My Christmas wish list

    Do you remember waking up really early on Christmas to open gifts?  

    In my family the first one up would yell "It's Christmas! It's Christmas!!!"  And we would (the children) rush though the hall (not looking at the gifts) run up and jump on Mom and Dad's bed, wake them up and beg to go open presents.  After a few seconds of "Wait, don't we need a camera, and it's too early" we would all head to the living room where the biggest gifts stood unwrapped.  The stockings, bulgy and overstuffed, were first Dad always love to put oranges and nuts to make them fatter but they had small gifts like lip gloss, toy cars, yo-yos, and gum (and that one year, toothbrushes).   Then we would fly to the gifts under our real live Christmas pine, and the accumulation of wrapping paper was enough to make one kill the proverbial goose!

My sister and I Christmas eve, the mound of presents wrap around our live tree.  About 3yrs. ago.

    Now there are five of us children so if you count at least three gifts per child, plus two each from Grandma Ruth and Pampo (More if they were here), and one from Grandma and Grandpa (unless we were there), and now that we are a bit older we add four more, one from each sibling.
This is a minimum of fifty presents under the tree, not including our "To Mom and/or Dad" presents.  :)
I love my large family!

    In those in between moments from unwrapping/clean-up to breakfast, Dad reads the Christmas Story from the Bible, and if there is time and snow we would play with our new sleds (always a gift) and come in soaking wet and hungry.

Last year, we built a snow man even bigger then the little one on top of shoulders! 

   When we can, we go to Grandma and Grandpa's house usually after we have our own Christmas.
That, is what we are doing today.  We have moved several (in my opinion) times, and once lived five blocks from Grandma and Grandpa, since we now live 9hrs. away it's harder to figure out when to travel and when to squeeze our own Christmas in.

  The plan: Leave around 9am today (I don't see that happening, "around" is more like it) travel to Grandma's house, unload presents and then we will stay at my Aunt and Uncle's house.

   I can't wait to see everyone (and to end the car ride) my father is one of five children, and I have over 20 first cousins, a few cousin-in-laws (?), and some cousin's kids.  Not sure of the final family count, but it's large.

My Christmas wish list this year???

(note: all big items I've gotten for my Birthday)

1.  iPhone cover for... well my iPhone. :)

This one would be fantabulus!

2.   Scarves. Any kind.

3.  Jewelry.  Any kind. (again)

Owls could hurt either. 

4.  Would be clothing, but I just got some amazing new stuff at Cato so I'm good here. 

5.   Anything involving baking.   :)

Really love baking

6.  Hats!!!  (the uber fancy kind)

I have yet to see this one under my tree.  :) 

And my outrageous wish list might as well go online... just for fun.

Ice skates

Red hair

Gloves (the long kind)

Dresses

College money!!!

More ideas

(huh, I was sure I had a longer list... I guess I'm getting older.)

  Whatever your Christmas plans may be this week/whole month, I pray you remember the real reason for the season amidst all the gifts and family.

Five In a Row

When I was little I took a Five In A Row class, which involves lots of great children's books, and is where my love of books began.  If you are thinking about getting books for children (or yourself), these are classic. 

Volume 1.

My Childhood Favorites:

Then and Now

1. Ping

The story of a naughty duckling on the Yangtze River.  As a child I was mortified that someone would eat a duck!  Why don't they eat chicken like everyone else? (Obviously I had never read about chickens)  Rice cakes, even then didn't sound appealing, and wouldn't they get soggy?

 I live on a lake now, with water foul (in above photo).  I say not even they would eat rice cakes, they would just honk/quack for more Sara Lee® sandwich bread.

2. A Pair of Red Clogs

This tale of a young girl and her shoes was always strange and forgotten to me.  But I fondly remember coloring red clogs and wishing I had a pair of my own.  Although I would never lie.  :)

This story I believe is out of print, and sadly we have lost our copy while moving.


3. Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel

My brothers loved this book, and I enjoyed reading it more then having it read to me.  The movie which came out later, is cute and while the animation isn't great the songs make up for it.

"No STEAM shovels wanted!"  -sorry I got carried away!


4. How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World

I love Apple Pie, and I love baking, and that girl looks like me, and I want to see the world.  Can you tell this is a favorite book?

My favorite part is still the last page.   :)

5. Cranberry Thanksgiving

This story is sweet, and I remember making Cranberry Bread after, of course it wasn't with Grandma's recipe I'm no thief!

I think I have a fondness for grumpy old men in movies because of this.  Like Lauren from the Dr. Quinn series, who couldn't like him?  I guess that means I'm on guard against handsome young men who smell nice??? Not sure if that follows...

6.  The Clown of God

A bit scary as a child, but I remember clearly that the pictures in the book were works of art, and I would stare at them for hours.

I think this story holds a lot of truth now, and how others might view your carrier or looks isn't necessarily the real you.  (shout out to all my circus friends)

7.  Katy and the Big Snow

Living in L.A. I didn't see much snow (with the exception of visiting Grandma in Kansas) so this story would unleash my imagination and off I'd go a little snowflake

I read it to my youngest brother now, and he likes it "ok" but not the same as I had.  And the movie about it isn't great unless you close your eyes and listen to the narration.

These were my favorites from my FIVE IN A ROW class (volume 1.) other books in this class include:

Lentil - My brother's favorite.

Madeline - Would have mentioned, but I had read it before the series.

The Rag Coat - I would literally cry when this was read to me.

Who Owns the Sun? - I don't remember reading this one.  (but we did loose books in a move)

The Glorious Flight - Don't remember either.

Grandfather's Journey - I remember reading this to my siblings when I was older, not the unit study.

Another Celebrated Dancing Bear - This one escapes my memory too.

Papa Piccolo - I loved this story and the illustrations are amazing.

Very Last First Time - A chilling story, and it quite confused me.

Storm in the  Night - A wisp of a memory here, I think it is more of a poem then a story.

Night of the Moonjellies - I didn't remember this until I looked it up, and I saw the cover.

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening - Robert FROST wrote this. :)

What were your favorite books as a small child?

Western Repeat?

My book review for...

 His Steadfast Love
A Civil War Novel

by Golden Keyes Parsons




Have you read many Western Romances Novels?  If you are a die-hard fan, my measly little blog won't make a difference.  I enjoy western tales, and romance makes it all the better.

There is a point in which you can read too many books with the same plot.  Where you know what's happening next to the Amish woman and her fancy guy, or if they switch it up a bit, he's Amish and she is  fancy.   My mother had her three favorite Amish romance series and each one had more then five books two inches thick.  Yes, the first one was great, after that it became a pattern of See-Like-Love-Hate-Regret-Love.

His Steadfast Love, isn't an Amish romance.  It might of well have been, the main characters; Amanda Belle, and Kent Littlefield, were on opposing sides of the Civil war.  The conflict makes for a great story, and I'll admit one does fall in love with the characters, but it took over a third of the book for me to do so.

One of the reasons it was hard to focus in wasn't the books fault at all, this was the first e-book I have ever read (that was over five pages) and it took me a while to get used to even flipping the page.  After finishing this book, I finally can connect with a story on an e-reader.

My ratings:
★ An amazing mix of history and romance.
One can tell there was an enormous amount of research involved in the making of this book.
★ The price was great for the novel.  Online you can find it in the $10-$15 category.
I got a free reviewers copy at Booksneeze®.
★ The ending.
The characters have a high sense of morals, and it didn't just end happily ever after, the aftermath of the war was a struggle.  They had to fight with everything to keep their own families together.
☆ The start is very slow.
☆ It has the same feeling as many other romance novels.
☆ I don't particularly care for the father's role in this story.

