Ten Moments from Christmas 2011

Christmas 2011 was wonderful. Grams and Grandad like nothing better than having our house full of children and grandchildren. We had a wonderful weekend together. They were all here before dinner on Friday. Katy and Travis came in early Friday afternoon and stayed until Monday morning. Nick and Marie got here in time for dinner on Friday evening and had to be at the airport before noon on Christmas Day for a flight to El Paso to visit her family.

As I think about it, I realize that I will remember this Christmas in moments.

Moment Number One
Since we knew that Nick and Marie had to leave early Christmas Day, we decided to serve brunch instead of our traditional roast beef lunch. We always stay at my mother-in-law's house late on Christmas Eve playing cards and celebrating. So we prepped everything for brunch early. That included frying up two pounds of bacon so all we would need to do on Christmas morning is warm it up. I would just pop it in the oven with the baked french toast and it would be warmed at the same time.

Now, we knew there was a risk involved in cooking the bacon ahead of time. You see, our kids LOVE bacon. There has never, never, never been any leftover bacon in our house. NEVER! If we fried ten pounds of it, they would eat ten pounds of it and ask if there was more. So we waited until they went to the movies on Christmas Eve and fried it. Then we hid it in the refrigerator in an opaque Tupperware container. We only had to keep it hidden less than 24 hours. We thought we would be safe.

After we came home on Christmas Eve, I was sitting at the dining room table checking my email when the kids got hungry. In their words, they wanted "real food," not any of the sweets that were everywhere. They went to the refrigerator searching. I had made a big pot of stew on Friday and the leftovers were right in the front of the refrigerator. I thought they would take it out, warm it up, and snack away. Instead they decided to see what else was in there. They started moving things around and looking in containers and they knocked the bacon container out of the refrigerator. Katy caught it in mid-air before it hit the floor. She opened it and they both looked inside. Then came one of those moments in life where I would have given anything to have had my camera in my hand. As they peeked inside, the looks on their faces resembled the rapture of angels at the nativity. They both looked as though they actually heard angels singing alleluias. They turned as one and looked at me beseechingly. I informed them that it was for Christmas brunch. They both reached in and said "only one piece." I didn't have the heart to refuse them. Oh how I wish there had been a camera handy.

Moment Number Two
We were getting dressed for the six o'clock mass on Christmas Eve. The family royalty (Our Little Princess and Her Highness) were last. When we put Our Little Princess' dress on, the front seam unraveled. We took her to church in a red dress held together with safety pins and ribbon. She still looked gorgeous, if I do say so myself. I made both dresses.

Our Little Princess & Her Highness under Me-Maw's tree

Moment Number Three
This led to moment number three. We arrived at church in the rain and cold to discover that there was no power. The candles were lit and people in the pews were holding cell phone flashlights. We squeezed into the family pew and realized that we had lost one of Her Highness' beautiful new red velvet shoes. No chance of finding it in the dark. Then, just as the nativity play was about to start, the lights came on. Divine intervention? I think so. Every Christmas Eve, the children of our very small parish present "Las Posadas," a reenactment of Mary and Joseph going from house-to-house searching for a room. Liberty, our eight-year-old niece, was an angel this year. Again, I didn't have my camera. This one is from my sister-in-law's cell phone. That's Libby on the right.

Libby is the angel on the right

Moment Number 4
On December 17, our nephew Chase, graduated with a fine arts degree from North Texas State University. Katy and Travis had expressed interest in buying one of the paintings that were part of his senior show. When we were opening gifts on Christmas Eve, everyone was very surprised when he gave them one as a gift. Katy was actually moved to tears. His paintings are beautiful and valuable. It was quite a gift and they will treasure it always.

Travis with painting from Chase

Moment Number 5
Watching the young men in the family open their gifts in their annual weapon's exchange. That's right, they exchange weapons. After all, this is Texas ... they hunt, they fish, they kill things ... Merry Christmas!

The Annual Weapons Exchange - Clockwise from left Casey & Chase, Dustin & Nick, Nick and McKenzie

Moment Number 6
Watching Our Little Princess opening presents and checking out her stocking. This is the first year she's really old enough to understand opening presents and we had as much fun watching her as she did opening gifts.

