Ho Ho Ho

The Frenzy known as the Kraft Holiday Season is finally winding down. It was great fun and quite exhausting. Highlights include:

- Kraft Christmas where one of my relatives when asked if he wanted another piece of cake dipped his hand in the pan and scooped it out (so much for THAT cake!)

- Dalton Scantlebury had his first Chrismas and entertained us by trying to eat his book.

- Emily served as an awesome Sous Chef and assistant event planner including dipping of the chocolate coated pretzels, wrapping presents and general event preparation assistance

- Sangria and baked cheese ruled the day again at the annual Chrismas Eve Open House including an appearance by "Santa" Tom Stokes and family

- Dan made it through his first semi single Christmas with great aplomb - including fabulous new Cub jackets, paint ball guns and cell phones for the kids

- Brother Jim looked clean and merry and bright too...even sharing photos of his first grandchild! (YIKES!)

- We all were entertained and humbled by Father Ric's sermon at mass -- and there was no fighting

- Rita enjoyed her new bed and bag of bones

- Snow continued to fall off and on throughout the week

- The Kraft Cousins took off for a night out and sang Irish/German bar music and rap tunes while sampling the best Irish beers!

- We enjoyed living through Aunt Amy's adventures in China on her blog

- We're sadly living through Uncle Dewey Lynn's illness

- Friends and family made it all worth it!

Merry Christmas - we love you and hope yours was bright too!

Baby it's cold outside

In the winters of my childhood, we built snow forts and played amongst the building high drifts of our farm. Nowadays, the drifts are more often ice...which is beautiful though not quite as fun as when I was little. Rita, my little Texas born hot blooded lab hound LOVES the snow..but is not so sure about skiding on the ice.....

Bringing them to the Dark Side

I'm a bit unconventional...okay a lot unconventional. So in trying to stay above the fray I am always looking for something fun and different for holiday and birthday presents. Plus, I am not above pure bribery to bring the children over to my southern, 80s's rock and country, tex mex loving ways. Last night I took three of the kids to see the Sugarland CMT Country Tour with Little Big Town and Jake Owns. It was an almost three and a half hour event, which ended up in a southern rock version of ZZ Top songs. Awesome!!! Jess and Em are already seasoned concert attendees....now I have brought Tommy along to the dark side. It was fun despite the 26 degree weather...southern country rock does live on!!

A Very Texan Thanksgiving!!!!

For most mid-American, midwestern, god fearing citizens, Thanksgiving is a day of roasted turkey and yams, wearing sweaters and staying warm inside while staring at the cold and snow. For Texans, on the other hand..Thanksgiving means fried turkey, sangria, Dallas Cowboys football, and sunshine and open toed shoes. Actually it was a bit nippier here than it usually is...we wore sweaters and long sleeved shirts. Still, plenty of reason to celebrate with the sangria, fried turkey and family.

We had 12 people who came in from San Francisco, China and Illinois, of course at our dinner. This year we were also entertained by 18 month old Sydney who kept us all on our feet (toes and backs!) enjoying tummy rubs, book readings, and Sydney's first turkey, queso and crawfish! Following tradition we had an early morning visit to Michael's resulting in a full car and the need to return to work so we can earn some more money!

Back at home they had almost snow flurries (actually there were flurries in the Cowboys Stadium here in Irving too!) roasted turkey and a visit to the hospital where my stepmom is recovering (Get Well Ann!).

It's been a wild year..moving several times, a change in job assignments and now a new job and a move too. Yet, it's nice to have family, friends, good foods and good times to remind us of the blessings in our lives. I hope your holidays are full of all of the good things in life!

Closing the circle

My family is not very conventional. I actually like that about them most of the time..especially since I am no longer a teenager whose entire social standing is based upon the embarassment or lack of it caused by our genetic relations. So, anyway, last Friday, we closed the circle (so to speak) of our mother's side of the family.
My brilliant, excentric, exotic, unusual, overbearing Aunt Jo was laid to rest last Friday.
As one of my other aunt's noted, Aunt Jo was a feminist before feminist was cool. She lived larger than life and resembled a bag lady, an professor, a feminist, an aetheist, a budhist and an aristocrat all wrapped up in one. So a conventional visitation and burial would not do. We put our heads together and came up with a celebration of life last Friday. I made a great fall bouquet and put together a unique collage of photos (thanks to my great scrapbooking friends in St. Louis!). I also put together a nice program and invitation. Matthew did his usual great project manager job of working with the funeral home and all of those great admin tasks. Dan and Jim pitched in by going through her things.
Bottom line: we held a fun, interactive and brief service at Holy Cross on Friday followed by a brunch where the Queen loved to hold court...Denny's Restaurant in Bloomington. The skies opened up once we were all safely ensconced in Denny's ...drinking coffee and laughing and talking. The best line of the day was from her friend Jolene who noted she was "outrageous"> Indeed!
In truth, that day was the best gift Josie has given us all in a long time. Josie brought us full circle. Now, let's hope she is not fighting with my mom and grandparents..I hope they're playing checkers and listening to the radio together.

Finally Home

Rita is so happy...and we all know that when Rita is happy..EVERYONE is happy. She stands inside the glass door and looks out at me. She jumps on"her" king sized bed and rolls around. She races up and down the living room.....she looks at me like...Thank Goodness we are HOME, mom..."

Boxes, stuff all around, furniture not in place. Doesn't mean a thing. Rita knows she is at home :-)

Getting Back to (Ab) Normal...in Bloomington!

Fall in Illinois is typically a blissful time. Sunny days but warm....not hot....falling leaves, the smell of cookouts and backyard bonfires. So, this fall has all of the usual fall sensory experiences...and heat of 88-94 degrees per day. Unbelieveable!!

So, of course, we had to move -- AGAIN -- during the heat wave. It was better than last time but still ....hot. And it took 7 hours!!! (I am seriously considering more downsizing...for everything except my scrapbooking supplies of course..)

I'm getting to know the folks at U-Haul on a first name basis and becoming quite adept at maneuvering a truck through through the streets of Bloomington-Normal.

At any rate...we are (mostly) now in one place..a new home where Rita can happily run through the house, sniff the grass in the backyard and look through the door at her mama.