Not a Creature was Stirring..

..well..except for me, obviously, and O, and my furry babies aka China Pearl and Adair. So it's a restless night here at my house, but what can you expect on Christmas.

I have no idea why the little critter is awake and upstairs singing and cackling to himself. He should be tired. In fact he should be exhausted, but I get the feeling he's awake and going to be..right up until the time I go to get him up to see that Santa was here. He does this on occasion. He'll crash hard early, but low and behold come 3am he's wide awake and won't ever go back to sleep. How does a kid do that? Maybe it has to do with the fact that he takes 3 to 4 hour naps most days. Or maybe it's the reason he naps that long in the first place. Whatever the reason..he's going to be cranky, which I'm not looking forward to this Christmas morning.

Why am I up you ask? Well, it's two fold really. A) It's Christmas morning and I'm a toddler at heart. I've never been able to get a good sleep on Christmas Eve. I'm always too excited about opening presents. Not me, though that is fun. I do adore presents. But what I love most is seeing the expressions on the people that I love when they open up the gifts that I've chosen for them. I get so wound up with anticipation that I can't sleep that night. To be frank, I'm lucky if I don't break down and insist the person up their gift the moment I bring it home from the store. I used to be terrible like that, but I've improved some. My trick is not shopping too early in the season.
And B) I had Big Daddy's stocking left to fill. I didn't wrap everything that went into it this year, so I wanted to wait until he was asleep to do so. Check.

I could go back to sleep I suppose. My alarm is set for 6am, but it's so calm and quiet here that I think I'll pass. An opportunity like this doesn't come around that often. The tree looks beautiful this morning with it's lights all aglow, presents bursting out from underneath and spreading across the floor in a sea of mismatched paper. The moon is casting a silvery glow across my back yard, making it look like the yard is filled with snow (which would be lovely for today only of course). All the critters have settled and it won't be but a half hour before my Mom calls for our traditional 6am (her time) Christmas morning chat.

Isn't it a spectacular morning?

One too Many For Me

I'm a bad neighbour. I decided that just this morning. Today my neighbour's daughter came over to see if I would be able to watch her son for a few hours while she took her nanny to stay with her (the daughter) son (whom she had to put in the hosptial because of a 106 degree fever) while she ran errands. I said I would of course because I have trouble saying no to people who aren't family - I find that kind of odd. I immediately wished I could have changed my mind right then and there and given her some excuse, lame or perfectly logical, but I couldn't come up with one. Not having an excuse was one of the reasons I answered the door in the first place. I knew the moment it rang, it was someone wanting something from me, but I get tired of explaining why I don't answer my door..so I answered it.

Her son isn't a bad kid really. He's younger than O by a couple of months and just learned how to walk so he's at the age where a lot of attention is needed. Combine that with the fact that B has some kind of oral fixation and everything (and I do mean EVERYTHING) goes into his mouth. I certainly wasn't prepared for this kind of morning though. I was constantly on the watch to make sure that B didn't put something in his mouth that could hurt him like the hooks from the ornaments on the tree, small fruit-like balls on the Christmas tree, metal pulls on the fireplace screen and tv armoire, and any other small toy of O's. It didn't matter. He found all those things plus more including cat toys, toy cars, blocks, and shoe laces. I couldn't turn my back on him for a second.

Needless to say I'm exhausted and I'm ready for a nap. I'm glad it was only three short hours. I don't know how much longer I would have lasted. My patience was starting to wear thin as well. Nothing worked with B; Not smacking his hands, time outs, or just telling him no. To be quite honest, he barely responded to his own name. I lost my cool once and needed to count to 10 to calm down. After that, I decided that there are very few children that I would look after in the future.

It's my fault really. I set myself up for this kind of thing. I try to be a kind, compassionate and caring person, which is why I always volunteer myself if friends or neighbours need anything. "If you ever need anything, just give me a call". When I say it, I mean it. I truly do, but when they come calling there is often that twinge of regret and I kick myself for saying it. I do what I can to help out because I've extended that invitation and I don't go back on my word. And despite my sometime Scrooge-like attitude, I'm always thankful in the end that I could be there for them when they needed help. I guess I just need to work on my attitude and remember the end result. I have to keep in mind what's important to me, and being that person I set out to be..is.

First Frost

While some other areas in North Texas have already been subject to an ice storm or two, we've just had our first frost of the year. I awoke to a crisp, clear, beautiful morning. Frost covered just about everything and it was too hard to pass up a photo opportunity such as this one. I took a moment to dress and start my vehicle, then dashed off to dress O for our little excursion. Normally I wouldn't have taken him, but it was Big Daddy's turn to sleep in this morning.
By the time we left the house, I was affraid I had missed most of the good light, but as it turned out, it wasn't all that bad. Next time though, I'll get up earlier to catch the dawn twilight. I headed down our county road towards a barn I had caught a glimpse of on our country drive earlier in the week. I thought it might yield a pretty picture. On the way though we were treated to some wild and not so wild life.




