The Christmas Page



We officially had a white Christmas.



This is the story of Christmas 2010 at our house...

• Snow brought us an early Christmas break.  For me, that was not exactly a welcome break. On Friday, the 17th, we were to have a memorial (now postponed indefinitely) for the two students from my school who lost their lives Thanksgiving day.  We were also set to bid our current principal farewell as she starts her retirement.
• As of the Monday before Christmas, or maybe the Sunday (it's all a blur), I had officially purchased two gifts...not a great start. The kids in this household get two gifts from Andy and me and one gift and a stuffed stocking from Santa, so there isn't a ton of shopping, but two gifts is still not a great start.
• Sunday- Tuesday was a marathon of shopping with one glitch...illness struck on Tuesday.
• Wednesday was a bust...spent the entire day in bed with what I suspect is/was the flu.  Tiffany pointed out that I get sick every Christmas.  This is not true, but for many years, I have gotten sick for just about every holiday or long weekend, a curse of being a teacher.
• Thursday arrived, and the shopping finally got as done as it was going to get.
• On Friday we spent Christmas Eve at my parent's house. We enjoyed a game of Apples to Apples where we learned that Austin is his mother's son as he and Tiffany think alike.  We also learned just how much Zach and Savvy think alike...kind of scary.
• Of course my illness meant that I could not go near Regan or Mom :(  However, my hat is off to Tara who produced an amazing feast and to Tessa who did all Mom's Christmas shopping.  My sad contribution to the feast was a pecan pie in which I forgot to add the butter (haven't heard if anyone tried it). I did remedy that with a superb pecan pie with all the ingredients. Did I mention that Mom learned on the 23rd that she had a cracked rib, and she was in tremendous pain? OUCH, OUCH OUCH
• We ended our Christmas Eve celebration with a journey to church for the 11:00 service.  This meant that I was up until 2:00a.m. (highly unusual for me) getting Christmas ready, and guess what. I forgot the baby Jesus.  I mean whose birthday is this?  Baby Jesus was not in the manger Christmas morning...big fail on my part! - We did throw him away one year, so I guess this wasn't that big of a fail.

• 

  I fully intended to bake cookies with the kids this year, but I spent every waking hour fighting fatigue from the flu or shopping.  Thanks to Savannah for taking care of the homemade cookies for me.



My hard-rocking girl



Zach's wish list was downright scary.  I hope it is just a phase.  He got two copies of Led Zeppelin's Mothership.  This is primarily because Led Zeppelin was the only band on his list I could appreciate...may have to borrow it.



and the winner for strangest gift...Dad wanted a shotgun.  His girls are grown, and his four dogs do an amazing job of warding off any intruders.  Why is this necessary?  Go figure





glitz and glam it is



yep, "naughty" is spelled out across Regan's backside



the Happy Birthday Jesus cake courtesy of Tara and Savannah- 12 red candles for the blood He shed and the 12 tribes of Israel, evergreens for everlasting life, an angel for the angels who proclaimed the good news, chocolate cake with white icing - chocolate for our dark sin, and white for the pure covering Christ offers us

 