Our Little Princess

Moment Number 7
Playing cards with family and having my nephew Casey ask me if I'm one of those "tree hugging, save the world, liberals." To which I replied with a smile "Why yes! Yes I am!"

Chase & Casey

Moment Number 8
Seeing how comfortably Nick and Marie handle the baby girls. It shows me that they will be wonderful parents to their own children.

Marie & Nick both with Her Highness

Moment Number 9
Looking up as we waited to start opening gifts at my Mother-In-Law's on Christmas Eve and realizing that both mother and daughter were having a bottle.

Katy & Her Highness both enjoy a bottle

Moment Number 10
Having the entire family together for Christmas ... truly priceless and the best gift of all! Not only did we have our entire family at home, my Mother-In-Law had her entire family right down to the great-grandchildren ... every single family member was there on Christmas Eve. It was a rare treasure.

Travis, Katy holding Our Little Princess, Grams holding Her Highness, Grandad, Nick & Marie

 Grandad's family.

Clockwise from left  -- Danny, Patrick (Grandad), Ruth, Gary, Janelle, Laurie

Unfortunately it was raining and cold outside and there was no place we could get a group picture of everyone together. Maybe next time.

So that's how our Christmas was. Not big and not spectacular, but full of excellent moments. It's the small moments that make life grand and this holiday was made up of many moments. And all these moments made up a wonderful holiday.

Learn Something, Make Something, Love Someone

I am unspeakably sad. I've been trying to decide whether or not to write this post for several days now.

I have a very good friend who is going through great sorrow this holiday season. Sandy and I have been friends for a very long time. We're about the same age. Her son, Matt, and my daughter, Katy, are the same age. And her daughter, Abby, and my son, Nick, are also the same age. Sandy and I worked together for many years at our local United Way. We actually tried to get our kids to date, but they were friends who hung out together while their moms worked together. When Matt and Katy graduated, our friends had a celebration for Sandy and me, complete with cake and tissues, because we were pretty emotional about our firstborn children graduating.

Sandy and I have a lot in common. We both love coffee and books. We're both still married to our original husbands. And we both love our children and grandchildren to the point of distraction. We can go for months without seeing each other and then just pick up like it was only yesterday. I love her like a sister.

Matt was the first of our children to marry and he and his lovely wife, Amy, had children right away. So Sandy was a grandmother before me. Yes, I was very jealous! You can read about Sandy on her Grilled Grandma feature over at Grandma's Briefs.

Just over a year ago, Sandy's eldest grandchild, Liam, was diagnosed with leukemia. He received a bone marrow transplant from his little sister Mary which put him in remission for a while. When he relapsed last summer, he was moved to St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital in Memphis where he received another transplant. Last week, Liam and his family returned home to Abilene where Liam began hospice care. Liam's parents have taken their six year old home for the last time. They are spending this holiday season making a different kind of preparations. No one should ever have to endure what this lovely and caring family is enduring.

They've asked for friends to respect their privacy and their need to be together as a family. They've been keeping us up to date with a Caring Bridge site since he was first diagnosed. I marvel at their ability to communicate at all during this time. And I know that their friends in Abilene are taking good care of them. I wish I could be there to help.

Liam is a remarkable child who is full of life and love for the whole world. His parents, Matt and Amy, have done such an amazing job with their family. When Liam relapsed several months ago, they decided that every day in the hospital they should "learn something, make something, and love someone."

As part of loving someone, Liam learned about how many people around the world don't have access to clean water. As a result, he launched a project to build wells in Africa. The project is known as Liam's Wells. Liam's friends and family have funded two wells that have already been built in Kenya. But more people want to help, so Liam's Wells is a continuing project.

If you can make a charitable donation during this holiday season, please consider donating to Liam's Wells. Grams and her family have already contributed. We invite you to help Liam "learn something, make something, and love someone," by joining us. Click here to go to the donation page.

And please remember this family in your prayers. Then give your children an extra big hug and remember what is really important. We all need a little help with perspective at this time of year.

