It comes every year and will go on forever. And along with Christmas belong the keepsakes and the customs. Those humble, everyday things a mother clings to, and ponders, like Mary in the secret spaces of her heart. ~ Marjorie Holmes
There was so much we did in December and I planned blog all about it, but it did not happen. I have resigned to the fact that I cannot play catch up by posting on each event tucking back on a date corresponding to when it actually happened, because it would take me half of January, and then I would be playing catch up for another month, so this is a summary of what I had planned to do in December and some of what actually happened.I planned to post each day of our advent calendar as it is provides a great deal of folklore—maybe next year.
I planned to tell all about the treats I made. The cookies: Gingerbread Men, Milk Chocolate Toffee Squares, Rich Brownie-like Cookies with Andes Thins Crème de Menthe Chips, M&M Sugar Cookies, and Pecan Sandies, also known as Snowballs here. The candy: Pumpkin Pie Fudge, Buttery Caramels, and Dark Chocolate Toffee—and even though it is not Monty's, yes, it is to die for, Ganeida. (More on that story here and be sure to read the comments too.) The white chocolate with peppermint was just something I added to the plate for something a bit different, but I did not make them. I gave some away to neighbors and to friends we visited.I planned to take good ("good" being the operative word here) pictures of our Christmas tree, of the stockings I personally cross-stitched and had sewn years ago, of a few special ornaments most of which are handmade by my husband's mother, of the several nativity sets we have, of a particular nativity set I personally painted for my husband long ago that is always set up prominently under the tree in front of the presents to remind us of the greatest Gift of all, and of our Christmas Day with surprised eyes and happy faces. Unfortunately, I also tried a different setting on my camera, one that was supposed to be better for the lighting and it was not until after Christmas that I loaded them on my computer to see that nearly every one of them was blurry or out of focus! Fortunately, a few turned out well.
I planned to detail our traditions of watching the movie It's a Wonderful Life, drinking eggnog and eating cookies, while we decorate the Christmas Tree. Open another door on our advent calendar and read the folklore that is associated with each item found. How we place gold, frankincense, and myrrh—the first being a bracelet and the latter two being oil essences—before the baby Jesus in the nativity set on Christmas Eve to remind of us why we have this tradition of exchanging gifts and focus on the meaning of Christmas. This year, my husband read The Crippled Lamb by Max Lucado, The Three Trees, and from a large shaped paperback book he has had since he was a child, 'Twas the night before Christmas on Christmas Eve.
I planned to share stories before Christmas like the fitting of a riding helmet, while trying not to give away that my daughter would be getting one for Christmas so she could take riding lessons. Then she saw another Breyer's horse she just had to add to her growing collection. We received many upon many catalogs with boundless delights and tempting toys for children. Each time she turn a page, I heard the words "I would like that for Christmas," which saddened me. The Princess was questioning the existence of Santa just a few weeks before, but it was clear to me that she believed still when she wrote him a letter asking for two things only: Riding lessons and a rag doll. My heart practically sang and sank at the same time. I was happy that she again had narrowed all that she wanted on her own down to just two things, but the latter one was a late entry, picked from one of those catalogs, and it was not available as I wrote in a previous post.
My husband is a softie. He found another one made even better than the one she wanted. He has great taste, I think some would say champagne taste because the doll he found was a Kathe Kruse's Waldorf It's Me Doll. Quite pricey, but I have to say the quality is outstanding. All 34 inches in height, of course, was brought by Santa, unwrapped and waiting for the Princess in a blue dress with jammies. She has been the Princess' constant companion, even has a place at our dining table. Every night she is dressed in her jammies to sleep with her and every morning she is dressed for the day. The Princess now wants to learn to sew to make more clothes for her.
The Princess also received two games: Bananagrams, which is like a solitaire Scrabble game without a board, and a Hot Potato. She is enjoying both very much. She received two Breyer's horses, one from us and another from her grandparents, who also gave her the riding helmet. The helmet in the darker light looked red and she was just a bit disappointed that it was not the color she really wanted, a metallic hot pink, but after she saw it in better light, she was very happy. I added the latest Mr. Putter and Tabby book to her collection. Although now too easy to read for her, they are delightful stories and I am hoping to keep the books so she has them for her own children. The third Ice Age DVD movie was also given to her and watched on Christmas Day. We went over the budget with Christmas, but this year we knew extra money was coming.
In the middle of the month, my husband had his review and he received a 4.5 average in most areas out of a possible 5 and he was going to get a bonus. The percent of all the bonuses would be smaller than they had offered in past years, but still my husband got the higher amount because of his review. Also, all the employees even up to the CEO had taken a pay cut for this past year, a percentage that increased according to their base pay. Because the company had done so well, all that money was to be paid to each employee also, but they would not reinstate the normal base pay for this year. Still, I am very happy that this company is fair and cautious with the economy as it is.
Then another big surprise, a check from the state of Georgia. They had held back a refund for a few years because of a modification to some returns for previous years we made and we had paid them all in full, but our returns had to be audited, apparently. We did not have to go in, just provide IRS records and wait for them to sync up. Well, finally they released our refunds for those years all at once.
With our extra bit of funds and having been so frugal for the last three years, we decided we could be just a bit extravagant for Christmas. At the last minute, practically, we decided to have pictures done. We have not had any professionally taken for all that time so it seemed to be a good idea. I doubted we would be able to get in, but they had an opening just two days before Christmas. Of course, they would need to be sent overnight to be received on Christmas Eve.
We gave a money and food to some people in need as we have not been doing much of that in the last few years. We still did not buy each other anything, well...our DVD player died in October, so earlier in December we bought the kind that not only plays but records onto DVD so our home video tapes can go digital.
Now we are looking forward to making a large payment to bring our debt down and that feels like a very, VERY good start of our new year!
~ Thank you, my Lord, for blessing us. I just cannot thank you enough. ~