• So after my late Christmas Eve, I awoke on Christmas morning to Julia right there in my face.  I heard her go down the stairs and then exclaim to Wyatt, "the stockings are in the living room!"  Because the stockings and tree started in separate rooms, this must have been a surprise to her to find them together.  Julia engaged in a bit of a no-no here as we typically do not head downstairs until everyone is awake and descends the stairs together.
• I reported back to bed for a glorious late morning nap.
• Andy fixed a wonderful dinner, and then I took the kids to see my grandma (aka Grandma by the Lake).  She was glad to meet us as she doesn't normally get to see children.  A nosy friend of hers asked who we were and then stated that he didn't know because she never gets visitors. Guilty as charged!  However, my uncle does visit her weekly, and I believe my cousin frequently visits as well.
• I think Christmas was wonderful this year.  It came and went much too fast, but two things are especially nice about Christmas this year.  Mom enjoyed it very much.  She commented the other day that we knew on Christmas last year that she had cancer, but we had no idea what we were up against.  Now, we know.  The other thing that I think turned out okay was my gift to Andy.  This one really worried me.  We have a list of things that we really need to replace and a very tight budget.  While need is a strong word when really all we are promised is food and clothing according to the scriptures.  The truth is that we do not have enough chairs to seat our family around the kitchen table.  We use card table chairs and old kitchen chairs that I fear will collapse at any time risking someone's leg in the process.  Our media center is falling apart, and our computer is a dinosaur.  So, what do I do with that?  All of the above ranges far above our budget for Christmas, and the gift I settled on is out of budget as well, but I just felt it was strongly appealing after the last couple of challenging years. Therefore, I gave him a weekend getaway (which I am sure will cover his birthday, Valentine's day and our anniversary.  Crazy and not really necessary, I know.  I chose the most economical rather than the most appealing location for our weekend, and I did not book it, so there is still time to back out, but I told Andy that I am committed to making it happen this year.






21!

21 is Savannah's ACT score which she took as part of the Duke TIP program.  We are so excited that our 7th grader pulled off a college entry score on the ACT.  This is the breakdown of her test.
English 21* (57th percentile)
Mathematics 22* (62nd percentile)
Reading 21* (54th percentile)
Science 20  (48th percentile)

All the scores with an * next to them indicate college readiness in those areas. In other words, she is ready for first year college courses.  The scores below are the benchmark scores for college readiness.
English 18
Mathematics 22
Reading 21
Science 24

Savannah told us on the day of the test that the science was really hard and that she was only half way finished when the five minute warning was called.  She did not answer "C" on all of the blanks as Andy advised, or maybe it would have been higher (lol).

I am most impressed with her math score because she is taking pre-algebra this year.  She has so much more math to cover before heading off to college, and this is her best subject.

Now, if she is college ready, why am I paying tuition for middle school?  Shouldn't I just save my money for the next five years and skip on ahead to college?  Oh yeah, she's twelve and small.  I don't want her running around a college campus, and she can't drive. sigh I guess she can stay put in the school she loves with the friends that the whole family loves.

Go Savannah!

Merry Christmas!

I am in awe of a savior who would leave the riches of Heaven to save us.  Merry Christmas!

Did you think I would leave you hanging?

The garbage disposal has been replaced. It took a day and a half, and multiple trips to stores. We did not call a professional plumber, and Andy's injuries did not require an ER visit. Go Andy!

The kitchen has been upgraded from "a disaster" to "a wreck."  Hopefully, it will be back to normal today, and I must say that I have never, and I mean never, heard such a quiet garbage disposal.

Andy did take a picture of the completed project, but the camera had no memory card, and I haven't yet gotten a picture with the memory card.


This is a useful bit of random information. Don't ask me how I know this, just take my word for it.

Duct tape has a million uses. Using it as an overnight patch to cover a few inches between pipes under a kitchen sink is not one of them....just sayin.

a problem in the kitchen continued

The dishes are everywhere, in the sink, on the counters and on the kitchen table. They continue to accumulate because apparently fixing the garbage disposal was worse than the mall on the weekend before Christmas. However, it is only slightly worse as I lost Savannah for about 20 minutes at the mall and was scared to death during that time.  I stayed put in our meeting location while Zach went to hunt for her, and he would not answer his phone when I called....UGH!!!!

Andy had some good encouragement for the task at hand.

He also had some very good assistants.

We arrived home from the mall to a mostly dark house.  Andy was working by lantern and candlelight while Wyatt and Julia sat nearby playing DS. 

Zach and I actually helped some too, so I guess you can call this a family project.  Unfortunately, despite his strong determination to complete it before bedtime, we still do not have a working sink today.  A friend advised him not to call the plumber as replacing the pipes (the only part left to do) is easy.  HA! -easy for Lucas, not so easy for us.