Hold your children a little tighter this Christmas and be a little more patient and tolerant. Be gentle with them when they're cranky and overtired or overstimulated. Remember what is important and what is not. So what if you can't get them everything they've asked Santa for. Take a break from wrapping presents and wrap your arms around your children. That's what really matters.

Celebrate everything! Messes and mistakes and good grades and bad grades are part of life and life should be celebrated. Slow down and spend time with them. In the grand scheme of things, it won't matter if you bake one more batch of Christmas cookies or not. Sometimes let go of the chores and read a book with them. Your housework will wait, but your children won't.

Make a commitment to follow in Liam's footsteps this holiday season ... learn something, make something, and love someone ... every day!

July 4th

Grams and Grandad had a quiet 4th of July. I'm living on memories of our fantastic trip to Boston last July. In fact, my cousin Rita and her family are there this week. I've been living vicariously through her Facebook posts. I often think about going back to Boston, but there are so many other places to go that I don't know if we will or not. We've never been to the West Coast, so maybe next summer calls for that. Time will tell.

We live in a suburb of Corpus Christi. Between Calallen, where we live, and downtown Corpus Christi is an industrial area of the Port of Corpus Christi. We drive right past several oil and gas refineries and all the supporting industries. We can see the ships in the turning basin and the ship channel off to the North. It's so normal to us that we don't even notice them most of the time. But since September 11th, all of the crane companies do a little something special along the highway on all the patriotic holidays. Yesterday evening on the drive in to see the fireworks I snapped a few photos that I want to share with you. They were taken at dusk from my car which Grandad was driving down the interstate at 70 mph, so they're not great photos, but I think you'll get the idea. The flags look kind of normal sized in the photos, but in reality they are enormous. It's a very moving site.

Because of the extreme drought, many places in Texas had to cancel their annual 4th of July fireworks shows. In Corpus Christi our shows are held over the Corpus Christi Bay, so there is very little danger of fire. There is always a nice ocean breeze so even when the weather is hot, it's comfortable outdoors in the evening. Plus, the seawall is actually a series of steps down to the water, which makes it a perfect place to gather and watch the fireworks. The fireworks are shot off of the deck of the USS Lexington Museum on the Bay and they're sponsored by H-E-B Grocery Company. I shot the fireworks photos with my new cell phone which is an HTC Evo Shift. It takes pretty good pictures and it shoots significantly faster than my Canon Power Shot. It wasn't the Boston Pops with fireworks, but it was enjoyable. I think it's pretty cool that you can see the ship in the pictures when the fireworks light up the night.

Here's my favorite photo from the 4th of July. It was taken at Randolph Air Force Base in San Antonio. Their fireworks were cancelled due to the risk of fire, but the family festival went on as planned. Katy reported that there was almost no one there. More fun for Our Little Princess.

However you chose to celebrate (or not), I hope you had a great 4th of July.

Our First Christmas Letter

Let me start by saying that Grams and Grandad have never written an annual Christmas letter. But I love them. We have several friends who send them every year. My husband's Uncle Peter and Aunt Margaret sent their 35th annual letter this year. We got it day before yesterday. I look forward to it every year.

I absolutely love getting these letters and catching up with friends and family that we don't see often. In recent years they often include photos. That's been especially fun as our childrens' friends have had babies and we get to see their little ones.

I actually intended to try writing a Christmas letter this year, but then Shutterfly offered me 50 free photo Christmas cards in exchange for a blog entry about their Christmas cards. Here's what the final product looks like. It's called "Shiny Pretty Things" and is printed on beautiful high-quality 5" x 7" card stock. I will admit that it's a little heavy on the pictures of Our Little Princess. (Okay, my son-in-law asked for a royalty. I offered to pay him off in babysitting.)

Even though I didn't send a Christmas letter this year, I've been imagining what I might have included if I had. So, here it is, my first ever Christmas letter.

Dearest Friends and Family,

Merry Christmas from the Valenta family. 2010 has been a year of celebrations for us.

Early in the year, we celebrated Our Little Princess' 1st birthday. She had her first chocolate cupcake that day and her Uncle Nick had to show her what to do with it. Seriously, she'd never had sweets before that day. That situation has now been remedied and I know that some day she'll thank us for it.

