OK, there's only 20 shopping days left until Christmas! Are you ready???? I'm so excited, I can hardly stand it. I'm kinda getting used to this "staying at home" stuff (which makes Brent INCREDIBLY nervous - ha!) and I'm enjoying the holiday season much more because of it.
Usually I'm so busy at work this time of year that being around people on my OFF time tends to lose its appeal this time of year. Not now. For example: Sidney's band concert last Thursday. It was nice to hear the kids playing songs that they had worked on for so many months. They were so proud! Even more fun was watching the looks on the people in the audience. Like Lys. Here she is looking all too thrilled, huh? Keep in mind: this concert consists of band students from 6th, 7th and 8th grades. Three different concerts, if you will. Out of respect for the 6th graders they let them go first.
I had to laugh at one point. They were attempting to play Jingle Bells, doing pretty well, and out of nowhere came numerous loud squeaky sounds from the stage which had the same effect as fingernails on a chalkboard.
The audience immediately had a lot of raised eyebrows, heads cocked to the side and pained looks on their faces. Even better was the younger siblings with their hands covering their ears and making really horrible faces.
The "dads" had the worst poker faces. It was quite obvious to everyone that they were wondering why they spent all of that money for private lessons for their child when it turned out like THIS. As a seasoned band member I could sympathize with the band kids. I know how hard it is and knew how well they played. I was proud of them. Sidney's group was excellent. Here she is with her BFF (SURELY you know that it means Best Friend Forever....) Brianna and Josh. He lives down the street and was in Track with Sid. He's a super nice kid.
On with the story. While driving home from the concert I get hit with: (giggling sounds from the back seat) "Mommy.....????" Oh, God, you know the rest. Heavy sigh. I tried to figure out what they could possibly want or how much this could potentially cost me or how much of my time this would involve. Against my better judgment I asked, "What.....?" (giggling sounds from the back seat) "Can we get the Christmas tree this weekend and decorate? You said that we couldn't get the decorations out of the attic until Alyssa's carpet was installed because all the Rubbermaid tubs would be in the way. Well, the carpet is installed now and they won't be in the way and we'll get them all down and you won't have to do anything and you can sit on the couch and we'll do it all and we'll hang the lights outside and decorate the tree and we'll clean it all up and you won't have to do anything (yes, they said that twice -- they probably would have agreed to shave their heads, they were on such a roll...) and it will look really pretty and we'll do a good job...." I thought about it. "So, I wouldn't have to do anything? You know I can't climb the ladder to the attic with my foot the way it is right now." Squeals of joy from the back. "Yea! We'll do it all!" How bad could this be?
So....Saturday morning we climb into the 4-Runner and head to the Christmas tree lot not far from our house. It took about 15 minutes to pick out "the perfect tree". The girls had several "perfect" trees picked out, but they came with a less than "perfect" price tag. Plus, I would have had to knock a hole through the ceiling in my living room to accommodate them. Not happening. We chose one that would fit in the corner, and after the big strong man who sold me the tree tied it to the top of the 4-Runner, we headed home. Now we are home in the driveway and I look around to evaluate the situation. There are three of us, the tallest being 5'3". The problem is that the tallest of us also has an orthopedic boot on her right foot. We look down at my foot and then look up at the poor little tree, tied helplessly to the roof -- over my head. We brainstorm for a while and then I get an idea. "Sidney, go to the fridge and get a Bud Light". She looks at me in disbelief. "Mommy, it's 9:30 in the morning!" She gets my famous scowl. "Not for me, smarty pants. Go take it next door to Mr. John." He lives next door with his wife Joy and their two boys, Jonathan and Justin. She does as she's told and within 2 minutes I have, again, a big strong man to help me with our tree. He not only takes it off the roof, he takes it around to the back, gets it in the stand and sets it up in the house! This may cost another beer or two, but it's worth it. That part is over. Next comes the unloading of the attic.
Sidney solicits help from Ashley (across the street). Ashley is shocked that we have so many boxes of Christmas stuff ( I think we counted 13 of them). She's even MORE shocked that it all fits into our tiny attic! She gets worn out and leaves shortly after. Now it's all up to the girls. While the tree is "opening", Sid chooses to start decorating on the outside. It's beautiful day, it's warm and the sun is shining.
I assume my position on the couch, prop my foot up on the back and turn on the TV. She goes right to work, pulling out all of the icicle lights from the box and heads out the door. Next thing I know, the ladder is set up and my child is on the roof. This is the first year I haven't helped so it should be interesting. I had offered my assistance, but was quickly reminded that she is 13 and knows everything about everything and doesn't need/want any help, thank you. I thought back to when I was 13. I was NEVER like that....was I?
