My Favorite Christmas Pageant Ever

While Grams was dusting, doing laundry, and just generally cleaning house today, I ran across some photos of my kids in Christmas pageants. I have a couple of them framed in my living room and they were dusty. It reminded me of how much I loved their school performances and how much I miss them. See, my kids are not kids any more. Katy is 31 and Nick is 29. It's been many years since they were in school programs of any kind.

So I spent a little time looking through my albums and boxes of old photos looking for the pictures from these treasured memories.

The stories of my two children and their various performances are vastly different.  Here's Katy's stage debut at day care.

Nick's was a little different. He's supposed to be standing in line with the other kids on the stage. Instead, he's sitting on the front of the stage and smiling as the crowd giggles at him.

For at least two years, Katy was an angel in the Christmas pageant. It was a non-speaking role. I like to think that real angels have beautiful red hair that glows like hers. She always wanted to be the Blessed Virgin, but I think the role of an angel fit her perfectly.

Nick played the little gray donkey that carried Mary to Bethlehem. This was the Nativity story told from the animals' point of view.

Katy and Nick were both elves at various times.

Over the years there were many other performances. I have pictures from some that I don't even remember.

And then there was my absolute favorite Christmas Pageant ever! 

Nick was in kindergarten at Annaville Elementary School. It was a neighborhood school with a real family feeling. Everyone knew everyone. We were neighbors and friends. The school has been closed for several years now as the district has moved to a primary, intermediate, and middle school format. The kindergarten school pageant was always a big event. Families crowded into the cafetorium and strained to see their little ones on stage. Because there were so many kids, the performance had several acts. All the kids in Nick's group were dressed in clown costumes because they were Jacks-In-The-Box. Moms had sewn the costumes and the kids had rehearsed for hours. Nick was a very cute clown. In fact, all the kids were just precious as only kindergartners can be.

The program started and the kids sang their song. I don't remember what the song was, but the kids were performing beautifully. During the song, the Jacks were to pop in and out of their boxes several times. All was going well until the little girl next to Nick tried to pop-up out of her box and fell over. As you can see in the picture above, she's already having trouble with her hat falling in her face. What happened next was heart-warming and touching. Nick looked over and saw that she had fallen and was crying because she was embarrassed. It was then that he purposely knocked his own box over and fell right next to her on the stage. You see, he realized that she was embarrassed and thought that she would feel better if she wasn't the only one who fell. The crowd laughed a little then broke into spontaneous applause.

While what some people saw was Nick clowning around, I saw the kindness that is innate in his personality. I've never really had to worry about him being a bully or not standing up for the underdog, because it's just part of who he is to be kind and generous.

I do so wish that I had that performance on video. But this is one of those cases where I try to do as Luke 2:19 tells us the Blessed Virgin did. "Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart." For me, it was the best Christmas pageant ever.

I can't wait until Our Little Princess and her sister have school performances. You can bet I'll be there if possible.

Meet Me On Monday

Meet Me On Monday is a weekly blog-hop from Java at Never Growing Old. Once a week she posts a list of five questions to help us get to know each other better.



Here are this week's questions with my answers:

1.  What will your Christmas dinner consist of? We have our big family celebration on Christmas Eve at my mother-in-law's home. We'll all go to 6 o'clock mass then meet at her house for an evening of food, games, and opening presents. It's traditional for everyone to bring their favorite dish with very little advance coordination. We end up with a smorgasbord including ham, shrimp, lasagna, olive balls, broccoli rice casserole, and every kind of sweet you can imagine. I'm especially fond of my sister-in-law Jeanne's iced sugar cookies.

On Christmas Day I usually cook a pot roast for lunch. But, since there will only be four of us this year, I'm thinking of making a big brunch with french toast with raspberry compote, scrambled eggs, and sausage or bacon. Then I'll put a pot roast in the crock pot for after we go to the movies.

2.  Do you watch commercials or flip through the channels? We DVR everything. Then we fast forward through commercials. We rarely watch live TV, but when we do, my husband flips the channels which makes me crazy.

3.  How long will you leave your Christmas decorations up? I always take them down on New Year's Day. This question reminds me of my grandfather, who removed the Christmas tree on Christmas Day, as soon as the final present was opened.

4.  What movie makes you cry every time you watch it? Steel Magnolia's makes me go into the ugly cry. When Shelby (Julia Roberts) dies and M'Lynn (Sally Field) is so angry, I just completely break down.

5.  Do you have a Facebook?  Yes, I have a personal Facebook account and a blog fan page for Grams Made It. My kids say I'm addicted to Facebook. But I consider it a hobby.