In June, Grandad's mother, Mama Ruthie, celebrated her 80th birthday with a family dinner at Gary & Nancy's home in Sinton. We attempted to get all of her children and grandchildren together for a family portrait. At the last minute, some of them had to work, but we had a good time and got some good pictures.

In June we went back to the Texas Heart Institute in Houston where Grandad underwent a cardiac ablation. He's had a problem with atrial fibrillation and heart flutter since his mitral valve was repaired three years ago. The ablation did work and his heartbeat was in near perfect rhythm for about a month. Since then, the A-fib and flutter have returned. We expect that he will undergo a second ablation shortly after the new year. While we are disappointed, we were told prior to the first procedure that it might have to be done as many as 2-3 times to achieve long-term desired results.

We celebrated the 4th of July with our first vacation since 2003. Every year when we watch the Boston Pops Fireworks Spectacular on television I tell Grandad that I want to see it in person. In 2010, we finally did. We spent the week leading up to July 4th in Massachusetts. I fell in love with Cape Cod. Its history and its beauty were captivating. I just have to tell you ... Cape Cod smells amazing! I don't think I've ever been any place that smells so good. We visited Plymouth Rock, the Sandwich Glass Museum and took a drive up to Hyannis. Then we spent a day in Salem. It was a lot of fun. The history of the witch trials an the National Park were fun. One of the highlights of that day was a walk through the historic district which contains the finest examples of federal-style architecture in the the USA. It's gorgeous.

Then we spent the next four days in the Boston-Cambridge area. In celebration of Independence Day there were re-enactments and tours everywhere. We watched as the Redcoats landed on Long Wharf and marched into the City of Boston. We shopped at Quincy Market and ate lobster for lunch. We walked the Freedom Trail and strolled through the North End (better known as Little Italy). We toured the Old North Church and visited the USS Constitution. We rode the subway and walked through Harvard Yard. We saw an amazing building on the MIT campus designed by Frank Gehry. Then we celebrated Independence Day by spending a day in the park with thousands of other Americans. People from all over the USA were friendly, unabashedly patriotic, and relaxed as we waited all day long for a performance by the Boston Pops and the fireworks over the Charles River. It was well worth the wait and I would go back every year if I could.

A little later in the summer, we enjoyed a day at Fiesta, Texas. We rode the roller coasters and spent quite a bit of time in the children's area with Our Little Princess. We were joined that day by Travis' 14-year-old daughter Mady. She was excited and frightened by her first roller-coaster ride, but she bravely went back and rode it a second time just to prove she could.

We feel so good about how well both of our children are doing. They are both happily married and have settled into homes of their own. Katy and Travis own a 1950's ranch-style home in the Alamo Heights area of San Antonio. They're working on updating it's mid-century style to fit their own funky style. Our Little Princess is growing like a weed. We visit often since San Antonio is only a couple of hours away. In between visits, we stay in touch using a web-cam. She is talking pretty plainly now and will even say "I love you" when we talk on the phone. Her new little sister is scheduled to arrive next April.

Nick and Marie have a beautiful new home in Summerwood near Humble in North Houston. It's spacious and modern and they're working on furnishing it. No kids yet for them, they are both busy building their careers and doing some traveling before they have kids.

In November, we celebrated our 35th wedding anniversary. We still live in the Calallen area of northwest Corpus Christi.Grandad has been with Chesterton for more than 30 years. He spends a good deal of his time in Houston now as he manages both the Houston and Corpus Christi retail operations. Retirement is still a few years away for him. I enjoy my part-time job as a substitute teacher. I always knew that I should have been a teacher. I enjoy working with all levels of students and spend quite a bit of time in special needs classes. Of course, my favorite days are when I get to teach English or Social Studies. I have found high school mathematics challenging, but I'm learning as I go along.  Thank God, other teachers are usually very helpful and willing to show me how it's done.

This year, for only the second time ever, our family will not be together for Christmas. Katy, Travis and Our Little Princess will visit the weekend before Christmas and we'll celebrate then. Mady will spend Christmas with them for the first time ever. That means they'll be spending Christmas with Travis' family. I couldn't resist reminding Katy that last time she didn't come home for Christmas, it snowed in Corpus Christi for the first time in 100 years. Nick and Marie will be here for our traditional Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. We've already chosen what movie we'll see on Christmas Day. It's going to be True Grit.

