I have been exceedingly quiet of late. Thank goodness I have a wonderful blogging partner who picks up the slack when I slide into the abyss.

Our Christmas was lovely. Now that Santa no longer stops at our house I was able to focus more on quality as opposed to quantity in terms of what wound up under the tree. The result was two very happy children and even some shrieks of delight.

And, as this was the first year since we’ve had children (with the exception of a few times that Gamer Dude broke the agreement) that my hubby and I officially exchanged gifts it was fun for me as well. Especially as we had agreed on not only a budget, but on trying to get each other a bunch of small gifts instead of one larger one.

The following day was Miss Artistic’s birthday. Since we had already agreed that her “gift” was to go shopping for some new clothes there was little for her to open but we did enjoy both a trip to the movies to see Avatar and dinner out on Mr Grumpy.

The week that followed however left much to be desired. It was filled instead with little but irrational teenage temper tantrums, a horrible 4 days of telemarketing, and a resulting bad case of heartsickness by yours truly.

I am hoping that we can look forward to a better 2010. I have goals for myself, for my household, for my future. I am hoping that I am able to make some true progress toward them in the weeks and months ahead.

May each of you be blessed beyond your greatest hopes and dreams

Mama Kelly

Written by Mama KellyTags:Christmas, depression, holidays, teenager, Xmas

Today I am grateful for getting over the last remnants of my recent upper respiratory infection to be completely well in time for the holidays.

Today I am grateful for a truly happy holiday weekend with no moments of angst and a house filled with laughter.

Today I am grateful for everyone in my home being so spoiled, not just in terms of the financial aspect of gift-giving, but in terms of everyone getting things they wanted and needed.

Today I am grateful for a wonderful visit from my dear friend “M” (who will be referred to as Drama henceforth). Drama has been coming to out house for Christmas for about 5 years now, and as it is generally the only time we see her each year it is always a true gift to simply be in her company.

Today I am grateful that the new year is upon us. While it still boggles my mind that it will soon be 2010, I a grateful for a new year with no mistakes in it yet, and the opportunities it grants for fresh starts and new beginnings.

May you and yours be blessed

Mama Kelly

Written by Mama KellyTags:Christmas, family, holidays, Xmas

Presents are wrapped, a menu is planned, food is bought, cookies (baked last weekend in large quantities with my friend “E”) are wrapped up on the table for Christmas morning. We are as ready as we are going to get.

Things are still really stressful, Miss Artistic’s issues are not going away any time soon, and as a result my holiday spirit is not what it usually is and I am hoping to “get into it” by the morning.

I wanted to pop in though and wish each of you who celebrate the day, religiously or secularly, a joyous day filled with wonderful sweet surprises and more love than you can shake a wand at.

Blessings!

Mama Kelly

Written by Mama KellyTags:Christmas, family, holiday, Xmas

This year our family has started a new tradition, making a donation to the World Vision Organization.  We sat down with the catalog that came in the mail of possible gifts to donate and my daughter narrowed down a few selections she thought would make the best choices within our budget – chickens, fishing gear, medicine, and clean water.   Together we decided to donate:

•  fishing gear (provides an impoverished family with the means to put food on the table),
• two chickens (which will provide eggs, and since they are easy to breed can multiply and provide food to share and potential income), and
• 3 ducks (provide eggs and multiply, but have the additional bonus of being able to survive in a flood; 1000′s of families in Bangladesh have lost their food and livelihood because of torrential rains that kill their chickens so World Vision is helping to switch to duck farming).

Since I will have more time to plan and save for next year I hope to be able to afford a larger donation for Yule 2010 (perhaps we will be able to donate enough for a cow, or a donkey, or a goat along with some medicine and clean water).

Knowing that our donation will make a real difference in someone’s life and seeing the smile on my daughter’s face is priceless.   I look forward to sharing this tradition with her for many, many years.

If you are interested in making a donation, there is a lot to choose from in a variety of price ranges. For example – it only costs $12 to donate 2 ducks or $25 for 2 chickens and provide a continuous source of food for a family, or $50 to help stock a school; $100 for a small business loan for a woman; medicine for $35 (provides $390 worth), and much more to chose from.

I can’t think of a better way to celebrate the Yule holidays.

Bright blessings, Lady Rose

Written by Lady RoseTags:charity, Christmas, holidays, Yule

Today I am grateful for getting a good deal accomplished in terms of de-cluttering in preparation for company the next two weekends and Christmas the weekend after (which will include company as well).

Today I am grateful that two of my dearest friends “E” and “M” will be among my visitors and am looking forward to their company and their friendship.

