2011/007: Bonus – And Then It Was Gone
… safely stored away until next time, making the house look empty and bare, like something is missing.
I put the Christmas decorations away on Wednesday, took the tree down yesterday, and now everything is back to how it was before.
We had the Christmas tree in the dining room, because it’s the only place I can make it fit. When Sara saw that the tree was gone, she said “the dining room looks just… wrong!”
It will be Christmas again before we know it.
2009/350
This might look vaguely familiar to some of you 😉
And for the rest of you, this was/is our Christmas card this year.
Last Minute Ornaments
These were inspired by the ornament Kristie posted on her blog. I thought it was absolutely adorable, so we gave them a try, too. Of course had to buy some ornaments, but thankfully we were able to find these beautiful blue ones. We got them done just in time to hang them on the tree before heading out to dinner on Christmas Eve.
Sara’s (I painted the details for her)
Melissa’s (she did her ornament all by herself)
Wish List
… or is Melissa’s really a Little Sister For Sale sign? Needless to say, she won’t get THAT wish! The Lump of coal or two, that mommy added for her on the other hand….
And speaking of wish lists, Greg’s group at work has always adopted a family for the holidays in recent years, but this year, no one organized anything, so on Friday evening we headed to our local Wal-Mart to take a look at their tree and adopt a needy child for the holidays. I have to say that I was shocked at what I saw. MOST of the items on every single wish list were big ticket items like iPods, video game consoles, cameras, etc. One was for a 7-year-old boy who was asking for a digital camera, digital camcorder, PS2, and I forget what else. A SEVEN year-old?? I would expect to see half the toy department listed, like cars/trucks, legos, books, etc., maybe a video game cartridge. NOT electronics! Needy children? Needy for what?? Or is it greedy parents, who hope that someone else will buy their child all those expensive things they ask for? Not being able to afford these things does not make you needy!! Your parents being unable (or unwilling) to buy yu these things does not make you needy!!
We walked away from this tree (that we now call the greedy tree) but knew that there was another tree at the other entrance. We checked it out after we did our shopping and I wished we were able to afford to pick every single ornament from that tree… and there were soo many of them left! There was a 5-year-old girl who loves Barbies and was asking for learning toys and books (she was learning English)…. a 3-month-old, who was asking for a car seat or bouncer…. a 17-year-old boy who wanted a Ross gift card…. or a 1-year-old boy with a red wagon as the only thing on his list. We chose a 5-year-old girl who is asking for The Night Before Christmas book, pants, shirts, pretty hair things and a Magna Doodle.
THESE are the truly needy children, and I hope that more people walk away from the greedy tree and choose an ornament from the needy tree instead.
And here is one of my favorite Christmas songs:
The Daily Click 