State Champ is feeling a little bit giddy over the Christmas season and has issued the following demand:
"try not to be a SCROOGE!!! Cut and paste the questions into your blog, then answer them (you, too CTP!)......Tis the Season to be NICE!"

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? paper
2. Real tree or Artificial? Artificial, Emma drinks the water from the Christmas tree stand if we have a real tree.
3. When do you put up the tree? right after we get home from Mom and Dad's from Thanksgiving
4. When do you take them down? Sometimes a couple of days after Christmas. We're kind of tired of the hoopla by then.
5. When do you start listening to Christmas carols? December 1
6. Favorite gift received as a child? Suntan Tuesday Taylor and her penthouse
7. Hardest person to buy for? Curt's sister
8. Easiest person to buy for? kids
9. Do you have a nativity scene? Yes - Curt's from when he was a little boy plus a kid-proof one that Benjy likes to rearrange nightly
10. Mail or email Christmas cards? Mail - sometimes after Christmas
11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? OK, last year Eaglescout and his mini-me got me a TKD uniform and trial membership. I opened it up and faked happiness, cheer, joy, and thankful gratitude, but inside I was dreading the prospect of yelling, kicking, punching, and all that jazz. At the time, this was the worst possible gift I could have received. Heck, I could at least have MADE stuff out of a lump of coal! In retrospect, though, ES and MES knew me better than I knew myself. I love TKD. But I can't really talk about that at TKD anymore. At least not with my TKD peeps at TKD in front of non-TKD persons. 
12. Favorite Christmas Movie? Christmas Story - You'll shoot your eye out!
13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? all year long
14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Yes, but I'll never tell.
15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? peanut butter pinwheels and fudge
16. Lights on the tree? white, except on one of my little trees, and its lights are blue. They remind me of the lights we had on our tree as a kid.
17. Favorite Christmas song? State Champ's rendition of Barbra Streisand's Jingle Bells. See Princess' blog. 
18. Travel at Christmas or stay at home? Home
19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer's? yes
20. Angel on the tree top or a star? star
21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Christmas morning
22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? People who refuse to say "Merry Christmas"
23. What theme or color are you using? A Christmas theme :)
24. Favorite for Christmas dinner? chocolate pound cake
25. What do you want for Christmas this year? Mom and Dad to come up to our house
26. Favorite Christmas special? Rudolph
27. Favorite holiday tradition? Watching the Christmas Story movie on Christmas Eve, counting down the days to Christmas on our advent calendar, making my Christmas art journal every year. 
28. Does Christmas mean Santa or Christ's birth to you? Birth of Jesus plus a few presents to spice it up!
29. Do you go to Church on Christmas? Christmas Eve
30. Midnight Mass or Day? Evening church
31. Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays? Merry Christmas - we don't celebrate anything in December except Christmas. No hannukah, no kwanzaa, no rhamadan for us.
32. Do you wear Christmas sweat shirts or sweaters? pins
33. Do you put up outside lights? yes

Here's the link to the Christmas journal I love to work on each year. Shimelle leads this online "class" and the great news is that once you've signed up for a year, the following years are FREE! This really helps me keep focused on Christmas and the memories we create and not bogged down on the list of chores I need to complete to pull the holiday off. 

Finally, I leave you with this reminder of a happy Thanksgiving. 

Yes, Greensburg, there really is a Santa Claus in the Holiday Parade That They Won't Call Christmas But It's Obvious That It's Really A Christmas Parade. 

Can you say cold? It was freeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeezing cold today. Benjy wouldn't take his coat off. And I was the proud mom who thought her son had sense beyond measure. (LL, you son had sense, too. At least the older one did. He kept his coat on, too. Smart ones, our boys. No Jimmies there.)

Camden got to help carry the banner with the scouts. Eaglescout himself wasn't here. Poor sweet Emma had to go to the ER vet!!! Her little beagle ears had swollen up to two to three times their usual thickness. Bless her puppy heart, she seemed fine, but the ear thing scared us. The ER vets in Monroeville said it's likely an allergic reaction and gave her some meds to help. She had been scratching herself like crazy for the past week, so maybe something in Virginia got under her skin. At any rate, Eaglescout and Emma were warm and cozy while the rest of us were showing our true dedication to our respective groups. Go us.

And for you llama lovers out there. Here's a lovely llama shot just for you. He didn't spit on me one single time. Even when I tried to climb into his fuzzy soft coat to warm up a bit. 

Attention Bloggy Friends:

I'm in need of a new banner pic. Does anybody have a pic of me with my GREEN belt???

