Memes

I have been so excited about Boomama’s Christmas Tour of Homes because back in July during the original tour of homes, I was new to this whole blogging world, so I felt more like perhaps an uninvited stalker than a warm, friendly neighbor dropping by to see if any of y’all might have some sugar cookies. Now that I actually know some folks and some folks know me, it’s much more fun to invite y’all into my home and getting to see where you live and how you deck your halls.

So, welcome to the holiday house of Big Mama.

This is our front door which no one really uses because I believe I have mentioned that it has a tendency to get stuck and make an unholy amount of noise when you open it, probably due to the fact that it’s eighty-three years old. However, it is the original door, it’s cute as a button and I love it with my Christmas wreath hanging on it.

Here is our Christmas tree. First things first, yes those are deer mounts hanging on either side and yes, I have to fight the tendency this time of year to put a red nose on one of them and call him Rudolph. Anyway, it’s a real tree and it smells like a little piece of heaven or you know, a little piece of pine forest. The picture doesn’t really show it well, but it has a ton of lights on it. I have a mix of ornaments on it ranging from a few Waterford ones that were gifts, to some that belonged to my Mema that bring back tons of memories just looking at them, to a stuffed Santa that P’s best friend brought us when he was living in Norway.

And yes, I do still need to wrap presents which explains why it looks so barren. I am nothing if not behind on everything this year.

This is the view from our living room into our dining room. P actually came up with the idea of wrapping the columns like candy canes a few years ago. That P is just a little bit crafty.

Here is a close up of the kitchen. I bought those wreaths at Michael’s for .99 a piece and love how they look hanging in the windows. There is also a platter next to the window that my friend Meredith made using Caroline’s footprint and turning it into a Santa Claus. It’s the plate that holds our milk and cookies for Santa on Christmas Eve.

Next up (if you’re still here) is the mantle. It has your standard garland, stocking hangers and stockings. Y’all may notice that our stockings have our names on them. I tried to be really cute and put Big Mama and P on ours, but it doesn’t really show up. So I’m telling you about it so that my efforts aren’t in vain. I also have a few framed pictures of Caroline from Christmases past.

The big Santa Claus was a wedding gift and I just love him. At some point in the past, some squirrels got into our attic (yes, I prefer to believe they were squirrels) and chewed some of Santa’s packages, but he still looks good and his beard covers the damage.

I’ll leave you with the symbol of why we celebrate Christmas. Let me first explain that our grown up nativity has mysteriously disappeared. I’m waiting for a star in the east to lead me to its whereabouts, but if that doesn’t happen I have my eye on a new one that I’m hoping will be on sale after Christmas. So, this is our nativity this year, which to me is appropriate, because it is a symbol of the stage of life we are in. Caroline loves to play with all the figures and I find them in a new arrangement every day. This is what I discovered yesterday.

I’m going to go back and check for clarification, but I’m almost positive that it wasn’t a donkey of the Lord that appeared.

Merry Christmas, y’all. Thanks for stopping by.

This meme has been all over the place, but most recently I saw it at Barb’s and then over at Bev’s and I decided it was festive. I am also feeling the pressure because what could be better than P and his elk? It’s really more than the mind can comprehend. Well, at least more than my mind can comprehend.

1. Egg nog or hot chocolate? I can say that I make a fabulous eggnog from a recipe that was given to me by P’s mama (only I add a little more alcohol to keep us all in a festive frame of mind, and really since she only adds a teaspoon of rum per gallon…there’s nowhere to go but up). In fact, P gets completely addicted to the eggnog and has been known to put on 10 pounds in a single Christmas season. That’s the year that he conducted a self intervention and dumped the rest of the eggnog down the drain because while I make a great eggnog, I personally don’t care for it so he ends up drinking it all by himself. Give me hot chocolate any day of the week. And half coffee with half hot chocolate? They’ll be serving that in heaven, I guarantee.

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just set them under the tree? Santa just sets the presents under the tree. I can still remember running into the living room on Christmas morning and seeing what looked like a toy store gone wild. I can’t wait to see Caroline’s face when she walks into our living room this year. She is going to lose her mind.

