MERRY CHRISTMAS!
Here's our cheesy snow globe that we put our presents around. Yes, it is one of those yard decorations. We adapted it to indoor use as a Christmas tree substitute. This all got started the year that Mieke had her kittens. That was in 2004. The kittens were born in August, so by December they were at that adorable stage where they would climb in the tree and perch in the branches. It was a Kodak photo op. Everyone was highly amused when they came to the house and saw that our Christmas tree ornaments were actual cats! The next year, the cats were full-grown AND there were 8 of them! The first few times that the tree fell over, we dutifully propped it back up thinking that sooner or later the cats would anticipate the tree falling over with them in it and be frightened by that, or at the very least, tire of having their climbing wall collapse underfoot. Not so...we were the ones who grew tired of picking up the tree and repositioning it day after day! Each day another section of the tree would go dark as the lights became too battered to shine. When the lights began to blink-as in short out-we decided to unplug the dang thing and just go without lights. Finally, we just left the pitiful pile of green floof laying on the ground with a note that read "DON'T ASK"-just incase someone was thinking about questioning why our tree was lying on it's side on the floor with presents around it! The tree went in our garage sale that summer and we have not had a Christmas tree since! The first year without a tree seemed very weird and we just threw a decorative Christmas throw over the piano bench, placed it at an angle in the corner of the great room, put the gifts on and around it, and made do. Not very satisfying. The following Christmas I tried to use a little Creche but somehow that didn't quite capture the essence of the traditional icon we had learned to depend upon. Two christmas' ago I bought the snowglobe. Somehow, for our family, that worked. The cats love to watch the artificial snow blow around inside the globe-as does Jayden. Neither cats nor kids seem to be able to cause harm to said snow globe. At last, another Christmas tradition is born.
One of my favorite things to do at Christmas time is to drag out the Christmas dishes. Somehow, food just tastes better on these plates! Each year I collect the latest Christmas glass from Arby's. I try to get 12 of each design since they do a new one every year. When the kids establish homes of their own I will give them each a set and one for each of the grandkids later as well. Jayden will get first pick of course because he's numero uno.
The three guests of honor at this year's celebration were Courtney Rogers (Trev's girl), Linda Glazek(Jayden's mom), and of course, Lewis Wiedewitsch, dad to Tyler and Trevor and Paw-paw to Jayden.
The star of the show was none other than Jayden Alexander Glazek. There's nothing quite like the sheer delight of a little one on Christmas day! It made us all young again to watch as he
opened his gifts.
Courtney works her decorating magic with a blue bow atop Jayden's head while Granny tries to convince Jayden that Elmo knows what he's talking about when he says, "using the potty is cool!"
Educational toys were big on the list this year with books and puzzles coming in first. Jayden reminds me of Tyler at that age. Very into puzzles and mechanical things.
Tyler has obviously developed more advanced interests other than puzzles at this stage in his development....Truthfully, Tyler is a very talented cook and has a great interest in how to make all kinds of eats and drinks including BEER!About a month after this photo was taken, we sampled the first batch that Tyler made. It was really very good for a first attempt. I have tasted beer I liked less at some of the local microbreweries. Way to go, Tyl!
Then, we have the perennial lovebirds! They always seem to choose the right gifts for one another. Unlike the shotgun, chainsaw, and tractor that I have received in Christmas' past...right Lew?Lewis and I went together to buy Tyler a car for Christmas and we outfitted Trevor with a new amp for his guitar and some other music related items.
The greatest gift of all was, of course, celebrating the reason for the season-the birth of our dear Lord-and the time we got to spend together as a family.