Thank you very much for your attention.

Just one of the fringe benefits of teaching in the same school as my children. Carnegie Museum of Natural History field trip. Did I ever tell you how much I don't       do       field       trips? 

     I don't. At least, I don't prefer them. I'd rather stay behind with the problem children who don't get to go. But we don't have any problem children. Really. Seriously. So, I went. And I actually had fun. 

     My 1st graders were well taken care of, thanks to their chaperones. :) So I was free to float among them and even spend a few moments with my own personal children. I loved that. And after counting my students three times on the bus before we left - just to be sure, I plopped down on my bus seat and talked to my neighbor (love ya, Mrs. Kuhns!) all the way home. And then I took a serious nap. Really. I know you find that hard to believe.

 

     It's Friday Fill-In Day. That means that I can blog without thinking. Hey, that'd make a great name for a blog. BlogWithoutThinking. If only I'd thought of that a long time ago.

1. The last band I saw live was Michael Bolton. ick. 
2. What I look forward to most on Thanksgiving is seeing Mom and Dad and coming home to put up the Christmas decorations and having that following Monday off from school and sleeping a lot. 
3. My Christmas shopping is going to be all handmade if I can help it. No worries; I won't be the one making it. But I am eager to get on etsy.com and see what goodies I can find for my peeps! (Walmart, I HATE you.)
4. Thoughts of the freezing-one's-butt-off-holiday-parade fill my head. Don't be surprised if Benjy and I are a no-show. He and I have already secretly discussed the distinct possibility of sipping hot cocoa by a roaring TV playing Star Wars.
5. I wish I could wear the pants I used to be able to wear.
6. Bagpipes are weird.
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to watching an episode of Lost, tomorrow my plans include skipping the parade and going to a new church (Cornerstone) with our friends, the Pouliches, and Sunday, I want to make stuff!

The legs were flying tonight at Casa de Taekwondo. This is how Eaglescout and Mini Eaglescout tell each other goodnight.

This is how Eaglescout and Yoda retire. 

Hmmmmmm. Snuggle we must. Hmmmmmm.

Look out. Coming to a Christmas card near you.

No, I didn't order a school portrait package for myself. Just one of the fringe benefits of being a teacher. Thanks, Lifetouch.

Look at the little man. 

And this little one. Can you see the glint of mischievousness in his eyes?

Gobble gobble. This is my only Thanksgiving decoration to date. Thanks, Camden.

Check out this shot of my babies from the Blue Ridge Parkway when we were in Big Lick last week. It's beautiful down there even in the rain.

Emma in Papa's truck.

Mostly Emma was allowed. But the clones got a chance to play in it, too. 

Home.

It was so good to be home. I drove from Roanoke to Norton in the standard 3 hours ~ no more, no less. And the time flew by. Going through Abingdon made me a bit nostalgic for old times.

The Barter Theater, a professional playhouse since the years of the great depression (where you could once trade your old vegetables for a ticket. Seriously.)

The Tavern, where I once had a tad too much to drink while spending the weekend with my friend Laurie at Emory & Henry. Mom made me go to church with her the very next day. Lesson learned.

The Martha Washington Inn. It's old. It has a history ~ first as a mansion, then as a women's college, then as a civil war hospital. (Mind you, if you still live in the south, you'd be calling this war the War Between The States. With Capital Letters. And Bitterness.) I've never stayed at this inn. But I think I may have stayed at a Holiday Inn Express once.

And then being in Norton was just, well, like opening a brand new box of Crayola crayons. You know, you take a deep whiff and you're transported back to another time.

Norton has this amazing view from the top of Flag Rock. Literally, a flag pole planted in a rock. It is very hard to hike/climb to this rock. But it used to be possible. I was too goody-two-shoes to make it. My sister did. She was cool like that. 

And Norton is an old town.

Well, not that old. But you're lookin' at an actual photo of old-timey Norton. How cool is that?! Why, we used to have not one but TWO Piggly Wigglys! Seriously. SC. Seriously. Now we don't have any. 

And here's a view of my beautiful home town. From the place near the flag on the rock. The flag I never went to. The flag my sister was braver than I was to go to. 

 And here is an actual photo of an actual clock that used to light up and used to tell time. I did not snap this photo at 6:34 p.m. or a.m. I wish they'd fix this baby up. 

So there you have it, my little tour of Norton. I'd show you more, but the internet doesn't offer up much else, except a bunch of pix of hotel rooms you could rent if you wanted to come over. Or you could stay at Mom and Dad's.  Mom makes great scrambled eggs, biscuits and gravy. You'd like that way better than anything from the Super 8.

