Twas Christmas day and all through the house...

I think Christmas with my family is the best! On Christmas eve we all gather together (this year about 60 people) at my parents house and everyone...well almost everyone...piles onto a trailer that is filled with bales of hay and we go caroling around to our cute little (Christmas card like) town. As near as we could guess this has been a tradition for close to 40 years. Then we go to my uncles house and have a pot luck dinner with different soups and Christmas treats, followed by the nativity, reenacted by the younger ones (we have LOTS of angels). Then my dad's oldest brother reads the Christmas story from the bible and then we go home for more Christmas traditions.

When my parents and I got home we brought back a tradition from my childhood of getting a new pair of pajamas on Christmas eve. This year there was an upgrade because I was the only one home and all of the pajamas were silky!!!! Then we sat in the front room with a roaring fire and laughed and talked. Then we went to the computer to a website called Norad something or other and we tracked Santa...he was in Brazil.

At 8:30 my dad was ready for bed so my mom and I went downstairs and watched an old movie called Christmas is Connecticut. After 15 minutes my mom was snor...er...a...sleeping so Bella and I watched the movie and tracked Santa again...still not in the US. In the morning my parents woke me up 8:30 to open presents because we had to be at Diana's at 11:00. We all got great stuff, but I didn't even think about getting my camera. Then we headed to Diana's for our annual Christmas brunch.

Diana and I were trying to make homemade gifts this year and this was two of the things that I came up with. Diana helped my make pillows for my mom and sister Emily. My mom's said "Best Friends" and Emily's said "Sisters"...and when I finish Diana's I will get a picture.



Diana's kids were so excited to show us what they got. This is Sam with his DS.



Tanner and Ashlyn both got Rip Sticks...basically a skateboard on two wheels.

Ellie got her first bike and was very giddy, if you couldn't tell!

They all got a sleds for "EXTREME SLEDDING!" Maybe it just seems extreme because I am old!!!

Tanner and Sam got these Frog coin purses from their grandparents serving a mission in the Philippines...the gross part is that they were real frogs, just dried and gutted. It still sends shivers up my spine.

Then Diana made homemade cinnamon and orange rolls and biscuits and gravy for us to eat while we watched Kung Fu Panda...I brought the hot chocolate...still in the container...I like to contribute where I can.



Christmas was GREAT!!!! But I am already sad that it is over. I will end in the words of Carrie on the little house on the prairie Christmas episode in season 1, "happy birthday baby Jesus!"

Happy Birthday DAD!!!

At 6:40 this morning we were all awake to celebrate Happy Birthday #62! The night before as I was wrapping my dad's presents my mom and I decided to play a little birthday prank on my dad. Every year for his birthday, as far back as I can remember, my dad has been given a box of Florence's chocolates. They are so good you could just die!! But, instead of using wrapping paper I wrapped the entire box in duct tape. Leaving only the F on the front uncovered so he would know what it was. After some frustration and the help of a big knife, he finally opened it.



These were his other gifts. Three of the best westerns that Tom Seleck ever made (which I am sure I'll get to watch plenty of) and a new shirt.



Then came the cake and ice cream. Diana's family was able to come down and join us for the party.

Getting ready to blow...



And, almost all of them went out and my Dad said that he must not be as big of a wind bag anymore.



Then we all gathered in the family room and watched a home movie of my sister in law Sarah. Her parents sent it to us with a Christmas card. It was awesome!!!

I am so grateful to have been blessed with such an amazing man for my father. Even though I tease him all the time, he knows it is out of pure love. I love you dad!!!

How do you entertain yourself during a blizzard?

On Saturday morning I woke up and this is what I found outside! It was awesome!!! The first blizzard (I should say white out) of the year. We could barely see our neighbors house across the street. The power was out, so the heat didn't work...thank heavens for wood burning stoves!! But I was ready to get a dutch oven and start cooking over the fire. For as many times as I have watched Little House on the Prairie (yes, I am addicted and I am not ashamed to admit it), I could probably cook a gourmet meal over the flames!!



A blizzard is really only fun for a while and then boredom sets in. So what do you do? I decided to play with my camera. This is how my zoom works.

Close...



Closer




Closest!!! I think he was a little irritated at this point. Not really, I told him to make his angry face!


There were many other pictures I took that day, but I decided to keep those to myself. I am pretty sure no one wants to see an up close picture of my throat, or the one I took up my nostril. But, boy did I have fun!!! You may notice that most of my pictures are of my dad. That is because my mom likes having her picture taken as much as I do (which means never) - not because I love her less. I have the best parents any one could ask for!!

AMAZING music!!!!

