Sunday, November 30, 2008

"We're not in Kansas anymore, Toto..."

Remember in the Wizard of Oz when Dorothy looks at Toto and says the above line? Well, it has become quite evident this week that we are now living in a strange land!

First of all, I got off work on Wednesday, came home and made about 10 dozen homemade crescent rolls. I believe it was shortly before 1 am when I dropped my weary body into bed! Thanksgiving dawned bright and early and we headed off to Westfield for the Fulton Family Thanksgiving/Christmas get-together. We opened tons of presents which gives us picture number one! My niece Sarah was trying to help her Uncle Dave appear more festive but the bow would not stick!!

We had one of the biggest Thanksgiving meals I think I have seen in years! I honestly cannot remember when I have seen that much food in one house! There was no possible way that anyone could have walked away from that table hungry!
Then Dave's brother Steve set up the Wii and oh my goodness, the fun we had!! Even Grandpa played and he was better at bowling than anyone in the family!!!

For the record, this little girl TOTALLY gets into the bowling!!

Unfortunately I did not get a picture of the boxing matches but let me tell you it was the funniest thing I have ever seen in my life! Especially watching my niece Whitney beating her Uncle James and ANYONE else she went up against! I am so disappointed that I did not get a picture of that!!
Probably the biggest attraction that day was this:

A baby goat had been born that morning around 4am and her mommy was not taking care of her so my niece Rachel had her in the house keeping her warm and fed. She was the center of attention from just about everyone! We had a wonderful time with the family but I must admit that I sure missed my kids growing up and not being there! It is quite evident that things are changing and that is one of those bitter sweet things we deal with!
So - then yesterday after I got home from work, we began the Christmas decorating process. Dave and the girls had worked hard to get stuff done before I got home and then the "fun" began! After a trip to Wal-Mart, this is the finished product!! This was Ashley's creation that I thought turned out real well!

She also came up with this and I love the way it looks!

For the first time, I took my hands off my village and Carrie took care of it and did a great job!

She was also of the opinion that this corner in the dining room needed some help so her journey through Wal-Mart produced this:

About the only thing I refuse to take my hands off of is my bears so this is the handiwork of yours truly!

The tree is a huge story all of its own but I will spare you the details surrounding the million scratches on my hands and arms and tell you that Carrie and Ashley decorated the tree and I am quite pleased with the outcome!

Then this morning - I realized that I am no where CLOSE to Florida when Ashley's "friend" Andrew called her to let her know he had snow out at his house and she bounded out of bed, threw up her blind and was quite delighted to find...................SNOW!!!!!!!!!!!!! I took this picture out our front door this morning and realized that some things never change no matter how many years pass!!!!! I still CANNOT STAND SNOW!!! Yea - it is pretty and the novelty lasted about 30 seconds before I remembered that we are not in the warm sunny south anymore!!!

This is a picture of the outside of the house that Carrie took when we got home from church this morning. Snow and some Christmas decorations!

I would say that this has definitely been a week of interesting events!

9 comments:

Adam & Val & Aubrey & Annie said...

Glad you all had a nice family get-together. I must admit that I'm a tad jealous about you getting to *enjoy* the snow! The weather here is beautiful though...caribbean winter has arrived!

Ashley said...

ok....two things!!! :)
1) Snow is AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!
and
2) That picture of me is rather odd looking! I'm gonna get you for it!!! :)
I love you mommy!!!! :)

Mary Ellen said...

Your house looks lovely - and the pictures from your Thanksgiving were fun to see.

I've discovered too that people playing the Wii can provide some of the most entertaining pictures (and video) ever, especially if the victims...er players...don't realize their picture is being taken!

The snow pictures are pretty, I always said when I lived in NY that if it was going to be that cold I wanted snow so at least it was pretty outside too. I won't tell you our temperature here right now and rub it in...(in the 70's)....but if it helps, we are going to be in the 40's ourselves by Tuesday night. "-)

Mindy said...

What a rude awakening to wake up and find snow, huh? I don't like cold and don't particularly like snow, but if it has to be cold, I'd rather there be snow. It was quite pretty this morning and I did go out and "play" in it with my husband and kids.

LaDonna said...

Joe says, "NO FAIR!!!" It's just not right how some people LOVE snow and live where they never get it, and others hate it and live where it's going to snow tons and tons!!!! :)

Please tell Dave I'm so impressed that he hung lights OUTSIDE the house! Scrooge has had a heart change! :)

Tara said...

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Knowing how much you the LOVE the cold I think it's hilarious!!!!!!! Welcome to December in the north my friend! Ya know, you could always just come back and get warmed up again. I think that would be an awesome Christmas present to you (and me!)from your kids. Any takers on that one? I'm listening listening listening. I'm not hearing anything! I'll think of you shivering while I'm wearing my flip flops and enjoying the balmy Florida breezes! Love ya!

Carrie said...

It looks very nice. It was strange this year to see my Mom's Christmas tree in a different house!

Anonymous said...

Oh, that is hilarious! :-) Serves you southerners just right for getting up @ Sea Breeze Camp and saying over live video stream, "Don't you Northerners wish you were here in South Florida enjoying this nice sunshine?" . . . to which I ALWAYS said out loud, "NOPE!" LOL
N E Ways, Glad to have you all back in the north. :-)

Becky said...

I'm with you Leah. I have lived all my life in Indiana and still don't like snow or maybe it's the cold. Heather got a Wii and that's what the family did the day after Thanksgiving. Lot of fun.