From Our Family to Yours!

December 25, 2011 By 4 Comments

Merry Christmas!

We haven’t sent real-live, arrive in your mailbox cards in 9 years. We didn’t send them the year Charlie died and just never picked up the tradition again. Some things still remain pushed to the side.

We love getting cards from everybody and seeing their kids and families grow.

This year I decided we should send y’all a card. But you’ll have to see it here on my bloggity blog!

I just want to say that this year has brought lots of exciting things — changes, improvements and all that jazz. On the other hand, I know for some it’s brought divorce, separation, the loss of a child or close a family member or friend.

May this holiday, whether you’re celebrating joyfully or celebrating while finding your new normal, bring you peace and love and joy. And with the close of the year, my family wishes yours a very prosperous 2012.

Christmas is forever, not for just one day,
for loving, sharing, giving, are not to put away
like bells and lights and tinsel, in some box upon a shelf.
The good you do for others is good you do yourself…
~Norman Wesley Brooks, “Let Every Day Be Christmas,” 1976

Filed Under: Family, Thoughts Tagged With: , , , , ,

How To {almost} Get Divorced At Christmas

December 24, 2011 By 6 Comments

I know… what a happy topic for Christmas Eve, right?

Well, the quickest way to get divorced, even after like 40 years of marriage, is to give your wife this:

One Christmas, when we were young, my Grandaddy gave my Grannie a set of tires for Christmas. (Granted, she said she needed new tires, but still… ) He brought them home and stacked them neatly in the Christmas Room (yes, they have a Christmas Room at their house… who ‘bother blog post, y’all) with a bow on top.

If Grannies could be pissed, she was. She didn’t speak to him for two days.

This was after two other automotive related near-divorce decisions, too. There was the fateful “I got a motorcycle for our 25th anniversary” debacle. And then there was the “Let’s go eat at Shoney’s with the grandkids and I’ll go next door and buy an Audi” debacle. Now tires. For Christmas.

As I remember it, she huffed and puffed around for a few days. The tires stayed stacked in the Christmas Room until she finally told him to take them to get them put on.

When he unstacked them, a small ring box fell out. 

{here’s where I insert that my parents own a jewelry store}

For Christmas, my Grandaddy bought her an engagement ring.

She had never had an engagement ring in the (I’m guessing since I don’t’ remember what year this was) 40 years they’d been married, only a simple wedding band.

I imagine she didn’t squeal like a schoolgirl, but probably said, “Elmer!” in a half-mad, half-smarty-pants fashion, wanting to stay mad but being so excited about a surprise that she had to giggle.

That’s the kind of gift giver my Grandaddy was.

He’s lucky she put up with him for almost 50 years (he died in 2002) without leaving him after one of his impulsive or crazy purchases, but they were one of the most amazing couples I’ve ever been around. I know my Grannie misses him so much.

I know I do, too.

Filed Under: Family, Memories Tagged With: , , , , ,

Petting The Tree

December 5, 2011 By 10 Comments

Yesterday our tree went up. In true Anthoine fashion, we did it the same way we have every year since we were dating.

This year, though, unlike others where we’ve driven 2 hours to Atlanta to buy a tree from Big John’s Trees, we live 1/4 mile from one of their locations. If we were feeling spry, we probably could’ve walked our tree home. But alas, we weren’t.

Jason had to go to the office for a bit and so Henry and I went to the grocery store to get our hors d’oeuvres. Once he was home, we loaded up and hit the tree lot.

The beauty about a lot like Big John’s is that they have lots of different types of trees to choose from.

We walked and walked…

The typical frasier fir, the majestic noble fir and others. One jumped out at us though.

A White Pine.

A what? A Pine? That’s not majestic!

But if you think that, you’d be wrong.

The nice young man saw me petting (yes, petting) the tree and came over to see if we’d made up our minds. He took off his glove and started petting the tree, too. It was THAT GORGEOUS and DELICIOUS!

The branches were perfectly placed, the needles hung just the right amount. The tree was exquisite. And had to be mine. If for no other reason than I had already seemingly violated it by petting it so much.

Henry found a tree he wanted to “adopt” because it looked like it needed love. How could you NOT get this tree?

Back home we went. We have this same picture for the last 14 years (obviously some are without Henry)… I need to dig those up!

We unloaded the tree and placed it into the stand. One shot y’all, and it was perfectly placed. I removed the netting and the tree was as gorgeous as it was on the lot.

The hors d’oeuvres were lined up, A Christmas Story was turned on and the decorating began.

Only the tree was so beautiful, we didn’t put any of our ornaments on it. We simply put red glass balls and lights.

The limbs are too tender to hold the (obsessively massive) sterling silver ornament collection I have and honestly, it could’ve stood by itself with NOTHING and been as gorgeous as it is right now.

If you come over this Christmas, I won’t laugh at you if you pet my tree. She’s a beauty, isn’t she?

 

 

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Do You Know How I Christmas Shop?

