Hope you have noticed the new look to the blog. When my son was here for Thanksgiving, he helped me to put a new look to the homepage. I am so grateful to his computer knowledge, while I do good to just write on the blog. Thanks, Jason, I love the look and the pictures of the desserts, just makes me want to get in the kitchen and bake.

It is now 4 weeks from today until that magical morning when, if we have small children, we awake to shrills of laughter and delight. If we are in the season of life that allows us to actually sleep past 8 because the children are either older or gone out of the house, we awaken to just the opportunity to sit beside the Christmas tree and remember special years of the family gathering around the tree. Isn’t it odd, when we have the children under our roof, they wake us up at 5:30 a.m because they cannot wait a minute longer to see what Santa has brought. We think, “oh how nice it will be when they are older and we can sleep in past 8 on Christmas morning sitting by the tree with a cup of coffee all the while listening to carols on the “iPod” (notice I didn’t want to sound too old and say “radio”)”.

Then, when they are teenagers, we have to threaten them with”you will have your iPod, computer and iPhone taken away, unless you get out of bed right now so we can have Christmas morning”.

Then the season of  wishing that they would grow up just a little more to where they will “appreciate all we are doing to make their Christmas special” Why, do they not realize that I shopped and shopped just trying to pick out the perfect present” only to find out since it was purchased, there is already a “new and improved” version.

Then the years come that we are empty nesters. We are now able to sleep in until 8, but because we go to bed so early now, we awake on our own at 6:00 a.m. As we head to the living room to turn on the lights to the tree and Christmas music. it still doesn’t make the longing of wanting a full house again,  go away. The longing for just one more year that we could have little ones back in the bedrooms, waking us up at 5. Or maybe just one more year of teenagers, sleeping so soundly that we have to turn up “Santa Got Run Over By a Reindeer” just to irritate them out of bed. That was always one of my most favorite ways to irritate them. Oh for the good times.

This year, I am learning to be content in whatever season of life I am in. Yes, I will sit by the tree and reminisce about Christmases’ past. I will give thanks to God for the years when we did have to stay up until midnight to put together trikes, or desks or train sets. The years of trying to get them all to sit down together for Christmas breakfast before they took off in their own cars to go show off their new clothes to friends will be remembered. But it is also very nice to sit with my husband, listening to”O Holy Night” while we enjoy the quiet of Christmas. We will give thanks for all the wonderful memories of children, teenagers and our parents being crowded into our house. When we have had enough quiet, we will quickly get ready to join our adult children at their house. It is now time to pass the baton to them to begin their traditions and memories of Christmas in their own homes.  We are adjusting quickly to the “passing the baton”. After all, we now, for the first time in years, are truly in control. We can leave whenever we want and head home to the quietness of Christmas as seen only through the eyes of grandparents.

The memories of Christmas past are absolutely wonderful but the new memories that will be made, maybe in a different way, are just as priceless. And because we can approach Christmas morning after having a great nights sleep, while visions of sugarplums danced in our heads, we will be so excited as the little ones jump up to greet us, with the sparkle of Christmas in their eyes.

So Christmas Countdown begins with renewed hope, renewed excitement and renewed love for our precious family who we love so much. Let the celebration begin! Noel and Frosty,

PS…that is now how we irritate our children, we change our names the day after Thanksgiving until Christmas, even on our phone answering machines and everything we sign (except the checks we send to them, we tried that, but the bank sent them back and the kids threatened to send us early to the nursing home if we did it again)

It’s almost here, the hour that both cars will pull out of the driveway and head home. Back to reality. Back to cooking for two. Back to having no toys to step over, no dishes in the sink, after I have cleaned up 14 times since lunch. No background Little Einstiens, no sharing my iPad, well, actually we didn’t share, I haven’t seen my iPad since last Monday. No Pop Tart crumbs to vacumn up. No cookie crumbs in our bed because all the little darlings wanted to lay in our bed and watch cartoons. Wait, why am  I getting depressed? Because with all of that, comes the cutest little voices telling me that “dats otay, Nana, I fine” when one of the other kids ate the last chocolate chip muffin. Or, “Nana, I wuv you so much” or, “I wish I could just stay here”. All those precious words are what make all the afore mentioned things worthwhile. So even though it will be nice to not have to “share” the iPad, or only cook for 2, the day after they pull away to head home will be the day that we begin to plan our trip to visit them in 4 weeks for Christmas. After all, the Thanksgiving blues would turn into a Blue, Blue Christmas without them. We love you guys and are so thankful that you were here this year and helped make new memories that will stay with us forever, especially the pen marks on the couch, the sticky gum that won’t come out of the carpet, the broken expensive pumpkin that won’t sit in the middle of the table anymore…..Oops, sorry, guess I did have  a little more Holiday Stress than I  thought. Well, we truly are thankful for each and every memory we have for Thanksgivine 2012, good and bad. Our family has come to accept the fact that our holidays relate more to Clark Griswald than to Norman Rockwell. We are signing off from Peter and Penelope Pumpkin to Frosty and Noel as of today…..The Christmas Countdown begins now!

If any of you have any funny Thanksgiving Dinner stories, please share them with us. Would love to hear from you.

The excitement is building. Each and every time I am in the store, you can spot the people who think that they are in there for the last time before Turkey Day. They have their “list” in their hands and the smug look on their faces reveal that they think that they are so smart to be shopping the week before the grocery stores look like the blue light special hour at Kmart. But, that isn’t what it is all about. The last minute runs to the store to get the canned cranberry sauce or the marshmallows for the sweet potato casserole are the things that make it a real Thanksgiving. It’s all I can do to not say, “you might think this is the last time you will be in here before Thanksgiving, but I can tell from your grocery cart that you will be here at least twice before you sit down to Thanksgiving dinner”. Some of the most fun times at the grocery store are the last minute jaunts to pick up last minute things. You always see someone you know, and usually the “feeling is in the air” of holiday excitement. It is fun to see first time cooks shopping the night before buying the frozen turkey, never guessing that it won’t thaw out for 2 more days. Love to see the fights of shoppers grabbing at the last can of cranberry sauce, or looking for the bag of seasoned bread crumbs. There is always panic on their faces when they realize there is none left. I take advantage of their misfortune and calmly say to Randy, (of course so they can hear) “honey, do you think our 3 cans of cranberry sauce we bought the other day will be enough” I have been offered their first born for just one of my cans. So think I will go take a nap. I still have 7 days to plan the menu, buy the necessities and figure out which recipe I will use for the dressing. No need to get in a rush. After all, it wouldn’t be Thanksgiving without the  3-5 last minute trips next Wednesday to the grocery store.