Getting Ready for Christmas

Thanksgiving was great yesterday.  The food was delicious.  We had turkey, cheesy hashbrown potatoes, green bean casserole, sweet potatos with brown sugar and pecans, frog-eyed salad, rolls, cream cheese jello, and of course lots and lots of pies.  My stepsisters Jessica and Amber were out for Thanksgiving, which was nice because I rarely get to see them.  Jessica had brought the brand new Super Mario game over for Wii, so toward the end of the evening, Shannon, my mom and I began taking turns playing the game.  I wish we had begun sooner, because it was actually really fun...reminded me of those childhood days of fighting over Super Mario on Nintendo.  We had to cut it short though because it was starting to get late.

After leaving my parents house, Clint and I drove over to our old house (which is only about five minutes from my parents house) to check it out.  Our tenants moved out somewhat suddenly and never left us their forwarding address (guess we're keeping their security deposit), so we were concerned about what kind of condition the house was left in.  Surprisingly, it was immaculate.  The renters had even swapped out some of the older light fixtures and replaced them with new, more modern ones.  The only downfall was that they painted every single wall in the house this dusky blue and limey green color.  Every single wall...both downstairs and upstairs.  It's awful.  The colors not only make no sense, but they completely suck the light out of the house.  But, paint is an easy fix.  I'm just thankful that they left everything else in such good condition. 

The kids loved running through the empty house last night.  Trinity was getting all nostalgic and talking about all the memories we've had in that house...which is somewhat true.  My favorite memory is when we had that surprise snow storm that took down the willow tree.  I still remember Jeremy hurrying across the street to see what the loud noise was, and I remember him wearing that hilarious straw hat that was drooping under the weight of the wet snow.  That night we all went on a walk down the sparkling white streets, where you could hear the distant cracks of other branches snapping and falling under the weight of the snow.  At one point, I remember looking up at one of the street lamps, and within its normally raunchy yellow glow was a thick flurry of snowflakes whirling around chaotically in dizzying patterns.  It was breathtaking. 

Elijah was just a baby when we moved in to that house.  His first Christmas was in that house.  Even Clinton admitted that, although he'd never want to move back, he did feel a bit sentimental about the house.  I, on the other hand, don't miss that house even a little bit.  I wish I could muster up a little bit of nostalgia, but I only feel relief that I don't live there anymore. 

Today I spent the entire day cleaning the house so we could decorate it for Christmas.  Once finished cleaning, the kids and I decorated the Christmas tree while Clint took care of the outside of the house.  The house looks so cute and cozy now, and it is so clean, that I'm not sure if I even want to live in it.  I just want to freeze it the way it is so it will be just like this on Christmas day.  Except for the master bedroom.  I didn't have time to clean our bedroom, and it is ridiculously messy.  I get grumpy just opening that door right now. 

Clint did a great job on the outside of the house this year.  This year's outdoor decorations include icicle lights, colorful lights wrapped around the fence, a big Christmas train on our roof, a wooden Rudolph lawn ornament (complete with red glowing nose), a big rugged cross (with lights wrapped around it) and a wreath on the door.  We both worked our butts off all day, taking a break only for lunch (in which we went to La Casita).

Tomorrow I'm going shooting again in the mountains with the whole family.  I can't wait!