Christmas Eve Morning

Merry Christmas Eve!!!

Carlton and I woke up at about 6:45, showered, dressed, filled up gas tank, and hit the highway by 7:30 on Christmas Eve morning.  It was a very early morning for us, mostly because of the late night beforehand, but we managed to get on the road within a reasonable amount of time.

The highways were FANTASTIC!!!  At any time we could look around us on the road and only see about 3-4 other cars.  The most traffic we were ever around was in north Georgia near Kennesaw, and that was at about 11:00am, about the time we guessed everyone was traveling "over the river and through the woods to grandmother's house" for Christmas Eve lunch.

We drove straight to Carlton's parents' house.  Carlton's brother Saunders, his wife Katie, and their daughter Katie Anne were also there.  KA and I had a lot of fun checking out all the Christmas ornaments on the tree before lunch.  For a Christmas Eve lunch, Vicki made a delicious spinach lasagna, garlic bread, and a chocolatey-raspberry-bread pudding for dessert.  After lunch, we all headed into the sun room where we opened Christmas gifts.

Brothers Saunders and Carlton checking out all the loot before opening began:

I had my eye on a flat yellow envelope labeled with my name on it (okay, Carlton was written on it too), and was from Katie Anne.  My heart was filled with hope for what might actually be in that envelope, and I saved it for last.  We all enjoyed opening our gifts.  Everyone was very generous and incredibly thoughtful in their gift shopping.  It was so much fun to watch Katie Anne open each gift, examine it, play with it, love it, and prepare for the next gift.

(As a side note, which could have easily ended up being its very own blog entry, I had WAYYYY too much fun shopping for Katie Anne this year.  I mean, WAYYYY too much fun.  You see, she's into playing dress-up.  And, well, I just really think dress-up is pretty much the best game ever.  Playing dress-up, playing house, playing school, playing kitchen, playing ANYTHING involves an extensive imaginary wardrobe.  And that imaginary wardrobe is usually made up of Mommy's old high heels, some plastic jewelry, some ring-pops from the candy aisle, some fancy hair barrettes, and a few other random items found around the house.  But why can't an indulgent aunt buy a bit of a dress-up wardrobe to fit her little neice's playful imagination?  So, let's just leave it at this: I did.  I tried my best to accommodate as many dress-up moods this child might have as I possibly could.  Is Katie Anne in the mood to be a bug?  Or, a Super Hero?  Or, maybe have a Tea Party?  How about cooking up a new recipe?  This imagination-filled toddler is now totally prepared.)

Carlton and I got just what we had hoped for: lots and lots of new clothes for work!  I needed sweaters, cardigans, and shoes.  Carlton needed office shirts, and something warm to keep the chill off in the cool office.  We are both sooooo well prepared now, thanks everybody!  I watched with anticipation as Katie Anne opened a box we had filled with an assortment of dress-up items.  This two-year-old holds my heart in her tiny little hands.  She'll either melt my heart with happiness, or crush it by tossing all these terrific imagination gifts aside for another paper-ripping second of fun.  Oh, Saunders is crazy about the sunglasses Carlton picked out for him?  Good.  Katie loves the collection of Pandora beads for her bracelet?  Great.  Katie Anne pulls out a pair of fancy, hot pink teatime gloves with neon orange flowers.  "Put them on me, Daddy!"  My heart melts.  She discovers a pair of optical sunglasses that create a "bug's eye view" when you put them on.  "Let me try them on, Mommy!"  My heart is dripping to the floor now.  The fancy pearl necklace that coordinates with the teatime gloves gets put aside (I'm okay with that, I'll recover) as Katie Anne reaches for the Super Hero Costume, complete with forearm cuffs, cape, and disguising black face mask.  "I can be disappeared and you won't even know me, Daddy!  And I'll fly really, really fast in the air like a bird!"  I think someone had to scoop my melted heart off the floor at this point.  She. LOVED! It.  And I could tell that she did.  My life... is complete.

But wait.

My favorite gift of all was yet to come.  And, it was at the bottom of her pile.  AT THE BOTTOM OF HER PILE, PEOPLE.  (How much patience is a 25-year-old expected to have on Christmas Eve?)

I waited patiently as Katie Anne opened a few more gifts.  Carlton got a fancy reversible blue pullover?  Nice.  Vicki got a beautifully framed photo of Katie Anne?  Precious.  Now, everyone SHHHH!!!  Katie Anne has arrived at the box.  (Actually, everyone keeps about their gift-opening business as I silently and secretly-with-my-own-blown-out-of-proportion-excitement hone in on Katie Anne.)

The paper comes off.  The box pops open.  Her eyes... they just... lit up!  She pulls out the present, "Mommy, open this!"  "What is this, Katie Anne?  What do you think this is?"  "Stwarberry Shor-cake?"  Katie Anne looks at me, "Stwarberry Shor-cake?"  "Well," I told her, "sort of...."

The pieces are pulled from their cardboard packaging and Katie Anne assesses the goods.  "Katie Anne, it looks like a chef's outfit with an oven mit and a potholder and an apron and a chef's hat."  Her eyes lit up again.  "Put it on me, Mommy!"

 It's even more perfect that I caught her spinning:

My heart skipped melting and pretty much just evaporated.  I was happy.  I was satisfied.  Christmas, as I considered it, was a success.

"Look at me!"  Katie Anne exclaimed 5 minutes later, with the outfit still on.

Grandmama and Vicki open their twin gifts, handmade artistic birdhouses from Carlton and me.  I open some beautiful monogrammed guest-bathroom soaps, and then some gorgeous monogrammed towels from Grandmama.

"Look at me!"  Katie Anne exclaimed again.

