Traditions

* circa 1980

I love tradition. One of our Christmas traditions involved talent sharing at the annual Christmas Eve party. The only requirement- it must be sophisticated and presented in a dignified way. Just as my parents have always done.

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Come back tomorrow night if you'd like to see 2010's version.

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My Dad's Birthday Gift From Moi

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So when I wished my Dad a Happy Birthday on my blog (that he never reads) I shared this picture of him from around 30 years ago.

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The picture was actually a hint (that he never would have got since he doesn't visit my blog) as to what I got him for his birthday.

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The 3 Burley's

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I had such fond memories of him in that hat so many years ago, I thought he was SO cool when he wore it!
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When I was picking up his birthday card, reading through all they offered at the store, I stumbled on a card that was for a daughter from a dad.

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It read before with a picture of a teenage girl yelling, "You read my journal?!"

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Then now with a girl at a computer complaining, "I've only have 200,000 visitors to my blog!"

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How appropriate that card would be.... for me.

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Happy Birthday Daddy

Christmas Eve

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This post is dedicated to my two wonderful sisters who missed my Christmas Eve party. They weren't just physically missing it, but in their hearts they were missing it and I could tell.

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I post this so that the two of you may feel like you were a part of the night, AniC and DarlaG.

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In no particular order...

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We do a talent show every year. AniC asked if she could do one over the phone and so I put her on speaker phone and she sang a song. Rudolph, to be exact.

Funny thing is we called Darla impromptu and she and her family sang the exact same song as AniC.

There wasn't much talent shared otherwise.

.Rae showed some art she created.

Naomi sang a song.

I wonder if we'd get lots more talents shared if we did them all by phone.
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We played Rock, Paper, Scissors Train twice. (Naomi won both times. She's really good at the game, you know.)

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We played with cute babies.

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Cute babies played with each other.

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Big boys with pretty hair played with pink guitars.

Then we did that Gingerbread House competition that AniC and I came up with.

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It was kinda a Top Chef deal, Gramma's team versus Grampa's team.

I learned a lot from it. As in, I'll know what rules to change for next year.

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These were the two completed houses, guess which one won?

I think one of the changes I'll make for next year is the looser cleans up.

Merry Christmas one and all!!

Missed you Darla and AniC.

My Most Favoritest Tradition of ALL

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I admitted yesterday that I struggle with traditions because of my moodiness and boredom, but one tradition I'll never ever tire of is our Christmas Eve celebration.

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I am not sure when it began...... but as far back as I can remember, Christmas Eve was a special night. My ma would make fudge, some with nuts and some without, and add a few other treats, and we would gather around the Christmas tree and sing songs and share talent.

(or stupid human tricks, depending....)

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When I married and lived many states away, I missed home Christmas Eve most of all. So when I moved back, I asked if I could host the Christmas Eve celebration at my house please, please, pleeeease!!!

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And ma said okay.

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Phew!

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Wanna read about last years Christmas Eve? (Sure you do!) Click here.

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Wanna blast from further in the past than last year?

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Here's my ma and pa.

Aren't they precious??

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That might be the earliest evidence of our talent.

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So, really what is on my mind mostly, as of late, is what will my talent ("talent") be this year?

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Any ideas?

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And please don't suggest anything involving Dolly Parton, that's been done already.

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(sisters Tamara and Elayna, Christmas Eve 1989)

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Happy Father's Day, Pa!

You are the coolest dad ever!!

The proof is in the picture!

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p.s. Ma, will you show this Father's Day wish to him, please?

Since he doesn't read blogs.....

The Good

About 5 years ago, my parents had the very first Easter Egg Hunt in their backyard since becoming Grandparents.

Look how little my girls were!

Especially Zoe!

This year the backyard filled quickly and the fun began.

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First we ate.

Then the young ones went inside so we could hide eggs.

We called them out and the hunt began.

Uh, guys, turn around, you missed a few.....

My little Zoe was this little guys size on the first hunt.

Now she's a pro.

This one is a pro too. She didn't like it when I wanted her to stop and pose as an egg hunter, but she was a blur if I didn't ask her to stop. She takes hunting eggs very seriously.

We also had an Egg Toss.

Check out the video to see how far an egg can be tossed. My brother jokes about the eggs being a boiled, but my nephew proves otherwise.

Excuse the cackle. I think I confused Halloween with Easter....

There was also an egg race.

And posing for pictures.

And some loving on the babies.






And some swinging.

Rae was swinging with Edward and Jacob.

Funny thing, I just stumbled on this picture of this swing the other day.

I loved that swing, I've spent some serious time on this swing with, well.... let's just say the boys weren't characters in a book, if you know what I'm sayin'.

(but don't tell Rae about that, okay?)

And I didn't realize that when my parents moved, that they took the swing with them. I was SO excited to see they still had the swing.

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Nolan brought the UFC to the Easter Egg Hunt.

And my brother brought the clippers.

As you can see, we just had the average, typical Easter Egg Hunt, we played games, we ate, we UFCed and had haircuts. We are like every other family in America.

An Update, a Weekend Get-away, and an Anniversary

Updates-

My wittle baby sister has not had her baby yet. Yesterday was her due date. Due dates, for me, were so indescribable. I always knew that the odds of me having a baby on my due date were crazy slim. And yet when the due date arrived, in the back of my mind, I always thought 'alright baby, this your day, they said it was, come on...' Just sitting there, having my due date. Strange thing.

Also Gary's mother has informed us that we will leave if a category 3 hurricane comes. She said she will call us up and say, "Let's go on a vacation." She talked of staying home during the last category 3 once and her and her husband standing in the hall for safety during the worst of it. She said they could hear the nails getting pulled out. She said that was the last category 3 for her.

So I reckon we won't be flipping that coin.


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We made an impromptu trip home this weekend. We needed a little getaway and she called and said she needed a visit. Gary's mom doesn't really live 'out in the coun'ry' but it often feels like it.
Because we got to do did a little of this-



This was Zoe's idea of shootin'-


Gary did the aiming, Zoe leaned over to pull the trigger.
(I took more picture with Nolan's phone camera but these were the only that transferred. Irritatin')



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Happy Anniversary Ma and Pa!!!


Thanks for getting married and having me and all them youngin's. My childhood- on a scale of 1-10 was a 1,000,000. Thanks for showing me how a married couple should love and treat one another and for the comfort that came with seeing you two love each other so much.
And thanks for inviting me and Gary over for ice cream Saturday night. It was delicious and the conversation was lovely.