This novel gets three stars, it is a good book and one of the better western/war romances,  there are just too many out there to fully enjoy this story.  If you are needing a light break from a busy work week, I would suggest this book.  The hopelessromantic type will love this story.

As winter closes around us, keep warm with hot cocoa and books.

First Snow

There are probably several things that appear more magical then the first snow. . .  nothing comes to mind though.


Before the cold forces me to dive under my covers with only my computer cord poking out, let me spin a yarn for you.


What if I told you my Father is a world class spy?  That he travels the world in search of one item.

My father undercover in Greece. 

In fact there are dozens of operatives that for years have been looking for one thing.  A white swan.  Yes, you heard me, a swan.  So that's where taxpayers dollars are going are they? Well, it's more then just an ordinary swan.  This swan (object 784C8D03,  I call it ducky) was...  let me make sure your educated enough to process what I'm going to tell you.  Have you seen a carrier pigeon?

Yeah something like that, and I've heard my Dad's old informant talking about modernizing the operation, you'd have to go to this link to see for yourself.
Bird brain tech

When you want to keep a secret, a deep secret, you ditch the well know pigeon idea and you might have guessed, use a swan.  Very undercover!  Then your only "fail" in the plan is that swans are harder to train.

Luckily, they know a guy ("they" is a secret, and "guy" is also privy info).
Lucky for the bad guys that is,  double agents are always a risk to your operation.  Rats!

I have been wanting to get some action in this swan case.  I know where the swan is.
In my own backyard! :)  I feed it bread just the other day, everyone's looking and I've found Ducky.

And Ducky found a swan too!

(Note:  To all playing The Musick game,  If you tell me "I've found ducky," I'll tell you my clue.)

Bread and Butter

I am one of the most selfish people on planet earth.

(whew)  Glad I got that out of me!

When I found out my mom was going to have her fourth child, I prayed it wouldn't be a girl.  I was the eldest and the only girl in my family, and since my mom was an only child. . .  I was seriously spoiled!  :)

But thankfully, God gives us just what we need (which for me is never what I ask) so when I was about seven years old I had a new baby sister.  BTW as soon as I saw her I loved her more than any any toy and I treat her better then my growing porcelain doll collection.

Ten years later...

My sister on her princess birthday party.

My sister and I are like night and day.

This is a picture of my personality. (and since I'm not a cartoon I get two)
 

These are her personalities

Miss Fancy Nancy

  (except her name isn't Katie)

As you can see I'm the more; plain, sensible, mature, book loving, and I hope the graceful one. (Although I do have some Latino in me that occasionally comes through.)

And my sister is the; fun-loving, loud, fashionista, party planer, always accessorizing, and sooo cute! 

Another key difference.

She loves these!

This is my kind of doll

Needless to say we have our battles.  Trying to decorate the room was a big one!  She wanting Zebra stripes, hanging canopies, and hot pink camo on the walls. (She does have older brothers) And I was wanting peach and blue beach scenes.   We settled for Paris,  so the room is pink, green and black with the Eiffel Tower everywhere.



What does this have to do with the title of "Bread and Butter" you might ask.

Well, nothing much except I LOVE BREAD AND BUTTER!!!

I could make something up for you if it would make you feel better;  My sister and I are like bread and butter, we complement each other and one without the other isn't much fun.
(Are you happy?)

I am very thankful for my sissy, without her I'd be a snobby spoiled brat I'm sure.
And soon I might post on the prank her brothers and I just pulled on her. :)

Siblings really change who we are, are you thankful for them???


Before I go, I'ma gona give a shout out to my S.I.C.O's  (Sisters In Christ Overboard) I really have the greatest friends on the planet.




Like gum on my shoe, a sister sticks thru.

Brothers. . .

"Ow!" ((groan)) "Oooo"

So today I learned the defensive stance today... or, I don't remember the name.

It's kina like the cha cha slide, but your continually stuck in a one way zone.

(Oh my poor legs!)

