Gold wrapping paper

About a week ago, Paige left her handprint on my mirror. As I was cleaning in preparation for our company, I thought nothing of grabbing a window wipe and cleaning up her smudge...until I thought of this e-mail forward I got years ago. And it was then that I decided not to wipe away the smudge. I wanted to document it first to remind me that through all the hardships of parenting, it doesn't take much to lose what we have. Life is short and we should cherish it each chance we get...even when it's most difficult can it be the most rewarding.

********

The story goes that some time ago a mother punished her young daughter for wasting a roll of expensive gold wrapping paper. Money was tight, and she had become upset when the child used the gold paper to decorate a box to put under the Christmas tree.

Nevertheless, the little girl brought the gift box to her mother the next morning, happily declaring, "This is for you, Momma."

The mother was immediately embarrassed by her earlier over-reaction, but her anger flared again when she opened the box and found it was empty.

"Don't you know, young lady," she spoke to her daughter in a harsh manner, "when you give someone a present there's supposed to be something inside the package?"

"Oh, Momma," the child wailed, tears filling her eyes, "it's not empty! Before I wrapped it up I blew kisses into it until it was full."

The mother was crushed. She fell on her knees and put her arms around her little girl, begging her forgiveness for her thoughtless anger.

An accident took the life of the child only a short time later, and it is told that the mother kept that gold box by her bedside throughout all the remaining years of her life. Whenever she was discouraged or faced difficult problems, she would open the box and take out an imaginary kiss and remember the love of the child who had put it there.

In a very real sense, each of us, as human beings, have been given a golden box filled with unconditional love and kisses from our children, family, friends and God. There is no more precious possession anyone could hold.

Handmade stockings...four down, two to go

From Thanksgiving to Christmas of 2001 I worked tirelessly to make custom stockings for everyone in our family (at the time). And this was before we made the lovely investment of my sewing machine. I look back and wonder how in the world I managed to 1) not go blind 2) finish in time and 3) not go blind, lol. They've held up eight Christmases now and I love to think about all the hard work that went into creating them. The trouble is, each year I am reminded of how I have two more that I need to make. And I have all the supplies to make them too. I guess it's the thought of all that attention to detail that has me running scared. Paige is on her fourth Christmas and this will be Drew's second. They *do* have stockings, but they are store bought and pale in comparison to my masterpieces {sarcasm}.

Enjoy!

Tree decoratin' - family style - oh, and Spiderman too!

{the little cow ornament - as well as the unseen pig ornament
came from the local shop & restaurant in downtown Woodstock}

This evening was fun for everyone. A little hot cocoa, some popcorn, ornaments hung on the tree, Christmas music playing. The kids enjoyed putting their own ornaments on the tree. What had started off as a few pictures to show Aunt Jes and Uncle Dave all the ornaments that Jonathan has amassed over the years, quickly turned into a nicely documented event...right down to an appearance by Spiderman who scaled the stairs in an effort to put the angel where? Yup, you guessed it...right on top of the tree! Enjoy!

{the new Facebook profile pic}

Drew's first birthday pics

This time of year is always difficult for me to stay on top of things. Last year, I just threw up my hands in despair since I had a week and change old little one and my top priority was to walk around without bloodshot eyes. This year, I am juggling several projects, while trying to maintain that festive 'happy home' and keep the kids' activities in check.

It's exhausting. I had big plans for Drew's one year spread. BIG PLANS! And then reality set in. There just wasn't enough time to do it all. So, this is why today's post comes as late as it does.

{the balloons}

{the breakfast}

{the bath}

{a little grooming, Drew style}

{"ohhh, I can just feel another 'hair' comment coming"}

{"dude, don't. touch. the hair."}

{"I will *NOT* cooperate for this!!!"}

{the gang}

The next few photos show Drew really enjoying his birthday. Weird, though. I don't remember serving ham...

{the birthday look he gave us all day}


{Mr. Ham or Mr. Cheese...take your pick}

{I loved his smile here, though it'll teach me to take my hair down for
photos when it's not styled...or at least properly dried!}


{the cake...along with the look, of course!}

{Drew had a second bath before opening presents}