3. Colored lights or white? White lights for sure. The colored lights are back and a little retro chic, but I think if you’re going to use colored lights they need to be those big old fashioned ones, not just some flashing little red ones that make your house look like a dance club.

No offense if that’s what some of y’all have on your house…I’m sure they look lovely.

4. Do you hang mistletoe? There’s enough kissing in this house without mistletoe.

5. When do you decorate for Christmas? I like to decorate the weekend after Thanksgiving because then the decorations get to stay up long enough to make me feel like it was worth it to get everything down out of the attic. Plus, I think our house never looks prettier than it does at Christmas.

6. What is your favorite holiday dish, excluding dessert? When I was growing up my favorite dish without a doubt was my Aunt Sandra’s broccoli rice casserole. I have her recipe but no matter what I do, it never tastes as good as hers did. She even started making a whole extra pan for me so that I could eat it leftover for days.

Now one of my favorites is P’s mama’s cornbread dressing. She makes it in a big dutch oven on the stove so it’s not the kind of dressing that you cut in squares, it’s a moist, delicious slice of heaven. I have the recipe but I’ve never even attempted to make it because first of all, I’d eat the whole pot by myself and secondly, I know it wouldn’t be as good.

7. Favorite holiday memory as a child? I have so many great holiday memories. I remember the Christmas when I got my blue bike with a banana seat with daisies all over it. That was also the year that I got some stylish gauchos with a shirt that said “Jeans, jeans, jeans”. I also remember getting my Donny and Marie dolls complete with sound stage. Oh I did love me some Donny Osmond.

But mostly, my best memories are of family and laughter. I loved getting to stay up late, eat candy, and the anticipation of seeing what Santa brought the next morning.

8. When and how, did you learn the truth about Santa? I was at a Brownie meeting in second grade and Sheila Barker broke the bad news. I was so mad I think I might have kicked her.

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? If I can find some cute Christmas pajamas for Caroline, I’ll wrap them and let her open them Christmas eve, but so far my search for cute jammies has been fruitless. Well…unless I want to spend $50.00, which I don’t.

10. How do you decorate your Christmas tree? Lots of white lights with red ribbon and silver beads for garland. I have lots of different ornaments and try to add a least a few new ones every year. My favorite ornament is a glittery red nest with a little red bird that belonged to my Mema.

11. Snow. Love it or hate it? Love it because I haven’t seen it since I went to Colorado five years ago. In a cruel twist of fate, it actually snowed in South Texas two Christmases ago and we didn’t get any of it where I live. I keep my fingers crossed every year that maybe this will be the year.

12. Can you ice skate? Yes, I am ranked in the world in ice skating. My rank would be somewhere in the bottom billion.

13. Do you remember your favorite gift? I think I already mentioned the Donny and Marie dolls. Does it get any better than that?

14. What is the most important thing about the holidays to you? Making Christmas a magical time for Caroline. I want her to appreciate why we celebrate Christmas and all the fun things that the holiday season brings.

15. What is your favorite holiday dessert? Gulley’s homemade iced sugar cookies. In fact, I just asked her yesterday when she was going to start baking them. Last year, you’d have thought I was a crack addict and she was my supplier. I am embarrassed to say that I hounded her daily about my cookie supply.

I am not kidding when I say that they have some ingredient that is completely addictive and will make you lose any resolve to not consume 26 cookies in one sitting and beg for more.

16. What is your favorite holiday tradition? I’m still working on establishing some family traditions, but one thing that P and I do every year is walk around our local outdoor shopping center right before Christmas. We wait for a cold night, go out to dinner, get some hot chocolate and walk around and window shop. It’s one of my favorite things we do.

17. What tops your tree? A silver star.

18. Which do you prefer, giving or receiving? Giving. It’s a great feeling to pick out something for someone that you know they’ll like. And seeing Caroline’s excitement is the best present I could get.

Of course, I wouldn’t turn down a diamond ring.

19. What is your favorite Christmas song? O Holy Night is my favorite religious song, but I do love Jingle Bell Rock for just plain fun. I remember my mama putting our Christmas albums on the console stereo while we decorated the tree and I always loved when Jingle Bell Rock came on.

