Our first stockings

B's Mom used to send us stockings every year.


They were more gift bags stuffed to the gills with goodies than stockings, but we still called them socks.

About 5 years ago we got the call that every child adult dreads.

The socks were to be no more.

APPARENTLY a poll was taken unbeknownst to B and myself and it was decided that a gift would replace the sock.

*GASP*

Yeah........ I think I speak for B and myself when I say:

WTF???????

Okay yes we are grown-ups here but come on....

This was our Christmas sock we are talking about.

We loved our socks.

We got over it.

Sort of.

Thankfully we still had someone else that made us socks.

But part of OUR tradition together had been erased.

So we did what any couple would do, or probably had been doing all along and we were just a little slow on the uptake.

We started buying socks for each other.

That first year we went off to Wal-Mart and went in separate directions with our shopping carts in search of goodies to stuff each others sock with.

We inadvertently bumped into each other a few times but quickly took off in different directions not wanting each other to see what was in our basket.

I have to say that first year was really fun and I’m pretty sure we spent way more on each others sock then we did on gifts.

On Christmas morning we were pretty stoked to open our stash.

Before kids we either opened gifts at night and slept in, or opened in the morning then went back to bed.

That year we opened in the morning.

As I was opening mine I came across a box all stuffed with tissue.

Underneath all the tissue was a blown glass snowman that was the cutest thing I had ever seen.

I was so touched that he had picked an ornament for me that suited my taste.

It hangs right near the top of the tree away from prying hands and curious cats.

And it is another one of those ornaments that will automatically provoke an ass whooping if broken.

Our first time....

....alone at Christmas was not fun for me.

I hated being away from my family,

I called them every two hours it seemed.

It was silly really b/c we were less then three hours from home.

I made turkey dinner for the first time,

but ate it alone because HE was napping.

The gravy exploded all over the stove

because I tried to make it in a pyrex dish.

HE tried to recreate part of his traditions though.

HE made a chicken noodle omlette for breakfast.

Then,  I thought it was bizarre.

Now I can't live without them.

At the time it was sad to me that we were alone.

Today it is a reminder of how far we have come.

Over twelve years together.

Longer than alot of marriages.

WE work hard at it.

WE laugh at ourselves often.

WE are snippy at each other more than I would like to be.

WE created two beautiful children together.

And everytime I look at this ornament that I bought on our very first Christmas,

I think about how much I love HIM.

He's all mine.....and all His.

M that is.

Today was a little rough.

A little scary.

Tested my strength as a Mom.

Tested our strength as a team.

Something as small as gashed tongue,

(Which FYI was not so small and left me feeling sick to my stomach all day)

Reminds me of the gift we have been given.

Today it was a tongue.

Tomorrow it could be more serious.

We are so lucky to be a family.

I am so lucky to lean on B and be the level headed one in these situations.

I do not do well with blood.

I do not do well with accidents.

I do not do well when my kids get hurt.

I'm sure that sick feeling never goes away.

Today I am reminded that things are just things.

They can be replaced.

He can't.

He is clumsy like me.

And he has no fear like his Dad.

I am in for one hell of a ride with this child of mine

So today I was  more patient.

He was aloud to look and touch.

But he still had to be careful.

That snowman seems to be a favorite of his.

Back tomorrow to continue "The Ornament Cronicles"

Thanks for stopping by and having a boo.

x/o

J

Another Important Bulletin...

We interupt the regular scheduled programing of "The Ornament Chronicals"  to bring you this special blog post:

Have you seen this giveaway my scrappy friends???  You can also find it here, here, here, here, here, here

A few years ago In my search for the perefect storage solution I stumbled upon this website.

As someone who loves to scrap and loves to organize, I have searched far and wide for something like this.  The Original Scrapbox has so many scrapbook storage solutions to choose from.  The EZ view craft desk being my very favorite.  In a perfect world, where I had myself a gorgeous room all to myself and an endless stream of money I would own that desk and a Workbox as well.  Alas I am on Maternity leave and having owned this house for just one year I think there might be other things we need first.  Which is why I am trying to WIN one instead.

Join me wont you?

Happy Happy Friday!

My Vintage Snowman

I love this guy.

And by love, I mean LOVE.

He is so special to me in so many ways.

My Brother bought him for me the last Christmas we celebrated together.

I know he didn't have tons of money but when I opened this I was blown away.

I felt as though he had searched far and wide to find the perfect thing for me.

He hit it bang on.

I don't think I ever got to tell him that.

Tell him how much I love this guy.

How much I look forward to digging out his own special shinny red box every year.

Unwrapping his feet that dangle together from their special plastic packaging.

Thinking about him and missing him each time I look at my special vintage snowman.

Frig.

I hate that he is gone and that we don't have any more Christmases.

I hate that it is 7 years later and that I still can't write something about him without a pool of tears  in my eyes that are blurring my vision.

I hate it.

But I love my special vintage snowman.

And if any of my kids break this guy I think I may ground them for eternity.

Prophylactic Snowman

I have to honest here.

I could not wait to post this guy.

I was twitchy all day giggling to myself.

This guy was in my sock from Mom last year.

I have no other words.

Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse

I come from a family of crafty women.




These women make everything.



They can sew anything.



AN Y THING!



My Grandmother, when I was young, made me and my sister all kinds of Barbie furniture.



We had the best Barbie stuff ever.



I was broken hearted as a child when we left B.C. and moved here, leaving some of those treasures behind.



If I could go back in time, my choices would be different.



My Handmade Raggedy Ann (again made from my Grandma) and my Barbie furniture would have made the cut.



But at a mere 10 years old how do you choose between those and the very first pink puppy stuffy that your parents gave you on that last Christmas that we spent there?



Hard choices to make.



Life is like that...allot of tough choices that are made and as a child you never really now why they were made or if you are lucky, you are completely oblivious.



I think I was lucky.



I know now that we had allot of tough Christmases.



Tough in the sense that my Mother, who is so kind hearted and giving, couldn't always give the things that she wanted to give.



She did such a good job of raising us that we never knew the difference until we were older and wiser and started to ask for things.



But even then when we did get some of those more expensive gifts, we KNEW that there were sacrifices made for us to have them.



I am so thankful for all I had as a child.



Because really, I KNOW there are some that had less.



So back to crafty.



My Mom made us all an ornament one year.



For the life of me I can't remember what color my Brothers was.



I'm fairly certain my Sisters was light blue with pink.



Mine was red.



I have had this ornament ever since I can remember; honestly I don't know the year. (Mom?)



I have always hung it proudly on my tree along with all my other store bought ones.



It looks so simple to make that I hope one day we can sit down together and make some for the boys.



And I really hope they enjoy theirs as much as I have enjoyed mine.



Thanks Mom.