We hope you all have a wonderful Christmas. May 2011 bring you lots of reasons to celebrate.

The Valenta Family

A Texas Redneck Thanksgiving

I want to tell you about our Thanksgiving. I know we've moved on and are well into the Christmas season, but I've been sick since about two weeks before Thanksgiving. Catching a cold is a job hazard of working in an elementary school. And just when I thought it was completely gone, a big cold front blew through on Thanksgiving Day. The Seguin and San Antonio area is notorious for mountain cedar allergies. Combine that with an allergic reaction to Bath and Body Works Wall Flowers in both my sister's and my daughter's homes and I was sick again. I think I'm finally over it.

My sister, Kay

I know I've told you about my sister Kay. She's my sister who's just older than me and she lives in a group home. Last summer she moved from Corpus Christi to a new home in Seguin. This makes her closer to our sister Bylinda. They spend a lot of time together and Bylinda is excellent at taking care of Kay's needs and serves as Kay's advocate. Living in a group home has been very good for Kay. It has it's challenges though. She has very little personal space and not much room for storage. This makes buying a gift for Kay extremely difficult.

Over the past several years, we've pretty much abandoned the idea of getting our extended families together for holidays. It's just gotten to be too hard and too much work. But, if you ask Kay what she wants for any gift, she always replies "I just want my whole family to be together."  That brings us to Thanksgiving this year. Bylinda agreed to host the family at her house. Of course, none of our other brothers and sisters was available. So, basically, Bylinda's family, my family, and Kay went to Bylinda's house for Thanksgiving.

A few weeks in advance, we planned our menu. Bylinda baked the turkey, made cornbread dressing, macaroni and cheese, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, gravy, pumpkin pie, buttermilk pie, assorted hors douevres and homemade rolls. Katy made apple pie and green beans. I made pecan pies, deviled eggs, broccoli rice casserole, and pumpkin fluff. Nick was supposed to bring a honey-baked ham.

There were ten of us for Thanksgiving dinner and we had enough food to feed at least 25 people. Nick did arrive at his sister's house on Wednesday evening with two five-pound honey-baked hams. However, he left them in her refrigerator when we went to Bylinda's house. Trust me when I tell you that he will never live it down. His cousin Zachary was not happy. He claimed that the promise of honey-baked ham was the main reason he came to Thanksgiving.

Our Little Princess "drives" the tractor

We ate to our hearts' (and stomachs') content. The men then migrated out to the "man room" for an afternoon of football while the women settled into the living room to visit and talk.

Bylinda and her husband Mack live out in the country. Their home is an old farm house that was built in the 1920's and restored by it's previous owners. It has high ceilings and is homey and cozy. Both of my kids absolutely adore Aunt B's house. Just recently they've recently added an out-building. The main part of this building is the "man room." It has a fully-stocked bar, a game table, a television, and storage for Mack's Harley. The other part is a sewing/craft/music room for Bylinda and a store room. In between these two areas is a garage where the tractor and gator are stored.

Uncle Mack giving instructions as we start our ride.

Let the Redneck festivities begin! After lunch, Our Little Princess discovered the tractor and the gator. She immediately climbed aboard and pretended to be driving. Mack asked if she wanted to ride and she confirmed that she did. Uncle Nick took the driver's seat on the gator. When the motor started, she was very reluctant to climb back on. It was too noisy for her. But after I got on, she agreed to sit on my lap for a ride.We took a couple of laps around the yard and she loved it.

Our Little Princess at Aunt B's keyboard.

Bylinda came out and gave us a tour of her newly completed sewing/craft/music room. It's really nice. She can now sew and craft to her heart's content and not have to worry about making a mess in the house or cleaning it up right in the middle of a project to make room for company. Our Little Princess really enjoyed playing the keyboard ... a lot.