It seemed she would be drawn back into the ripping and tearing of Christmas wrapping paper, the cheers and smiles of a shared good time, and then suddenly remember again what she was wearing:

"Look at me!"

And finally, I opened the yellow envelope that I had saved for last.  Now my heart was full.  Katie Anne had drawn a picture for me (err, us).  A sweet little picture of Carlton, me, and Vespa, complete with a sunshine and Vespa's food.

Just... absolutely, by far, a perfect Christmas Eve afternoon.

The Eve of Christmas Eve

Carlton and I both worked on December 23rd.  Actually, I worked all day like any other normal day at the shop. Carlton was at his office until about 12:30, at which time he drove himself on home to take a long winter's nap with the pup for the rest of the afternoon.  :)  But the time spent up until 12:30 at his office was just critical office work time, I might add: the exchanging of gifts, lunch, desserts, more gifts, and blissful Christmas spirit had to be crammed into that tiny time frame of 8:30-12:30... and what a job that was!  He did come home with some glorious and very gracious gifts (including a great duffel-style insulated cooler, Omaha Steaks, some gigantic summer sausages, gift cards, candies, and more), so I can't really complain too much about the work he did that morning.  :)
After I got home at 6:00-ish, we had some dinner and wrapped the last few gifts that were to be packed up and driven to Cartersville the next morning.  After the wrapping was finished, Carlton and I went ahead and picked one gift to open that night, for our very own first Christmas in our very own first home.  Carlton's choice was pretty much a given, since it was so big it only fit into the MINI because the back seats were down and it definitely wouldn't even come close to fitting into the Nissan (which was what we had planned to drive to Cartersville).  I had known for a couple weeks what gift I wanted to open first, but waited patiently for Carlton to open his gift first.

He had tried for weeks to figure out what I'd gotten him, failing time and time again to guess correctly.  Once the paper came off, he was so surprised that he had never guessed what was inside the giant box: a new high-def home theater system!

Next it was my turn.  I shook my box, listened really well, shook it some more, and ripped the paper open.

More paper!

Finally, I got all the paper off and discovered 10 tiny black boxes.  Tiny boxes are always a good thing!  Inside the boxes were 5 pairs of earrings and 5 necklaces, making 5 matching sets of semi-precious stone/sterling silver jewelry for me to wear with just about any unsuspecting outfit! 

Way to go, Carlton!  I was very impressed and surprised.  Your bases are now officially covered.  (Actually, Carlton's theory was to cover his bases this year on the basic "color wheel" so that from now on he can select "specialty" pieces.  Who can argue with an entire collection of necklaces and earrings, or his theory?  Not this happy wife!)

After opening our gifts, Carlton and I showered, packed our clothes for the long weekend, and loaded up all the gifts into the car for the long haul up to Cartersville!  We got to bed at about midnight, set the alarm for 6:30, and just hoped and prayed that our little eyes could pop open for the holiday drive.

FYI

Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and post-Christmas posts are awaiting photo download and will be published as soon as internet allows. Move along!

I'm ba-aaaaaaack!

So I guess it goes without saying that I have been missing from blog-land for quite a while. Aside from my little (and loud!) blurp about my sister's engagement and another about a beautiful stocking, I've been away for too long.  We have celebrated two major holidays with family and friends, and there has been not so much as a peep from me in blogland.  Sorry, I think I had gotten burned out and just needed a break.  I even took pictures here and there with intentions of writing something about them, but just couldn't make myself do it in the end. (I actually have four "drafts" awaiting publication to my blog, but they're all unfinished, and there are no pictures or anything in them.) But hey, I'm back! I have a recipe or two to share, stories about furniture shopping for the new house, family and friend get-togethers, and more.  It's good to be back, and fresher (yes, fresher) than ever.

Big news!!!

Forgive my absence, but let's set that aside for a moment. Like I said, this is big news!

MY SISTER IS A FIANCEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That's right, guys, Kristen's boyfriend, Scott, popped the question on Wednesday night as they rode through the maze of bright Christmas lights at Petit Creek Farm. At first she was annoyed that he was driving so slowly, but once he asked the question and got out the ring, she understood why 1 mph was necessary.  ;)

Scott talked with me on Monday afternoon through text messaging, asking if Carlton and I would be able to make it into town for "a special dinner" that Wednesday night.  Umm, while eating out in the middle of the week might have sounded nice, an 8 hour round trip surely didn't.  I thanked him, confused at the "special" part of the question, and asked what the occasion was.  As it turned out, Scott had to tell me that he wanted us in town that night for dinner because he was planning to propose to Kristen and then meet his family and my family for dinner to share the great news, and to let Kristen show off her new engagement ring.  Well of course, once he explained everything, I made plans to work a half-day on Wednesday so that I could be in Cartersville by 7:30!  There's no way I was going to miss dinner with my sister and her fiance on the night they got engaged!  Carlton couldn't make it because of busy work on Wednesday and Thursday, but I was really glad my work schedule could move around like it did.  I met everyone at The Cellar in Cartersville for dinner.  When I came in, Kristen was so surprised she held out her arms and said, "YOU CAME!!!!!!! You came????!!!!???"  And then I said, "I came! You're engaged?!????!!!!???"  I'm glad I made the drive.  It was great to share the celebration with the newly engaged couple and our families. 

Congratulations to the happy couple!

Peekaboo...

I'm still here! Just suffering from a case of the blogging lazies, in conjunction with holiday crazies, and lots and lots and lots of knitting. 

Tomorrow I'm off work and will be cleaning (knitting) and running errands (Christmas shopping).  I'll make more time to blog then.  For now, I'm starting one'a these: