Christmas tidbits

I’ve had a pair of Christmas earrings since high school that were a bunch of those tiny light bulbs in a clump. They are tacky but I always wear them on Christmas, it’s tradition (or something). Then I was in Aco a week ago and found even more tacky earrings Christmas and marked way down! What could I do? (I know Stacy, Clinton, John and Lex would not approve, but still…) These ones have smaller light bulbs and a battery-holding bulb so that they blink. That’s right, blinking Christmas light earrings!! Does it get tackier than that??? I pulled them out of my purse and was putting the batteries in when my cousin Gina, age 4, came over to see what I was doing. I told her I had the tackiest earrings yet and would she like to see them?
Gina: Yeth
Reen: Will you tell me if they look ridiculous?
Gina: Okay (she shrugs her little shoulders)
Reenie turns out these horribly tacky earrings and the look on her face was priceless, wide eyes and mouth as she watched the blinking, in a trance.
Reen: So? Are they ridiculous??
Gina, shaking her head: I can’t really tell…

For the record, they are ridiculous. Sadly, no picture can really capture just how ridiculous. I guess you’ll have to just see them for yourselves some time.

Alan was around for Christmas and seemed to enjoy it immensely. He’s such a sweet kid with a big smile for everyone! Ben, my four year old nephew, really seemed to take a liking to him and kept going over to lean on the arm of the chair and talk to him. Ben likes a captive audience to talk to and certainly found that in Alan (who spent a good bit of the day in the big comfy chair). Not to mention Alan enjoyed the pop-gun almost as much as the other kids.

Alan got several gifts and was so delighted. He got a new shirt or two, I made him a pair of flannel pants with extra wide legs to accommodate his braces, and he got a basketball. He was very excited about all of them, but especially the basketball. While recovering in the hospital, he discovered the joy of the Big Ten Network that played games around the clock. He is determined to play basketball, especially now that he’s had surgery and will someday be able to stand!! I was a little nervous Alan would be overwhelmed by all the Christmas insanity at the Cous farm, but he took it all in stride, grinning from ear to ear and happy to be part of the crowd. What fun!! Since Ira didn’t make an appearance, I did get a few pictures of his first American Christmas ;)

My dad and Alan have bonded for a lot of reasons. But it really struck me today that Alan’s dad died a long time ago—he’s a boy without a dad, and what a gift that we have been able to share my dad with Alan. What a gift for Alan, I’m sure! And a good reminder to me to be thankful for the gift of my dad, my mom, my family, the many gifts I’ve been given that I take for granted so often.

For the cousin gift exchange after a big Christmas dinner, we did a white elephant exchange for all the kids 12 and older. This was our first year doing this (rather than just picking names) and from what I can tell, I think it was a success. My gift was a tacky Christmas sweater and an uncle john’s bathroom reader. My favorite uncle (who just finally got rid of his tacky Christmas sweater collection and the guy who inspired my purchase) let me talk him into picking my gift. Pretty darn awesome, if I do say so myself, although at the end of the exchange, he traded it to Fiona for a model car.

I got a wooden duck decoy with a long history. Brendan got it from my grandpa on the other side who has hundreds of duck things. My cousin Zach stole it and sent him a ransom notice with a pic of the duck tied up or blindfolded or something. Then Hannah (when she was engaged to Bren) helped steal it back at thanksgiving. Then for Christmas Brendan gave it to Zach and this year Zach gave it in the white elephant exchange… I have a feeling this is the gift that never stops giving…

What I’m hoping is not the gift that never stops giving is the cold that some of my nieces have and a few other people. I am a sucker when it comes to cute kids who don’t feel good and just want to sit with you and snuggle. They may wipe snot all over me and get me sick, but I can’t say no. So I’m drinking lots of juice with vitamin C and hoping to ward off the cold… so far so good, although I’m not sure how long I can hold off… I’ve already missed the last few bugs that have gone through my family and friends… for today, I’m happy to be healthy.

Lazy lazy lazy

I don't know what is wrong with me!! I am usually uber-productive... and yet yesterday and today I cannot seem to focus or get anything done!!!! This is really bad timing since a good friend and her family are coming this afternoon and will be spending the night here, so you'd think that would be real incentive to clean my house... but between yesterday and today I've had the dickens of a time getting anything done- I just want to sit and stare into the distance and vegetate. Sigh.