Two things that are abundant here in Texas..cattle and horses. In the same field I saw a pair of coyotes headed for the trees. I didn't get a great view, but it was enough.



The ambient lighting didn't last long, but here are a few other shots that I took this morning (the last being the barn that I specifically made the drive for. As you can see it wasn't great lighting there).

Big Daddy goes to China

Okay..so this blog is no where near where I want it to be. I'm trying different things out, but liking nothing. I'm pressing on if my endeavor to find a layout and scheme that I like. In any event, the world continues to spin and life moves forward.

This week my husband (who, from hence forth will be referred to as "Big Daddy". He loves that nickname LOL - not really) got word that he will be heading off to China early in the new year. We knew this was coming..eventually. We just had no idea when. The trip was originally scheduled for this summer, but as with most projects of this magnitude, the trip was continuously postponed.

While the trip is a business one for Big Daddy (in other words, he'll have very little time to do anything but work)I personally feel that it could be a trip of a lifetime for him. China is a world away and hardly urban America. The culture is different. The landscape is different. Life, to some extent, is different (I'm assuming). I'd jump at the chance to make this trip, work related or not. How often do trips, paid trips at that, to far away foreign lands come along in a person's lifetime? For a small town girl who has never been outside of North America, obviously not many.
But Big Daddy doesn't see it the way I do. All he sees is the negative aspects of the trip. He's going to be gone for at least two weeks and likely more. There is a 18-20 hour plane ride involved in tiny seats no less. He doesn't like anything that resembles Chinese food. He'll have to be away from his young son. It's also a great deal colder there this time of year then what he is used to. He doesn't like crowds, but this is China that we are talking about here. How quickly he forgets about all that history, culture, and beauty. He's going to be in the Chinese capital of Beijing, near the great wall of China, Tian'amen Square, The Temple of Heaven, The Forbidden City and lots of other great places! Have I mentioned that I would LOVE to be the one making this trip? Maybe another time, should the opportunity ever present itself. But then again, maybe not. I highly suspect this house would fall apart if I ever left for more than a week and O stayed at home with Big Daddy. Chaos and pandimonium would ensue I'm sure. Oh well, I can always dream I guess.

Facelift?

I know I said that I was happy with the way this blog looked, but the more I study it, the more I don't like the colour scheme or even the layout for that matter. I've decided to put my internet development skills to good use and design something that's more my style and more of what I'm looking for. I doubt I'll stray much from the Blogger standard, but something a touch different would be nice.

I'm hoping to come up with something quickly that satisfies me so I can get back to writing, but for now...

THIS SITE IS UNDER CONSTRUCTION

Christmas Wish List

- Monopod
- Tripod
- Trip home to see family
- Nintendo Wii
- Two new tables for my craft room
- Watch
- Trip to New Orleans to see NCAA football National Championship game
- To have snow for Christmas day
- For my son to actually sit with Santa for a picture
- Son to enjoy his first real Christmas celebration
- My mother-in-law to be more involved in our lives without us having to push for it
- New television

Turkey Day Updated

Thanksgiving was not what I expected this year. Something was off. It didn't feel right. We celebrated the holiday as we had years previous, without family. Though, this year we celebrated with our neighbours from across the road. God bless them and I thank them for their kindness and consideration in asking us to be a part of their Thanksgiving, but it felt..off..to me. I don't know how else to describe it.

As Christmas approaches (and having received another suggestion of a shared holiday dinner by said neighbour) I'm forced to contemplate why I didn't enjoy our communal meal. The food was excellent. I enjoy the company of my neighbour. She is intelligent, fun to be around, and funny. We have similar parenting styles and common interests. And while we are friends, there is no real close nit bond with her or her family. Our husbands have nothing in common and speak only to say hello and share a few other pleasantries. So while it was a pleasant enough afternoon, the occasion seemed to lack the warmth, merriment and sheer spirit of Thanksgiving.

I particularly find this revelation sad as I had hoped the dinner with our neighbours would make up for the fact that we weren't able to be with family this year. I thought it would be nice to share the holiday with others. But after some discussion with my husband, I discovered that both of us found the dinner did not live up to our expectations and was more awkward than anything. We've been asked to share Christmas dinner with them. But we've decided to decline, politely of course, and spend another quiet relaxed Christmas with the closest family nearby...each other.