Yesterday I rolled up my sleeves and took down all of the downstairs Christmas decorations. It's always a little sad to pull everything down. The holiday season comes and goes in a flash, and since so much activity is squeezed into a few short weeks, there's hardly any time to just sit and enjoy all the decorations.
My lighted Christmas Village is still alive and well in the spare room upstairs until I muster up enough energy to handle taking down my "urban sprawl". Honestly, I haven't taken that down because I still want to enjoy it for a while.
I have all of my Christmas decorations stored in 10 plastic tubs, including our Christmas tree, which takes up 2 tubs. When I start to decorate, I open each tub and welcome not only my decorations, but the memories that go along with them. Each ornament has special meaning, every table decoration, a story. I relish each memory like an old friend. During the course of the holidays, new memories are made, and along with the new memory, an ornament or decoration marks its place and joins the rest of the times that make this season so special.
I guess that's why taking down the decorations is so bittersweet. I spend weeks planning menus, months making gifts and after all of the plans and preparations, it's over in a 24 hour period of time! Just when the party starts getting good, it's over. Don't get me wrong; I look forward to the new year and all of the challenges and opportunities that come with it. I just wish I had the ability to slow down the pace during the holidays so I can reminisce at a comfortable speed. But until I figure out how to do that, I'll just say "so long" to my lifetime of memories that live in 10 tubs.
Monday, January 5, 2009
Thursday, January 1, 2009
Time flies
2008 flew past like a rocket. I finally started a blog and was actually posting to it for about 2 months and then whoosh! It's now 2009 ~ what happened between June 2008 and now? Lots! There's never a dull moment here in the country!
On January 8, 2008, my husband's first wife (and mother of their children) passed away. Though she had been ill, nobody expected her passing this soon. In 2002 when Ira and I were preparing to marry, we held our first Christmas Eve party at our new home in Newport News. As an adult child of divorced parents, I recognize that children of divorced parents experience a level of guilt when spending holidays with one parent and not the other. I didn't want Ira's children to have that feeling. I insisted that Louise be invited to the party so the kids could see both parents for the holidays. We all had a great time and before the party was over, the kids were asking about a Christmas Eve party the next year. Our Christmas Eve party is now a yearly tradition. In 2007, Louise, though ill, still came. Each year, I take a group photo. I had no idea that group photo would be the last picture taken of Louise with all of her kids. I was glad to have been able to capture a happy memory to share with the kids. Christmas 2008 was understandably a tough holiday season for the kids. I made a scrapbook each for Kim, Sam and Mark from photos that Louise had in photo albums in her house. I was able to include our group photos from the last several years in each book. I also started a new tradition - I made stockings for each child, grandchild and great-grandchild. The stockings stay with me and will be filled each year. I better start working on Christmas gifts now - if 2009 goes by as fast as 2008, it will be Christmas before I know it!
In February, I enbarked on a new journey ~ I took a beginner painting class. I have always been involved in one craft or another for most of my life; however, I've never taken any formal classes to create anything. Not only did I discover that I enjoy painting, but that with practice (ALOT of practice), I might actually be (dare I say????) good at it. Now, I realize that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, so if you're the beholder, you might not see beauty in my painting. But at least my instructor says my work is good. I took a second class in the fall of '08 (landscapes) and finished my second work. Both paintings will be shown in an exhibit in January 2009 in West Point. Who knows? Maybe one day, after I'm long gone, my paintings might be worth some $$$, or maybe one day after I'm long gone, my paintings might be for sale in a thrift store for $2.96 (marked down from $4.96). I wonder what Rembrandt's or Monet's first paintings looked like.
In late winter 2008, I started my veggie plants from seed in the greenhouse ~ they were ready to be planted in April. Once planted, Mother Nature sent us about 1 week's worth of rain, which almost drowned my poor crops. Once the sun came out and dried everything up the weeds took over - literally! I couldn't find some of my plants - the weeds had choked them out. The corn we planted in the newly tilled field out back never came up - the only thing that grew well were the radishes and carrots that I had in the greenhouse. My husband and I sadly admitted defeat and vowed to do better in 2009.
In August, Ira, my mom and I drove up to Connecticut for a family reunion. It was so good to see my aunts and uncle. I had not seen them in over 20 years! We had a great time re-connecting with relatives. Ira enjoyed being able to meet that side of my family. It rained (stractch that...it POURED) for most of the party...but the sun finally came out in the afternoon - the funny thing was that after we got the tables moved out of the rain, we never noticed the weather!