November 29, 2011 By 11 Comments

How do I Christmas shop? Well, it sure as hell isn’t on Black Friday. {If you remember last year, I told you how much I hate Black Friday (and Oprah).}

I think Jason and I are in the minority when it comes to shopping for Christmas. I’ll tell you why, too… we don’t buy much for Christmas.

We shop the week before Christmas. {waits for people to pick themselves up off the floor}

We do. That’s right. We make typically two trips to shop and that. is. it. We can be in and done shopping in less than 3 hours which is completely insane to most people! But it’s how we do it and it’s worked for 7 years now. We spend very little money, very little time and don’t panic over things that aren’t in stock. We go with the flow!

The one year I tried to be really good and shop early, I ended up spending about five times the amount of money because I’d look for stuff everywhere I went. I was disorganized and then when it came down to Christmas, I had so much stuff, it was embarrassing. Mortifying, really. Gluttonous.

Luckily, our list stays fairly small for those we buy for. My parents, his mom, my grandmother and aunt, my sister and her family and Henry. Jason and I haven’t gotten each other gifts on Christmas in a few years. Not because we don’t want to, but because we’ve made other purchases that count for Christmas. (read: replacement iPhones and trips to NYC with the niece)

As far as Henry goes, he gets a trip to Target or Wal-Mart (gag) or Toys R Us a few weeks before to make his list. From that list, Santa is allowed to bring 3 to 5 things. If it can fit on the ottoman, it’s fair game! Then he gets a stocking filled to the brim with junk that nobody needs but that is just fun!

Why don’t we buy him everything under the sun and WHY DON’T WE SHOP EARLIER TO GET GOOD DEALS?

Well, a few years ago my sister was part of a Bible study and in that group they talked about how Jesus only got 3 gifts when he was born. The short version of the story is basically this: why should a kid get more gifts than Jesus got when we celebrate his birthday?

That really stuck with me. Why do we go so over the top with “stuff” for our kids when the real reason for the season isn’t to see who gets the most stuff or trying to see who can get the best deals.

Henry get stuff all year. He gets treats here and there and even earns his own money to buy things that he’s really wanting so at Christmas we try to focus on believing, helping others, remembering what the season is about, and having fun.

I don’t know about you, but it feels much better to drop money in a red bucket or drop some toys in the Toys For Tots box than it does to spend a ton of time and money on things that we don’t need.

 

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Operation Winter Camping

January 5, 2011 By 18 Comments

It was a great idea Jason had to go camping for a few days between Christmas and New Year’s. Really, it was. In Georgia, it’s normally fairly mild in December. Not this year. Snow on Christmas Day. The forecast was looking bleak. High of 45. Lows 23-30. *GASP* We pondered canceling, but decided to suck it up and go. We like the cold. We had equipment that would handle the temperatures. We were ready.

And we had a BLAST! I’ll share some pictures so you can see what a great time we had.

We headed out around lunch on Tuesday to go to Hard Labor Creek State Park. It’s over near Madison somewhere. We got there and checked in, grabbed some wood and picked a campsite. We decided to go down near the water, knowing it might be cooler but it was prettier.

Getting camp set up. Don’t you love the Coach purse sitting there? That’s rugged, man. So were the Sea Island shirt and diamond earrings I had on!

Henry got a new REAL fishing rod for Christmas and put it to good use.

Smile, boys! The sun was setting so we had to get busy setting up camp. Also, it wasn’t frigid yet.

The fire’s crackling and the kid’s wrapped up. The fire made great s’mores. We had them for snack, dessert after breakfast and just because. I like mine set on fire, Henry doesn’t. Jason won’t eat one (dummy).

Can you tell it’s getting colder? But that’s not keeping him from having a great time!

Our view from the campsite. There was a heron that lived out in this little pond and we enjoyed watching him fish for dinner. Also? When we woke up in the morning, the pond was frozen over! Yikes!

Just showing off the dinnerware and utensils. It was great and sturdy and easy to clean. All dishwasher safe.

Yes. That’s Henry with an ax. Learning to chop wood. It was his favorite toy.

Heading out on the nature trail. Henry was in charge of keeping us on the yellow trail. He was good!

Climbing on the rocks. This may be my new favorite picture!

The boys!

Please excuse my nastiness. I hadn’t showered in 2 days at this point. YUCK!

Self portrait of the three of us!

The lunch of champions. Hot dogs, baked beans and cheetos! Hell yeah!

If you didn’t know, Henry never meets a stranger. The camp hosts had their granddaughter with them and he was smitten with her. He’s showing her his DS and she’s just nodding along like he’s something special!

Learning to light a fire. Childproof lighters are really childproof! He couldn’t figure it out and was really frustrated. So he just went back to playing with the ax.

As you can see, we’re trying to make him self-sufficient so we don’t have to cook either. He learned how to make bacon and sausage! He was so proud of himself.

I was cold. And making eggs and potatoes. That grill was the bomb! It heated up water in like 2.5 seconds. Craziness! (Coleman, feel free to send me stuff for free to review for you)

Breakfast before we packed up to leave.

We had a great time. We’re already planning our next destination!

Filed Under: Adventure, Family, Henry Tagged With: , , ,
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