While sitting on the couch I dealt with the internal struggle that was going on in my head. Do I offer my words of wisdom from my own life's experiences or let her learn from her mistakes? I pondered this situation for a while as I heard footsteps on my roof. Nah, let her learn. I thought about some of the things I'd done in life that I learned from. Have YOU ever scrubbed/mopped a floor starting at one end and trapped yourself into a corner at the other end? Have you ever washed a load of clothes, not sorting by colors first, and ended up with pink socks and underwear because you didn't realize that your new red T-shirt would bleed? Her words echoed in my head: "Mommy, I don't need any help. I know how to do this!". More footsteps on the roof. I thought back to college when my friend Sherry trusted me to cut her bangs. I didn't realize that hair stretched when it was wet and shrank as it dried. I think you know where this one is going. Her bangs were MAYBE an inch long when I finished.
As I snapped back to present day I was overridden with guilt. I waited about 5 more minutes and walked outside. She had finished the the roof covering the garage and was working her way along the roofline that was above the walkway to the front door (where the electrical outlet was). I quietly went to the garage to get the outdoor extension cord. I plugged it into the outlet and held up the receiving end. She had attached 3 strands of lights at this point as was ready to see the end result of her work. She tossed down her end. Just as I thought (and just as you guessed), she threw to me the female end of the cord. I attempted to plug in the female end of the lights to the female end of the extension cord while she watched. I said nothing, merely looked up at her with a smile. I thought her eyes were going to pop out of her head. "Mommy! You knew that was going to happen and you went ahead and let me do it wrong!" Ah, life's lessons: a parent's revenge. She was hot. "I wasted all of that time and now I have to do it all over again!" I resisted the urge to remind her that she knew everything, I simply nodded and smiled. She'll never do THAT again! I did offer a suggestion which, at that point, she readily accepted. "When you do the other half of the house, start at the far end (over Alyssa's room) and work your way back to the outlet at the front door. And when you start, make sure the 'mouth end of the lights is at the far side of the house and the 'feet' end is toward the outlet". She nodded and headed back up the ladder. Go ahead and laugh. She's 13 and I refuse to use the male/female analogy. They will be "feet" and "mouth" until she's....well... in college. She finished up the roof and moved on to the bushes. Don't you know, the "feet" end of the lights ended up at the outlet. Success!
Christmas carols played on the stereo all day while they decorated inside. It was really a fun day. As they put the ornaments on the tree I told them the story behind each one.
They politely listened to a few, but soon voiced their apathy. I glared at them and threatened to tell Santa. This made them laugh. The rest is history. The tree looks great, the house is beautiful and the outside lights are visible from the Space Station. I love it!
Tonight is Sidney's choir concert. I'll write about that next week. This one is long enough!!!! (Sorry)
Take care,
Amy and the girls
That was the "Cookie" part. We had beer. That was the "Cocktails" part. Long story short, it was such a success that we thought we'd do it every year! You can almost see in this picture (if you can click on it) that Sidney had her rubberbands re-done since you saw her last. 
Seems as if she thought the "don't eat bagels with your new braces" written warning from her orthodontist DIDN'T APPLY TO HER so she had a nice hard, chewy one in Chicago over Thanksgiving and knocked a bracket loose. It took two weeks to get her in to get it fixed. Now she has red and green rubberbands for the holidays.
Joy and I laughed when it was over. We thought when they were done we would have several pans spread out around the kitchen with nicely decorated cookies. Instead they made skyscrapers of sweetness that even I wouldn't attempt to consume. The boys had no problem. The girls were a little more dainty. They made cute pictures on them and ate only a few. I tell you, if none of these kids were diabetic before this, they were well on their way! 
After they trashed the kitchen table the whole lot went upstairs to watch a movie. They screamed and laughed, jumped up and down and ran down the hall and stairs. About an hour later we noticed an eerie silence. She went upstairs and found that most of the cookie monsters had crashed from the sugar rush and were asleep on the floor. What a riot!
The girls only had school Mon-Wed this week. They could hardly sit still, they were so excited! Now they are home 
Not too far from here is a large park (golf course, pool, stables, hiking trails, etc...) and each year they set up THOUSANDS of lights for Christmas. It's a big deal around here and TONS of people go to it. The park is called Tanglewood and here is the link to it if you want to read more: http://www.forsyth.cc/tanglewood/fol_didyouknow.aspx . You typically have to wait in line about an hour before you actually get to the booth to pay, but it's worth it once you get in. We decided to make it a "hay ride", so to speak, but with no hay, no wagon and no tractor. We had a short-bed pickup truck instead! Don't worry, they rode INSIDE the truck on the way. They didn't climb into the back until we got there. It was a great night and the kids had such a fun time. The two boys riding in the back are Jonathon and Justin (Joy's kids). 
Sorry that some of these are blurry. I had to jump out of a moving truck to take them! It was cute to see all the little kids in passing cars. They had their smiling little faces pressed up to the glass and pointing left and right. I'm glad we got to go.
I had to laugh at one point. They were attempting to play Jingle Bells, doing pretty well, and out of nowhere came numerous loud squeaky sounds from the stage which had the same effect as fingernails on a chalkboard. 
She loves her new room. The carpet arrived today so I could finally put it all together. I still need to hang some shelves and sort through some, too. She was so excited when she came home from school and saw it all put together. She couldn't wait to go to bed! Here's a picture taken early in the setup process, and one of the happy little girl who lives in this room. 
