Christmas Life

The Christmas season has officially begun!

At least around our house anyway. :-)

Mom and Dad brought my son home and spent the rest of the weekend with us as tradition dictates. We've got our tree up and in the water, presents purchased, and I'm getting ready to start doing some decorating around the house.

Now if only I could keep up with the dishes and dusting.

Christmas is typically my favorite time of year (Independence Day a close second), but this year it feels a little more mellowed for some reason. A year ago brought alot of heartache and upset right around this time with my mother's cancer diagnosis followed swiftly by my grandma's passing (mom's mom). Eleven years ago this Christmas Eve was also the time my dear grandpa passed away. There seems to be alot of hurt attached to this time of year anymore.

Back when I was married (sooo many moons ago) I was just starting out in the banking industry and didn't have enough seniority to get time off at Christmas. My husband's family lived in Nebraska and he would take off a week or two and go up to see them. I'd go a couple of hours south and drive back Christmas night.

I remember vividly that first Christmas night driving back home all alone. As I entered the city, it was eerie in its silence and disturbing in its darkness. Nary a car was in sight as I roamed the streets and pulled into the garage. Walking into the empty house brought such pangs of loneliness of which I've rarely experienced since.

My ex and I never spent a single Christmas together.

Which is why after the divorce, Christmas became my favorite holiday once again. I had no good Christmas memories from my marriage to cloud my future happy holidays.

But 1999 muddied the waters for awhile after the loss of my very best friend forever and ever between Thanksgiving and Christmas that year and then the passing of my grandpa that Christmas Eve. It was several hard years after that before Christmas again became a festive time for us.

So even though there's rather a mellowed sense of the season this year, there's also so much life to celebrate in that Mom is doing great and my family continues to draw close to one another through these tough times.

And isn't new life what we're really celebrating at Christmas anyway?

That's what I thought.

Stellar Performance

Well we returned late last night from our annual Fourth of July blow up the sky event with the family.

As usual, it was a smash. You know, it is amazing how much one can buy on a limited budget. I focused on all the bargain nightworks instead of grabbing some of the bigger stuff. All in all, it was still pretty, though much shorter than our usual display.

See you can get the most bang for your buck.

Sorry, couldn't resist.

Anyway, Mom contributed a good deal to the stash this year to help make the event the stellar performance it was. However, our numbers were much fewer this year.

Sometimes I hate it that the kids are all getting older. My nieces and nephews are gradually drifting away one by one. The oldest is living in Colorado and quite busy. One is away at school out-of-state. One lives out of town and has a girlfriend, so he decided to spend this year with her family. One is busy working in Arkansas.

Basically that left two kids - four if you count me and my sister. This resulted in the smaller stash, which resulted in the shorter time frame.

I guess that's probably a good thing, considering the Fourth was on a Saturday this year and we had to get up early for church in the morning.

But it was so neat. God joined in on the fireworks display and showed up all of us. Just to the south was a big storm system that moved slowly from the west to the east. All evening we had clear skies over us but a gorgeous lightning display just above the treetops. It was like God was saying, "Let's just see what I can do." So neat!

I guess you can say that the entire evening offered a stellar performance. Happy Birthday, United States of America!

Photo Phun

Well we've had an interesting past twenty-four hours.

Spent the better part of yesterday and most of the night trying to download all of my son's Europe pics for a one-hour print job at our local Wal-mart. When we went to bed last night it was at around 54%.

So this morning we got up to find that they'd all downloaded spendidly, and I could actually place the order. Finally!

That took another hour to do.

Once the order was complete, instead of being ready in one hour they'll be ready at 5:00 tonight.

We were planning to leave at 4:00 today. So much for them apples.

Of course, I'm not really surprised. Is it even humanly or technologically feasible to print over six hundred pictures in the course of an hour?

I didn't think so either.

Needless to say, I'm just glad to know they'll still be done today so we can hit the road and go blow up the sky.

It IS that time of year again, don't you know.

Brainstorming Bonanza

Today there's been alot of back and forth emails flying among choir parents about fundraising ideas for the big New York trip next year. Figure since I'm available at the moment that I can at least assist with the brainstorming.

If there's a noticeable benefit to being unemployed right now it's that I actually have time to participate in my son's school activities. Now he may not see it as so much of a benefit, but while I'm able I'll do everything I can.

That's one thing I'm really good at - brainstorming that is. When the synapses are all firing I can come up with idea after idea. Someone else may have to execute it, but that's what delegating is all about. I know my limits.

But it made me feel good to get a ton of pats on the back from parents at the good and numerous ideas I threw out for fundraising. Feels so good to be a part even if it is only briefly.

Our little town has an annual event each September centered on our history. Usually falls around my son's birthday. We could do a booth and see if Ottaway Amusements would allow us a percentage of proceeds on all-you-can-ride night if we promote it as a fundraiser for the choir.

We also sit just on the other side of a county line - the side that allows for the good fireworks on Independence Day.

