Author: Big Mama

  • The days before Christmas

    Well, it’s the night after Christmas and I’m sitting here on my couch with a few tears in my eyes because I just watched last year’s season finale of Friday Night Lights for the forty-second time and I never grow tired of watching Landry kick the game-winning field goal. I realize that’s probably a random thing to watch on the night after Christmas, but I’m officially over the Christmas movies and it seemed like a good choice.

    I also seem to have a piece of glitter near my eye that I keep seeing in my peripheral vision and it’s driving me a little bit crazy. Alas, it’s the price you pay when you have a fondness for the ribbons with all the glitter.

    So I’m going to go out on a limb and say that, other than Santa’s poor judgement in bringing Caroline some Aqua Sand, this may have been my favorite Christmas. I’m also going to say that after engaging in more Just Dance battles on the Wii than I can count, I better keep my day job. Not that I really have a day job. I choose to believe that what I lack in actual dance ability, I more than make up for in enthusiasm.

    I feel like I failed to recount a lot of things we did during the days leading up to Christmas and now I need to record them for posterity. Feel free to move on to something on the internet that’s more interesting. I hear there’s a site called You Tube that has all sorts of videos and something called Google that let’s you search for all manner of information.

    The Sunday before Christmas, Caroline and I drove down to the ranch to meet P. She spent some time with a little princess.

    And the next morning she went hunting with her daddy and she shot a turkey.

    I regret to inform you that its tailfeathers are currently in a Ziploc bag in my freezer. I’m not sure what’s going to happen to them, but I’m praying they don’t end up as some sort of wall decoration.

    We drove home later that day because we had big plans to go to the Riverwalk with Mimi and Bops, my sister and my niece to eat dinner at the Rainforest Cafe, home of the overpriced souvenir cup and occasional indoor thunderstorm.

    Please note that Caroline wore her jeggings. With a denim jacket. I don’t really recommend wearing them both at the same time, but she hasn’t heeded my clothing advice since she learned the word NO.

    Later in the week we made sugar cookies while wearing our jammies.

    My kitchen will never be the same again. I just have to resign myself to the fact that I’ll end up with festive sprinkles on the bottom of my feet anytime I walk through there until sometime around 2015.

    I had a great girls’ night out with my Birthday Club group on Wednesday night. There is no photographic evidence of this. You’ll just have to believe it happened.

    And then on Thursday, Caroline and I went over to Gulley’s to exchange Christmas presents with the boys. Look what Gulley bought Caroline.

    In Gulley’s defense, I told her to buy the Snuggie because Caroline begs me for one every time she sees them at HEB. I just wanted to clear that up because otherwise Gulley would call me and worry that the people on the internet will think she is totally lame for buying a seven year old a Snuggie.

    But I will have you know that when Caroline opened it up, she yelled, “FINALLY! FINALLY!!! FINALLY I HAVE MY VERY OWN SNUGGIE!!!!”

    And at that point I thought I should just take back the rest of her Christmas presents and save myself some cash because her joy was complete. A snuggie. A zebra print snuggie. Who says $15 can’t buy happiness?

    I think the kids all liked their gifts. Or maybe they were just all hyped up on sugar cookies and Dr. Pepper.

    I feel like I’ve already used too many words and I haven’t even gotten to Christmas Eve. Plus it feels like the Arctic Circle in my living room right now and I need to go get in bed. Or find Caroline’s new snuggie.

    I’ll continue the story of our Christmas tomorrow. I’m sure at least two of you will find it fascinating.

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  • Merry Christmas!

    Well, this is it for me until after Christmas. We are covered up in sugar cookie dough, sprinkles and pans of homemade cinnamon rolls. And now we’re going to get down to the serious business of rocking around the Christmas tree and making merry and bright. I hope y’all do the same.

    I cannot thank you enough for taking the time to stop by and read all this nonsense every day. P, Caroline and I wish you all the felizest of Navidads.

    “But the angel said to them, ‘Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.'” Luke 2:10

  • Dancing Santa: The Sequel

    After I posted Dave Barnes’ Dancing Santa video last week, I showed it to Caroline. And naturally she wanted to do her own version. Complete with Santa hat.

    Unfortunately, we do not own a Santa costume and had to substitute penguin footie pajamas instead.

    My Dancing Santa from Big Mama on Vimeo.

