Happy Birthday to my Baby

Thirty three years ago on January 7 at 6:50 AM I had my second and last baby,

Alissa Marie Damman

made her entry into our very snowy, cold world.

She was three weeks late and then when she finally decided to make her entry, she couldn't even wait for a doctor to deliver her.

She was delivered by a nurse

She weighed in at just over 8 lbs and had a full head of hair.

This was Alissa on her baptism day.

And here she is on her first birthday.

Alissa has been a bright spot in our lives since the day she was born.
She has a great sense of humor, an overabundance of sarcasm, and just the right amount of an "I don't care" attitude.
She has been a great daughter, granddaughter, sister, niece, wife, and aunt.
She has been a blessing to so many.
I wish she lived closer to us so I could spend more time with her, but I know she is very happy in Bloomington and we always enjoy a road trip to the south.
Today I wish Alissa a very happy day and a year full of dreams come true.

Happy Birthday John!

Happy Birthday to my husband and best friend, John.

Looks like the girls decorated this cake by themselves many years ago.

What doesn't kill us just makes us stronger, right?

Take a moment to reread my posts from January of last year.

I did that this morning and it was so bittersweet.

I loved having Tizita with us for 10 days, what a great way to start out our year.

She was here for John's birthday and then we took our road trip to visit Alissa and Nathan.

Then the sad news and life did not stop.

So, I guess whoever said, "what doesn't kills you only makes you stronger."

Natnael's death did not kill us, but I am not so sure it made us all that much stronger either.

I am thankful that I have a record of the events in this blog because I really don't want to forget any of the emotion connected to any of that sad time.

 

Now on to a different subject.

I wanted to document what we (the six adults) bought the person whose name we had for the gift exchange.

 

 John gave Alissa a beautiful handmade bracelet, two vintage beer glasses, and a pretty flower pin to wear in her hair or on her coat.

John is sporting his shirt from our "ugly" Christmas last year while Alissa is wearing her homemade headband from the same event.

 Paul had my name and gave me a beautiful scarf and a marguarita candle that smells heavenly.  I am wearing my homemade peter pan christmas collar under the scarf and Paul has on his Christmas jingle boxers, but you can't see them on this photo.

 Caped super hero Nathan gave Paul a cribbage board shaped like a guitar.

 I gave Nathan a heather gray polo that he wanted.

He said it was his best cape ever.

 Courtney got this cute skirt and a babysitter club game from her sister.

Courtney, wearing her Santa ear muffs from last year gave her father a vintage liquor case, an expensive cigar, and a homemade moustache mug and coozie.

It was another great fun gift exchange.

It is the third year that we have done this and we all agree it is a fun, meaningful way to do the gifting.

we all put lots of thought into the gift we buy for our recipient.

So, this is the last post about our Christmas.

 

Tomorrow I go back to school after two weeks off.

I miss my kids,

I am ready to go back.

And another year bites the dust

If you have been following my blog for awhile then you know my feelings on New Year's Eve.

If  you don't know how I feel, you might want to go back and read a few of the New Year's posts to find out.

At any rate, I don't care for all the hoopla that is New Year's Eve.

I prefer to roll into the new year as if it is just another day which in actuality it is.

Last night John and I went to see Parental Guidance, a movie which made us laugh and cry.  It was so good because it was about grandparents.  It was a good way to start our evening or end the year whichever way you prefer to look at it.

We came home and had one of Courtney's homemade pizzas left over from Christmas.

That was yummy, too.

We both did our computer thing and I was pleasantly surprised to see how many people chose to spend the last night of 2012 at home on their computers just as if it were a normal night.  Good call people.

We watched a free movie on demand and went to sleep shortly after midnight.

It was a fine night, but there are no resolutions or goals or big dreams or hopes just because it is 2013.

 

If I reflect on last year it had its share of ups and downs.

Courtney and Paul traveled to Ethiopia to meet their son, Natnael.

Tizita spent the first 11 days of 2012 with us.

Then four days upon their return, they receive word that Natnael died and along with his death, the death of our dreams of a son and grandson.

The biggest UP and DOWN that we could have ever experienced.

In Feb. there is a referral for a little girl named Soliana which means sunshine.

In March there is a memorial service for Natnael and an annoucement that Courtney and Paul will be traveling to Ethiopia to meet their daughter.

In April the Van Auken family travels to meet Soli,

On June 29 she comes home.

The biggest UP of the year!

Of course there were all the little ups and downs, too, but these are the big ones.

 

So, if I did the whole in with the new, out with the old, I guess I would be happy to see 2012 go.  I am sure 2013 will be full of blessings and we will again have our ups and downs.

 

We did go to my friend Joan's on saturday night.

Our good friends Doe and John were there, too and we had a great time as usual.

I will end this crazy post with a picture of what the new 60 looks like.

During this year, the three of us will all turn 60

Happy New Year Everyone!

White Elephants, quite possibly, our best ever

The tradtion started a number of years ago with John's family.

We were trying to cut back on presents and save some money.

We started drawing names and buying a gift for that person, after a few years, we just bought a $25.00 gift card to anywhere and exchanged those.

To add some excitement to the day, I suggested a white elephant gift exchange, too.

We had many fun gifts during those years and I think everyone enjoyed it very much.

When our Christmaas Eve at Kev's was getting noticably smaller without Courtney's family, I suggest a white elephant gift exchange there, too.

It was a big hit the first two years.

This year Courtney and company decided to join us, Vikki and Nic were there, too, so it was a big group of white elephanters.

We even let Nic and Tiz be a part of the fun.