After that the ladies went back into the house and the men stayed out in the man room. A few minutes later we heard the unmistakable sound of gunfire. That's right ... in the tradition of true Texas rednecks the menfolk had broken out the guns and were having target practice in the back pasture. My brother-in-law has an impressive collection of firearms ... everything from pistols to assault rifles ... and I'm pretty sure they fired them all. What? Y'all don't shoot guns and ride gators at Thanksgiving?

And where was Kay for this afternoon of family togetherness? Immediately after lunch, she, who wanted so much to have her family together, went into the front bedroom and napped the afternoon away. That's right! She slept through all the family time. Too funny!

Holiday Photo Cards ... So Many Choices

Christmas is coming! Whether Grams likes it or not, the truth of the matter is that the 2010 holiday season is upon us. Retailers stocked Christmas items right alongside Halloween items and grocers have had their Thanksgiving displays of baking items in place for several weeks already.

When I was younger, I was big on starting early to make the holidays "Norman Rockwell" perfect for my family. There were years when my Christmas shopping was well underway or sometimes finished by the time we sat down to Thanksgiving dinner.

When I worked full time, I worked in a job that was very busy during the fall of the year. Fall is prime season for nonprofit fund-raising and my life was scheduled around that for many years. Now, I'm able to be a little lot more relaxed about the whole holiday season. Working part time has a big impact on my budget, but the luxury of working only when I want to work makes the penny-pinching worthwhile. Honestly, these days I don't Christmas shop until the December sales and I don't usually decorate until the first weekend of December.

The one thing I still start early every year is my Christmas cards. I'm always excited to send and to get Christmas cards and I usually have them ready to go in the mail right after Thanksgiving. I have been known to hand-address all the envelopes in the car on the way to and from Thanksgiving dinner at my sister's home. And, some years every card gets a handwritten personal note.

I've always admired those people who send out an annual Christmas newsletter. I've never been able to bring myself to actually write one and send it out, but I absolutely adore them and love to see what has been going on in our friends' lives each year. A few years ago I switched from sending traditional pre-printed Christmas cards and started sending photo cards at Christmas. (Okay! Okay! I admit the urge to send photo cards didn't hit me until after I had gastric bypass surgery and lost 125 pounds.)

I've been browsing the cards available at Shutterfly for more than a week now. To say that they have a huge selection of cards available is an understatement. There are more than 700 to choose from. It's going to be very hard for me to choose. You can see the entire collection at Shutterfly Christmas Cards.

This is the first one that caught my eye. "It's the most wonderful time of the year" captures exactly how I feel about the holidays and I love the green stripes. Green is my favorite color.

"Sweet and Retro"

Then I saw this one. I really like the swirly design on this one.

Merry Merry Swirl

This one is great too! It's so simple and all tied up with a cute little bow.

Gorgeous Gift

This one would definitely work for us ... after all, we're from South Texas. I never choose cards that have snow and winter designs. My daughter says it's because I believe in "truth in advertising."

O Palm Tree

I think this one might be perfect with just the right picture of Our Little Princess. I like the way it features the beautiful face of a child.

Flourish Wreath

Seriously, there are so many to choose from it really is going to take me a while to decide. The really cool thing is that you can upload a few pictures and try each design out to see what looks best with your photos.

Another really nice touch is the availability of coordinating holiday address labels. For me, that kind of attention to detail makes my cards really special. 

Shutterfly also offers a wide variety of Thanksgiving cards and invitations, wall calendars, and party invitations.

Disclaimer
Grams received 50 free holiday cards for blogging about Shutterfly and passing their promotional information on to you. All opinions are my own. Bloggers, if you want 50 free holiday cards for yourself go here.

Halloween Doesn't Scare Me, But This Does ...

Grams' neighbors have started their annual Halloween decorating frenzy. There are ghosts and ghouls hanging from trees. Gravestones are popping up in front yards. Front doors are guarded by scarecrows and witches. Walkways have been lined with spiderwebs and jack-o-lanterns. This neighborhood is big on Halloween. I blogged about the Haunt-aholics in my neighborhood last year.

But ghosts and ghouls don't scare me. Here's what's really scary. Christmas is less than twelve weeks away. (Cue Psycho music.) AmberLee over at Giver's Log called this to my attention with a couple of recent posts.  She has also put together a very helpful Holiday Organizer to help us get organized and make this the year that we "get holiday things done in time to enjoy the holidays." Click on over to this post and you can download the organizer in two different forms.

