Merry Christmas!!

They always say that Christmas is more fun after you have children and although I have always LOVED Christmas and everything that goes with it there is something truly magical about being able to experience all of the joy and wonder through their eyes. After returning home from Great Grandma's house on Christmas Eve Mayce got decked out in her special jammies and headed to bed "Uncharacteristically early" in hopes that Santa might come and visit.

Christmas morning dawned and as I prepared cinnamon rolls to take to Grandma's house for brunch Mayce slept on..and on...and on. I told Buck that you could tell that she was three and that we should enjoy this because next year she will pounding on the doors at 5am. At around 8:30 she decided it was time to grace us with her presence although she was not allowed out of her room at that point either. Buck and I had previously decided that before any gift giving took place that we would read Luke 2 with Mayce so there was no doubt in her mind what Christmas was about and what we are truly celebrating.

After we finished Mayce was allowed to head for the living room to see who had come to visit the night before. I suppose that that was the wrong choice of words because as soon as we told her to that someone had come to our house she freaked and headed straight back to her room!! After some coercion she finally made it to the living room to check everything out. She was so excited about it all!! It was cute to watch her go back and forth between gifts. We had decided long ago that our kids would not only receive toys but also practical items so that they would learn to appreciate it all not just the latest and greatest. What made me laugh was that she was just as thrilled with her Princess undies and mittens as she was with her Calico Critters and House. (Now if only we can capture and keep this attitude!)

After approving what Santa left we began "our" Christmas and what a lovely Christmas it was. Mayce received far more than she probably should have and some of it was put up for rainy days but she seemed to actually appreciate it all. The funny thing is that by the end she would automatically hold her gifts up in front of her and say "Thank you Apples and Pop Pop!" (regardless of who it was from).

After Christmas at our house we headed to Grandma's for brunch and more merriment (how's that for a holiday word). We all had a blast and Mayce thoroughly enjoyed her last Christmas as an "only." The best part though was not the family, the presents, or the food it was when we asked Mayce what the real reason for Christmas was and she looked up from opening a present and said "Baby Jesus being born in a stable."

Christmas BREAK!!!

Needless to say after a couple of long stressful weeks at school I was more than ready for the Christmas BREAK!! However, as most things go with our family the past week has been fun filled but definitely not relaxing.

Monday and Tuesday Mayce and I set out to do some last minute shopping, cleaning, baking and wrapping. I should point out that there were far more presents than we thought existed and we should have taken advantage of the youth's free wrapping services (wait I wrapped there too, scratch that)! Thankfully Buck got off early on Wednesday and was able to take us to Cloudcroft where we thought to play in the snow. Only it wasn't snow it was ICE!! Still it was nice to run away for a little while even if I had to admit that I was shopping on Christmas Eve which was something I vowed to never do. I guess what they say is true "Never say never."

Every Christmas Eve Bethel has a candlelight service and it was beautiful as always. Buck and I have truly strived to ensure that Mayce knows what the TRUE meaning of Christmas is and were thankful that we could include her in such a meaningful service. After the service we headed to my grandma's house for dinner and to exchange gifts. The dinner was lovely and the gifts were perfect but most important was the time we were able to spend with our family just enjoying one anothers company.

Mayce of course added her own style of entertainment and kept everyone laughing throughout the night. Before we left for the service we gathered our gifts to take and were preparing to load them in the car. Mayce happened to see them and asked if any of them were hers. One indeed was and I mentioned that if she behaved throughout church and during dinner than perhaps she could open one special gift at Grandma Ramsey's from me and her dad. This conversation completely slipped my mind until we had finished opening presents at my grandma's and it was the only gift that remained. Mayce ran over to the tree and looks at the present then looks at all of us and says "That one is mine." Shaking my head I looked at her and said "Mayce I think its not" as I couldn't see the present and had indeed forgotten that we even brought it with us. It was then with a look that only she could get away with that she stated "I think it is." And of course...she was right.

Not only is she a soccer sitter...

So as you all know soccer turned out to be...well less than what we expected. However Mayce has always shown an interest in gymnastics and Barbara and I decided to give it a shot. Mayce did fabulously the first two sessions. We were all excited and she seemed to really enjoy going, talked about it constantly, and would jump around the house saying "Like a pencil, see I am jumping like a pencil." (This is to train them to keep their bodies aligned.)