A Gingerbread Village and a problem in the kitchen

I awoke Saturday morning to a little bit of bliss.  I was up early and had to spend most of the day at work, but I had an hour to myself.  With my journal in hand, my Bible and a somewhat decent pen, I did some reading and writing while Wyatt played Bey Blades nearby.  When they awoke Julia and Savannah joined him. It was quiet and very little bickering ensued.  Ah, if every morning could start this way. 

Today started much differently.  I awoke after a mostly sleepless night and raced to get out the door to church.  When we arrived at home, as promised, I let the kids build their gingerbread village after lunch.  Some of the pieces of the kit were broken, and putting together that village was a bit tedious, but we did a house a couple of years ago, and Wyatt has not let me forget it.  He thought that was a tradition of ours....hmm, not exactly.  Savannah and Julia were happy to chime in and hope we would do it again.  After constructing a couple of the buildings, I left the process in the hands of the kids.  I do believe I heard Wyatt threaten to kill his sisters a couple of times (BIG no-no).  So apparently, I was not the only one stressed by this little cute kit.  I think they ended up mostly happy, and if the homemaking gene kicks in later this week, we will definitely go for something easier and tastier such as homemade gingerbread cookies.



Wyatt had to get innovative with the construction.

While I was avoiding the gingerbread village and playing on the computer, Andy was at the hardware store because we arrived home from church to find this:


The garbage disposal is leaking, badly leaking

Therefore, he purchased this new disposal.  I asked him if he is scared of installing it.  His reply, "yes, that is why I didn't do it months ago when the old one only leaked a little bit."  YIKES!!!

At least he is willing to read the instructions. 

I have a total of four Christmas gifts purchased. I think the big kids and I will conquer the mall and miss whatever might fly from the kitchen.  Hmm...which is scarier, the mall on the last weekend before Christmas, or a non-handy man fixing a garbage disposal?   I might start biting my nails.

Wyatt turns 8!

We have an eight year old in the house.  Wyatt's birthday fell on our third snow day this week (today).  Just like last year, he was unable to share birthday cupcakes with his class. Illness derailed Wyatt's plans to celebrate with his class last year.  By the time evening rolled around, the roads were great but not so good in the neighborhoods.  The family made their way to our house to celebrate this big day, and I think we have a happy boy on our hands.

We found chocolate made to look like rocks and decorated the cake ourselves.  We just had the bakery ice it in Wyatt's favorite color and trim it in a complimentary color.



Julia enjoyed holding Regan





The three kids who have a DS played games together after everyone left.



If I were going to write a Christmas letter this year....

Since starting the blog almost two years ago, I stopped our annual Christmas letter.  It just seemed redundant to blog about our lives and then sum it up in a tidy letter at the end of the year to send out to family and friends. This year is no different except that I am writing what would have been my 2010 Christmas letter here:

How can I describe 2010? I cannot say this has been a banner year. However, it has not been all bad.  While I normally try to make my Christmas letter newsy without any proud mama bragging, this year will be different on that front.  I will unashamedly brag on my beautiful and wonderful children.  This is the year in review.

Andy- After long desiring to do so, Andy started his novel this year.  His writing impresses me. (Why am I the one blogging?)While his writing has been interrupted by the demands of work (which included a trip to China this year), his service at church, and life in general.  He has a good start to what should be an amazing novel, and he hopes to complete it in 2011.

Tamara- My year has been one full of tough decisions, tough stuff and uncertainty. I picked up a second job. I only work there one day a week, and it is a fun place to work, but the hassle of being away from the family and an unknown commitment time and date from week to week make this less than fun.  My full-time job is in turmoil, and of course, I have continued to try and make home fun for the kids, but there are just a lot of stressors.