Today I am grateful for getting all my cooking done for the week ahead. My Indian dish came out really yummy, my stew was to die for (but then it did have a whole bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon in it), we haven’t tried the jerk chicken, but unfortunately the chicken with Chinese vegetables only got rave reviews from 1 out of the 5 os us and probably wont be made again.

Today I am grateful that while both Princess Nature and myself are apparantly coming down with some kind of upper respiratory bug neither of us is truly ill either which means odds are good we’ll be healthy in time for Saturday’s “tree trimming” party.

Today I am grateful that while Miss Artistic is still having problems with her depression, with oppositional defiant issues, and with schoolwork, overall she is happier now than she was a year ago, two, or even three. Hopefully, there is light at the end of the tunnel, even if I can’t see if just yet.

Today I am grateful for a house being filled a little at a time with holiday decorations. Granted my house is not bedecked with twinkling lights as I would like to see, but things are starting to look a bit festive all the same.

Wishing you and yours happy holidays!

Blessings

Mama Kelly

Written by Mama KellyTags:Christmas, holidays, preparation, Xmas

Today marks the first day of the last “lazy weekend” until after New Year’s.  The only thing that absolutely must be done is to drop off the kids at individual sleep-overs (one being for a birthday party) and to drive by the Mall and pick up jewelry I had dropped off to be re-sized.

Granted, there are other things I SHOULD be doing.  I should get some things done in terms of cleaning and organization as I would still like to see Miss Artistic in her own room by Yule.  I should clean my bathrooms.  I should start packing away some Thanksgiving food into the freezer. I should try and organize the mass of paper that came from dismantling Gamer Dude’s desk and moving its contents onto and around the desk in our bedroom.

I should do some more holiday shopping (as well as pick up a birthday gift for the Elder who will be 15 the day after Xmas).  I should think about starting the wrapping.  I should start the cards as well.

Because, while Christmas is still about 4 weeks away there is really not all that much time left to get it all done.  In two weeks the family will be coming over for our semi-annual “tree trimming” party and in three weeks our friend “E” will be coming up for our own holiday visit and cookie baking marathon.

This leaves me less time than I might otherwise have to do everything that needs doing, especially as I will still be working my usual hours and running the kids back and forth to Tae Kwon Do.

But, it will all work out.  It always does.  Every year I work myself up into a fine panic and every year Xmas morning dawns and I have managed to get everything done.

So, ignore the craziness and stress-inspired rantings that I’m sure will be appearing here over the next couple of weeks and enjoy your own holiday season to the utmost.

Blessings

Mama Kelly

Written by Mama KellyTags:Christmas, holiday shopping, holidays, stress, Xmas

Princess Nibbles’ is doing alright overall.  She’s not enjoying school as much this year as she’s not too fond of her teacher, or more accurately is convinced that her teacher is not all that fond of her.  Luckily I have parent teacher conferences for her in a couple of weeks and I plan to get to the bottom of it (nicely, subtly …  I promise)

Additionally I think she’s a little overwhelmed this year with the combination of school, the gifted program, flute, and Taekwondo (especially as we go three times a week now).  But, she’s determined to do it all and while she continues to enjoy everything and keeps her grades up all we can do is let her try.

At the same time we have to watch her a bit because she tries to be perfect even though we encourage her to not be so hard on herself all the time.

On another note, she is determined to get an American Girl doll one way or another, come hell or high water, by hook or by crook, even if she has to save up the money herself.

Now don’t spoil the surprise, but odds are we will get her the one she wants for Yule/Xmas (especially as I talked her down off the ledge of wanting the even more expensive My Twinn doll with the lure of knock off costumes and accessories on Etsy).

I even promised her that once she saves up enough for her doll (cough, cough, wink wink) that I will teach her how to crochet and we will make stuff for her.

In case you’re curious we’ve settled on the Julie doll, mainly due to her hippie wardrobe and long (very long) blonde hair, both of which Princess Nibbles approved of.

My main concern, aside from the frightening expense (somewhat offset by the fact that I know their dolls’ quality), is that I know how fleeting this adoration will last being as that she’s just turned 10.

Oh well.  When I think about how much money I’ve wasted at the holidays each year on gifts that were used a couple of times (or only once) before finding a home in the bottom of a toy box, a doll she’ll adore for a year or two probably isn’t all that bad a deal.