Hello ... I'm Grams and I'm a Christmas Addict

That's right, Grams is addicted to Christmas, specifically to Christmas decorations. Since the first year we were married, I have decorated my entire house for the holidays. At times I've been way over the top, covering virtually every space with decorations. I have ornaments for the bathrooms, Christmas linens for the kitchen, Christmas quilts for the bedrooms, etc. One year, I actually "gift wrapped" the throw pillows that go on my bed and sofa.

Since we married in November, that first Christmas was upon us before we knew it. We couldn't afford lavish or fancy decorations. So I made most of the decorations from Styrofoam, sequins and pipe cleaners. A couple of strands of lights and a few inexpensive glass balls made a lovely tree that first year. Grams spent hours pushing straight pins with sequins and beads into Styrofoam balls ... so much so that my thumbs were sore for days. I still have some of those ornaments. They are among my favorites.

That was the beginning of my addiction to all things Christmas. Every year since 1975, I have added to my collection of ornaments and decorations.

Feeding my addiction has never been a problem. At the job that I held for 32 years, we had an ornament exchange every year at the Christmas party. My bunco club also exchanges ornaments. When we travel, my souvenir of choice is an ornament.

When we had our children, I began ornament collections for them. Each one started with a "Baby's First Christmas" ornament and we added at least one ornament every year. When Katy married, one of her bridal shower gifts was a big box filled with her ornaments. And last year, I was delighted to present a box of beautiful ornaments to Marie, my new daughter-in-law, at her bridal shower. Accompanying both of these gifts were "Our First Christmas Together" ornaments.

This year, we'll start a collection for our little princess with a beautiful "Baby's First Christmas" ornament. Her Mom has already told me that she's enchanted with the Christmas tree. I can't wait until she comes to Grams and Grandad's house for Christmas.

We have used an artificial tree since Nick was born in 1981, because when he was little, he seemed allergic. A few years ago, when we had to replace our old tree, I was determined to get a tree with a smaller circumference ... something that wouldn't take up so much room. But when we went shopping, we just couldn't bring ourselves to buy a smaller tree. So, I still have a huge tree that takes a big chunk of my living room. But, I'm willing to admit that I love it. It even rotates on its stand. And considering that, since I passed the kids' ornaments on to them, it now has fifty fewer ornaments on it, I wonder how I ever fit them all on the tree.

In recent years, I've begun to realize that my addiction is out of control. I have so many decorations in storage that I couldn't possibly put them all out at the same time. There are boxes that I haven't even taken out of the closet in three or four years. But I do love unpacking my ornaments and placing them on the tree every year. I can still remember where I got each one. It makes me think about people I don't see any more, trips we've taken, and things that happened which are commemorated by special ornaments. I especially treasure the handmade ornaments that my kids gave me when they were in elementary school.

Grams is wondering ... is there a twelve-step program for Christmas addicts?

Rethinking Thanksgiving

Grams has been ambivalent about the Thanksgiving holiday for a number of years now. Don't get me wrong, I love Thanksgiving. I embrace the "Americana" of it. I love the fact that it is a purely American holiday. And, clearly, I love the food. The only thing better than the roast turkey and cornbread dressing with cranberry sauce that we have at mid-day is the sandwich I have for dinner.

I realize that we all celebrate Thanksgiving in different ways. My mother always made a huge traditional meal for Thanksgiving and for many years the family gathered at Mom and Dad's to spend the day together. We started early with the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and we always watched football. It was especially interesting when I brought my Aggie husband into my family of UT fans. And, of course, we all enjoyed watching the Dallas Cowboys, even when they lost.

As the years went by, traditions began to change. My siblings all moved farther away and gathering for Thanksgiving became impractical and unlikely. As we married and had our own families, it was natural that each of us made our own family traditions.

For a number of years, my sister Bylinda and I would cook and both of our families would get together for the day, usually at her house. Three years ago, after my father-in-law died, Grams decided to host a Thanksgiving for my husband's mother and sisters at our home. His brothers already had commitments to their in-laws. And, our children both celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday with their own in-laws, which means we get them for Christmas and that works for us.

