Random Thoughts

Winter is upon us.... the trees are bare, the sky is grey and the air is cold.  We anxiously await the first snow, hopeful that it is enough to play in, but not enough to shut down the state of Virginia as it seemed to last winter.

As I drove around looking at Christmas lights with the children I was reminded of when I was young and we pulled the lights out of the attic each year.  We had the big bulbs and my parents had written on the box which order the color of the bulbs went in.  We would take the time to screw each bulb in and then hang them.  At the end of each Christmas season the light bulbs were removed from the sockets and placed back in the box until the following year when we would repeat this.  In some ways I dreaded this tedious task year after year but now I find myself missing the comfort of the tradition. 

Speaking of Christmas traditions - we always take turns with the kids regarding who gets to put the Angel on the top of the Christmas tree.  We really had no idea who was supposed to do it this year.  Henry reminded me that I take pictures or video of everything so I quickly went upstairs and looked at the video footage from the last two years.  Last year we were in Florida and Elizabeth put the Angel on the tree at Henry's parent's house.  The year before that we were here in Virginia and again, Elizabeth put the Angel on the tree.  Needless to say we determined it was definitely Cort's turn to put the Angel on the tree.  However watching the old videos, particularly the one from two years ago made me quite nostalgic.  The kids looked so young.  It is amazing how much they have grown in two years.  Cort has gone from the little boy to a young man.  Elizabeth still looking for trouble at 4 years old just as much as she was at 2 years old when she trying to climb the ladder whenever anyone wasn't looking (or so she thought), has grown into a little girl with quite the personality and even quite a bit of hair.  I must remember to get out the video camera more often.  I love taking pictures but there are some things a camera cannot capture, and I love having video to look back at those memories too. 

Henry, the kids and I went to his office this weekend and brought our $3 artificial-after-Christmas-sale-worse-than-Charlie-Brown-tree to decorate.  After we finished I started counting the number of people in the office by their names on the doors.  Henry could see I was up to something.....  I printed out the names of Santa, Mrs. Claus, The Grinch and all the reindeer, to include Rudolf of course and gave each of them a name next to their own names.  It was probably the most fun I have had in weeks.  I wish I could have been there on Monday when they each saw their names.  I wish I could have decorated the entire office with lights and garland but Henry wouldn't let me - that's why he was the Grinch.  LOL

After spending a night at the Den Leaders house for Cub Scouts building bird houses last week Elizabeth has added a "little dog" to her Christmas list.  The Den Leader and their family have three adorable Yorkies.  Naturally the Mommy Yorkie is pregnant.  However this is one Christmas gift that Santa will NOT be bringing regardless.  We will just visit the Den Leader and their family a little more perhaps.  Actually that reminds me of when I was younger and my dad really wanted a big screen TV from Sears.  I told him one year that I bought him one.  He just had to go to Sears to visit it.  :-)   Luckily he found this amusing and it was something we always joked about.   Realistically thought it was the same way when I was little and desperately wanted a cat.  My Auntie Karen who has a farm in Pennsylvania always had kittens running around.  She let me adopt one, but it stayed on her farm and I just got to visit him there.  I found a little black one and named it "Blackie" - yes I was very creative. 

The motion activated singing snowmen wreath on the front door has some serious issues - either the batteries are going dead or the snowmen have been drinking because it is starting to sound a little....off.  It's definitely putting a new spin on "Winter Wonderland".

Well that is all for now.  I hope you have enjoyed my random thoughts.  I have enjoyed sharing them with you.  If I continue to do "random thoughts" I may post more because I am always having some random thought about something.  :-) 

Bye for now!