I've gotten the living room and kitchen done (yesterday), laundry folded but not put away. Bedrooms mostly ready for guests. but still need to do a few important areas, like the dining room- currently covered with gifts, wrapping supplies, magazines, junk mail, dog hair... ugh... Can't. Get. Up.

So much to do, so little motivation...

"A memorable gift for your pet"

I’ve been hearing these ridiculous commercials for weeks “Give your pet a memorable Christmas”… every time I heard the commercial it cracked me up. Memorable? For your pet? Are you kidding me?? I was glad to see someone else found this to be a ridiculous ad campaign (thanks Karen).

Although Maggie likes to prove me wrong by clearly “remembering” the stockings sniffing them daily in search of a bone she remembers appears there approximately once a year. Other than the stocking rawhides, I think I may have hit on the most “memorable” gift yet. New cushions for the dog beds.

Maggie is a stuffing fiend, so anything stuffed gets unstuffed usually within hours (or minutes) of being put into use. This has meant that the dogs do not get particularly comfortable beds - old comforters, pillows, etc that are good for most dogs are unaccepatable because they will simply be unstuffed, which makes a huge mess, makes me mad, and clearly isn’t worth the hassle. Instead they get a couple old blankets stuffed inside their cute pillowcases that match the dining room.

I’ve had some old foam couch cushions in the basement from a couch that I got rid of a few years back. So this week I trimmed two of the cushions down to crate size and wrapped a piece of fleece over each to make new comfy dog beds. Mind you, I wasn't sure if Maggie would just rip the foam to pieces (just like stuffing) so I didn't sew the fleece or anything, just wrapped the cushions for a trial run. And as it turns out, I think they like them! Suzie even left the room I was in so as to nap on the new bed! Suzie typically would rather be in the room with me than anywhere else, no matter how uncomfortable. Maggie never cares where I am but seems to love the bed and hasn’t attempted to chew the foam (fingers crossed) which probably means she loves the comfort of 4 inches of foam between her and the hard floor. We'll see if it lasts.

I think I got them a memorable gift after all… or maybe it's not really memorable after all, just comfortable. (And the best part of this memorable gift is that I didn't spend anything on it, the fleece was in the sewing stack and the cushions were in the basement. My only problem is that the fleece doesn't match the dining room... one is black, which is fine and I can stack the cute pillowcase on top, the other is green, which is completely the wrong color scheme... so we'll see how long I can let it go before buying matching fleece...)

And while I'm boring you with tales about my dogs (bet you can't wait till I have kids... the details I will recount... heh heh heh)... here's more: When Maggie was a puppy she LOVED rawhide bones and would rip through them in no time at all. Now she’s got a much shorter rawhide tolerance, she usually just chews for a few minutes before losing interest or her gums start bleeding and she gives up. Suzie is still a voracious rawhide chewer. Guess we’ll know when she leaves puppyhood behind when she slows down on the rawhides. (She’ll be four next week and shows no signs so far…)

As usual, the dogs each got a rawhide in their stocking for Christmas. Maggie, who had been sniffing the stockings for days, was just as excited as Suzie for her rawhide and chewed it for over an hour Christmas morning before I took them away. I guess she really got into the Christmas spirit (although I’m not sure the real Christmas spirit has anything to do with rawhide). Typically, I have a 20 minute rawhide rule in our house because of the fumes that follow if they have them longer. But it was Christmas and Maggie was ripping through her rawhide like she was young again (awwww) so I let them have them much longer… which has proven to be a mistake. 36 hours later, I’m still smelling the results… and it is much worse than usual, probably because Maggie has a very low rawhide tolerance… she is particularly pungent. Sadly tomorrow I will give Suze her rawhide again because we will have small children visiting, and Suzie + rawhide = perfectly kid friendly without overwhelming licking. Maggie isn’t getting the rest of hers until she can go a few days without farting from the last dose.

TMI? I'm sure it is. Merry Christmas from the BOC. and just be thankful you aren't here to experience all the "merriment" :D

Christmas Morning at the Nichols Homestead

More on the epic tale

No more visits from George while I was around, though that isn't saying much since I don't live there. Nonetheless, I thought you'd want to know.

Allan had surgery on both of his legs last Monday. A week before the surgery I'm on the phone with my mom asking how it's going to work, what the recovery looks like, etc.
She kept saying "Oh I don't know, I guess we'll find out next week after the surgery."
Me: "Um, if he's going to be at your house for recovery, you need to know AHEAD OF TIME what he's going to need, what to expect, etc."
Mama: "Well, that would be nice, i guess we'll see."
This is a perfect illustration of the difference between a "P" and a "J". And I am an extreme J twitching uncontrollably after such an open ended conversation!! (And I'm sure my "P" mother wonders what is wrong with me.)

