My Christmas Eve Tradition That Is A Must Every Year....

First off I would like you to leave a comment about your Christmas tradition or favorite memory of the Holiday Season.....

A family tradition that was started in my family long before I was on this Earth was going to Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve....

I remember Christmas Eve.....I use to spend most of the day listening to Christmas music and keeping an eye on the gifts being put under the tree..... spying for the packages with my name on them...waiting for a time when no one was in room with me....when the opportunity arose I would shake the gifts to see if I could figure out what was in them....and of course looking at the size of the gift...typical kid.....

I was put to bed early evening and was awaken around 11 pm or so....I got ready along with the rest of the family and we would walk to our church which was up the block from us....It usually was a beautiful night.....with a blanket of snow on the ground and new snow falling....the air would be cold and crisp...nothing said Christmas more then that...

The first thing we would see when we arrived at church was the beautiful life size (or so it seemed) Manger scene...We would enter church, the choir would be singing songs and church would be packed....after Mass we would start our journey back to the house...singing Christmas carols at times...

When we got home my dad, mom and who ever else would make a big breakfast with eggs, bratwurst, cinnamon rolls, bacon, toast and sweets...after our bellies were full it would be off to bed so Santa could come...I would still got up at the crack of dawn to open gifts...

To me Christmas is not Christmas without going to Midnight Mass....my kids go with me at times...but we never have breakfast like I did...but maybe someday...between the Mass, the Carols, and the generosity of the season that is what Christmas is all about...

One step closer to being deliriously happy....

Snowball Fights...

Nothing more invigorating then the thrill of a snowball fight. As we all know to have one we need some good packing snow and peeps or kids that have a good sense of humor.

Snowball fights are one of my favorite all time memories of the snow or I should say memories with the kids in the snow. My kids are usually my best and only targets for my snowballs...they are not safe in the car, house, or a parking lot of a business. I never miss an opportunity to touch them with some cold snow nor do they miss an opportunity to get me back....

The minute I walk outside and see the fresh falling packing snow the fight is on...the opportunity to conquer the quest of getting them with the cold snow is underway...we give chase around the car and yard...nothing or no one is safe from snowballs flying in the air....Yes, I have been known to toss a snowball in the car and on occasion in the house when they are running for cover...

As my one daughter says it is a weird freezing cold experience with unending amount of laughing and people are looking at us strangely...thinking we have lost your mind....wondering what we think is so fun...throwing cold snow at each other...

I cannot wait to have a snowball fight this year since we live in NC now the fights are not as frequent but the memories are just as great!!!

One step to being deliriously happy...

Memories of Snow...Brrrrrrrr

I was thinking of how happy I was not to deal with snow anymore now that we live in a warmer climate. My thoughts soon went back to when I was a kid and how I loved to play in the snow all day long. I remember putting layer upon layers on to keep me warm. When I came in from playing in the snow my hands, legs and feet would be red and cold and my clothes would be hard and stiff from the snow. Funny how as kids the cold never seems to bother you or I guess I should say some kids.

After a snowfall the plow trucks would push the snow into huge piles on the corners of the block were I lived. We seen this as great opportunities to build forts, caves and have some fun. We were pretty good little engineers and we didn't have many cave ins. Lucky for us no one was ever hurt. Course we never gave thought that someone could get hurt. We were just kids having some fun.

The relentless task of using our feet and hands to build our caves and forts gave way to the hours of fun, laughs and excitement for the day. We enjoyed climbing in and out the caves and on top of the caves. Building caves with partners to have snowball fights with the other group and take ownership over their caves was so much fun and still brings a smile to my face. Great memories that have lasted my life time.

Great snow memories that have help create..... one more step to being deliriously happy..

Thanksgiving Memories....The Smell of the Holiday...

As a child I had two found memories of Thanksgiving, the first was the fact I had a couple of days off of school which was always a plus and the best thing about the Thanksgiving Holiday in my book. The second was being woken up by the aroma of my fathers cooking.

I can remember laying in my bed smelling the wonderful aroma of good food cooking. My father must have gotten up at the crack of dawn to start cooking. I would drag my lazy butt out of the bed and out to the living room where my parents would have the TV so we would not miss the parade. Our big dinner would be early afternoon. After dinner the football game would be watched. Football was a staple at my house and one that I have not ever gotten into. Our Thanksgivings always consisted of my siblings and their families. We never had any other family members over.

My family stopped celebrating Thanksgiving as a family when my farther passed away. Now its time for our own traditions to start. Hmmm what can we do.....

I haven't thought of any real cool ideas as of yet, but I'm sure I can and it will be better then the hotdogs we had for the big day one year. I have never been a big fan of the parades, football or turkey. Yes, I'm American just not much into the day. I like to focus on the day as the day of giving thanks for everyone and all the great blessing that have been bestowed upon me.

Now Anessa does the cooking and we help her. Hopefully someday it will become a great fun family tradition of having huge gathering of families and friends. The day will be filled with love, laughter, smiles, hugs and being thankful for the great life we all have. My thought to being one step closer to being deliriously happy.

Our Disney Journey....

Traveling with the babies to Disney. The dreaded car ride.