No pix today; EAglescout has the camera. Hope he has some pix for me when I get to Big Lick tomorrow. I'll just leave you with the Friday Fill-in. 

1. Please feel free to VACUUM MY HOUSE, PAINT THE FRONT DOOR, CLEAN THE WINDOWS, AND LAY CERAMIC TILE IN THE KITCHEN.
2. When I BUY PLAY-DOH FOR BENJY I can't help sniffing it occasionally.
3. My favorite thing to cook is CHEESECAKE SO I CAN LICK THE BOWL.
4. SLEEP is something I can't get enough of.
5. That's the thing I love most about MY BOYS - THEIR HUGS AND SMILES.
6. WATCHING PEOPLE DECORATE HOUSES ON HGTV always makes me think to myself, what the heck? THEN I LOOK AROUND MY HOUSE AND THINK, "WHY BOTHER?"
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to CHATTING WITH MOM, tomorrow my plans include SEEING JODIE AND LOIS and Sunday, I want to GET HOME BEFORE DARK SO WE CAN RELAX AS A FAMILY BEFORE STARTING ALL OVER AGAIN ON MONDAY!

I've waited for, oh, around 426 days for Pioneer Woman to post her next installment of Black Heels to Tractor Wheels, the story of her romance with Marlboro Man. And she finally posted it here. Only, it just leaves me wanting MORE!!!!! Thanks, Pioneer Woman. Now I have to sit on my laurels and be patient. I'm so not good at being patient. Not that anyone I know would notice.

We're heading south tomorrow to Virginia. I'll go to Mom and Dad's while Eaglescout, Mini Ealescout, and Yoda Channeling Benjy hang with the Richerts in Big Lick. Yes, the town actually used to be called "Big Lick." I could not make this stuff up. I'm so eager to be with Daddy. He's still in the hospital. In the ICU. He's safe there, and his doctors are impressed with his progress. I have a dry erase board with colorful markers to take to him since he's lost his voice. But I just KNOW he can learn to talk again, some how, some way. Dad's not a flowers kind of guy.

I'm so ready to have some time to work on my binder for Jessica Sprague's Stories in Hand online class. It won't be hours upon hours of creative bliss, but an extra hour in the mornings will go a long way in getting me on my way to finding the small stories I want to tell but don't even know it yet. Does that make any sense at all???

And now, since the election is over, I thought you would enjoy a little conciliatory speech from Jimmy:

Well, actually, Jimmy's watching Law & Order SVU. So, you'll have to make do with this.

These are the lyrics to my latest fave tune - Lately from David Gray.

You can make one of these at wordle.

I'm sure I'll be making more of these wonderwordsmiths. 

This is what I get to see every morning around 6:50 as I drive route 819 to school.

 

Isn't that just beautiful? 

Now that it's daylight, Camden can't be my backseat driver. 

"Mom, I think you should turn your headlights on low."

His daylight job is to scout for deer.

Here's the Friday Fill-In for your blogging pleasure:

1. My blueprint for success includes prayer.
2. Milky Way was the last candy I ate. But not by choice. The Snickers were all gone.
3. The best facial moisturizer I've ever used is cheap.
4. Taekwondo can be good therapy.
5. I'd like to tell you about my dad.
6. Organization is my strongest characteristic.
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to reading my bloggy friends' blogs, tomorrow my plans include stupid stupid popcorn stupid sale stupid stuff and Sunday, I want to go to church and scrapbook!

OK, Dad had his surgery to remove the throat cancer yesterday. The surgery started at 7:00 a.m. and ended about 7 hours or so later. I was on pins and needles all day long. As my first graders and I were praying together, I asked God to please, please, protect my dad, to guide the surgeons' hands, to give him and Mom peace and comfort throughout the day. And to please, please, please, take this horrible cancer away. 

I cried. My kids could tell. Heck, they pray with their eyes open. They miss nothing. And do you know that every single one of them prayed for Daddy? They prayed for him to feel better. They prayed for the cancer to go away. They prayed for my whole family. And little A. prayed for me to smile again. "God, please, I just pray that you would make Mrs. Richert smile again." 

Of course, I did.

Thanks be to God.

Dad's surgery went very well. His dr. was pleased. While they did remove his larynx, the reconstruction of the rest of him went well. And they believe they got all the cancer. I think this is Dad's third lease on life. God has heard our prayers and given him this wonderful miracle of miracles. Thank you, God. My first graders and my Mom and, I feel sure, Michelle and I thank you.