Oh, and Blue Christmas because it’s Elvis. What else do you need to know?

20. Candy canes. Yuck or yum? I’m not a fan.

Y’all have a nice weekend!

I was tagged by Linda at 2nd Cup of Coffee for the word association meme that’s been going around. And by the way, if y’all haven’t visited Linda you should…she’s funny and smart.

I can say with all certainty that it will be hard for me to be brief because my mind tends to go on a tangent when faced with thinking about all the things one word can bring to mind.

So here are my words:

1. Chicken: Me. I am a big chicken and nothing reminds me of it more than Halloween season. I am terrified of any scary movie or movie preview or book or ghost story. It doesn’t matter how many times P reassures me that the odds of an already deceased serial killer wearing a hockey mask is a highly unlikely scenario…I can NOT watch anything remotely scary. When I was a senior in high school, I made the mistake of going to see Pet Semetary with some friends, and I had to sleep with my mom until I left for college. I am not kidding.

Also, one night in college I was studying at my boyfriend’s house and had left one of my books in the car. I was scared to go get it by myself because I had been at a friend’s house earlier where people were telling scary stories and begged him to go get it for me, but he wouldn’t. So I ran out to my car and in the meantime, he went out his back door, came around and jumped out and scared me in the driveway. I jumped a mile in the air and may have tee-teed in my pants. I can’t imagine why we broke up.

2. Tranquility: the smell of lavender and soaking in a bubble bath in complete and total silence.
It also makes me think of the sound of the ocean.

3. Permanent: teeth. I am a little obsessed with Caroline’s future permanent teeth, so I tend to worry about too much juice or candy ruining her permanent teeth before they ever make an appearance in her mouth. Our pediatrician instills a lot of fear about bad habits of today affecting the permanent teeth later. We can’t take these baby teeth lightly because apparently if something happens to them it will affect everything from future orthodontia bills to SAT scores and someday your child could grow up to be a toothless, unproductive member of society.

4. Adjusting: this makes me think of change. As in, I am not good at adjusting to change. I try, honestly I do, but the closet control freak in me is not a fan of adjusting.

I’m pretty sure everyone in the blogging universe has been tagged already, but if you want to play or play again, here are the words.

cowboy
lemon
peace
change

Have a good Sunday!

Barb at A Chelsea Morning tagged me for this meme and I really like it. It’s hard to come up with the memories because there are so many, so these are the moments that came to mind. I’m sure I’ll think of other things later and wish I’d mentioned them. But for now, here they are.

1. Favorite Memory of your Mother?
One thing I’ve always loved about my mama is that she can be spontaneous. I remember going to visit her one weekend while I was in college and a big ice storm was blowing in. The newscasters were warning everyone to stay off the roads and just stay home if you could avoid going out. Well, always being wise and cautious, we decided that if we were going to be stuck inside the rest of the weekend, we better get to Walmart and stock up on some things while we still could. We walked up and down the aisles for at least an hour and a half loading up our cart with essentials like new makeup and bunny rabbit houseshoes. It’s just a fun memory of the two of us laughing together.

I remember when we got home there were about a million messages on the answering machine from my Nanny who was worried to death about us and we had to call her back and explain that we weren’t in peril, but had just been at the Walmart. I think she wanted to kill us both which made us laugh even more.

Another thing I’ll always remember about my mama is how well she took care of us when we were sick. She’d make me a comfy little spot on the couch and fix me some cinnamon toast or anything else I wanted. This probably caused me to be more than a little bit of a hypochondriac because I loved all the back scratches and pampering I got when I wasn’t feeling well.

2. Favorite Memory of your Father?
I have great memories of going to stay at my dad’s house when I was younger and he would let us play Colecovision or Blind Man’s Bluff (in the house, which tells y’all he didn’t have a lot of breakable stuff) until late at night and then sometimes we’d all camp out in the living room to sleep.

I will also never forget how irritated he was with the baby nurses at the hospital the night Caroline was born. He watched them clean her up through the window and was so annoyed at how rough he thought they were. It was just the beginning of his love for Caroline and a small glimpse of what a wonderful grandfather he is.