A few days later I hear that the plan was for him to go to Foundation Lady's (FL from here forth) house to recover. So my parents located a hospital bed, got it all set up at her house, etc. In the meantime I keep wondering how this is actually going to work. I mean FL meant to host him before but couldn't do it, why would a post-op Allan be better than a pre-op Allan? In my head, I'm quite confident that he'll be at my parents and I encourage them to be part of any pre-op meetings with the surgeons, etc.

Allan's surgery apparently went well, he was at the hospital for a few days, and then, sure enough, went home to my parents (after they went back to FL's house, disassembled the hospital bed, set it up in my parents' living room). I'm actually glad he's with them. Clearly he has bonded with my family and that is his American "home"... if it were me, I'd rather go home than to someone else's house especially after major surgery! Besides he has physical therapy appointments almost every day and my dad is the one to take him since it requires some lifting, etc to get him in and out of the car. At some point soon, he'll also have surgery on his non-functioning arm, though I'm not sure if that is scheduled yet.

At the gingerbread house party, Allan was obviously a little overwhelmed by all of the activity and opted to stay in bed and watch from the living room- I can't say I blame him. I do wonder what he'll think of a Cousino Christmas Marathon... and it makes me wonder who else will be included in our family Christmas, I mean, my parents randomly adopt all sorts of people, especially for the holidays, so it could make for an interesting crowd. Maybe George will make an appearance with the camcorder again...

Oh yeah, and Allan's English is improving all the time. I wouldn't say he's fluent, but he has picked up a lot and you can tell he understands a lot better too.

And so, the adventure continues...

A Christmas Eve Morning Edition of The Good, the bad and the ugly...

The Good...

-A day off today!! Actually nearly 2 weeks off, with a few working spurts as I need to go in and get mail and check messages! I'm ready for the break.

-Last night I was supposed to hang out with some good friends, but the weather (more snow) made the roads bad and I decided to stay home rather than fight the roads and traffic. It was a good decision and I got all the family calendars finished and several ready to mail (today maybe) and 2 other gifts made (for Owen and Alan). It was a cozy evening to stay home and project like a nutcase.

-I love my Christmas tree. I love having the house all decorated for Christmas. I love this season- though, as usual, Advent flew by all to fast. I love Christmas Eve Mass. I love Christmas celebrations. I love that God sent His only Son so that we might have Life!

-I have the house to myself for a few days, which as you probably know, I always enjoy. I'm not sure what it is about an empty house, but I absolutely love it!! It's probably the result from growing up in a large family and never having a quiet house, or years and years of roommates, but somehow the quiet house is one of my favorite things. (And by quiet it just means I'm on my own with the BOC, it isn't always quiet. In fact, as I drink my coffee and write this, I hear the lovely crunch of toenails as Suze works on hers).

-My brother Garrett is flying in this evening from New Orleans, I'm excited to see him!! and I'm praying the weather doesn't prevent his coming.

The Bad...

-"Wintry mix" 'nuff said.

-Overachievers who take their dog out for a walk early each morning, making it harder to shovel sidewalks and making some people feel guilty about not walking the dogs at all in days, maybe even weeks... hmmm.

-Thinking I will be able to do make a whole bunch of Christmas gifts and getting all excited for them... and then the reality of limited time and skill kicking in and having to change plans.

-My bruised knee still hurts from my crash on the icy patio 2 weeks ago. It's finally faded to a pale yellow/green, but it still hurts whenever I kneel on it.

The Ugly...

-My bootivity (a gift from my grandparents a few years ago). As ugly as it is though, it always brings a smile to my face! Seriously, check this thing out. Why on earth would Grandma say "I saw it and it reminded me of you because it's so unique, just like you!"

-My living room and family room are a disasterous array of projecting stuff that needs to get cleaned up.

-my kitchen floor (still ugly after all these years).

-I make a point not to shop on Christmas Eve if I can help it. I hate the crowds, the rush, the insanity. But in a case of bad planning, I will be completely out of dog food after dinner tonight and I'm out of bread and need to pick up some stuff for my part of Christmas dinner. Bad bad planning Reens.

-Suzie trying to itch all the fur off her face again, not a good look Suze.

Merry Christmas to all of you!!!