Out of consideration for my husband, I won't go into detail about the fiasco that ensued, but by the time the kitchen was cleaned and the guests were gone, both of us were frustrated, hurt, and angry. After that day, both Grandad and Grams decided that we didn't need that frustration. We summarily "resigned" from participating in future Thanksgiving celebrations and informed family members of our decision. We decided that we would make our own modest meal at home spend a quiet day together topped off by going to a movie. Alternately, we might plan a get-away weekend for the Thanksgiving holiday.

Last year, we picked up a turkey dinner from our local grocery store and had that quiet day together at home. It was great. We talked with our kids and other family members on the phone. I will admit that I felt a little twinge of guilt when my mother-in-law told us that she and one of my sisters-in-law went to Luby's for Thanksgiving dinner. But all-in-all both Grandad and Grams were happy with the quiet day.

This year, we were just too tired to do a big Thanksgiving. In recent weeks, we made several trips back and forth to San Antonio with a detour to El Campo for a funeral last week and, honestly, the idea of a drive to Seguin was just too much. But, having to do something with my sister, Kay, complicated our plans for a quiet weekend. Kay lives in a group home just a few miles from us. She often travels to spend holidays with one or the other of my siblings, but this year, she stayed with us.

Kay wants to be involved in everything you are doing and she craves having the hubbub created by a large gathering. Let's just say that a quiet weekend with us was not what she had in mind. How can I describe a five-day weekend with Kay? It's like having a very young child as a house guest. She wants to know what you are doing every minute of the day; she wants to "help" with whatever you are doing; she has a million questions; she gets up extremely early; you can't leave her unsupervised; she has no concept of privacy; and she has something to say about everything. Needless to say, I was relieved to take her home yesterday.

When I asked Kay what she wanted for Christmas, her reply was "I just want to have my whole family together." I explained to her that all of us getting together for Christmas is not in anyone's plans, since we all have families of our own and live far apart. I pressed her for another idea, but she was unyielding. The only thing she wants for Christmas is to have her whole family together and she doesn't understand that we all have other demands and commitments. I didn't even try to explain that we actually don't want to all get together for Christmas.

This discussion with her has led me to rethink future Thanksgiving plans. Maybe we can't all get together for Christmas, but surely some of us could gather for Thanksgiving, just because it would make Kay happy for that one weekend. We all have so much and she has so little. So Grams is going to begin a campaign among my siblings to gather for Thanksgiving next year. We'll see how receptive they are, but I know at least a couple of us can pull it off.

Haunt-a-holics

In most neighborhoods, it seems that the Christmas holiday season creates something of a frenzy of competition to have the best holiday decorations. Our neighborhood is a little different. Yes, we definitely decorate for Christmas, but Halloween seems to inspire more creativity and competition. A few of my neighbors take Halloween seriously. And it seems that no matter who moves in and out of the neighborhood, there are always at least two neighbors in competition for the best Halloween decor.

Usually, around the first of October, jack-o-lanterns start appearing followed by spider webs, ghoulish windsocks, scarecrows, ghosts hanging from trees, mummies sitting in lawn chairs and the obligatory grave headstones.

Then it turns into a competition. It seems like every year, somewhere in the neighborhood, there are a pair of houses that get carried away. They're usually right next door to each other and every few days something new is added to one or the other. It's fascinating to watch as a few innocent pumpkins turn into a full blown graveyard with every variety of ghouls and ghosts.

This year is no exception. Right around the corner from where we live, there are a couple of houses whose owners seem to be a little carried away. Over the past few weeks it's been interesting to check every few days to see what's been added. Here are a few photos but it's hard to do justice in a snapshot. Just as a point of reference, the black "wraith" hanging from the tree must be more than 20 feet tall. Both yards have full-blown graveyards and giant ghosts hanging from the trees. There are skeletons clawing their way out of some of the graves. They have everything from mummies and Frankenstein to giant spiders.

Hey neighbors! I think the neighborhood kids may be starting to cross the street instead of walk in front of your houses. Maybe you've gone too far. Is there a twelve-step program for "haunt-a-holics?"