A New Christmas Tradition

Rachael had an idea this year. To make cookies and take them to the local nursing home and sing carols to all the residents. Somewhat in hopes that this would be a "pay-it-forward" to those who may not have anyone to visit them on Christmas day in the nursing home this year. Hoping that someone like us would go to the nursing home our Grandma Annie is in, just because, even if they don't know anyone there too!
There was a huge group of us that went to the local nursing home on Christmas Day: Mom, Bob, Rachael and Derrick and their four kids, Madeline, Natalie, and Jason and I. Mom brought her accordion to play and we started going room to room and singing songs like "Silent Night" and "Away in a Manger".

We met this lady at the beginning and she liked us so much, she followed us along for almost the entire time! She seemed to like the cookies and tried to hide them in her lap under a newspaper!
This lady was so happy to see us! When we went in her room, we asked her if we could sing a Christmas carol to her and she told me that she would love to hear us sing and that because the weather was so bad, no one was able to come and visit her, we were her only visitors all day!

The kids were such good sports! I think they really liked being there for the residents!

I'm sure they loved our cookies and singing, but they were really interested in mom's accordion! They just loved it!

All the kids were such little sweethearts!

This lady followed us around for a little while too and kept telling us adults that the kids keep thinking that she's one of them! So cute!

We thought we were all done and started heading to the door when this lady and her roommate called out to us. They must have had their door shut when we were walking by and we missed them! But they said they had been waiting for us to come to their room! They were so happy!

There were many who were awake and welcomed our singing, and there were those that were laying in their beds, not sleeping, but looked as if they were a little out of it, but once we started singing, and saw them mouth all the words to the songs, we knew they appreciated us being there. A couple of the ladies started crying once they heard us singing, which brought tears to my eyes too!

The more comfortable we got being there, the more hugs we started giving to the residents. Even the kids got into the hugging mood!

One lady was playing on her laptop and when we came in her room, she said "no cookies for me!" but she said we could still sing to her... as she continued to play on her laptop. After we sang, I asked her if she'd like a hug and she said, "honey, I can ALWAYS use a hug!"

We had so much fun! Jason and I would like to make this a tradition!

He just can't keep secrets!

Jason is the most horrible secret keeper ever! If he has a secret, he'll just tell me! I don't have to beg or ask or anything! He'll just volunteer it!
Sometimes it's great, for example, when we were just dating, I was getting a little anxious because we had been dating for so long, and he hadn't proposed yet, and being the girl that I am, it was frustrating to not know if he was in that track of mind... until, of course, he told me the secret: that he'd bought the ring! Ha-ha! Oh, but I was glad he did, of course! I like surprises and all, but I also like to be on the "in" too!
Anyways, I think I pretty much know what I'm getting for Christmas this year! It just cracks me up! He can take one day off, go Christmas shopping, and find EVERYTHING on his list! Who does that? I've been shopping since at least Black Friday and finally finished this last Sunday, and if I have time, I might even pick up one more thing!

Oh, but of course, he likes to be surprised! Yup. He doesn't want to give me a list of things he wants for Christmas, because he'd rather choose to be surprised at what he'd getting, and then play the game of "what's in the box" by shaking and feeling it on Christmas Eve when we open our presents. (And then he'll guess right almost every time of what actually is in the box!)
Either way, last night, after he got all the stuff he got for me, he was telling me some of the stuff, and asking me, "what color did you want, again?" AH!
Oh, well.
What can you do?
Nothing!
I told him that he better not complain about anything he gets for Christmas, because he did not give me a list of what he wanted.
(Luckily for me, he's a lot better at doing that, than keeping secrets!)

Candy story - Notre Dame Style

Next week, at work, there is a competition. The week will be full of fun holiday games and one of the competitions, is to write a story, must be holiday themed, and use candy as words in the story. You then have to put it up on a poster, with the candy. Must use at least 10 different kinds and not more than 20. I've bolded all the candies I'm using, so you know which ones they are.

Here's what I'm going to be submitting:

Twas the Day of the National Championship Game

Twas the day of the National Championship Game, when all through Pasadena,
Everyone was headed to the stadium, even the famous Joe Montana.
The leprechaun and the band were all set to go,
And the golden helmets were ready to glow.

The Buckeyes, those runts, were as smug as warheads,
While the vision of a Buckeyes loss danced in Irish heads.
Irish footballs were thrown on the field with care,
In hopes that a big “W” soon would be there.

When out on the field there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from my seat to see what was the matter.
Up in the air the football flew like a flash,
Tate tore down the field and ran a mad dash.

The goal line was in his sight, and the ball,
landed safely in his arms, ‘cause he’s the best in college football.
When, what to my horrifying eyes should appear,
But a red hot Ohio State football player without fear.

With a chunky jelly belly, so plump and slow,
I knew in a moment there would be a big blow.
But out of nowhere our offense they came,
Weis whistled, and shouted, and called them by name!

"Run Allen! Run, Hughes! Run, Aldridge and Olsen!
Go get them, Rudolph, Floyd, Riddick and Clausen!
Go help Golden Tate! Go block those Slo Pokes, you Smarties!
Go help your teammate now, and laters I’ll host your parties!

And then, in an instant, I suddenly heard “boo’s”!
It made me nervous, until I realized they were “Hughes”!
Tate must have given the ball to Robert, our halfback,
And Tressell, the Ohio State Head Coach, had an anxiety attack!

And then, in a krackel, I saw thirty-three,
You know, the guy getting his bachelor’s degree.
He was running and dodging and turning around,
Down to the goal line he went with a bound.

He was wearing a white uniform, his helmet all gold,
But Look! A man in red had him in a wrestling hold!
Hughes dove towards the goal line, when he broke free,
That’s just one more touchdown in this skoring spree!

We saw the ref, hands raised in the air,
A TOUCHDOWN! (Of course, Ohio said, “unfair”!)
If only “touchdown Jesus” could have seen,
ND win this good and plenty of us doing the pushup routine!

Wake up the echoes! Shake down the thunder!
Forty-five to zero! Ohio’s going under!
We yell “shut-out”, ‘cause they didn’t score,
We have finally won this rivalry war!

We sprang from our seats, chanting, “WE-ARE-N-D!”
We’re numero u-no! (Number one)! You see?
Then up in the sky, Santa showed up to proclaim,
“Merry Christmas, Fighting Irish!” and “Rah, Rah for Notre Dame!"

(As you know this is all a big dream,
If it were real you know I would scream.
Santa Claus look-a-like Charlie chuckles anyway,
It’s rare to get fired AND have a big payday!)

Tony's Second Birthday!

We celebrated Tony's birthday last Sunday, but it really was this last Monday the 7th, not sure how Lori talked Todd into doing that, since he's so against celebrating birthdays on a day other than the actual birthday!
Oh, well. We had fun!
Jack gave Tony his favorite Barney for his birthday. I'm pretty sure Tony was happy about that!Tony was so infatuated with the balloons! He kept playing with it! So did Bella!Here you see Tony looking forward to the cake!
Here Tony is with his car cake, ready to blow out the candles!
And here he is with his Elmo cake! He got to blow out a ton of candles that day!

Just a few pics from Thanksgiving, more to come when I have more time!

Baby Bella, dressed on my mom's baby dress she used to have as a baby.
Tony playing peek-a-boo!
Me and baby Bella. So cute!