First, the beautiful tree I fell in love with via Pix messages looked lovely in our Christmas photos, but turned out to be a bit of a dud.
I suspect it was cut down around Veteran's day, perhaps even Labor Day, and sat languishing in the corner of a far away lot for weeks before it finally came home with us.
Here is some insight into our tale of woe to the tune of Oh Christmas Tree:
Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree
Why did you dry out so quickly?
Did we not water you with love
Yet brown needles rain from above
Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree
What a disappointment you were to me.
Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree
We paid a pretty penny for thee.
Why couldn't your limbs stay straight and full
Instead of dropping our bulbs upon the floor?
Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree
What a disappointment you were to me.
Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree
How brown and dull your branches.
Because you didn't cross the finish line
You'll be chopped into kindlin'
Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree
What a disappointment you were to me.
Then there was the freak Blizzard of '08 which pummelled our our desert with abnormal amounts of snowfall.
Here are the highlights of our snow days to the tune of It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas:
It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas
All throughout Frump house
Take a look at the counters in the kitchen
Covered up once again
With projects and cookie fixin's all aglow
It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas
Countless household chores
But the prettiest sight to see
is the holly that will be
on your own front door
It's fake, but it's still holly! 'Scuse the messed up bow... ( I'm doing good to just get the thing on our door.)
The ironing board has been pressed into service
holding freshly stamped cards
We actually managed to get some green lights
strung on bushes in our yard
But mom and dad can hardly wait for all our projects to be done!
It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas
everywhere you go
There's a tree in the living room
Two by the door as well
And Nativity scenes on every ledge and shelf!
It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas
Soon the doorbell will start
And the thing that will make them ring
Are the ruddy-cheeked kids playing
Out in the snow in our yard!
There were a few snow related pics I just couldn't resist sharing.
Totally tubular...this is a shot of "the claw" of snow curving down toward our front door as it melted off our tile roof.
Our Joshua Tree and cactus covered in snow.
Blooming yellow roses buried in snow
And our third generation family tradition...the ultimate snow play snack:
Because nothing warms you up quite so nicely inside as cheese toast, hot cocoa and a mother's love.
I was thrilled to be able to carve out some time on Christmas Eve Eve to take a daycation with my family to lovely Palm Desert, California to
Here is a little glimpse of that occasion to the tune of Jingle Bells:
Dashing down the road
In in the family mini van
Over the mountains we went
Laughing all the way (ha ha ha)
Coffee shop door bells ring
Smiles on faces alight
Oh what fun it is to meet bloggy peeps
for the first time in real life
Coffee smells, coffee smells
laughter all around
Oh how we laughed and carried on in the coffee shop that day (HEY)
Coffee smells, coffee smells
laughter all around
We're all young gals with glowing skin,
And the fun-lovingest chicas around!
Because we were already in the area, we combined that trip to include a family outing to a really cool tourist trap in Cabazon, California...to see the way cool Worlds Biggest Dinosaurs.
I have highlighted the finer points of that excursion to the tune of Silver Bells:
See the dinos, harmless dinos
that are 3 stories tall
they are made up of re-bar and concrete
See our toddler
look with terror
at the big dinosaurs
and promptly hide in the back of our mini-van
Gray dinos
Gray dinos
They look so fearsome and scary
Gray dinos
Gray dinos
Give 3 year olds nightmares for weeks
I'm not sure why
our littl-est boy
was so frightened of these
it was ob-vi-ous they were phony
He totally freaked out
Cried in terror
When his big brother yelled,
"They've got meeeeee!"
from outside the mini-van.
"They've got my brudder"
he yelled to his mother
as fearfully beneath the seat he wiggled
While dad and big brother just giggled.
Gray Dinos
Gray Dinos
They look so fearsome and scary
Gray Dinos
Gray Dinos
Give 3 year olds nightmares for weeks
He threw a tantrum
Dragged his heels
And didn't want to go near
the ginormous dino with big teeth and claws
This only lasted,
til the minute
that he felt for himself
that he'd been scared out of his wits all for nothing
Gray Dinos
Gray Dinos
They're not so fearsome or scary
Gray Dinos
Gray Dinos
Hamming it up in their jaws
There were also a number of traditional, sacred Christmas activities that our family participated in, from the children's Christmas play in Sunday morning services, to the beautiful Cantata at church, the wonderful Christmas Eve service filled with caroling and the reading of the Christmas story in Spanish and English. The focus was all properly placed on the One Whose birth we celebrate at Christmas.
The big challenge for Jeff and I, however, came late Christmas Eve as we were putting finishing touches on our preparations for Christmas morning and the big family dinner scheduled for noon.
The smells of all the good foods prepared in advance, along with all the freshly baked and other goodies proved to be just a little too much for us to handle.
Here is a stanza of the offbeat ditty to the tune of Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer to explain:
Mom and Dad ate too much Almond Roca
while filling up the stockings Christmas Eve
You may say calories don't count at Christmas
As for Mom and Daddy, we believe
The days after Christmas were spent relaxing around the house with the kids happily playing with their new toys.
