Tree Decorating
I have gotten behind here, I know but I am trying to catch up. With all of the holiday things we have been doing at church and at home, i haven’t found much time to sit down and write. Last weekend we decided that we would get a real tree after all. Gabe and I had been going back and forth for awhile since we aren’t going to be home for Christmas. However, I was definitely missing having a tree up in the house and so was Gabe. So, Gabe took the girls to pick out a Christmas tree. When I got home from playing handbells at a local nursing home, there was the tree in front of our picture window. The smell was wonderful. Of course it irritated my allergies but I didn’t care. It looked so beautiful. We ate dinner and then started decorating the tree. the girls helped Gabe wrapp around the lights and then the ribbon. Then they tried very hard to help me with the poinsettia leaves but they couldn’t quite get the hang of fluffing them out. After that we moved on to ornaments. They were having so much fun putting them all over the tree. Ellie loved for Gabe to pick her up so she could put the ornaments up high. Victoria’s strategy was to clump ornaments together. It was so much fun decorating. I am so glad that we decided to get the tree and decorate it. Everyone got along and had a great time. It was a fun family night and the tree looked so beautiful when we were done. We just sat staring at it.
Turkey Reflections
**Warning: Long blog with no pictures. We seemed to forget our camera everywhere we went this weekend.
Thanksgiving has come and gone and I finally have a chance to sit down and do a little “turkey day” reflecting. We had a very quiet but wonderful Thanksgiving. Gabe cooked a great meal that we shared with a special friend, Yang. Yang is a junior at Lawrence University, a liberal arts college in Appleton. He is from China. Yang was matched with us as part of the Lawrence International Program. They match international students with families in Appleton so the student has an adopted family while they are so far away from home. It was so nice to share the day with him. One of the many funny comments that Victoria made during the day was “do you want sticks to eat with or a fork?” Yang got a kick out of that especially since the sticks that Victoria tried to give him were bbq skewers. We ended the day by having friends over to eat dessert and peruse the Black Friday shopping ads. Up until three years ago, I avoided the day and so did Gabe. Then a friend of mine invited me along with her. I was able to get all my Christmas shopping done on that one day and I was hooked. We have it pretty nice here in Appleton, though. Yes, there are still lines but the crowd is no where near the level of crowds in bigger cities. People still push, people still run and there are still fights but nothing like I have heard about in other places. We picked out the things we wanted and Gabe even decided to go this year. He went in my place last year when I was experiencing horrible morning sickness. I think he is officially hooked J! It was great just to be with friends and have someone to talk to while we waited in several 30min to 1 hour lines. On Saturday the whole family, including all three kids, made and served breakfast at the local emergency shelter. I have served at the shelter before but this time really hit me. It was probably because we had just spent a day stuffing our faces with food and then a day shopping for things that in all honest we really didn’t need. Then we walk into this place and realize that these people don’t have food or homes. It was so good to have the kids there and experience that. They helped make and serve the food and even helped with dishes. I was very proud of them. It felt great to be able to give back. On a lighter note, we ended the weekend with a Steeler victory over my husband’s beloved Patriots. In the words of both of my daughters, “Go Steelers!”. I hope that you and your families had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday.
Things I Am Thankful For:
- My beautiful and healthy family
- A house that has heat.
- Food (even though I came to the realization this year that I don’t like Turkey and I don’t like Pumpkin pie. I ate them just because it was the thing to do but with every bite I disliked them more and more.)
- My husband’s job which of course provides for #2 and #3
- Friends to share in the holidays with especially since our families are so far away