3. Favorite Memory of your Siblings?
I have one younger sister and she is almost 4 years younger than me. When I was little, I was scared of the dark so we shared a room. Some of my favorite memories are of the two of us staying up late talking as I shared my 5th grade wisdom with her and told her about the dog eat dog world of junior high. We’d scratch each other’s backs, play games and pretend to be asleep if my mom came in the room.

I’ll also never forget that she and her husband came over when I was in labor with Caroline and took my car to get vacuumed out. It was a true act of love because it was hotter than blue blazes outside. I can be a little OCD (see post below) and in spite of my labor pains was obsessed with the fact that I could not bring my new baby home from the hospital in an unvacummed car.

4. What one skill would you like to wake up tomorrow and be able to do (though you’d never learned it)?
I wish I could sew. I would love to be able to make cute outfits for Caroline. I adore looking at fabrics and imagining all the possibilities, but I can barely sew a button on.

5. Which one of your dreams has come true?
I always dreamed of being happily married and having a family of my own. God has done more than I asked or imagined and I’m grateful.

This was a fun one. If you decide to do it, leave me a comment so I can come visit!

Have a great day!

In blog tradition, this is my 100th post so here are 100 things about me otherwise known as maybe a great way to put yourself to sleep.

1. I was born in Houston, TX

2. The year was 1971

3. My hair was so thick and long that it was down to the middle of my back at 2 years old

4. I wish it was still that thick and long

5. Sadly, pregnancy did some irreversible damage

6. Talk about big hair, you should’ve seen me in the 80’s

7. My first real memory is the day we brought my little sister home from the hospital

8. She is 3 years and 9 months younger than me

9. My parents divorced when I was 9

10. My sister and I lived with my mom

11. We moved to Beaumont when I was 12

12. My dad drove to see us every other weekend

13. Sometimes we rode a Greyhound bus to Houston to see him

14. My Mema and Papa would take us to the bus station to catch the bus

15. Mema always packed my sister and me a sack lunch

16. There was always a can of Coke and some Nutter Butters in the lunch

17. I loved going to the bus station because they had a Ms. Pacman game and Papa had an unlimited supply of quarters.

18. I didn’t really like riding the bus

19. One time I caused my little sister to wet her pants because I made her finish her Coke so that I wouldn’t have to hold it for her

20. My dad called me on the phone every night of my life

21. He still does

22. I didn’t realize when I was younger what a rare man he is

23. I do now

24. After we moved to Beaumont we lived down the street from my grandparents

25. When I was 11 my sister got the chicken pox and I purposely tried to get them too so that I could stay home from school

26. It worked

27. I was sorry about one day into my pox affliction

28. My favorite subject in school was English

29. I was in honors classes

30. Except for any subject related to math

31. I failed Algebra II my junior year in high school

32. My senior year I had to take Geometry and Algebra II at the same time so that I could get into Texas A&M

33. I still have nightmares about it

34. I brought my teacher apple fritters every morning and I’m pretty sure that’s the only reason I passed the class.

35. I chose my major based on what would require the least amount of math

36. I took Business Math 141 and made a D

37. I was thrilled to make a D

38. I took two semesters of Japaneses in college

39. The only thing I remember is “Hajimimoshte” which means how do you do?

40. It took me 5 years to graduate from school

41. Mainly because I wanted to stay for one more football season

42. My last semester I only took 4 hours

43. I had a lot of free time

44. My dad bought me a briefcase for graduation which was his way of saying “I’m so proud of you but you have to go get a job”

45. I got a job selling financial products and helping people invest for retirement

46. Which was kind of ironic considering I’m not good at math and can’t really balance my checkbook (I didn’t mention that in my interview)

