Our family has many "traditions" that the kids found hard to "outgrow" - like waiting at the top of the stairs on Christmas morning until we (mom and dad) walked the dog and made a pot of coffee. Imagine our surprise when they wanted to keep this tradition going well into High School !! So we let them - a 6' young man and a "grown up" young lady sitting on the top step, giddy with anticipation, while mom made the coffee and dad took the dog for a quick walk! Loved it.
Then there was the year (maybe 5 years ago) that I decided to decorate the entry foyer in HOT pink and BRIGHT green instead of the usual Christmas red and green. It all started with the small HOT pink foil tree I spotted and had to bring home!! Then I found Martha Stewart ornaments at K-Mart in the same color HOT pink along with BRIGHT green and the idea was born.
This Christmas will be extra special with our 6 month old granddaughter, Ryan Savannah, in the house. We are super excited. Our son - the Marine - was married last year 3 days before Christmas. He shipped off to Afghanistan (his third tour of duty) on January 5th. Our beautiful and corageous daughter-in-law, Kristen finished her sophmore year of college before giving birth to this precious gift on May 26, 2010. We were there as were her parents. Friends of Evan and Kristens were in and out during her long labor. Finally Ryan made her debut - all healthy and beautiful! She was home with Mommy the following day (at Kristens parents house - fortunately we live minutes apart!) I quickly mailed pictures to Evan - knowing that it would be days, maybe weeks before he would get them. His unit lead the invasion into Marjah, Afghanistan. They had no infrastructure and IED's were a huge problem as they were buried everywhere. Deliveries to the guys was sketchy at best.
Evan was injured during a fire fight with the Taliban and ended up coming home June 12 - two months early! I'm happy to report that after four surgeries he's doing better and regaining the use of the hand that was shot through ! We were very blessed to have the whole family living with us for nearly 3 months during Evan's surgeries and recovery. They moved back to Camp Lejeune, NC in September and he went back to work in October. Having them 6 hours away is not easy - we miss them and Miss Ryan terribly. So having them all here for Christmas will be extra special. I can just picture my little Muffin (I call her Mimi's Muffin) looking at all of the lights and shiny ornaments. It will be magical for sure. We will try not to spoil her too much!
Could she be any cuter? Okay...maybe I'm just a bit prejudiced :)
Stay tuned for more Holiday and family chat - thanks for tuning in!! I promise to incorporate more decorating IDEAS into this blog instead of just rambling on - really !!
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