Sick Days

We have been sick for a month now, and this week I am really sick. I have no voice and spend my nights coughing away bidding on cricut cartridges on ebay. We have to get better soon!

I have declared this day (and yesterday) a home day.  We are not going anywhere, we are staying home drinking our fluids and pumping the vitamin C.

Since our basement is 95% done, 100% enjoyable, we are spending our sick time down there.  We like to just lay on our new carpet.  We even moved a few things downstairs to make it more enjoyable.

I rented Eclipse, watched it last night and whipped up this little stocking ornament. Besides the sick part, I am rather enjoying our quarantine in our new basement.

O Christmas Tree

Jim and I picked out our live/dead Christmas tree over the weekend. I think of them as live and he thinks of them as dead (since they were chopped down, you get it). Jim grew up cutting down trees from his grandmothers Christmas tree farm and I grew up buying really expensive trees from the Catholic church down the road.

Jim does not mind how I decorate it, its kind of my thing. The only problem is I mind how I decorate it. The first few years we had a fake tree that I tried to decorate like my mom's tree.
Here I am circa 2004 decorating our tree.

 That did not work out because I do not have the ornaments to back up that style. I started buying cheap ball ornaments to hang and decided that I would hence forth only decorate my tree with red and gold ornaments. Only now that makes me sad. I like all the colors. Instead of collecting beautiful ornaments over the years (like I wanted to) I have collected discount ornaments from walmart.

Note the discount ornaments

I have been worried about pleasing everyone else in my life with my tree, when really, who else even cares about my tree but me??

My favorite memories of Christmas are pulling out all the ornaments, each one special and different, each one beautiful.

 2006, Lilly's first Christmas

 2008, Our first Live/Dead tree

  2009, Jack's first Christmas

It's decided then. I will no longer collect ornaments from the after christmas sale in red and gold balls from walmart. I want ornaments from every where I visit. If it is significant, then I want it on my tree. Send me your old ornaments mom, I am ready to carry on the tradition. (Although, it is my tree, so I might have colored lights)

Stocking

Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house

Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.

The [hand knit] stockings [that I made for Jack and Lilly] 

were hung by the [bookcase] with care,

In hopes that St Nicholas soon would be there.

I made these stockings from a pattern book I borrowed from the yarn shop. They worked up pretty fast, my first time turning a heel (knitting lingo).  I have Jim's done and mine is almost finished.  More pictures soon.  Wish I had a chimney to hang then by with care.

Jinx

I knew it was coming, you knew it was coming. Within minutes of declaring mom day a success my day crumbled into a mess. Screaming, crying, ear infections, eye infections and a trashed house finished off my day yesterday. Now I am sick along with the kids and I don't have the energy to clean my house.
Don't stop by, we are a house of mess and germs.

Christmas Cards

I had really good luck with Christmas cards this year.  I won a free digital card from a blog contest and then I earned my 50 free shutterfly cards by selling out my blog(just a little).  The digital card (see above) is for all you slackers who don't send out real Christmas cards.  The rest of you will get my lovely shutterfly card. Win, win.

Mom day

I have extra children today while their parents enjoy a day in NY by themselves.  I got their son off to school, got all the kids dressed and fed, and I went to my Zumba class.  I came home put the babies down for naps and churned out cookies for my cookie exchange tonight.  I adorned my Christmas apron (thanks mom) and baked my little heart out. I really nailed the mom thing today.

New York, New York!

I am in NYC today.  I am in a hotel room with 5 children waiting to get the car and head out.  It is 2pm, time for the Wednesday matinee's to start. I heard The Phantom of the Opera opening music start up through our wall.  Upon further investigation I found out that the hotel shares a wall with the Majestic theatre, which has been home to The Phantom of the Opera for 22 years.  Absolute joy to hear live broadway music for free in my hotel room with 5 children.  Phantom was the first show I ever saw.  I hope to come back one day and see it again.
We arrived in the city last night around 6pm, a few hours later than expected.  We had planned to watch the lighting of the rockefeller center tree live.  We got there way too late and the crowds were out of control.  We had two double jogging strollers pushing through the not-so-stroller-friendly-crowds.  I still loved every minute of it.  We had delicious pizza and then went in search of a cupcake place I found when I was here in July.  We could not find it, instead we found the M&M store, Batman (literally a guy walking around as batman), and the Macy's Christmas window displays. Magic.   All of it.
This morning we woke up to pouring rain and gusts of wind.  We bundled up to head over to Radio City Music Hall to see the Christmas Spectacular, which lives up to its name.  By the time we arrived Lilly and I were drenched, making for the perfect opportunity to buy some Rockette shirts.  Jack and Lilly did really well for the first 45 minutes, it just went downhill after that.  All in all I loved the show, even with a screaming baby it was a good time.  Note to self - dont try a full length broadway show with children anytime soon,.
We are headed home with another wonderful NY adventure behind us.