The rest of the year I busied myself with trips to Yorktown (July 4 and Yorktown Day), going on "Spring Flings" and "Fall Frolics"and making spaghetti sauce with The Girls, going to crops with the West Point Scrapbooking Club, and working to help re-structure the King William Regional Arts Association. I also served on a steering committee to develop a usage plan for the land behind our house (my civic duty!). We had Thanksgiving at Kim's house (Ira's daughter)and loaded our great grand-daughters up with lots of sugar (cakes, frosting and pies) and then left as they were getting wired (isn't that what grandparents are supposed to do?). I finished the year out with a trip for Cape Charles to celebrate Aunt Barbara's 70th B-Day ~ we went on a Progressive Dinner through the town of Cape Charles.
Well, no wonder I never had time to blog ~ I've been busy! When did I ever have time to work?
On January 8, 2008, my husband's first wife (and mother of their children) passed away. Though she had been ill, nobody expected her passing this soon. In 2002 when Ira and I were preparing to marry, we held our first Christmas Eve party at our new home in Newport News. As an adult child of divorced parents, I recognize that children of divorced parents experience a level of guilt when spending holidays with one parent and not the other. I didn't want Ira's children to have that feeling. I insisted that Louise be invited to the party so the kids could see both parents for the holidays. We all had a great time and before the party was over, the kids were asking about a Christmas Eve party the next year. Our Christmas Eve party is now a yearly tradition. In 2007, Louise, though ill, still came. Each year, I take a group photo. I had no idea that group photo would be the last picture taken of Louise with all of her kids. I was glad to have been able to capture a happy memory to share with the kids. Christmas 2008 was understandably a tough holiday season for the kids. I made a scrapbook each for Kim, Sam and Mark from photos that Louise had in photo albums in her house. I was able to include our group photos from the last several years in each book. I also started a new tradition - I made stockings for each child, grandchild and great-grandchild. The stockings stay with me and will be filled each year. I better start working on Christmas gifts now - if 2009 goes by as fast as 2008, it will be Christmas before I know it!
In February, I enbarked on a new journey ~ I took a beginner painting class. I have always been involved in one craft or another for most of my life; however, I've never taken any formal classes to create anything. Not only did I discover that I enjoy painting, but that with practice (ALOT of practice), I might actually be (dare I say????) good at it. Now, I realize that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, so if you're the beholder, you might not see beauty in my painting. But at least my instructor says my work is good. I took a second class in the fall of '08 (landscapes) and finished my second work. Both paintings will be shown in an exhibit in January 2009 in West Point. Who knows? Maybe one day, after I'm long gone, my paintings might be worth some $$$, or maybe one day after I'm long gone, my paintings might be for sale in a thrift store for $2.96 (marked down from $4.96). I wonder what Rembrandt's or Monet's first paintings looked like.
In late winter 2008, I started my veggie plants from seed in the greenhouse ~ they were ready to be planted in April. Once planted, Mother Nature sent us about 1 week's worth of rain, which almost drowned my poor crops. Once the sun came out and dried everything up the weeds took over - literally! I couldn't find some of my plants - the weeds had choked them out. The corn we planted in the newly tilled field out back never came up - the only thing that grew well were the radishes and carrots that I had in the greenhouse. My husband and I sadly admitted defeat and vowed to do better in 2009.
In June, one of my husband's grandsons came to visit us from his home in Florida. Gary Lee is a sweet child. Despite outward appearances of height and age (6'2" and 19 years old), mentally he's only about 9; sadly he will probably never mature to more than a young teenager's brain function. Needless to say, a child (or adult) with special needs poses some challenges for a host not prepared for the constant supervision this kind of houseguest requires. Even though he was supposed to stay a month, Gary Lee got homesick and went home after 2 1/2 weeks. My husband was happy to have been able to spend some quality time with him, although once he went home, it took both of us a good week to recover!
In August, Ira, my mom and I drove up to Connecticut for a family reunion. It was so good to see my aunts and uncle. I had not seen them in over 20 years! We had a great time re-connecting with relatives. Ira enjoyed being able to meet that side of my family. It rained (stractch that...it POURED) for most of the party...but the sun finally came out in the afternoon - the funny thing was that after we got the tables moved out of the rain, we never noticed the weather!
The rest of the year I busied myself with trips to Yorktown (July 4 and Yorktown Day), going on "Spring Flings" and "Fall Frolics"and making spaghetti sauce with The Girls, going to crops with the West Point Scrapbooking Club, and working to help re-structure the King William Regional Arts Association. I also served on a steering committee to develop a usage plan for the land behind our house (my civic duty!). We had Thanksgiving at Kim's house (Ira's daughter)and loaded our great grand-daughters up with lots of sugar (cakes, frosting and pies) and then left as they were getting wired (isn't that what grandparents are supposed to do?). I finished the year out with a trip for Cape Charles to celebrate Aunt Barbara's 70th B-Day ~ we went on a Progressive Dinner through the town of Cape Charles.
Well, no wonder I never had time to blog ~ I've been busy! When did I ever have time to work?
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