Hands down driving at night with the babies sleeping was heaven. The kids slept off and on. They were tired and quiet. No fussing was heard except from the middle child. Props to the babies but not to the middle child. I could listen to some good music and enjoy the drive. Not to mention the traffic was great. Wide open roadway, who could ask for anything more.

The the middle child who is home from Korea drove me insane on the trip down. She complained about everything. First she was to hot then she was to cold. She complained about the music. She did not like it or it was to low, to high. It was constant non stop. Next time I am taking Benadryl with me. Yes, she will get a dose or two plus some duct tape to boot. (Not really but the thought will be there LOL)

We all enjoyed playing I am going on a trip game. To my surprise the kids did an awesome job with this game. We had some great belly laughs with licking lollipop lion, wait I am wrong again. Darn it!! It is a lion licking a lollipop. For the life of me I could never get that one right, but hey in my defense I was driving in all that night traffic. Good excuse to me. This was a good way to kill some time and keep us all awake.

The ride on the way home. Never again will I travel during the day with the babies. All I heard was...you guessed it...How much longer before we are home? Yep, the first time I heard this I knew we were in for a long trip. This question replaced the middle child issues on the way down. The DVD system did not help. Of course the rain all the way home did not help either because traffic was jammed from accidents.

I wish hotels would do half rates for people who travel at night. I would definitely sign up for that.

We stopped once on the way down and a zillion times on the way home. Another reason traveling at night is better in my world anyway.

Lets not forget we not only had the luggage to contend with on the way home. We now had added suvioners and a stroller to the mix. Thought we were squished on the way down, on the way home we were beyond squished and no one except me had foot room. I think I could use a smaller vehicle. LOL

We finally played the I am going on a trip game five minutes before we were home. Oops, next time that will be the first thing we will do half way into the trip.

Two Single Mommies Preparing For Vacation

Getting ready for our first family vacation as single moms. Anessa's may be their big sister and my daughter but she is just like a mom to her younger brother and sisters so I will put her in the mom category. Thank God she is the planner or we would be in trouble. LOL She loves to be in charge so half at it, sister as I say. Just let me know what I do NOT need to do I tell her with a smile on my face. I do voice my opinion when needed, course I have to be listening to her to do that. I have so enjoyed having her take over some of the responsibilities with the little ones. Yes, I'm so lucky.

My major concern was making sure we have some type of navigational system to use. We have no sense of direction. As I tell everyone I got lost trying to find the line for understanding directions when I was being made. Maps are useless to me. Seriously since there are no left or right directions on a map I can not read them. Heck I have no idea which way leads to Florida from my house; North, South, East or West. In one word, I'm clueless. So I did my job and we will have one. Oh, wait I forgot I have to figure out how to use the GPS.....we are so doomed.

The fun and glorious packing. The kids have out grown their sneakers, pants and shorts....all their clothes so new wardrobe for all. Lets not forget all the personal necessities such as sunscreen, hats, sunglasses, curling iron etc. Please you have to pack so much to take with a family of six that it comes down to it you either take the family or the luggage but both will not fit in the vehicle. LOL! The winner is........The Luggage! We will work it out. The kids might be completely covered by luggage.....it will interesting.

We need to find some type of entertainment for the ride down. Music is a must the CD player will be loaded with our favorite music and we do have Sierras radio so music COVERED. We will bring movies for the DVD system. I wonder if I will have to listen to movies all the way there or will they be sweet babies and put on the head phones? We also have to find room for snacks and drinks. I'm so happy I will be doing the driving. I will not have to squished by luggage and snacks.The kids will have a fight or two because one of them will have an inch more of room than the other. I can see the pit stop breaks open up the car door and everything falls out. Lets not forget the dreaded HOW LONG BEFORE WE ARE THERE. LOL

My Haunted TV and Microwave.....

A story to tell for Halloween/All Hollows Eve. This story is not scary but strange and perfect for the season.

Let me set the stage.

We moved into our house 5 years ago this month. When we moved in our house our belongings were still in MI so the people we brought the house from left all the things they did not want behind. One of the things they left us was a console TV. How cool or so we thought. The TV had a mind of its own or was controlled by something other then us. For the 3 yrs and 2 months (yes, I remember how long) the TV would come on and shut off as it pleased. You would turn it on and it would shut off at some point. It could be minute from the time you turned it on or an hour. Whenever you would turned it back on and it would shut off again. This could happen many times, just once or not at all while you were watching TV it all depended on what 'mood' the TV was in. Yet other times the TV would just come on all by itself. We joshed around about our TV saying it was possessed. We got rid of the TV 2 years ago this Christmas. The new TV has not had these issues, BUT..........

Our Microwave took over. Yes, indeed it did! Our microwave is possessed. Right when we got rid of the TV the microwave started. It comes on as it pleases. You shut kitchen cabinet door or the microwave door and the microwave comes on. ( so you know there is no time on the microwave and its off) My favorite is when you hit the "0" button and the number "6" comes up. The buttons on the microwave will work when they want to. We laugh and joke about it. At times we say we need to have a priest come and bless our house.

Yes, there has been people who have been here when these odd things happen. Needless to say they are just amazed and entertained by our strange happenings. We are not scared, I'm sure there is some logical explanation or NOT. For now we will continue to be amused by our strange Microwave.

One step closer to being deliriously happy.