I always knew there had to be more perks to living out here than just the schools when we moved all those years ago. But I digress.

So the highway is usually lined with these enormous tents filled with legal explosives of all shapes, sizes, and colors. Figured we could check into the possibility of setting up a fireworks tent for the choir this summer.

When I was a little girl, our school always had a huge carnival in the fall. It was so much fun and garnered the entire town's attention for a night of fun. Perhaps we could do a carnival themed around Halloween.

Then in December our town puts on Christmas in the Park with a chili cook-off, sleigh rides, and the firemen even sponsor the bonfire where you can roast smores. Maybe they'd let the choir do a caroling concert in the park for donations or maybe sponsor the chili cook-off. There's time to think of something, but that would be a great way to support the choir and the community at the same time.

Then there's a golf, baseball, or basketball tournament perhaps. The possibilities are virtually endless. One can only hope participation will be too.

My ideas may be too involved or cumbersome. They may not even be utilized. But I'm just thrilled to take part in the discussion.

At least while it lasts.

Fireworks Extravaganza Review

Hooray and Happy Independence Day!

Last night we had a great time blowing up the sky. I like to buy the big night stuff - yes, my yearly weakness. However, it does seem like each year there's always a couple of items I purchase that disappoint me and vow never to waste my money on that particular one again.

Everything I bought this year I absolutely loved! And I didn't spend my usual fortune to do it.

There were a couple of pieces I bought again that seem to be good crowd pleasers every year, and they aren't real expensive. These would be "Above the Law" and "Perpetual Motion".

A couple of fountains we bought just blew us away. "Behemoth" is kinda pricey for a fountain ($13) but I highly recommend this one. It reminds me of the Energizer Bunny - it keeps going, and going, and going...you get the drift. It is really tall too, so all the crackling crystalizing sparkling showers go higher than any other fountain I've ever seen. TRULY a masterpiece of fountains.

Then there was a surprisingly small, reasonably priced skyward item that was fantastic - "Crackling Color Palm". It had fountain-like effects with several exploding shots with following trails of silver and gold. Quite spectacular!

My all-time favorite is still "One Bad Mother". I just love the continual bursts and crackling plumes of little dancing amoebas filling the sky. We usually call them something else, but I'll keep this post "G"-rated for now.

We didn't go quite as long as usual, since it was my sister's year to go to her in-laws, but we had a good time with cousins, my aunt and uncle, parents, and all the next generation kids. I think we just may have talked them into coming to our usual bash we'll have again next year.

Until then, celebrate our freedom until we can once again blow up the sky next year!

The Waiting Game

We bought our fireworks this evening. Now the waiting game begins.

When my son was younger I used to spend some money on the cute little fireworks like snappers, snakes, lady fingers, little tanks, etc. Now I don't bother. It's all the big stuff, baby.

I love those 500 gram ones. The tall ones pack a real wallop and go on for long enough that I get to have time to light it, run away, and still get to sit down and enjoy it for a little bit. Got a 36 shot this year. Hee-hee-hee! Let's see what that baby can do, eh?

My son actually spent less but I think he ended up with more. He was a little wiser with his purchases this year.

I spent less this year too, but not so much because I wanted to. After buying the new house, furnishing and decorating (my decor was out of date and didn't really match the look of the new house) my savings looks a little peaked. Oh well - there's always next year.

Three days and counting. I'll let you know how it all turns out.

Being Braindead and Blowing Up The Sky

I'm having a braindead moment.

I've been so busy the last few weeks that I can hardly see straight. Work at the office has been insane. My son was gone last week and is now back home. I'm freaking out because it is almost Independence Day. I mean come on! June just started like YESTERDAY. How can it possibly be over?

Of course that means it is time to blow up the sky. Yes, the famous family tradition. We live in an area that sells the REALLY good stuff. Fireworks are my one big weakness on which we spend hundreds of dollars a year. And don't start with me - I'm well aware that many people feel it is like taking a match to dollar bills. You're just burning up hard-earned money. That may be true, but sometimes you have to live a little and just have some fun.

So Independence Day is the one time we plan for every year. I have no qualms about plunking down good money for some really incredible displays. The tradition seems to have been picked up by my son. Last year he spent almost a hundred dollars of his own money. Yes, the baton has been passed. I'm so proud.

Sometimes you've got to blow caution to the wind and let your hair down. Just make sure it doesn't catch on fire. You know, it is probably best that you keep it in a ponytail or bun until after the fireworks show.

We usually get together with my family and pool resources to have one incredible personal fireworks display. It lasts for hours and hours. Then the boys usually start a funeral pyre for one of the action figures chosen for sacrifice that particular year and burn up most of the leftover tubes and such so that there is little left to discard but ashes once we are finished.

I'm not yet ready for it all this year. We haven't even begun to buy our explosives. Hopefully I'll have time to go out tomorrow evening after work and pick up some choice items. My son has already started compiling his list. Sure hope he's compiled his money too.

I only hope I'm not braindead come the 4th!