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  • We smelled of chicken and candy canes

    I’m sitting here right now enjoying the glow of my fully lit Christmas tree. Before P left for the ranch last Friday, I pleaded with him to please, SIR, figure out what is wrong with the illumination on our tree. So he switched out the fuses and BEHOLD there was light. And then he grabbed his hunting bags, kissed me goodbye and said he’d see me sometime before next Thursday.

    Great.

    Thanks for being specific.

    So I started off the weekend at Caroline’s class Christmas party. This is Caroline before she left for school that morning. Please note the constant motion. And the wee elf jeans. And the poor photography.

    The party is where I discovered that it isn’t the best idea in the world to give a room full of second-graders a bunch of green icing and ice cream cones and tell them to make trees. Unless of course your end goal is to see how many things you can stain with green food coloring, in which case ACES.

    To my credit, it wasn’t my idea.

    On Friday night we ate Mexican food with Mimi and Bops because that’s what we do on Friday nights. And then Caroline decided to kick off her Christmas vacation by waking up at 6:30 a.m. Saturday morning. And I kicked off Christmas vacation by handing her the remote control and telling her to find one of her recorded Christmas movies to watch while I spent the next two hours drifting in and out of sleep. Which probably explains why a fear of claymation figures and abominable snowmen has now embedded itself into my subconscious.

    A little bit later, I dropped Caroline off at a birthday party for one of her friends and then I sped off to MJM Shoes in a desperate quest to find her some red shoes to wear for Christmas because she has inherited a narrow foot from her father’s side of the family and it’s darn near impossible to find pretty little flats that fit her feet and cost less than her first semester at college. However, I totally scored the cutest little Michael Kors red flats for $19.99 and they actually fit. And she actually likes them. It’s a Christmas miracle.

    Later that afternoon I called Gulley to see if her boys wanted to go with us to see Voyage of the Dawn Treader. Will wasn’t sure at first because he’d just set up what promised to be a lucrative pecan stand in their front yard and hated to leave his business venture. However, he was swayed by the promise of buttered popcorn and still managed to make $5.00 before we arrived to pick him up.

    We all loved the movie and the popcorn and the Dr. Pepper and the assorted boxes of Sour Sprees, Sour Patch Kids, and Sour Straws. Apparently all we want for Christmas is some dental work.

    (Oh, I just realized that I totally forgot the part about organizing my shirts. I did it in between the birthday party and the movie and realized that I own eleven white tank tops. I don’t even understand.)

    (Yes. That’s all I have to say about the shirts. I’m sad that I used it as a ploy on yesterday’s post because it’s confirmation that my life can be kind of dull.)

    Anyway, Gulley and I originally planned to load the kids up in the stay wag on Saturday night, stop by Starbucks for hot chocolate and drive around and look at Christmas lights. But by the time we got back to Gulley’s house after the movies, I was starving and in desperate need of a meal. I guess half a bucket of popcorn wasn’t filling enough.

    (On a side note, Caroline and I saw a commercial for this disturbing game called Pop the Pig where you feed the pig these little hamburgers until he pops. Allegedly, it’s the number one selling game in Europe. Or maybe it’s just marketed by the same people as L’Oreal Elnett and they just use that as their primary marketing scheme for every product. Anyway, Caroline told me she wanted that game and I told her at the rate I’m currently eating she’ll have a real live version by Christmas. Seriously. I’m off the rails. I’d blame PMS but P says I blame everything on that.)

    So instead of picking up hot chocolate, we drove through Church’s Chicken and cruised around in the station wagon eating fried chicken and looking at Christmas lights while Gulley and I took turns yelling things from the front seat like, “QUIT FIGHTING ABOUT WHO’S GOING TO SIT IN THE BACK ON THE WAY HOME AND ENJOY THE BEAUTIFUL LIGHTS” and “WE DON’T NEED TO TALK ANYMORE ABOUT WHO TOOTED BACK THERE. JUST LOOK AT THE BABY JESUS IN THE NATIVITY!” The whole thing kind of felt like a punchline to a Jeff Foxworthy joke.

    The kids all wanted to have a sleepover so I said the boys could come over to our house. As Gulley went to pack their sleeping bags, Will looked at me and said, “Mel, I’m a little afraid of what your breakfast might look like. Maybe you better just take us to Shipley’s for donuts in the morning.”

