Happy Holiday Thoughts...

Here’s what I tried to post on Christmas Eve....

Well... the blog and website are updated... my duet at church tonight went well and neither of my kids self-destructed during the family service. Many of us burst into giggles during the children’s moment when one little girl insisted that there were elephants and giraffes in the manger because her story book said so...

We have to be up early to get the turkey in the oven... so this dragon is heading off to bed. I hope that peace prevails... that generosity outweighs commercialism... that compassion exceeds judgment... and that we never forget to have that flicker of hope in the dark of the night.

Merry Christmas!


Hiding from Boxing Day Sales.....

It was magical just spending Christmas in our own home at our own pace this year! We had fun and even some giggles when Nick found THREE lumps of pretend coal that Erin had stuffed in his stocking. The poor guy just kept saying...”I haven’t been THAT bad!!” We had some very dear friends for the holiday meal since their family has jumped from 2 kids to 4 with the additions of twins. They are 9 months old now and often crawling in opposite directions, so we invited the whole family to join us for a turkey feast. It was merry chaos indeed for all of us.

Yesterday we went down to Nick’s Mother and Step-Father’s Bed and Breakfast (closed now for the season) for another wonderful meal. We had a great time and left in the evening amid big, fat, fluffy flakes of snow falling from the sky. This morning there is just a dusting of new snow... which my kids love a lot more than the rain, so we are going to go for a walk in the nearby woods this afternoon. We had a quiet morning that was spent at HOME rather than fighting crowds at the malls. I didn’t see anything I wanted badly enough to play “body hockey” with total strangers over!

Tonight we are having a friend of the girls over for a sleep over, so the only message we will do is to head out for some snacks and maybe movies or Nintendo games to play tonight....

I’m going to put off working until Monday, except for folding some leaflets. I am enjoying this break!

Happy Holiday Thoughts...

Well... the blog and website are updated... my duet at church tonight went well and neither of my kids self-destructed during the family service. Many of us burst into giggles during the children’s moment when one little girl insisted that there were elephants and giraffes in the manger because her story book said so...

We have to be up early to get the turkey in the oven... so this dragon is heading off to bed. I hope that peace prevails... that generosity outweighs commercialism... that compassion exceeds judgment... and that we never forget to have that flicker of hope in the dark of the night.

Merry Christmas!

Happy Holiday Thoughts...

Well... the blog and website are updated... my duet at church tonight went well and neither of my kids self-destructed during the family service. Many of us burst into giggles during the children’s moment when one little girl insisted that there were elephants and giraffes in the manger because her story book said so...

We have to be up early to get the turkey in the oven... so this dragon is heading off to bed. I hope that peace prevails... that generosity outweighs commercialism... that compassion exceeds judgment... and that we never forget to have that flicker of hope in the dark of the night.

Merry Christmas!

Happy Holiday Thoughts...

Well... the blog and website are updated... my duet at church tonight went well and neither of my kids self-destructed during the family service. Many of us burst into giggles during the children’s moment when one little girl insisted that there were elephants and giraffes in the manger because her story book said so...

We have to be up early to get the turkey in the oven... so this dragon is heading off to bed. I hope that peace prevails... that generosity outweighs commercialism... that compassion exceeds judgment... and that we never forget to have that flicker of hope in the dark of the night.

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Cookies and Christmas....Rain??

I was the only one who had to get up and out to work this morning for a meeting, but Nick was SO kind... he took the girls with him to pick up the last few groceries we need before Christmas. Somehow Bethany managed to spill grape juice on herself TWICE before they came to get me, but the laundry is done now.

This afternoon we iced many dozens of cookies when one of our best friends, Karen, came over with her son (and our godson) Ben for a madcap lunch and cookie icing session. The kids ate them as fast as they could decorate them at first... but then their blood sugar probably peaked so we have some truly creative cookies to leave out for Santa and enjoy ourselves!

Nick snuck off for a workout and called from the framers to tell me that the Runekeeper piece I am releasing at the show in Nashville in February looks “TOTALLY AWESOME” and that my framers had outdone themselves this time... so I can’t wait to see it when he gets home. I’d picked out a frame that I’ve wanted to use for years.... but always worried it wouldn’t travel to trade shows well. I plan to just package the heck out of this one and not have it move around more than necessary. Many of my frames will need to be replaced in the next few years because they take so much more banging than a piece that just hangs on the wall... Ah well... that’s why it is a business deduction ...right??

They are calling for rain tonight and tomorrow night... so that doesn’t feel very Christmassy, but it shouldn’t be enough to melt the snow away completely. I am very much looking forward to celebrating Christmas in our own house this year, especially the serenity of Christmas Eve and then the excitement and chaos of Christmas Morning. The girls have already asked that their Dad make them Happy Face Pancakes and that I make the scrambled eggs.

The only task left on my list for tonight or tomorrow is to tuck two more sample charts up on the site as a final Christmas gift to all those dragon loving stitchers out there. Then I am going to take a few days off from even blogging and just spend some quality time with those I love.

May the holidays be a time of unexpected joys and thoughtful gratitude for all that we DO have... for everyone out there who reads this Dragon’s Musings

I Know Why Some Animals Eat Their Young.....

Well... it is the first true day of Christmas Vacation and I am already wishing I could shove my daughters out the door to school and daycare! Yesterday was a wonderful day, so perhaps this is some barometric abnormality... biorhythms... planetary alignment... or just two girls who have forgotten how to get along with each other for more than a weekend. I even considered shipping Erin off to La-La Land to help Linn Skinner with her book binding... but she's probably drive her crazy too!

Of course the fact that I had parcels to ship and family errands to run had nothing to do with it...right? They even fought about which restaurant we were going to eat at as a treat for lunch!!

Some parent somewhere must have had a day like this and been the first to invent the “Let’s see who can be quiet the longest in the car” game. Nick spoke almost right away... and then made me laugh out loud by saying in his wonderful French “Je pense... c’est pourquoi quelques des animaux mangent leurs petits!” Which is supposed to be “I think this is why some animals eat their young”... but the grammar was cute enough to make me giggle.

Sometimes raising responsible kids is just such a challenge! I have pretty good kids, but it is having the patience to teach them coping behaviours and proper boundaries instead of just doing what they want all the time. I’ve been reading an excellent book on the subject which is helping me not react emotionally to everything, especially Bethany’s new hissy fits or sudden “my legs won’t work any more” or “my body isn’t feeling well... I have a headache!” whenever she is asked to do something she doesn’t want to do. This morning she was complaining that her fingers were too stiff to put the crayons back in the box and that I should do it. (I thought to myself “Do I have Crayon Maid written on my forehead??”) I just firmly told her that she had to be responsible for cleaning up what she had been using... but then explained that I used to play a game when I was putting crayons away as a little girl. I pretended that the box was their cave and that I was tucking the colours away for the night. Before she knew it, she was wishing the purples “Good Night” and putting the colours away. I can still remember doing every trick from playing “beat the clock” to singing songs as I did tasks I hated. By turning them into games, it made it more bearable. Perhaps I should apply that to tidying my office!

Sigh! There.... it is amazing what a few moments of quiet head space will do to restore my sanity. No wonder my Mom would have a nap and send us each off for Quiet Time on weekend afternoons. She was probably ready to shove us out the door too!!

I can hear the occasional clunk of Lego on the hardwood floor upstairs and they play Harry Potter Lego, and my gingerbread dough for gingerbread men tomorrow with my girls and my godson should be just about ready to come out of the fridge.... Only 3 1/2 hours until they are asleep!!