I always have so much fun shopping for the perfect white elephant gift.  This year Alissa and I shopped together at Bethseda Thrift shop.  There were so many good choices it was difficult to choose, but choose we did!

 

When all was said and done, we all agreed this year was our best white elephant yet!

 Alissa received this lovely Santa from Paul.

 Tiz got this beautiful arrangement that actually lights up from Mallory.

When Mallory was checking our at Bethesda Thrift with this piece, the lady actually asked her if it was for a white elephant.  So ugly, I guess no one would buy it except for a joke.

 Nathan got a stocking with the name Andrew on it stuffed with some fuzzy dice.  Alissa bought that one.

 Courtney got this hedgehog from Vikki,

She actually purchased it at the World Market, but it was ugly enough to be a White Elephant.

 Paul got beer bracelets from Kev so everyone knows whose beer is whose.

 I got some lovely shit in a bottle from Courtney.

Instead of a ship in a bottle, the bottle was filled with ugly flowers.

 Nic got the ever popular stollen from Marge.

 The stollen than appears in lots of photos just like last year.

Here Kev is wearing my dad's robe from years ago.  The robe was a honeymoon gift to my dad from my mom.

Ken only wore it on Christmas.

 Here are Alissa and I with the stollen.

 John and Vikki got exersize equipment from Nathan and I

 This is Billy the Bass that Kev got from me.

No picture, but Marge got a light up slap bracelet from Nic.

Even with all these wonderful white elephants, we did all agree that this was the best present of all!



Now the sadness and quiet after the storm, which wasn't really that big of a storm

Today Courtney and her little family left.

They were the last of our Christmas guests to leave and the house is too quiet and empty, not to mention a bit on the messy side.

My heart is empty, too.

I miss my little girls already.

The time went so quickly as it always does.

All the planning and prep is over before I was ready for it to be over.

We had a wonderful Christmas making memories along the way.

I will post a few pictures for your enjoyment.

I am sad, but this is life.

My dad used to always say, "This day is over and it will never come again."

A man wise beyond his years.

This Christmas is over and it will never come again.

 We started it all with a visit to John's dad, Pops in the Care Center.  It was a fine visit which included a manhattan for Jack.

 There was so much cousin fun.

Here they are modeling their new pajamas and some indian headresses.

 There was wine for all and laughs all the way around.

 We were so blessed to have Courtney and her family with us for Christmas Eve and Day this year.

 My mom and her lovely granddaughters who

 sometimes can be very silly.

 There was lots of time for cuddling and fun with Uncle Cheddah.

 Me, my mom, and my brother.

 My family

 My brother, Kev, my niece Mallory and his fiance Vikki and her son Nic.

So glad they could join us, too.

 Sweet Soli

 and sweet Tizita.

 Nic has a special liking for Nathan and is always so happy when he is around.

 Our family gift exchange and homemade items from last year.

 My sweet granddaughters on Christmas morning

 Is there anything better than sleeping sweethearts on a grandparent's lap?

 The making of the annual donut holes on Christmas morning.

 Pround grandparents.

 Godparents and Soli

 A happy Gigi, my mom with the great granddaughters.

 The white elephant exchange was so much fun this year.

 More white elephant.

And the stollen has made its appearance again.

I feel much better after posting these photos and remembering the fine time we all had.

The Calm Before the Storm

Today for the next hour or so, I am going to just sit here and enjoy the calm.

At 3:00 today, we are meeting Lissa and Nathan, Courtney, Paul, and the girls at John's dad's care center and thus begins our Christmas celebration.

I cannot even imagine what large families feel like as their home fills up with family.

I only have two daughters, two sons in law and two little granddaughters, but my house gets very small when they are all here.  In all fairness, the house is small to begin with but with the addition of added people it gets even smaller.  The walls actually close in on us in the living room.

We lived in the same town as my parents and grandparents, so we did not have to spend overnight holidays at their houses.  John's folks owned a motel in Janesville, so we always had our own room to sleep in when we visited there.

I have tried to think about how to make this house seems bigger, but nothing is working so we will be on top of one another for a few days, but hopefully the magic that is Christmas will overshadow the crowded conditions.

I am sure it will.

On a totally different topic, but related, I suppose since it involves Christmas.

The above picture is the only on of have of either of my girls with Santa.

This was taken in 1979 shortly before Alissa was born.

Courtney was 1 year and 9 months old.

I don't remember exactly where we were, but I am guessing a mall and I remember having to purchase this picture.

Courtney seemed pretty relaxed with the big fella.

 

Santa never had a big part in our Christmas.  He paid us a visit on the night that we put up our tree.  The girls would hang their stockings and leave him some cookies, milk, and a carrot for the reindeer.

He always filled the stockings quite generously, but that is the last we saw of him for the Christmas season.

John and I always wanted to take credit for the big expensive presents.  We didn't want to give that credit to a big old fat man.

 

I guess that explains only one picture with him, not sure.

I also have a problem with putting your children on some stranger's lap after telling them time and time again, "never talk to strangers."  And then expecting them to talk to said stranger and smile for a picture.

Doesn't make sense to me.

 

However, I have no problem with anyone else celebrating Santa and I talk about him in my class of Preschoolers.

Every year without fail, one student will blurt out, "There is no Santa."

I, then, work really hard to reassure the sad faces looking at me, that, "Yes, there is a Santa to everyone who believe in Santa."  I tell them that some families have Santa come and some do not, so no big deal.

 

This year it was Tizita who looked right at me and announced, "Santa isn't real, you know."

I wonder who she thinks this man is in the picture.

 

Merry Christmas to all!

I am off to start my celebration now.