year old mini van with over 150K miles doesn't have a lot of value in the insurance world.  In my world, however, it was priceless.  It was paid for, ran like a dream, was meticulously maintained and had brand new tires (not to mention a 5 minute old oil change!).

I really want my car back.   I don't like shopping for cars.  I certainly don't like writing a check for a new car, which will likely be a big one since it seems the insurance company company won't be giving me much for my van.  

While I've been good this year, I don't think good enough for Santa to get me a new car.  We're probably on our own for this one.