Merry Christmas!!

Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house not a creature was stirring .... yea right! We were over at the Jensen's for Christmas eve and it was anything but quiet. As always there was lots of laughter.

First we started off at church for Christmas eve services. It was really nice the way they did services this year. Worship and then a story geard for the children, but I really liked it. Then a message by Pastor Paul and then the singing of carols.

After Church we headed over to the Jensen's for dinner. Man are Wayne, Jennifer, Heidi Ganz, and Ronnie good cooks. Dinner was delicious! After coming home we did some gift wrapping and then all hit the beds.

This morning began perfectly. We told the kids no presents until 8:00. We moved it back and hour. Cole came down stairs to tell me that deer were in the back yard. I got to stand in the dining room looking out the sliding glass doors watching two deer. Awsome way to start the day. We then got the rest of the kids up and opened gifts.

After that I went right back to bed and slept until 12:00. That was very nice. I needed it. Since waking up I have been listening to Ronnie and the kids play with our new Wii. I love it when everyone is laughing in our house.

Tonight we had some friends over that weren't going home for the holidays. We played the Wii, ate dinner and now everyone is off to the movie theatre.

We hope that each of you are blessed this coming year! That we can remember each and every day (not just today) that Christ is the reason for everything! That we all would stop what we are doing and be thankful for all that we have, for our family, and friends! We are thankful for all of you...even if we don't know you personally... and the part you play in our lives. We wouldn't be who we are or where we are if it wasn't for the people in our lives.

Merry Christmas!

Below are some photos from last night and this morning.

We were teasing Veronica last night that the reason we had to move to South Carolina was because she was having a baby. Doesn't Micah look like he could be her child? Actually this is Brandon and Heidi's little boy.

Veronica, Ebby and Hunter

Veronica and Ebby

Ebby, Heidi and Jennifer

We were praying last night and the mermaid had to join in. Isn't this cute with Hunter, mermaid, and Anna?

Ron and Ebby

Brandon and Heidi

Wayne and JenniferSmalls got an awsome Christmas present from Bethmom and Waltwee. A bigger crate.

Hunter putting together our new Wii.

I, Ebby Ray, have actually found three things that I hate about winter. I know…alert the presses. I really do love winter. I can get warm by bundling up, but I can never seem to get cool enough in the summer.

Here are the three things I hate about winter:

1) I hate it when I am getting in my car when there is snow on the ground. I try to knock off all the snow before I put my feet in. No matter how much I bang my boots together or on the side of the car there always seems to be snow on the floor. I hate this.

2) I hate it when the inside of my windshield freezes over. The INSIDE!! Not the outside. It takes forever for my defroster to work and get the ice off the inside of the window. I hate this.

3) I hate it when I go outside and my nose hairs freeze. I have finally figured out that it doesn’t hurt, but it is irritatingly uncomfortable. I hate this.

So there you go. I actually found things that I don’t like about winter.

Fun With Smalls...The Christmas Sweater

Smalls got an early Christmas present from his dog friends, Sissy and Trouble, from South Carolina. He was totally lovong it...at first...then decided he had had enough. His decision gave us all a good laugh. Hope you laugh at our dog's peril as much as we did. Here you go:

In other news...

I got really sick today. My body was committing serious acts of violence against itself. This is news because I just never get sick. So when I wake up with a migraine and less than an hour later start vomitting, that is news. It was my day off , so I wasn't at work when the violence was happening. Thank God! I will also be taking a sick day on Tuesday to fully recover from and not spread the violence.

Have a super day!

Ron

Friends, Food and Much Laughter

Last night we had dinner over at Wayne and Jennifer's house. Brandon and Heidi were there as well with their two children. There is always much laughter when we all get together. Last night was no different. After dinner some of us made truffles, some of us watched a basketball game, and then we all played a rousing game of Catchphrase. Catchphrase ended with Jennifer doubled over laughing so hard at one of the guesses I made. That is the best part of getting together with these two families. We laugh so much and it is usually at each other. Someone will say something and we will all just run with it.

When I got to there last night I started taking pictures. I eventually ditched my camera so that I could use Mrs. Jensen's non-digital-actual-film-using-camera. I don't know how the pictures will turn out, but when I get the disc from her I may post some of the pictures.

