Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays

Our family would like to wish your family 

Merry Christmas

and

Happy Holidays

May Santa fill your hearts and stockings with love!

 

 

On Dancer!

On Friday, we attended Bean's Christmas Program at her preschool.  (The experience we had at our school was quite different than the hell on Earth another set of parents experienced at their school the same day and that is not lost on me.)

But since Halloween, we've been listening to Bean sing Christmas carols and recently, she's been showing us her dance moves, too.

Her class sang Rudolph, The Red-Nosed Reindeer, regular and Spanishized, and she got to be Dancer.  I thought that was pretty good casting myself.

We were wondering how this would all shake out because last year at the same program, during the first few opening notes of the first song, Bean dashed off stage and ran to us and stayed there for the remainder of the show.  She was Dasher that year in name only.

But this year she did a wonderful job.  She enjoyed herself and her smile was huge when she finally found Daddy and Mommy in the audience.

And might I add that with the wonderful use of the antlers by her teacher, you couldn't (hardly) notice the self-inflicted haircut!  Thanks, Teach!

She's Such a Cut-up!

Thursday evening in preparation for her big Christmas Program show, I took her to get her hair trimmed.  We had been trying to get her in to see either my sister-in-law or our close friend, both of whom usually cut Bean's hair but with me only remembering that she needed a haircut at usually 9pm each night, we hadn't hooked up with either of these fine ladies.

So I swung by a Great Clips and that was fine for a bang trim.  She looked cute and the best part, she could see again without having to sweep aside her hair ala Justin Bieber.  We were all set for the next day.

Or so I thought.

That night, Bean took a shower in our bedroom and I thought Hubz was watching her.  I thought wrong.

Hubz was watching the inside of his own eyelids after falling asleep on the bed during a football game.

Somehow Bean found a small pair of scissors I keep in the bathroom, not sure how she climbed her way up to them though.

And she created this...

I asked her upon discovery of this most heinous of hair-dos why she did it.  She told me she did not like the way the "other girl" cut her hair.  And THIS is so much better????

If I had known she was capable of this, I would have saved the $11 at Great Clips.

What can you do to fix it was my first thought?  I wanted to get my sister-in-law on the phone or on the way to our house to fix this...this...experiment...but wound up sending Bean off to bed while I sobbed.

How do you fix that?  I don't think it's fixable.

Wait...

...I found a bow....

There!  Fixed it!

A Nation's Heartbreak

On Friday, December 15, 2012, our nation experienced a tragedy none of us would ever have fathomed.  A young man who I will not give the benefit of naming here walked into an elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut and killed 20 innocent children and 6 adults.  This is to me, not only as a mother, but as a human being, unimaginable.

In my opinion, calling him a "man" is giving him a lot of credit.  What kind of man kills 6 year-olds?  That is no man for sure.  But I have to stop and realize that he was someone's child as well.  I have to remind myself that at one time, he was someone's joy and blessing.  What happened to him then to cause it to go so horribly wrong?  I have no idea.  We may never know what happened to cause this, and even if we do find out, it won't bring these 26 people back to us.

Why does this keep happening in our country?  I don't have the answers to that.  All I do know is that something has to be fixed.  Either we need to realize that we do have people in this country that are victims of mental illnesses and that they cannot afford the proper care that they require so we need to work on the healthcare system; or we need to start protecting our schools to keep this from happening in the future; or we need to add in some regulations to our gun laws to make it harder to obtain firearms.

Which one would you be willing to work on?

I personally know parents that have children who are prisoners to mental illnesses that can't afford the treatments they need.  I also personally believe that an amendment that was written in 1791 needs to be revisited and applied to the world as we know it in 2012.  I firmly believe that no citizen should own an assault rifle.  My husband and his family would not agree with me.  But I believe only the police and the military should have access to those kinds of weapons.

Nevertheless, none of this changes the situation.  On Friday, we lost 26 wonderful souls.  No, I didn't know a single one of them but I am sure from what I have read about them that my assessment is not written in vain.  We need to remember these people, we need to grieve for them and pray for their families.

We need to pray for us, as well.

Picture Book - Set Dressing and Baby Cows

Here are a couple of submissions to our Picture Book posts.  

Bean wanted her picture taken on this stool at Hobby Lobby.

She got to meet Baby Cow at a friend's birthday party.

Our Advent Calendar - 2012

Last year for our advent calendar, we opened a new Christmas book each day.  That was a fabulous idea but I did not want 24 more Christmas books this year.  I'm still finding books I can't remember ever reading.

This idea was found on Pinterest and is an original from Martha Stewart.

http://www.marthastewart.com/270492/baby-sock-advent-calendar

Martha used baby socks and I'm sure all were brand-spanking-new, too.  Well, I'm no Martha!

Yes, I used some socks that we have actually had on our feet.  But they are clean.  It's not like I just took it off my foot and said "hey, you know this would look (and smell) real purty hanging on the fireplace".  I only say that about my underroos!

We also threw in some baby mittens in our version.  Take that, Martha!

Bean had fun putting the Hershey Kisses into the socks and mittens while I punched out the advent numbers. I found these by Living Locurto and printed them out.

We had already painted our clothespins white and had some red ribbon on hand.  We hung the socks and mittens up under our mantle.  This really turned out so cute and Bean loves it.

Thanks again, Martha, for the inspiration!

Bean and Santa

This weekend we did something completely new for us.  We received a flyer for a new pottery business in our town that was offering a chance to make a plate with Santa.  Basically, you go in and choose what size plate you want to make, then your child has their hand painted and stamped onto the plate.  Then Santa's hand gets painted and stamped next to your child's.  The plate is finished up with "Santa and Me" and the year and some decorative flourishes.

Bean loved having her hand painted up and she also chose a reindeer to paint all by herself.  It was fun watching her concentrate and look so serious while painting.

She also got to spend a few minutes with the Big Guy himself and have her picture taken.  Here she is giving Santa the picture and candy cane she made for him the night before.

I loved this because it was in an intimate setting and she really got to spend as much time talking to him as she wanted.  She even got to go back up because she forgot to tell him something.  There were no long lines, no pushing or shoving.  It was just a sweet setting.  I am really glad we heard about this.

We get to view our pictures soon and pick up our plate and little reindeer in about two weeks.  We can't wait to see how they turned out.