Today's Best of the Boys

Jim: "We don't have any more light bulbs, do we?"

Me: "I'm pretty sure we have some in the storage drawers in the new laundry room." (I call it this optimistically. At the moment it's still a storage room.)

Jim: (calling from downstairs in the furnace room which doubles as the current laundry room) "I don't see any down here."

Me: "...no, Jim...the NEW laundry room. You know, the 'to be at some point in our lives laundry room'."

Jubal:
"That should be on a plaque somewhere."
••••••••

I love being the mom of boys. They're so easy. Around noon Nolan and I were headed out to the car. I was going to drop him off at Ryan Morrill's to spend the night and noticed he had no bag with him. "You should probably bring some clean clothes for tomorrow. Underwear, at least, might be nice." He replied in the affirmative and ran into the house. I waited, expecting him to emerge with his duffle bag but when the door opened I realized he had taken my suggestion at face value and had only grabbed a solitary pair of underwear which he was putting into his pants pocket while running out to the van. He will most likely forget they even exist tomorrow morning and I will find them when I check his pockets for washing.
••••••••••••

Tell: (after creating "episodes",
playing with his wooden Thomas trains ) "Mom, can I watch somethin' on Netflixth? I'm gettin' really tired of doin' all thith brain thtuff."



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Five P Day

I was awoken by Atira at 5:30 because her stomach was not feeling well. She then PUKED four times before I left at quarter past nine to help PAINT the youth building with Nate S., Nicole and Greg. After a quick trip to Big Al's afterward to PURCHASE some items, I headed home for some afternoon housekeeping before going over to Mom and Dad's for a visit with PAPA and BauBau. And now, lying in bed, I think it's slightly odd that I'm hearing the wind howl and rain POUR on December 28th.


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Christmas and Beyond

Christmas being on a Sunday threw our normal schedule of events off a bit. We still had our banana bread and eggnog but without Mom and Dad and the kids opened only a couple of gifts before Dad arrived to put the turkey in our oven.



Even the normality of church seemed off kilter with people not seated in their usual places. Despite this, the Gilbert family managed to secure an empty pew....or so I thought. When I came to sit back down after the music portion of the morning was complete, I found my spot next to Jim had been taken by the elderly but surprisingly spry Marcia Wilson, whose pew we had apparently stolen. So we shared a seat for a Sunday and it was quite nice. The rest if the presents were opened and then we enjoyed a late dinner of turkey, stuffing, ziti and meatballs.









Beth Wilson arrived late in the evening after a harrowing, snowy drive from up north and we enjoyed conversation and a bit of the Packers/Bears game before calling it a night.

Today was relaxing with all of the family home and we ended it with Dad winning a game of Catan.

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Silent Night, Organized Night

Atira and I had breakfast together at Dunkin' Donuts before a short shopping trip this morning. I had a couple last minute stocking stuffers and Atira was excited to be buying a small gift for each person in the family. She felt bad that, because I was with her, she would not be able to get anything for me. I reminded her that gifts don't always come wrapped up and the time we were spending together in this Christmas season was a very nice present. Once home,



she wrapped her gifts and I wrapped mine.....and Jim's....and all of Dad's for Mom. I was organized and it felt weird. I was even able to watch the first half of the Pats-Dolphins game, DVRing the rest. The Patriots played a terrible first half and were down 17 points when I turned it off. As we walked into the church foyer for the Christmas Eve service I heard Nolan saying to my pastor, a Dolphin's fan, "My mom doesn't want you to tell her anything about the game. She hasn't watched it all yet." Although he technically didn't give me any information, I suspected that my Pats had made a comeback to win it in the second half when, during an illustration, he said, with a hint of a smile, "A lot of points can be scored in the fourth quarter." At the end of the service we lit our candles and sang Silent Night as we do each year.



This is my favorite part of the Christmas season, this quiet, softly lit, reflective few moments with my church family before forming a circle around the sanctuary and wishing each person a "Merry Christmas" with a handshake or a hug. (Anyone who knows me, knows I prefer the latter.)
Once home, Nolan made our eggnog for tomorrow morning and Atira wrote Tell's note for Santa although it was modified after the kids opened their one Christmas Eve gift:



" I would like Bash"
This was followed with Atira's rendering of the train engine and Tell's signature. Then the modification...."Never mind. Mom and Dad got him for me. The milk and Tim Tams are for you." Now it's time for Santa to deliver the stockings.