This is Brandon with the youngest member of our group, Micah.

MicahMy girls, Heidi and Jennifer

My lovely husband who I had to make laugh to take a decent non-pursed lips picture.

The middle of the gang...Cole, Megan and Alex Cole and Alex Wayne served up a mean fried turkey last night. Oh my gosh that was the best turkey I have ever had!!

The next to youngest, Anna, and Jennifer

Now when I got home and downloaded the pictures from my camera I found some that I hadn't taken. While I was busy with Jennifer's camera Hunter had taken mine. These two made me smile. I like the first one, but the second one made me ask "Why?"

Where o' where has my Christmas spirit gone...where o' where could it be?

I remember when I was little Christmas was a big celebration. All of my mom’s side of the family would get together a couple of weeks before Christmas Day and celebrate together. My grandmother was one of five girls. The “sisters” and their families would all get together for a day of visiting, good food, and presents.

I remember so many traditions that my Great-Aunt Bog (yes, Bog) would do each year for us kids. There would be a humongous ginger bread house on the kid’s table. We knew not to nibble at it until dinner was over. That was so hard.

Another thing she would do is get each of us kids a silver ornament with our name and the year inscribed on them. We would have to look through the Christmas tree to find it. She would also have an envelope with money in it on the tree that we had to find with our names on it.

The anticipation was horrible. We would sit there and sit there waiting until we could dig into the ginger bread house. Then we would have to sit again and wait until all the presents were passed out and given permission to find our envelope and ornament.

My Uncle Godfather (Bog’s husband who was actually my Great Uncle and godfather) would always take me into the back room and give me the hug and kiss he had been saving for me since the last time he had seen me. This was a special little thing between us that I am sure that he had with all the kids, but made me fell like it was just for me. And NO this is not in any way as perverted as it sounds. My Uncle Godfather was the bomb.

After my grandmother passed away when I was 9 we didn’t go to the Christmas celebrations anymore. We had moved to Colorado with my new stepfamily. After that I don’t really remember celebrating Christmas too much. I am sure that we did, but it just wasn’t the same.

This past year Christmas was wonderful. We spent the night at my mom and Walt’s house and then woke up Christmas morning all together. Love was in the air and an excitement about celebrating Christmas.

This year….blah. Blah, blah, blah. There isn’t a single decoration out of the box much less set out. We still need to get a tree. I still need to go shopping for the kids and Ronnie. I have gotten everything for the rest of the family since I have to mail it on Saturday, but not for those in my house.

Where is my Christmas spirit? Do you think I could find it at the mall? Maybe next time I work at Target I can pick some up. If you find any lying around could you please drop it off to me? I need some. Actually my family needs me to get some. I can always meet you somewhere to pick it up. Thanks in advance.

Tagged!

I was tagged by my good friend , Wendi, who by the way is carrying her second son at the moment, and is down to every two week OB appointments. That has nothing to do with this post, but I just thought that I would throw it out there.

Here are the Rules: go to Your Pictures file go to the 5th folder open up the 5th picture and post it then tag 5 people when you are done.

It is funny that this is the picture. This is our family out at the orchard. Two of them not so happy to be there, one enjoying the dog and one being very sarcastic with his smile, and me taking the picture.

I choose to tag Jenny M., Jennifer J., Sarah C., Jessica W. (if she reads this), and Josh H. I would choose Delilah, but Samson would probably kill me.

Snow Days - Part Three

How many of you knew that there was a “Winter Storm Warning” from 6:00 pm Monday to 6:00 pm Tuesday here in Rochester, MN? Ooo, ooo, I did!! (Picture me jumping up and down waving my arms in the air)

I watched the weather throughout the day yesterday. I was getting so excited about the approaching storm. I love snow. I love the quiet that it brings. Go outside while it is snowing and it is almost silent. Then everything is so white. Makes me think of that song “White As Snow.”

Yesterday I worked from 8:00-5:30 at Olmsted Medical Center and then had to get right over to Target by 5:30. I didn’t think that I was going to make it because the roads were covered and getting slick. I did make it just in time without having to drive dangerously.