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Now I can fully recognize and accept that she is 3 and a girl so heaven knows she is entitled to change her mind but leave it to Mayce to wait until after the registration and class fee for an entire month has been paid to decide that she is over "jumping class". My mom picked her up from school on Tuesday (mind you she was thrilled about the prospect of going that morning before I left for work) and was quickly informed that "I do not want to go to jumping class." After a brief trial at the gym we realized that this was simply not going to work and shortly after arriving I left with a red faced little girl crying "I d..d..don't want to..to..go."

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Thursday the scene played out much like that one above and so we did not even attempt to go to the gym. It was then decided that not even two weeks into this scene the curtains were closing and the act was complete.

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Well Sunday they had their Sunday School program at church and we had to arrive early in order for them to get the children ready to go. On the way Mayce and I were talking and I asked her about what she was going to sing, who she was going to stand next to, the typical questions that accompany a performance. She told me that she liked Sunday School and that they sing Away in A Manger. "Cool" I thought perhaps she will actually sing this time. It was then that she looked at me and said "But I am not going to sing." "Why" I asked hoping she need just a small amount of reassurance. "Because I do not like to sing in the big church." Need I say more.

Oh and in case you can't find Mayce, she is the one SITTING down in the middle. He, He, He.

The Saga Continues...

We have been preparing for the holidays and Ansley's arrival which of course means cleaning and painting and more cleaning and more painting. Buck and I decided that to save some money we would use Mayce's crib and hutch for Ansley's room and although this idea was great in theory as with everything we try to accomplish it has turned into much, much more. Now I will admit that a large part of the problem is that my tastes have changed since Mayce and I no longer wanted the cherry furniture I wanted black. It was here that the troubles began...

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Buck thought it best to take the high road and sand down the furniture before painting (now keep in mind neither of us have ever sanded anything). Needless to say we had NO idea how long it would take nor the sheer volume of laquer and paint that was on the furniture. We thought that this portion of the project would take a weekend...it took a month. I must say however that the results were stunning and I was amazed at the "bones" of the furniture, the grain was beautiful and I was almost sad to paint it black, almost.

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Then last weekend Julia came over and helped me paint furniture while Buck painted the room. Sounds like a great plan right? Well it was until we ran out of paint and had to go and get more mixed. Even this was fine until we knocked over half of the new can on the garage floor leaving us with barely enough to cover those remaining pieces. Still we got them covered so we were doing alright, right? Well no, you see the next step was to varnish the furniture and seeing as we had recently painted Mayce's dresser and there are visible brushstrokes I called the dads to see if I could use a roller. "Sure", "Fine", "No problem", were the given responses. So Julia and I got to stepping on the varnish and wondered about the tiny bubbles that were on the surfaces of the furniture but they would go away right? NOPE!!!

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So this week Buck had to resand the furniture and this weekend what did I do? Oh thats right I painted it...again. But hold on the story doesn't end there. On Thursday I had gone to get more paint because remember we spilled half of what we bought last weekend. When I was there previously the gentleman told me that it was simply a flat black so that is what I asked for when I went back. Because black is black right? WRONG!!! So Friday night I crack open the new can of paint and look at it thinking "Hmm this looks rather gray but then again so did the other it will be fine". I went along painting and painting all the time thinking "This is not getting as dark as it should but perhaps it is just me." Well yesterday morning I woke up and checked the furniture to see if it had darkened overnight. It was then that I got the bright idea to varnish it because the paint changes when varnished. Just to let you know it didn't change it was CHARCOAL GRAY!!!!

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See now you are beginning to understand my pain! So back to the store we went this time taking the orginal "black" paint to be matched and yesterday I spent the entire day repainting what I had repainted after painting it last weekend. I told Buck if we ever do have another baby or if I decide that I want to change the color of any of the existing furniture in the house that we will be purchasing not painting.

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Oh and as a side note Buck came into the room the other night and seriously informed me that he had been thinking about it and just wanted me to know that if anything should ever happen to him that he would want me to remarry. I slowly said ok and asked what he was talking about and if he was feeling alright. It was then he looked at me with a knowing grin and said "If I had to suggest anyone I would say Sherwin Williams or the Dutch Boy."

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Psst!! - Pictures of the finished room should be up within the week...I hope!