Grams Made Sopapilla Cake

Grams has found that one of the joys of substitute teaching is the teachers' lounge. In most schools you'll find that this room is a refuge from the noise and clatter of classrooms filled with noisy and demanding children.

Teachers are a sociable bunch. Someone is always bringing food to share. I've been fortunate enough to be on several campuses when the PTA members hosted appreciation luncheons for teachers. Sometimes it's catered, but more often it's potluck with dishes brought by parents. Whichever it is ... it's always delicious and always appreciated.

This recipe came from one such luncheon. The PTA furnished the meal and the teachers contributed desserts. My very good friend, Brenda, who teaches second grade at Wood River Primary School, made Sopapilla Cake. Coincidentally, Brenda's parents are our next-door neighbors. I've known her since she was a teenager. Last weekend, we attended her daughter's 18th birthday party. She is a beautiful and talented woman who has raised an amazing daughter. She's also a great teacher!

If you've never had a sopapilla, you should eat one at your next opportunity. It's a fried pillow-like pastry made from sweet quick-bread pastry dough. It's usually coated in cinnamon and sugar and often comes with vanilla or cinnamon ice cream. Seriously, if you see it on the menu at your local Mexican food restaurant, order it.

But, in case you don't have the opportunity, this is an easier and quicker alternative. Brenda's original recipe called for a little more sugar and I added the vanilla extract. It was a big hit at the Vanecek family Christmas party Saturday night.

2 cans of crescent rolls
1½ cups of sugar

2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese (room temperature)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 stick butter, melted
1 heaping teaspoon cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Roll one can of crescent rolls on bottom of pan 9” x 12” baking pan. Mix both packages of cream cheese with 1 cup of sugar and vanilla extract. Spread mixture on top of crescent rolls.

Roll the other can of crescent rolls on top. Pour melted butter on top. Mix remaining ½ cup of sugar with cinnamon and sprinkle on top. Bake for 30 minutes until golden brown.

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

Oh Christmas Tree!

Grams has finally finished putting up the Christmas Tree. It was much harder than it should have been and took much longer than I planned on.

My main complaint about putting up the tree each year is that assembling and shaping our artificial tree results in my hands and arms being scratched up to the point of bleeding. We bought this tree two years ago and made sure we got a pre-lit tree. This was supposed to make it easier.

Last year my friend Stephanie posted on Facebook that she doesn't actually take her artificial tree down each year. She just covers it in plastic and stores it standing upright. I thought that was a brilliant idea! So last year, instead of taking the tree down, we wrestled it out the front door and into the garage, wrapped it in heavy-duty plastic and stored it standing upright.

I expected that this year, Grandad would just haul the tree back into the living room, plug it in, and it would be ready to decorate. Not so! When we plugged it in, the lights on several limbs did not come on. I then spent the next 3 days, replacing bulbs, searching for the ends of the plugs and re-arranging them. I even went and bought a Light Helper-Pro. For a cost of $20, this little tool is supposed to fix your mini-lights. It did not, but it was useful for removing burned out bulbs and it will help you determine whether or not the lights have power. After three days, I went to Walgreens and bought a strand of 100 mini lights and just strung them over the burned out bulbs. Then it took me two nights to decorate it. This is a 7' tree and I'm only 5'1" tall. That mean climbing up and down the stepladder numerous times. Here's the finished product.

I once answered an online quiz that included the question "If your house was on fire what would you grab as you ran out the door?" My initial answer to that question was "absolutely nothing." I would be happy to get out with just my family in one piece. But after giving it some serious thought I want to reconsider. If I can grab something on my way out the door, I want to save my Christmas ornaments.

I've been collecting ornaments since we got married 35 years ago. I have several hundred ornaments. Many of them are sentimental favorites. The first year we were married my employer and his wife gave us a Norman Rockwell collectible ornament. It was beautiful and I loved it and I added a new Norman Rockwell ornament to my collection each year for about seven years. Unfortunately, a few years ago, I had all eight of them displayed on my fireplace mantle and Grandad bumped into them, they fell and every single one of them shattered. Not a single one of those ornaments survived.

The first year we were married, our budget was extremely lean. There wasn't a lot of money for ornaments. I bought kits for sequined ornaments and spent the month of November making these ornaments. The rest of the tree was filled with candy canes and pipe-cleaner ornaments. That was what we could afford.

These two ornaments are the first ornaments I remember buying. The baby reindeer is hand-painted on porcelain and is very delicate. The wreath is made of plastic beads, but it looks like crystal and is beautiful on the tree. Both of these were bought in 1976 and have held up extremely well.

This angel and Christmas tree are needlepoint ornaments that I made in the late 1970's. There were a few more of them that were done on plastic canvas. Unfortunately, over the years, the plastic broke down and I had to discard them.