Blessings

Mama Kelly

Written by Mama KellyTags:American Girl, children, Christmas

What a busy couple of days!!!  As I told you, I started off the week sick.  Because of taking a half day on Monday and my refusal to go in to work today out of a need to simply have some R&R, I will wind up short on hours this week as a result, and can only hope that I am able to “make it up” a little bit this week with my last hurrah on my comission-based side project.  

We spent Xmas Eve at my cousin’s house and it was a relaxing evening.  The kids had a lovely time and my favorite part as always is not having to cook or clean up.  We got home close to midnight, tucked the kids in bed, and did the last minute Santa scurry – pulling presents out of the attic and filling stockings.

The morning dawned early and the presents were all opened by 10:30.  Santa was kind to each one of us, and my favorite gifts were my father giving me the money to take a college class this semester and my hubby having our wedding video (which we’ve never watched due to the format it was recorded on) moved to a DVD.  If I can figure out how to edit out a snippet of it I will upload it to Youtube.

By 4pm that day my dear friend “M” was over and we were eating dinner.  I served a spiral ham w/ raisin gravy, mashed potatoes, candied carrots, green bean almondine, sauteed mushrooms, and cheesy breaded cauliflower.  Everything came out wonderful and was heartily enjoyed by all. 

The following day was Miss Artistic’s 14th birthday and the highlight of the day for her was opening her gifts (of course) including a really HOT bag from her Auntie “E” and a gift from us that I hope will earn me her favor for at least a week or two – a drawing tablet.  We were also treated out to dinner by Mr. Grumpy and had a wonderful meal at the local Chinese restaurant.

This morning our dear friend “M” left for home and a couple of hours later another friend “M2″ stopped by for a brief holiday visit.  I served her a lunch of Xmas leftovers with home-baked cookies for dessert and we sat and played Harry Potter Clue.  A fun, novel, if convoluted take on the classic game.

The evening is earmarked for watching episodes of Lost with the hubby and trying to forget that I have work tomorrow.

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday!!!

Blessings

Mama Kelly

Written by Mama KellyTags:Christmas, Xmas

‘Twas three days past Solstice

and one thing was clear

Sweet Goddess!  Christmas!

It’s practically here

The children are snuggled

all warm in their beds

While Mommy heads off to

the job that she dreads

GamerDude is asnooze

but there’s work to be done

the last round of wrapping

must soon be begun

But everything’s purchased

or en route from the store

from toys to food

no wonder I’m poor

Tomorrow will be over

in a flash of bright paper

I hope I pull off

this Holiday caper

I’m hoping for smiles

I’m aiming for glee

But I’ll be happy

“so long as we have we”*

May you and yours

be richly blessed

with all you desire

from this year till next.

copyright 2008, “Mama Kelly”

Bright Blessings.

the 2 Witches

Mama Kelly & Lady Rose

* I adore the classic cartoon version of Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas and the song Welcome Christmas it holds.  This line ispart of the reprise version of the song at its close.

Welcome Christmas
While we stand
Heart to heart
And hand in hand
Christmas Day
Will Always Be
Just so long as we have we

Written by Mama KellyTags:Christmas, Xmas

It’s not too early to start thinking about Yule gifts.  If you have the ability to burn CDs – this is a great way to make an inexpensive Holiday gift for friends and family.

You can even make it an annual tradition and label them accordingly:

YourName Family
Holiday Music
2007

Free MP3 downloads for the Christmas Holiday

You can also add a few of  these selections from Amazon.com’s MP3 store, most are only $0.99 and have been selected to have a secular slant and to highlight a mix of well-known performers and also a few pagan selections:

(There’s No Place Like) Home For The Holidays – the Carpenters
The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire) – Bing Crosby
Deck The Halls – Elvis
Overture And A Holly Jolly Christmas – Burl Ives
Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas – Judy Garland
Here Comes Santa Claus – Kidz Bop
Frosty The Snowman – Ella Fitzgerald
Santa Baby – Eartha Kitt
The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year – Andy Williams
Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow! – Lena Horne
Jingle Bell Rock – Bobby Helms
Run Rudolf Run – The Smithereens
Welcome Christmas – from The Grinch who Stole Christmas (“fa-who forez, da-who dorez”)

Here are a couple of Pagan-friendly titles:

Apple Tree Wassail and Nou is Yole Comen

And from Paul Winter’s album Wintersong (instrumental):

Tomorrow Is My Dancing Day.
Joy.
Dance Of The Golden Bough.
Little One.
Swedish Song.
The Cherry Tree.
Wintersong.
Peasant Revels.
Beautiful Star.

Holiday Blessings, Mama Kelly and Lady Rose

Written by Lady RoseTags:Christmas, gifts, mp3, pagan music, Yule