47. I had that job for 2 years

48. I wasn’t sad when it was over

49. P and I got married August 16, 1997

50. It was a noon wedding on the hottest day of the year

51. I loved, loved, loved my wedding dress

52. P and I waited 5 years to have a baby

53. I love being a mom more than I can express

54. It’s my favorite thing I’ve ever done

55. It’s also the hardest thing I’ve ever done

56. The first year after I had Caroline I self medicated with plain M&M’s

57. I spent many nights praying she would sleep and bargaining with God

58. I hold no nostalgia for those days

59. Although I’d pay a million dollars to smell her little baby sweetness one more time

60. My favorite movie ever is Gone with the Wind

61. I’ve seen it more times than I can count

62. I’ve probably got a little more Scarlett in me than Melanie

63. If I love a book I’ll read it over again at least once a year

64. I’ve read Lonesome Dove and Gone with the Wind several times

65. I’ll also watch Lonesome Dove on DVD about once a year

66. I may have a small crush on Robert Duvall as Gus McRae

67. My favorite food is Mexican food

68. I love chips, salsa and queso and could eat it everyday

69. I also have a major weakness for chocolate chip cookies, especially the dough

70. I’m not really a candy person but when I crave candy it’s always Sour Patch Kids

71. I obviously have a very sophisticated palate

72. I love getting pedicures but not necessarily manicures

73. I have a stomach like cast iron and can truly have a stomach bug one day and eat a Frito pie later that night.

74. I love watching sports

75. Watching a team win a championship will make me cry 4 out of 5 times

76. I myself am not an athlete

77. I did play soccer in high school, but just because my best friend talked me into it.

78. I was more of a cheerleader/dance team kind of girl

79. It takes alot to make me mad

80. I get my feelings hurt easier than most people would think because I tend to act a little thicker skinned than I am

81. I’m usually quick to forgive because I don’t like feeling angry at someone

82. I hate making decisions and would usually rather someone else make them

83. I don’t have a large group of friends but the ones I have are friends for life

84. I tend to seem a little quiet in groups of people I don’t know

85. I am anything but quiet around my friends

86. In fact, one time P came running into the house because I was cutting up and talking so loud to Gulley on the phone that he thought I was hurt

87. My first car was a Honda CRX

88. I drove it for 8 years and by the end it had duct tape on the front fender and you couldn’t open the doors from the inside, so you had to roll down (manually) the window from the inside and reach out to open the door.

89. My dad never understood how I could run up a $100.00 a month gas bill with a Honda in a small town like College Station

90. I admit I sometimes may have bought adult beverages for myself and my friends at the gas station

91. One of the best experiences of my life was going to Sicily four years ago and getting to see the towns where my great grandparents were born

92. It gave me a whole new appreciation for my family history and I didn’t understand the meaning of ancient until I saw the ruins of Greek temples

93. We went to the Vatican and I started crying when I walked in St. Peter’s because my mind couldn’t wrap around the beauty

94. Our camera got stolen the last night of the trip and it still makes me sick to think of the pictures that we’ll never have

95. The memories of that trip will stay with me forever

96. The thing I worry about the most is am I being the best mom I can be to Caroline

97. Some days the answer is yes, but others it’s no

98. The most important thing in the world to me is being a good wife and mother

99. I want to live the life that God has intended for me to live

100. I feel more blessed than I ever imagined and even during the struggles I know that I have been given much, and in return hope to give back just as much

Carol over at She Lives has tagged me for another meme, but this one has a twist because the questions are for Caroline. I tried to get her to answer as many as possible, but I had to fill in some of the blanks. Especially since with the mood she was in today, many of her answers would have been about the unfairness of life.

1. Something I do well: Run fast, jump high and slide on my tummy

2. Something I’d like to improve on: She wouldn’t answer this one so apparently she thinks there is no room for improvement. I will say that after today we could use some improvement with listening and attitude.

3. Favorite Food: Chocolate nuggets (I’m not sure what this is exactly but it was her answer so I’m going with it)

4. Three words that best describe you: Sweet, funny, and bossy

5. My happiest moment: It’s hard to pin down one but I’m betting it was catching her fish last week at the coast.

6. The most important thing in my life right now: Mama and Daddy (this was her answer, God bless her heart)

7. Then to the Moms, were you surprised by any of the answers: No, but I would think that her favorite food might be a cheese cube since apparently she can live on just one of these for several days.

I’m gonna tag Chappyswife at Journey to the Prize and Jennifer at Missippi Girl if y’all haven’t already done it!