First you mix one 2nd grade teacher with 20 kids and
you always see a lot of colds and flu.
Then send the teacher home to her family and you have three more people
sick. Then the two grand-kids spend all
day with us grandparents and you get a whole family feeling poorly. We are now into the second week of this and everyone
is getting worn out. It will certainly
pass, but it is sure tiring in the mean time.
We had a good Thanksgiving and only had to keep one
eye on Halley during the meal preparations, as she showed a lot of interest in
the turkey.
As before, most of our time is spent trying to keep
Victoria and Nico busy. I have found
that Victoria actually enjoys grocery shopping, so we have made two trips so
far. It is a great way to get her out of
the house in inclement weather and the fact that she gets a free cookie from
Publix certainly does not hurt.
A lot of time
has been devoted to getting ready for the Christmas holiday. It looks like we will have all our children
and grandchildren with us for the holiday.
This will certainly be a new record.
It will also be our second year in a house after six years being in the motorhome.
Like most everyone else, we have certain traditions we follow. For many years
we have had a nautical theme Christmas tree, where everyone who is around, gets
to take part in the trimming. When I was growing up, I lived on a farm with
my parents, siblings and grandparents. At my grandparents house, us
mere children were never allowed to touch their Christmas tree. To say they were fussy about the tree was a
huge understatement. Our role was to
stand well back and stare with wonder at the finished product. As a result, we have always let our kids help
trim the tree and the truly awful bits were redone after they went to bed. So now Victoria has had her chance to help.
Our Christmas decorations like all our furnishings
reflect a life of constant moving, a blending of American and Dutch culture and
our interests in life. We have been in any number of beautifully decorated homes
that give no clue to what the occupants are really like. The careful observer will learn a lot about
us just my looking around.
Of course, no warm up to the holiday would be
complete without some exposure to the great man himself for the little
ones. Santa actually made a trip around
our daughters neighborhood in a fire truck
with escorts. Then our first ever visit to a surf Santa.
19 comments:
Beautiful tree! It's fun to ready about other people's traditions. When I used to have to go grocery shopping with one or both of my boys, I was always glad to bribe them with those free cookies. I hope everyone gets well in time for the holidays!
Great pictures tonight. Whenever I get all my kids & grandkids together I try to schedule a trip to the photographer for a family portrait. I have a wall full of the pictures and when any of them stop by they always study those pictures.
I hope everyone gets well soon.
Love the header picture with Santa and the kids. Also enjoyed seeing your decorations. Great that all the kids and grandkids will be with you for the holidays. That'll be a special time.
I like the decorations on your tree. That might be a good idea to buy an occasional ornament from the places we go.
Hope everyone gets to feeling better soon. It should be a fun Christmas with those little ones.
Schools are quite the breeding ground for all kinds of nasty stuff. I was forever washing my hands, and thankfully I was also taller than most everyone in the building, so they didn't get to sneeze on me.
Nice pictures. Hopefully everyone gets better soon.
This is the time of year that along with Santa comes the runny noses and the flu for sure. Seeing Santa in his different outfits was probably fun too. Who would have thought that Santa could be a beach bum. Love your tree!
Hey, how did you get my Coast Guard Christmas Tree ornament?
So sorry you are all under the weather. But that probably means everyone will be feeling fine for the holiday and that's a good thing. The tree is beautiful. How funny, surf Santa. That's great!! I suppose he looks that way in Australia too.
I like the Coast Guard ornament and the wooden shoes. Getting ready for Christmas... Hope everyone gets to feeling better.
How sweet to have the tradition of the wooden shoes.
Not fair those germs jumping around there. Be gone nasty germs!!!
And a good time was had by all!!!
Love the header photos. Those kids are growing up so fast.
Tis the season to get sick...yuck!
Wising y'all a very blessed Advent season.
When I was growing up there was a box of plastic ornaments for the little ones to put on the tree. Nothing got broken that way, and my mother's special glass ornaments were out of the reach of small hands. :)
As I am battling a cold myself ... I can empathize. Hope everyone recovers in time to enjoy the holiday cheer.
Great post! Hope you're all feeling better soon :)
Beautiful Christmas Tree and I sure like that nautical theme. I've never seen one like that before.
The grandchildren are simply beautiful and I'm sure Christmas will be a wonderful time with all your family around.
I love your decorations - it has given me inspiration to start collecting them from our travels. Have a wonderful Christmas and enjoy every moment with your family!
Great header photo, Christmas is for kids for sure.
Beautiful decorations. Have a nice day with your kids and grand kids...
Post a Comment