I don't know if any of you have heard of a guy named Israel Kamakawiwo'ole but he is amazing!! I guess in the music industry he is known as Iz. But he made a different version of Somewhere over the Rainbow and it is sooo beautiful! Every time I listen to it I feel like I could just melt away, especially in the beginning. So, I hope all of you check out the link below and let me know what you think!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4NQJxa8FuU

No InSoMniA allowed....

I don't know about the rest of you but I didn't sleep at all last night. I have had insomnia since I was in elementary school. There have been times that I have gone 2-3 nights with not a wink of sleep!!

But, I guess it isn't all bad because you can learn some very interesting and amazing things on t.v. at night. I generally stick to the safe channels like HGTV, Animal Plant, Discovery channel, the news, but what I love the most is all of the old shows they play on Nick at Nite or TV Land. I can usually settle down with some Home Improvement, The Cosby Show or a little Full House.

Last night on the Discovery channel they were talking about giant rats!!! The biggest one they ever found was in New Jersey and it was (and I am totally serious) 3 feet long and weighed 15 pounds!!! They called it Ratzilla. And then in the Florida keys people were finding large animals walking around at night and when they finally called animal control they caught a rat that was breed in Africa and raise for food. And of course some dumb person had to bring them here where they are mating out of control. These were ONLY 4-5 pounds and 1-2 feet long.

Anyway they are totally taking over the Florida keys and they had to call in a swat team. They go around every night near the swamps and end up shooting 150-200 a night...17,000 in all...so far. They are over populating and could destroy the entire area. Can you imagine a 5 pound rat running around your house? Look at all of the knowledge I gained from one annoying night of insomnia!!!

Attempted Homicide by PIZZA HUT...what did I ever do to them?

The other night we decided to have a little fun and order pizza for dinner and maybe watch a movie. That was great for me because I didn't have to cook! So we ordered a supreme pizza from Pizza Hut. As we were enjoying it I noticed some white chunks, I thought it was onion and kept on eating until the moment hit and I knew what was wrong. My face was itchy, my tongue started to feel unusually large, my lips were getting big lumps on them, the inside of my ears were itching intensely, the inside of my cheeks were swelling, and the inevitable tourcherous stomach cramps started. Those white chunks were not onions....they were CHICKEN!!!! Some of you might not know, but I am deathly allergic to chicken. I can take one or two bites of something and if there is chicken hiding in it I know within a minute. So I ran upstairs (well not really ran because of the brace that I still have on my knee due to a very ungraceful incident the day before Thanksgiving) and took 3 benedryl to see if I could stop the allergic reaction before my throat started to close. Luckily I was able to breath, but got to have all of those other uncomfortable symptoms all night long!!! After 2 more benedryl (total of 5) my face started to shrink back to normal. Some may wonder how a few little pieces of chicken got onto a pizza that wasn't supposed to have it, so we made a phone call to Pizza Hut and let them know about what happened and to tell them they needed to be more careful. They said that the chicken is right next to the mushroom and some could have accidentally fallen on to our pizza. So to make a long story short...I'm ok now and maybe we will get some free pizza out of it!

Potpourri simmering on the stove or soup?

The other night I had made clam chowder for dinner and my mom wasn't feeling well so I made her some tomato soup. I also had some yummy potpourri boiling on our stove filling our house with the sweet smell of Christmas. My dad was a little confused and thought we had 3 different soups to choose from. I am not sure why he thought that this looked appetizing but he tried it without telling anyone. The next day he told me that he had a taste of that "different" soup on the stove and his comment was something like when I bit into the things that look like sticks, they really tasted like sticks! Some may say that I am heartless but I couldn't help but chuckle a little...well it really was a full on laugh after I picked my jaw up off the floor. Sorry dad!!!



Here's the recipe:

Christmas Fragrance Simmering Potpourri
5 to 6 cinnamon sticks, broken
half a lemon peel cut into pieces
half an orange peel cut into pieces
1/2 c. whole cloves
1 Tbsp. nutmeg
1/4 c. whole allspice
1 Tbsp. bay leaf pieces
2 slices dried apples, optional

Combine ingredients, add water to cover and simmer on stove top or in potpourri pot.

Who says a 3-year-old can't take a good picture!

As I have been looking through my pictures today I came upon some treasures and thought I would share. If you don't see any posts after this you will know something happened to me and I think you could find possible suspects below.

When you give a camera to a 3-year-old no one thinks they are really taking pictures unless you are like me and taught that 3-year-old how...aren't I tricky!!!!




I think Grandpa Gee is ready to hit the sack, or table in this situation...

I have always wondered what really happens to parents when they say their kids are driving them crazy...I think I have the answer.







And who do I get to thank for all of the fun I am having?



My sweet Ellie!!!

Family Home Evening at the Gee house....

I was on the Internet and I found the Elfyourself website and I knew I had to do it. So the post below is what I like to call family home evening at the Gee house. Hope you enjoy!!

I had to include Bella...

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