My shift ended at 9:30 pm last night. I got my coat on, bundled up in my scarf and mittens. It really snowed while I was at work. I had all of my gear on and was heading across the parking lot. Didn’t I learn anything the other day? Immediately my t-shoes were filled with icy snow. I FORGOT MY BOOTS!

So this morning I thought that I was really on the ball. I got dressed for work and put on my snow boots with my pants tucked in the top of the boots. Pretty smart don’t you think? I was so on it!! I grab my things and headed out the door for work. I got to my car and wiped all of the snow off of my car door and window. See I did learn something from the other day. I sat down in my car and grabbed on to the wheel. It was then that I realized that I only had one mitten on and no coat. Grrrrrrrrrrr!

I got out of the car, went up the steps, went in the house and grabbed my coat and mitten off of the railing. While I was back in the house I yelled at Cole to grab my cell phone (I hadn’t had it for three days and people were asking if I had gotten their messages.) Back out to the car I went and off to work. I got to work and just put the hood of my coat over my head. Thankfully it wasn’t cold out.

This is going to be the last post on my snow adventures. From now on I am going to remember my gear and all the things I am supposed to do for winter driving.

Also, was that really a winter storm last night? It hardly snowed and I was very disappointed.

Snow Days...Part Two (by RR)

Growing up in Southern California, my exposure to snow was limited. I would "go to" the snow up in Big Bear once or twice a year, if at all. My Uncle John taught me how to ski at Snow Summit Ski Area and a couple of years I would go with friends, family, or church groups to a rental cabin and enjoy the cold temeratures and pure white landscape. But still, snow exposure: limited.

Over the past five years of living in Minnesota, we have had plenty of exposure to snow. And I have to say...I LOVE IT!!! I love it when it falls from the sky. I love it when it blankets the ground. I love bundling up to go out in it. I love how quiet it is when you go out at night or early in the morning. I love how when the sun is out and the wind blows, it makes it look like the air is sparkling. I love sitting in front of the living room window with a hot cup of coffee and watching it collect on the trees. I love how it ushers in the holidays and the holiday spirit. I even like driving in it. Snow is amazing.

I will admit that snow does have it's downsides; shovelling it is probably the main one. And by mid-February it has out stayed it's welcome. But overall it is awesome.

Tell me what you like about the snow.

Snow Days

For as long as I can remember I have always deleted from my head any information I needed from my previous address. I am good with phone numbers but once I move and the information changes I figure I don’t need it anymore so I delete it from my mind. This is a pretty bad habit when you are trying to give someone a history of where you have lived (ie. the phone company, elect. co, etc.)

I realized today that I have also deleted from my mind information on what to do on snow days. We moved to North Myrtle Beach, SC in August of 2007, and I didn’t think that we would live in the north again. We moved and I deleted information.

This morning we woke up to about 1½ inches of snow that had fallen over night. Well I was excited. I love snow. I did remember to ask Hunter to go out and start the car. He remembered to turn on all the dials for the defroster, car seat warmer, and back windshield defrost. That is where the remembering stopped.

I walked out the front door with “slip on” shoes that were immediately filled with snow. Ugh…I need boots. So I go down the stairs to my car. I flung open my car door…before scraping off the snow around the top of the door and windows. Plop…my seat was then covered with snow. Ugh….I need a scraper.

After getting the snow off of the seat I got in and pulled out of the driveway. Down the hill I was going. Aaaaaaahhhhhh…I need to pump the breaks on my car when going down hill on a slippery road. I went sliding down the hill, but thankfully stopped before hitting Elton Hills Rd. Remember I didn’t think that we would be moving back to the artic northwest. I bought my car in May of 2007, moved in August of 2007, and didn’t have to drive in snow last winter.

I think after this morning that all the information for snow days in back in my head. I was trying to remember our address in North Myrtle Beach, but that is gone now. Guess the snow info replaced it.

Happy (Belated) Birthday Cole!!

Happy 10th Birthday, Cole!!

I am 2 days late with this. I just didn't remember to put it on the blog. Never-the-less here is our baby boy. Double digets this past Sunday, November 30th.