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Use My Dollar

Before heading to Hometown Buffet to meet the Buxton Crowd of 27 for supper, we spent several minutes searching for Jim's wallet. During this time Tell, seated in the van, held his own dollar bill tightly in his hand while trying to gain Jim's attention, saying several times, "Dad, it's ok if you don't find your wallet. I can pay for us. See? I have my dollar. We can use my money." When the wallet was inevitably found (in the van of course) and Jim was steering us down the driveway, Tell was still insisting that he use his dollar toward the meal. Since I had coupons and he and Atira would eat for free, I suggested that he use his dollar as a tip at his kids' table to go along with the others on the grown-up table. After explaining what a tip was, Tell thought this was a very good idea.



It was so cute to see him put the dollar bill on his table and extra nice that our waitress was our former neighbor, Michele, who gave us great service.


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G'day, Goodnight

Yesterday ended and today began with the voice of a friend who always makes me laugh, even from across the globe. I will be tired in the morning and may not be able to vanquish the image of an Aussie Santa in stubbies and thongs from my mind, but it was worth it. Thank you, Chris.



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Useful Kitchen Tools

After slipping on our ice covered stone walkway and meeting the ground with my elbow and backside, I drove to the Bath Post Office to mail a Christmas package and encountered a large basket full of homemade cookies that one of our older postal workers, Steve, had baked for the customers to enjoy. They were very good and I told him so. He thanked me, saying he had made over 200 hundred of them! He then proceeded to suggest that if I used a Flat Rate box to send my gifts that I could save a couple dollars. Try getting that kind of service in the city.
Upon returning home, I saw that Ben Leeman had dropped off my Pampered Chef order from Carly's party. Nolan was glad to see that we finally had a funnel to make his eggnog job easier. Tell, decided however, not to limit the silicon funnel's use to the "predictable". He attached it to the end of my baster and invented the Air Suckinator. When he tried to remove the funnel he discovered it wouldn't budge and we renamed his invention, the Stuckinator. With the funnel gone, the baster became a giant dropper used for creating a new drink. Tell brought me a paper and pencil to write down his secret ingredients:

----Tell's recipe for a drink that hasn't been invented----
• water
• Cheezit crumbs
• ice

As he completed his concoction, I was asked to try a sip. Before I could even answer, as if he knew what my objection would be, he assured me, "It tastes good. You can't even taste the cheese in it!" I politely declined.





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Nearly Wrapped Up

I spent the afternoon in Portland to get the majority of the Christmas shopping done.




My last stop was Bean's to pick up a book for Nicholas and Alexandra. That completes my package to Anth and Laura, so I can send out that out to Indiana tomorrow. While I was there I made sure to take a photo, for Jim, of the only thing that I want for Christmas, an "oh so comfy" men's hooded Rugby robe that has the feel of your most favorite sweatshirt. I can't wait to enjoy it!


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Slow Start, Illuminated End

Jubal has vacation until after the new year so I set no alarm this morning. As Jim left for the gym a bit after 6:30, my eyes momentarily fluttered opened and then darkness closed in again as I slept through the 8:15 text asking if I wanted coffee. Despite not answering, a cup arrived at my bedside at 8:30.



I vaguely remember the words "coffee" and "heading to work" and a kiss. I'm pretty sure I mumbled a thank you and suddenly, it's 10:30. How did that happen? With a third of my day already wasted, I started on a few tasks, big and small that I planned to accomplish this week. One of these was to dust in our bedroom. I could tell you how badly it needed to be done, but as they say, a picture is worth a thousand words.



After a bit of Christmas shopping and wrapping in the afternoon, the end of the day saw another "to do" knocked off my list: We finally decorated the tree! We had planned to do it last Thursday. On that day, Nolan made a batch of eggnog for us with colored eggs from the Hodgdon's chickens.



I blogged about it and then wasn't able to publish it. (that's a whole other frustrating story) Eggnog doesn't hang around our house too long so Nolan made another batch for tonight as we hung our ornaments. Atira topped off our creative masterpiece with the star I bought for our very first tree....



as usual it looks lovely....


Now it feels like Christmas.

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Friends: God's Gift

I received these gifts from the Hodgdons last night while watching the Polar Express in my homemade ugly Christmas sweater with all the AWANA kids.



I'm so thankful that God has given me a multitude of friends who know me so well and take me as I am!
This morning I visited with a friend that, for many years, was a large part of my life but I hadn't spent time with her for several years. I was reminded that in true friendships it doesn't matter how much time has passed. You pick up right where you left off. The bond remains and you are loved unconditionally. Friendship is truly one of God's best gifts.


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Bare Branches

After church and leftover pizza for lunch, the family took a short trip up the road to choose this year's Christmas tree.



It went up effortlessly and now stands in the living room corner quietly awaiting its decorations. Blame the bare branches on the Patriots/Redskins football game which had to be watched this afternoon, which, may I say, was the worst won game I've seen in a long time. the tree will greatly improve in a short amount of time. Whether the Pats follow suit remains to be seen.


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