I am very into lighthouses and have been for years but I am very picky about it, I want tasteful not cartoony as some of the pictures/figurines can get. I have been to many houses where people have rooms devoted to lighthouses..any and all lighthouses and some make it work but others are not to my taste..ok enough of the 'criticism' now.Christmas morning I was up at 5:30 to get the cooking/baking done for my contribution to the meal at my MiL's house. Oldest woke up at 8 and youngest finally got up at 8:30 (with a little help from brother of course) Both boys were happy with their gifts..Santa brought Oldest a glass Chess/Checkers set and a remote control escalade as well as some Modeling clay, Youngest got a Disney 10 pack games set, Color Wonder book with paintbrush/markers and a plastic tool set. After a very non-nutritious breakfast we played with the games/toys until it was time to go to Grandma's. I think this was the best year at my MiL's, in years past all have concentrated on the gift part and this year with everyone being a bit hit by the economy very little was purchased in the form of gifts. The boys got clothes and 1 toy from everyone...both hubby and I are happy with the 1 toy they got as were the boys since they had to choose a toy to donate to the homeless shelter for every new toy received. The biggest gift was spending time with the grandparents and great Aunt and Uncle with no interruptions of football games or any other sport. Unfortunately we did have to watch alot of the Christmas Story.
After my MiL's Hubby, Boys and I went out to see FiL. We try to get out for all Holidays and Birthday as well as the Anniversary of the day we said Goodbye. It was -15 degrees so we had the boys stay in the car and we were out for a bout 5 minutes..long enough to clean off the snow say a prayer and do a bit of reflecting. It has been a little over two years since he went home to Our Father but it has not gotten any easier yet. We really feel the loss at Christmas, no matter how many Christmases we had in a year, we made sure to see him or have him over so the boys could listen to his stories and Corny jokes. Oldest knew him longer than all the other grandkids and remembers many of the stories and such, so he likes to sit down with youngest and tell him some of Grandpa's 'exploits' as a kid. Youngest was not yet 2 when he passed although he does know which one is Grandpa when he sees a picture of all the 'kids'. I still remember the first Christmas without him the boys and I were at Wal*Mart in the Christmas section and youngest found a Santa in a biker jacket with a bike in his hand (grandpa had a beard and mustache and rode a harley Softtail) and said, grandpa..buy him, buy him..daddy like (remember he was 2..not much articulation) so that was daddy's first gift that year. Youngest walked up to him with the gift and said, Daddy..Grandpa..for you..always here, it now sits on top of Computer Armoire year round. Still brings tears to my eyes when I think of it. Hubby thought I put him up to it, but my kid is amazing on his own.