    Later on I told P what Will had said and he told me Will was right to be afraid because breakfast around here usually looks like nothing. Which totally isn’t true. I keep a box of granola bars on hand at all times. But I realize there are some snobby breakfast-types who don’t feel that counts.

    And so we went to Shipley’s the next morning. For the children. It was all for the children. And maybe for the chocolate iced donuts and sausage kolaches.

    Then, later that day, Caroline and I left town to go meet P at the ranch for the night.

    And that was the weekend.

    The end.

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  • The obligatory Santa Claus photo

    So here’s the deal.

    We had a great weekend. There was Mexican food and friends and Christmas lights. It was all very merry and bright.

    And then we headed down to the ranch to spend the night and we are currently all tucked into bed and Caroline is as close to me as physically possible without defying the laws of physics.

    (I don’t really know any of the laws of physics because why? It just sounded like a good thing to say.)

    I’ll tell you all about the weekend tomorrow. And, oh, it will be so worth the wait. Especially the part about how I organized all my white shirts and my black shirts in my closet AND folded all my sweaters neatly.

    But for now I leave you with this.

    I don’t know who that big girl is sitting on Santa’s lap or how she ended up being in second grade in the blink of an eye, but she sure is cute.

  • Fashion Friday: Edition I wasn’t sure it was going to happen

    Well.

    Here’s the deal. I wasn’t even sure that Fashion Friday was going to happen because I was very busy yesterday attending Christmas programs and running from heck to breakfast trying to get 13,532 things done before it was time to pick up Caroline from school.

    And then I went to dinner with Gulley and AJ and ate some macaroni and cheese that has changed all my expectations of food and what it should do to a person’s soul. Plus, AJ was wearing a scarf that was so adorable I feel it should be the sole focus of Fashion Friday. However, after repeatedly grilling her about where it came from, it appears that it hails from a “boutique in Dallas”. Thanks for being specific.

    Just know that it was red and kind of ruffled. ADORABLE.

    On another beauty related note, I asked Caroline earlier this week what she thought we should get her teacher for Christmas and threw out a “maybe a gift card?”. She said, “OH MAMA! WE SHOULD GET HER A PEDICURE! SHE LOVES PEDICURES!”

    “Really? Did she say that?”

    “No, she didn’t say that. But who doesn’t love a pedicure?”

    For the record, I didn’t even know what a pedicure was until I was twenty-five years old. Caroline is clearly an overachiever.

    So here are some things I’ve found this week. Please note there are no pictures because it was enough of a struggle to come up with links because the mac and cheese has made me very sleepy and ready for bed. Also, this may or may not be the last Fashion Friday of the year. In fact, I think it’s safe to say YES. Last one of the year.

    1. Horizontal Cable Turtleneck

    It is a testament to how cute this sweater is that it’s almost sold out online. Get in the store and buy one. And make it pink because it is just dreamy in pink.

    2. Cable Open Cardigan

    I know. Another open cardigan.

    But this one is cable knit which makes it totally different.

    3. Ruched Collar Bell Sleeve Coat

    Love this. But I don’t need another coat unless it decides to be lower than seventy degrees here for two consecutive days.

    4. Always Skinny Black Jeans

    I bought these earlier in the fall. And maybe I’ve already mentioned them here. I can’t remember.

    Then I made Gulley buy a pair. And we are both in love with our skinny black jeans. They have magical qualities that make you feel instantly thinner. Even when you’ve eaten mac and cheese with a side of fried chicken and a fried egg sandwich for dinner.

    Hypothetically speaking.

    5. Craftsmanship Capelet

    I really just want to be able to walk around in something called a capelet.

    “Please make sure you don’t get cranberry sauce on my capelet.”

    6. Ruffle Front Cardigan

    Well, this is just adorable. And I need another open front cardigan.

    7. Tinley Road Blanket Scarf

    It’s not as cute as AJ’s scarf, but it also doesn’t come from “a boutique in Dallas”. Which means I can actually link to it.

    8. Roll-up Flannel Pants

    Because I am cold right now.

    9. Iconic Lace Dress

    So impractical, yet so beautiful. If I were a carefree hippie type, I’d totally buy this.

    10. So Fine in the Alpines Scarf

    Oh look! A red scarf! It’s cute. But not as cute as the one AJ had on last night.

    That’s all for today.

    Y’all have a great Friday.