Zachary- (currently 15 years old in 9th grade) Zachary took fifth in state in wrestling this year which led us to a difficult decision.  His school has no wrestling team, and while we have never made a school decision about sports, his preparation to transition to high school left us pondering our choice. Zachary narrowed the field to two schools - my school and the school he has attended since kindergarten.  I was completely torn between the two and let him make the choice.  He finally decided to give up wrestling and stay put.  I can't say I miss the constant demands of wrestling on Zach and on the family, and he does not really miss it either.

Zach went on to make it into three varsity football games this fall as a freshman.  He enjoyed the season, and we are all grateful for the break we now have (well, except for our resident night owl who has to get up very early in the morning to get Zach to football conditioning every day- that would be Andy, and Zach is his father's son in this regard).

Savannah- (currently 12 years old, in 7th grade) Savannah was delighted and surprised to find two blue ribbons on the artwork she entered in the state fair this year.  We were all happy to see this affirmation of her talent.

Just this past Saturday, she took the ACT as she was invited to participate in the Duke TIP program.  We are anxious to see her score which will arrive in a few weeks.  Savannah loves puzzles and math, and it was her math score on a standardized test that won her this honor.

Savannah also continued to play field hockey this year.  We have learned of another team that we can consider in the spring to give her more experience in this sport she loves.

Wyatt - (currently 7 years old, until Friday, that is and in the 2nd grade)  He talked all year about his desire to play baseball, and he joined a team in the spring.  Wyatt needs some work on his skills, but he had very good coaches and enjoyed the season.
When the pool opened this summer, Wyatt spent his time practicing swimming across the pool to earn Andy's approval to jump off the diving board. Wow! Within a day of his first jump, Wyatt was hamming it up for the camera and jumping with style.
This fall he started Taekwondo, and we may just have found his niche with this sport.  We love to see his award-winning grin as we watch his class through the window.

Julia- (currently 6 years old and attending 1st grade)  Julia graduated from kindergarten on the same day that Zach graduated from 8th grade.  As part of her celebration, she recited the 23rd Psalm in its entirety.  We love our school.  When tuition skyrocketed for us, we felt certain that Julia would be joining Wyatt in the public school system.  However, through prayer and some things that spoke to us in sermons and teachings, we decided to keep her in the Christian school system.  This has come with big financial challenges, but we feel that she is in the right place.

Julia now does gymnastics at level 2.  This keeps us running but truly appears to be her gift. She also continues to make us laugh daily, and she loves glitz and glam.  She really comes up with some doozies when left to dress herself.

As a family we enjoyed one of our best vacations ever on St. George Island in Florida.  We try to get away annually and leave behind the phones and constant interruptions to enjoy time together as a family.  The gulf oil spill threatened our trip, but as it did not reach the shore in St. George, we had a beautiful and peaceful place to hang out in group of 17 people this summer.  We laughed our way through a couple of games of Quelf...definitely a side-splitter.

We then welcomed our new niece Regan in September. 

The hardest experience of our year and one that Andy refers to as "the most horrific" he has experienced has been my mom's battle with pancreatic cancer.  We all know that pancreatic cancer is the deadliest of cancers, and if we didn't already know that, I certainly had a few people who felt strongly the need to tell me that along with every gruesome and painful detail of what they have seen people with it experience.  We have had the hope of surgery (the only known cure for pancreatic cancer) dashed by the reality that it could not be done.  That has been the nature of cancer, hope followed by despair and then hope again in a vicious wrenching cycle. Mom has fought this cancer valiantly and with peace.  She continues the fight as we all continue to hope and pray that God will grant us a miracle, and the doctors will declare that she is in remission and ultimately declare her cured of this awful beast. 

I close my letter with some of my favorite pictures from the year.

made in China

spunky and beautiful



the artist at work



honest Abe in Washington DC on his 8th grade trip



our one year old pooch Shiloh who loves the water



Mary treasured up these things and pondered them in her heart. Luke 2:19

Immanuel - God is with us.

Merry Christmas to all!