Non-Traditional Christmas in New York City

For the past 4 years I along with my family have been struggling with Christmas. Four years ago at Christmas I was saying goodbye to my ex-sister-in-law who was also one of my best friends....she was dying from colon cancer. She passed in Feb. 2005. Then in April 2005 our family said goodbye to sweet hubby's mom and my uncle who passed on the same day. Two weeks later my beloved younger sister Robin passed away suddenly. Then in July our family lost a cousin. When September came around I lost my wonderful daddy. Then 3 weeks later my daddy's brother passed away. We left Arkansas for Christmas that year. We just couldn't bear to go through the Christmas traditions that we had developed with daddy and Robin not here to share with us. We went to Kansas where Sarah was living at the time. The day after Christmas we left Kansas to drive to Mississippi b/c Sarah's grandfather passed away. The following year we had a very somber Christmas awaiting Sarah's surgery for ovarian cancer. Since that year we have struggled through Christmas...trying to make things work.....overbuying for the kids....but it didn't replace the empty places at the table or everything else that was Christmas with the Family.

This year was no exception.....still not able to face Christmas with missing family members, my sister and I packed up our own kids and loaded Sherman the Tank and headed for NYC to spend the holiday with Sarah in her tiny apartment. My sister and I chose not to over buy on the gifts this year.....her kids got one big gift - the guitar hero and a couple little things. Caleb got one big gift and a couple of small gifts. Christmas morning was wonderful. The kids opened their small gifts and went off to enjoy. There was no mentioning of "he got that, why didn't I get one" or "is this all???" or " this isn't what I wanted.....I wanted such and such", it was just quiet fun. We played guitar hero and watched movies. Later in the day some of Sarah's friends (who used to live in Kansas and attend K-state but now live up here) came over and we laughed and laughed and had the absolute best time. Our Christmas dinner was 3 hours late...but it didn't matter to us.....

Sweet hubby didn't travel with us.....he wanted to go deer hunting......he too is battling the Christmas blues since both his parents are gone now and his brother passed two years ago. He doesn't have family left to share Christmas with (except us of course) so he spent Christmas with some friends in Arkansas before leaving out to hunt bambi. We missed sweet hubby but we totally understood his choices and he understood ours.

I think, or maybe I hope I am at the turning point now. Maybe I am not ready to give up on the traditional Christmas with family, gifts, etc. Maybe next year I will start sending out Christmas cards again (I actually stopped 3 years ago). Maybe I will plan out a Christmas party for my family again. Maybe I will play Santa again. Maybe I will stay home and have a traditional Christmas day with my family........maybe......we will see when next year rolls around.....maybe.....

For now the doctor is out.....hoping and praying this will be my last non-traditional Christmas....maybe....

Mapigating the USA

NOTE: This is a combined blog from The Doctor's Report and Confessions of a Mimi - since we are traveling together, we are sharing our blogs.

Well, it’s that time of year again when Dr. Mom and Mimi gather their meager possessions, load up Sherman the Tank and mapigate the USA. This year we are headed to the Big Apple to visit Sarah. If the beginning of the trip is any indication of what’s to come we are in big trouble.
We were set to leave on Friday afternoon…However, Sweet Hubby could not tune up the Tank until late that day. We decided to leave out early on Saturday morning. After ten years of devoted service the Tank threw us a curve. His hinder parts (rear brakes) were cracked and hurting. It took some tender loving care and new shoes to make Tank all better. We hit the road at 12 noon. We made a quick stop at our friend’s home to open some presents for Mimi’s brood and Franklin. We grabbed some lunch very quickly and set off. We encountered our first slow down outside of Lonoke. A semi trailer caught fire and traffic was at a standstill. We finally made it through that mess and enjoyed the wide open freeways. All was well with our little excursion until we hit Jackson, TN. Then we encountered something that has never happened before in 20 years of traveling together. The Tank had a blowout! We quickly pulled over and found that only a rim remained. What to do? We were packed to the gills, weren’t sure that we even had a good spare since we have never used it, and the wind was biting cold. A good Samaritan (he looked like our cousin Mike 20 years ago) stopped to give us a hand. He had to suffer through the cold, find a jack big enough to lift Sherman the Tank, and we had to unpack the back to get to our spare. The spare was in good shape, just needed a little air.

The blown out tire --- separated from the wheel all the way around!!

The Good Samaritans!!!!



Chicken Little trying to keep Franklin warm!!

The unloaded loot (for Sarah) so that we could get to the spare tire.

The loaded car....without the extra loot!

Ok, we have to get a BIGGER jack....this thing is too heavy!!!

Once all was packed back in we drove to a WalMart Tire Center just down the road and decided to buy 2 new tires for the back wheels. (Sweet Hubby had already put new tires on the front and saw that the back tires were fairly new so he did not change them) We were able to get to the tire center about 30 minutes before it closed for the evening! We decided to eat some dinner and because it was getting late, we found a hotel and stayed in Jackson for the night.
Dr. Mom and Mimi are quite impressed with the kind citizens of Jackson. We encountered good will throughout this city. Everyone was so helpful and kind to us. It now goes on one of our favorite places to be stranded in. Hopefully this list will remain small.

So…we are back on the road again suffering through all the little spats from the kids and the hundred million “are we there yet?” questions. Let’s hope we can continue the trip without any further happenings of the bad kind and stil keep our sanity.