I have two brothers that play basketball on a team called the Patriots.
And they have to practice the defensive stance... or whatever.  So being the older sister (who thinks she can still beat her brothers), I challenged my brothers, fourteen and twelve respectively, to walk around the lake we live near and then do the defensive stance across the dam.
They agree.

We have a nice walk, bit chilly but it's fine.  Getting to the dam we take five minutes deciding which two will face and who will lag behind.  Again since I'm the older sister, it is decided that the 14yr. old and I will face off with 12yr. old right after.  Also, we determine that everyone has to agree before for a break if we will want one.

"I'll be the motivator/coach," says Caleb (14yr. old)
"I'm the assistant then," says Josiah (12yr. old)
"That leaves me to be the Caleb BEAST!" I tease.

We're off!  And I'm doing great!  Since I am shorter I don't have to bend my knees as far as the boys, and that has me at the advantage.  Caleb, is yelling in his mock coach voice something about going lower, and toothfairy, but I didn't really hear him.
One third of the way down Caleb asks for a break,  Josiah, who can long distance run/swim/climb/eat/jump, of course said NO.  At this point I approve greatly of the break and make my intentions known.  They boys glance at each other and I'm sure I see an evil glint!
"No breaks" they say in unison, like they are Siamese twins or something.
So they travel faster and (in need of a break too) decide to just continue on leaving poor jelly legs... er jolly laevoduction, to "buck up."

At about two thirds of the way, I wish I could say still had a cheerful spirit, but I had giving the stance up and was skipping girlishly and breathing heavily.  Who had put a cheese grater down my throat???
"B B Br rake!" grated the air in my throat.
"No!" came the collaborated reply.

They reached the end of the dam and waited for me.
Josiah, had long past me up and I was now the dragging one, pulling in two hundred yards after them.
"Huuhhh," came a puff of grated exhaustion.
"Lets jog to the rock and sprint home from there!" said the hardly-out-of-breath Caleb.
WHAT??? ARE YOU KIDDING??? I wanted to scream, but the grater was moving on to potatoes and hard carrots and was trying to make vegetable soup!
"Um, I think we better walk," said Josiah taking one look at me.
He wrapped my jacket arm (somehow void of my arm) around his shoulder and was literally dragging me.
"Little help Caleb?" he asked.
Caleb grabbed my other jacket sleeve and thus they dragged me to the rock.
I'll have you know that didn't help the extreme chef show going on in my esophagus, the zipper was all up in my throat.

Once at the rock we took our places, got ready, and they were off.  I'd like to say at this time I'd regained my strength, but all I'd retained was a bit of pride.  I ranish walked in a daze until reaching the property line, then collapsed on the sweet sweet grass.  The grass doesn't care if I can't run.  Sweet grass. Through misty vision I picked out the boys playing sticks or something high above.
"A little help up please?" I asked the stick boys.
"Sure, poor wittle Stephyyy," Josiah said like I was tweety.
He grabbed my arms and tried, but I was dead weight and he's only twelve.
"Caleb..." I moaned (but glad the chef's salad was done).
"Get off the ground you Blue Knight!" Caleb said with disdain.
Just then the neighbor's grey cat came and sat on me, like I was some piece of lawn furniture!
"Guys, little help here?" I groaned.
"Look, it's the neighbor's cat!" announced Caleb.
Yes, Caleb I know.  "Could you move it?" I asked. "Please?"

Caleb squatted down in the grass where I was prostrate.
"Aww, da wittle kitty likes you, here kitty kitty," he called to the cat.
"Get it off"I said with a mouthful of tail, yuck!
As if dying on the cold hard ground wasn't bad enough I would do so surrounded by my brothers playing sticks, WITH the cat.

They did eventually help me up and into the house, and after some toast and hot cocoa, I announced that I was ready to do it again with them. . . tomorrow.

Moral of the story: Don't think you can still challenge your younger brothers and live to see the next day.  I barely did.