When our kids were born, I made each of them an ornament. In addition, I bought or made an ornament for them each year of their life. When they married, each of them received a box of their own ornaments at their bridal shower. It was special to pass that tradition on to them.

Of course, these handmade ornaments from their school years are among my favorites.  When my daughter used to decorate the tree as a teenager, she always put them in the back so they didn't show. I prefer them front and center.

 

This set of three ornaments is among my prized possessions. They are so special to me that I don't put them on the tree. They are in a shadowbox. Here's the story behind them. The silver mercury-glass ornament at the top was from my husband's paternal grandparents' Christmas tree. The angel in the center is from his parents' tree. The red box at the bottom was a gift from Grandma Valenta the last Christmas she was with us. She prayed for us over this box and told us it would represent her love and prayers for our family.

This butterfly is special because Grandad stole it for me. If you know him at all, you'll know that this is probably the only thing he has ever stolen in his life. And, I'm sure he went to confession the next day. It's made out of plastic, wire and glitter and is probably worth about fifty cents. We were at a fancy dress up party at the Corpus Christi Town Club, sometime between 1975 and 1979. The trees were all decorated with these butterflies and we were both drunk. I begged him to get me one and he did. I treasure it because it makes me smile. 

 

 

This set of ceramic kings was a gift from my sister Bylinda.  The sequined Santa Claus was made by my sister-in-law Laurie. I love getting ornaments as gifts.

These angels are made of pasta. One of my former employers and his wife were of Italian descent. Every other year they hosted a big Italian Christmas party. These were party favors.

This Santa and his reindeer ornament has a fun story. I got it in a gift exchange at work. It was a gift from my boss, but one of the other administrative staff picked it out and purchased it. It turned out that I drew her name that year and got her exactly the same ornament. We still laugh about it.

For at least 30 years, the place I worked had an ornament exchange for Christmas each year. These are two of my favorites from that exchange. 

 I especially like this "Joy" ornament. When you put it on the tree you insert a mini-light in the back and it lights up. I have two of this style that my kids gave me.

 

When we travel, instead of souvenirs I buy Christmas ornaments. The Coca-Cola bottle came from our last trip to Las Vegas. The amber glass bulb is from the Sandwich Glass Museum on Cape Cod. I bought it this summer on our trip to Massachusetts. The red star is made of glass and I bought it because I have a thing for stars.

Some ornaments don't have any sentimental value. I just like them. The Mary Engelbreit teapot is probably the most expensive ornament in my collection. I thought the other one was beautiful. It was made in Germany and is made of glass with a detailed castle inside.

But beautiful ornaments don't have to be expensive. Both of these sequined ornaments came from Dollar Tree. That means they cost $1 each.

And this is my newest ornament. It was a gift from my friend Janna and I love it. She went to North Carolina on vacation last summer. We're going there next summer for my niece's wedding. I can't wait.

I have hundreds of other ornaments, but this will have to do for now. I've got to pack. I'm meeting Grandad in Houston tomorrow afternoon for a weekend with Nick and Marie. We'll all be going to the company Christmas party together on Saturday night. But first we'll be doing a little Christmas shopping.

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!

Our Little Princess Meets Santa

We spent Thanksgiving weekend in San Antonio. Within the next couple of days, when I have a little more time, I'll do a post about Thanksgiving Day.

On Saturday, we ventured out to The Quarry Market which is not far from our daughter's home in San Antonio. We went to Pottery Barn and Restoration Hardware. It wasn't as crowded as we expected. When we drove by Santa's house, we noticed that there was no line. Katy, Grams, and Our Little Princess jumped out of the car while the men went to some "man stores."

Katy has been working for several weeks to make sure that Our Little Princess knew who Santa Claus was and might not be afraid of him. She was a little nervous, but after sitting on Grams lap while Santa and I chatted for a while, she was coaxed hesitantly onto his lap for a photo.

I just have to say, this is a GREAT Santa. He was soft-spoken and gentle. He didn't mind taking the time for her to relax a little. And he had sparkling blue eyes that really did twinkle. She didn't love him ... but it wasn't traumatic either. All in all it was very satisfactory and nothing like that horrifying reaction to her first haircut.

Earlier this week I got a call from Katy informing me that she and Our Little Princess had just had their first truly two-way conversation. It went something like this.

Mom - "Who's going to come see you in a few weeks?"
OLP - "Santa Claus!"
Mom - "What's he going to bring you?"
OLP - "Toys!"
Mom - "What kind of toys?"
OLP - "ELMO TOYS!"

The only problem with this is. When I saw what Santa is planning to bring Our Little Princess, there were NO ELMO TOYS in the mix. I guess Santa (or Grams) may need to do a little more shopping.  HO-HO-HO!