We also spent some time taking advantage of the great bargain sales getting decorations and cards and things for next Christmas, and working a bit more on some renovation projects and organizing our garage. It was a very productive few days in our home.
We feel very blessed to have had such an enjoyable family Christmas vacation this year. We are grateful to the Lord for the many blessings He bestowed upon us this past year.
It was a rough year for us in some respects, what with attending the funerals of several loved ones and friends, and then moving out of our old home and into our new. However, we also enjoyed many wonderful blessings...our new home, the resources to fix it up, the gift of our mini-van, and the gifts of several other big ticket items that saved us a bundle...a matching like-new washer and dryer set, a futon bed for Jericho, and more recently a big screen TV (and these are among the bigger things...there were numerous other things, not just material in nature that we were also the grateful recipients of!)
We are humbled and amazed by the way the Lord continues to bless us. Just as Malachi 3:10 talks about, He just opened the windows of heaven and poured out so much blessing, we can hardly contain it all.
As we prepare to put this year behind us, I look forward to a fresh new year. Our house is finally in order and we approach the new year with a list of goals and resolutions...things we'd like to accomplish this upcoming year, looking forward to the adventures the Lord has in store for us.
On a less serious note, I've penned the Frump version of the old familiar Robert Burns poem, the musical melody usually heard in the first moments of the new year...Auld Lang Syne.
Should all resolutions be forgot
and I never lose a pound
I'll try again in 2009
'Cuz they'll probably still be around.
HAPPY NEW YEAR, EVERYONE!
13 comments:
That three generation tradition of cheese toast and hot cocoa might actually be a four generation thing, but I got a charge out of seeing it played out ono the VARY SAME TABLE that held it for 3 generations!
Because of snow, our Christmas cantata was canceled but rescheduled to be held Jan 3! I guess it still seems like Christmas hasn't fully come because our CHURCH services had to be canceled the week before Christmas, too, and everything was off as a result.
A couple of those photos of Judah look so much like photos of YOU, Becky, as a toddler.
I LOVE the "CLAW" on your house! You could have terrified Judah with THAT, too, you mean parents, scaring the wits out of him with those big "grey dinos".
I LOVE the Christmas lights on the bushed covered in snow! Are those the turquoisey colored lights you like so much?
Thanks for the delightful blogs, Becky. They really help me feel closer to you FABS (NOT Frumps!).
I'd like to come, for a visit (to be sung to the line from Silver Bells that says It's Christmastime in the city)...Ringaling, DINGALING soon Frumpgram's coming to stay!! (for a week, I hope!)!!!
Wow, I sure made some typos!
I will never sing traditional carols the same again!
I love "the claw" picture! That is SO COOL!!
Just realized I can see right up my nose in that picture. Good thing there are no bats in the cave.
Wishing you and your family more of God's abundant blessings in 2009! (and the chance for another meet!)
Happy New Year! I loved the picture of the claw. That was very cool. The carols were a crack up. I still can't believe how much snow you got. Way more than we did.
Wow, you busted some RHYMEZ, there, sistah!
your snow claw is incredible!!!
also, thank you for the wonderful retouch on that picture... now i almost look as young and glow-y as ya'll!
these Christmas carols are awesome, and i tell you what, mz fabulous, I am looking forward to a new year filled with your bloggy goodness!
I, too, must mention the gargantuan "claw". Holy cow, Bat Man!
Great pictures; amazing lyrics. You really need to publish. And I lurrrve the picture of the 3 Amigas. Um, but I felt like someone was missing...ME. Blessings on your 2009, dear friend.
Wow. That was COOL, dudette. That must have took some time to come up with words to go with those songs. Loved your versions of them.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!
Haha! Love the carols, FRUMP STYLE! Now after seeing all your MIRL post we need to meet up! As a matter of fact, I'm staying about 30 min from you for a church confernece... wish I'd thought about how close we would be... next time! =)
Wow, you got a ton more snow than us midwesterners got! All of ours has melted already now, too.
Daniel loves cheese toast/bagels!
I hit the store for the after-Christmas-decoration sales but everything was pretty picked over. I DID find a Kitty Cat Stocking for our cat for $2 and a ceramic holly leaf platter (to match the bowl I have) for only $1.75!!! YAY FOR SALES!
That snow picture is pretty awsome. I have never seen anything like it. Very cute post. You are so creative. Happy New Year!
Wow! A blizzard in the desert! These pictures are amazing! And what a blessed 08 for the Frump Family. (:
What a great post! You had me singing along in my head.
The snow coming off the roof was a great picture and I totally loved the picture with Judah in the dinosaur's mouth.
As for the Christmas tree, that's why I vote for the artificial. :)
What a great post! You had me singing along in my head.
The snow coming off the roof was a great picture and I loved the picture with Judah in the dinosaur's mouth..lol.
As for the Christmas tree, that's why I vote for the artificial. :)
Post a Comment