who stole the show: we FINALLY had our family xmas. while the rest of the world was hungover on new year's day, we were gathered FINALLY! -and oh, what a gathering it was. while there is never failure to celebrate the holiday season, the celebrations have decreased in size over the last 2-3 years, and it has been that long since we have decorated/outdone things like we "used to." the request to do so this year had come from my daughters x3 and i found i, too, had the same desire in my heart. the end-result was most excellent, culminating in our family event this past wednesday. there was so much to absorb and so many "moments" worth recording. we shot up 5 rolls of film throughout the afternoon and evening. i can only provide one perspective, so for every eight things i saw or felt, there were eight others present who can provide their own unique perspective. i wish i could poll their heads and hearts, but i realize, i know the feeling:

bekah's tears: there were many "gag" type gifts under the tree. for instance, three days prior to the celebration, while finishing some handcrafts that we were all working on as gifts, we (me, a & p) were up one night late watching "edward scissorhands." ali remarked that was carole's movie. (bekah and carole have already moved out of the house, but we still keep finding their "stuff!") i said, "cool, we'll wrap it up when were done watching it and give it back to her as a joke," which we did and it was funny but nobody cried!

ali had also recently found a blue fur cd case full of cds while we were rummaging through the extra bedroom, which is soon to become our sewing/craft/metalcraft, beading etc. room. the cds belonged to bekah, but ali asked, "if she doesn't want them, can i just keep them so i have more cds?" i looked at the cds in the case, all of them "mixes" and not store-bought. i said, "i can't believe bekah left these here, especially after most of her "real" cds were stolen out of the car at her new apartment." this was followed by, "let's wrap them and give them back to her as a joke!"

so, during the gift-giving on jan1st, i prefaced that gift by saying, "make sure we have the camera on her, because this gift is so exceptional, so unique, so blah, blah, blah, blah, she will definitely be moved, and we don't want to miss a moment of this." bekah was "oh, mom-ing!" it, saying that I was probably just saying that because she had just seen her big sister get "scissor-handed!" in any case, her boyfriend aimed the camera in her direction.  she was ready to laugh.  i didn't know that the gift would really make her cry!

when bekah tore off the wrapper, saw the blue fur of the bulky cd case, she stopped breathing, her face got red, her eyes huge and filled with tears. she finally managed to speak, asking, "where did you find these?!?!?! i thought i lost them last february or left them at the high school. I THOUGHT THEY WERE GONE," and then she thumbed through each "mix" cd as if they were old friends, each one having a special meaning (only to her) and she told us all how she didn't figure she'd ever have this part of her self back. so we all ended up losing it, eyes filled, just watching her.

baby ruth and scoobie doo: my grand-daughter ruth, in no longer a baby as she is two years old now, walking, talking, etc. but you can't resist calling her "baby ruth." at one point during the gift exchange, she was just getting ready to place a pretend baby bottle into a pretend baby doll she had just received as a gift, when her sister scarlet opened up a plush scoobie doo toy. ruth saw this in her peripheral vision, dropped the baby doll and the bottle, gasped and did not let her breath out for five whole seconds! carole (my daughter, her mommy), looked like a deer caught in headlights. the kids' room is decorated with "scooby stuff" but carole had told me ruthie was the most "gone" on scoobie, but it was scarlet sitting there opening a scoobie gift. i looked at carole and said, "don't worry, there are two of them!" as there were a lot of grandbaby gifts that were actual doubles, or like and same, since the girls play so much and so well together. it was just a riot as we all were watching baby ruth start to bond and feed the new plastic doll, but when scoobie arrived on the scene, she had no intention of following through on childcare needs and she was ready to give scoobie a snack and years and years of loving.

tin craft, tiny crossed stitches, fiberfil, yarn, hot glue, stones, shells, candles, baubles and beads: the gifts we hand-crafted (paul, ali and i) were the most fun of all. we spent weeks collectively working on projects and off to the side working on our own unique pieces, and it was well worth the effort to see the look on every face as tin-crafted candle holders were passed around, tin-crafted ornaments, beaded barrettes, rag dolls, pillows, desk sets, etc. etc. etc. there was something that spoke to everyone in the room, and while our energy stores were depleted as a result of the hard work, our hearts were filled to spilling over.

and i guess, i'll stop this portion of the blog here, because there were about 8-jillion other moments that are worth repeating, but they'll just have to live in our hearts forever.

the days of the week: i think today is saturday. it's january now. up until now, it's been "anything can happen day" and on most days we made sure lots of stuff happened, as we rearranged our winter calendar to extend our holiday season in order that we catch up with everyone involved. future is pending, as always.

happiness: best wishes extended to all you denners. i wanted to come on board new year's eve and extend the same wishes but for our family that was xmas eve, and we weren't quite there yet! ... plus scott d. zachary had posted another poem/riddle that kept paul, ali and i busy for hours!