Traditions

Christmas is in the air...

and on the counters, tables, floors, windows...

I really like this time of year. A real nostalgic time for a lot of people. Most folks, no matter what they call their particular holiday season, spend at least part of it remembering the past, reliving family and or cultural traditions, and begin to prepare themselves for the new year. I enjoy hearing about other people's traditions this time of year. I know I have a few traditions myself that I either subjected Amberleo to, or have enjoyed with the rest of my family, or that David and I have created together over the last few years.

First there are the decorations. My absolute favorite is my Christmas Tree Angel. There is absolutely nothing better than gold and silver glitter, Elmer's glue, and a cut up paper plate to make me feel the true holiday spirit. Amberleo made that last week....

No.. just kidding.. she is like 22 years old or something... she made that when she was just a little bitty imp of a kid. Unfortunately being an awful terrible mother I did not write the year or her age on the back and now neither one of us remember when she made it. We have used it for years and it fits on ANY size tree. Right now it is on my fake tree on top of the table.

Then of course there are the Christmas stories. Mine and Amber's favorite is Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. Well, at least it is my favorite and I read it to her for as many years as I could find the darn book and make her sit still to listen.

'Sit down Amberleo! Put the Christmas toys down!
Now dammet, be still and listen to this story about ghosts, and mean old greedy men written by some dude about 100 years ago!'

heh heh. Just kidding.

We, of course, watched the movie in all its forms... including the muppet version with Michael Caine which I have to admit I enjoyed.

But the book?!
Man oh man.. the book. There is no comparison.

I mean how could you not LOVE something that starts out
with one of the greatest first lines of any book?

'Marley was dead, to begin with.'

How Christmas-y can you get!?

And speaking of movies... we also have always had a tradition of watching a couple of movies every year. I was never much into White Christmas, or Miracle of 34th Street. I kinda liked the Peanuts Christmas cartoon with the famous Charlie Brown tree, the Grinch, okay.

But I enjoyed all of the Rankin-Bass movies much better... movies or cartoons, or whatever they are called:

But rarely a year goes by without watching Christmas Story:

'You'll shoot your eye out!'

and then of course, there is one holiday movie that I consider a 'must see' every year.

The one and only...

'It's a Wonderful Life'

This is simply the best Christmas movie ever. It really can be enjoyed at any time but particularly at Christmas because it is Christmas time in the movie. There are several scenes in that movie that bring tears to... and even out of my eyes EVERY time I see it.

One scene is the ending of course... and I don't mean the part about the angel and bell and stuff, but I mean about George realizing he was the richest man in town... and all the people willing to help him no questions asked. **sniff** And then there is the scene when Mary and George are both listening in on a phone call and he realizes he loves her after trying very hard to deny it. Or the scene when George is in the bar and believes he and his family will be ruined because of a supposed scandal... you can see what Jimmy Stewart.. er.. George Bailey is thinking without him speaking a word. You can see the despair in his eyes that leads him to the bridge in the first place. I could go on and on. What a film!

Well, whatever your traditions are I hope everyone is enjoying the holiday season and not getting to stressed about the trappings. Just relax and enjoy each other.

David cut a couple of little trees for me... I was to pick one out for the house. However, Delta made that choice easy as she grabbed the smaller one and ran off into the woods with it to play with. Looked kinda funny. She thought it was for her I suppose. So, even though I have my fake tree up right now on the table, I will soon be putting up my real one, and moving the Christmas Angel over on top where it belongs.

Lucky boy:
Despite the fact that he is a wicked little beast Cosmo the Magnificent is a very lucky boy. He has his new spiffy coat, and even though it is -20 degrees... yes really... he feels the need to go off away from the house to use the doggie bathroom...

Whether 3 a.m. or 1:00 p.m. it does not matter. He requires his privacy. He is lucky because he has two girls who watch over him pretty close (David does too he just tries to pretend he thinks Cosmo is a dog).

Us girls stand together... watching, waiting, listening...

(I know... I know.. do not be concerned.. my shadow may look like the abominable snow-woman but I have like 4 layers of clothing on. Including padded fake-Carhart overalls and barn coat.)

We stay away from him, but close enough to come to the rescue if he needs to be pulled out of the snow or wrestled away from a hidden coyote. Just so you know... Delta is not just doing it because I am there. She guards him when they are out there alone. She does this despite the fact that inside the house he bullies her something awful. Outside is her realm, and I think he is well aware of that. Check her out.

House Update:
I mentioned in a previous post I finally picked some colors for the interior of the house. I am going the autumn route with my palette. We started painting and with both of us being probably the most impatient creatures in the world... it has been going well...

or should I say... just going.
Geez, it looks like a crime scene.

We finished the mudroom, and the master bathroom. The second coat in the master bathroom will be going on today and even though we painted everything that lovely primer white you have been seeing in the pictures, the color in the master bath is Russet. Seriously russet.. which means red-ish.. which means two coats of anything red-ish is a hard color to paint apparently. Dunno why. Maybe it is for the same type of reason that blues are supposedly hard to photograph correctly.

I did up a couple collages on Picasa to show you the colors. Only two of the pictures are actually our rooms the rest I am providing just so you can see the color... those other rooms are somewhere in Dutchboy land.

Here is the main level as you walk in looking straight through, you go through mudroom, into the kitchen, and the living room beyond, and then the windows/deck. The Master bath with that intense russet color is a small room off to the right of the kitchen. Again.. only two of these are our rooms, the others are just to show colors.

The bottom floor is the office (which is where the wood stove is, and a smaller seating area), the guestroom, and then the guest bathroom combo laundry room. Here are the colors chosen for those rooms...