For now the Doctor is out contemplating the fact that there are still good Samaritans in this world. Mimi is confessing that driving can still be more pleasant than flying, right???

Christmas Decorating With a 4 Year Old!!!

We have always had the tradition of putting up the tree the day after Thanksgiving but this year Caleb was sick on Thanksgiving and on Friday so I thought well we can put it up on Saturday but he was still sick and still sick on Sunday....what is going on here??? On Monday he was diagnosed with MONO - ok, so no wonder he was not feeling well and running a strong temp!!! But on Tuesday he seemed to be much better and I was at home with him all day since my sister, Mimi, couldn't watch him for me so that I could go into the office (it is nice to have such a wonderful new job with flexibility of being able to work at home!). So what to do with a 4-yr old who is feeling better but confined to the house until he isn't contagious anymore?????? I know let's go ahead and put the tree up!!!

Putting the tree up in our house is a big deal for me!!! I am a Christmas tree snob of the worst kind! I am a perfectionist with the tree. My family used to find tons of things to do on Christmas tree day just so they didn't have to be around me while I griped about this and that trying to get my tree to perfection. Perfection included me stringing around 1000 to 12o0 lights (white lights only) on that tree. This would take me about 8 hours to do. Then I would begin putting on the decorations placing them with symmetry!!! STOP LAUGHING!!! I know that I have a Christmas Tree problem and I have since gotten help for it!! I am still anal about it but I have learned to let go of a few things. I used to work for Dillards Dept Stores in the Visual Section and learned the art of Christmas tree lights/decoration during that time - so I guess that sort of contributed to my quirks about Christmas trees.

Another quirk I have about my tree is that it needs to have a theme. When I was a single mom with Sarah we always made our decorations for the tree -- but they also had a theme - I know crazy huh? Well, there came a time when I could afford to buy the theme that I always wanted: A Mauve Victorian Christmas theme. I would hit the after Christmas sales to collect every ornament that I wanted to adorn that tree and now I have this wonderful collection of Victorian ornaments but after 10 years of the same theme I decided it was time for a change so I started buying the Santa theme ornaments and that has been my them for the past few years.

So today Caleb and I began the arduous task of putting up the tree. I don't do lights anymore....I bought a pre-lit tree which saves my sanity now. However, I am still quite anal about the ornaments and what goes on the tree. I have learned some patience since I do have a 4 yr old who wants to do "everything" and that included putting the tree together.

Notice the pj's---- he has decided that since he can't go anywhere there is no need to get dressed!!

Like I said, he wanted to be a part of every detail including straightening out the branches, however, I was afraid he was going to topple off the table into the tree, but he didn't.

I finally talked him out of helping with the top section but then he got a hold of the camera and took a fairly decent picture!!

Once we began putting the ornaments on he placed his precisely where he wanted them -- all together in the same area.


You know I am going to move them when he isn't looking......

Eventually he got bored with the tree and began working with the cardboard ornament holders --- yes, I can get those ornaments where they MUST be in order to have that almost perfect tree --- hey, I am still working on this problem!





The finished product with a few flaws....oh well.

Once we got the tree decorated we started on the other decorations. I have collected International Santas for the past 15 years so we unwrap them and put them on the piano.

Caleb wanted to open them and place them on the piano....you know when he isn't looking I am going to change it....yea, I do.

Yes, Caleb took this picture of his own handy work - lined up all together on the key cover of the piano!!!

Then we hung our stalkings on the mantle and added our nutcrackers. Also, on the mantle this year I added my temple ornaments. These ornaments are very special to me since they were given to me by my sister-in-law who passed away almost 4 years ago. I am so glad that I can set them out and remember her at this time of the year.

We ended our decorating with the nativity scene. This was a very special time for Caleb and I since we stopped everything and talked about each piece and why it is so important. It was at this moment that I was able to let go of everything else and reflect on the TRUE meaning of Christmas - it's not that perfect tree, or the collection of Santas, or the presents under the tree, no it is so much more than that.....the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ, and the significance of all that He has done for us. I hope that Caleb grasps this meaning rather than all of the other "silly" things that come along with Christmas.

He still wanted to group them all together --- yes, I did move them.....shame on me!

For now the doctor is out......searching for that Christmas tree fanatics annonymous meeting in order to overcome that silly obsession of perfect Christmas tree decorating.

I Didn't Blog About It

As I have looked back over my pictures from the past couple of months I have realized that I missed many opportunities to blog.

Here is my sad list:

I didn't blog about the fair

I didn't blog about Grandmother's 90th birthday party where she danced with her brother one more time!!!




And posed with her family to create a 4 generation picture (not the best picture).


I didn't blog about Halloween and I didn't take pictures of Halloween either (not a good Halloween person!)

I didn't blog about Hayden's birthday party

or sweet Gracie riding the rides at Chuckie Cheese....

I didn't blog about Thanksgiving (didn't take pictures either!)

I didn't blog about cooking this wonderful recipe that I got from my friend Llewellyn!! I was so proud of myself for actually making something (that at the time I hoped was going to turn out great) I made pictures of it as I put it together....ummmm yummy!!!

But now I am back on track and ready to get caught up on blogging (or at least not get behind again!).

For now the doctor is out.....planning the next blog!