Friday, December 30, 2011


Here's part of my family. 
Dad's side, gathered for the funeral of Uncle Mike, who everybody called Butch, so I had a slight complex every time I had to say his name. Uncle Mike? Uncle Butch? Uncle MikeButch? Uncle ButchMike??? Uncle??? Regardless.

Uncle was Dad's favorite cousin, I've been told. Dad would have cried and cried to see this day come. As it was, I'll never forget hugging Uncle at Dad's funeral. He was so sorrowful. So solemn. I think he loved Dad just as much. And then when we broke our hug, my hoopy silver necklace got caught on the fibers of his blazer and broke apart, and I had that awkward moment of standing by the coffin of my father fixing my bling and laughing it off. Uncle. He was awesome.

 
Uncle used to read this one bedtime story to Shell and me whenever he and his then-wife Aunt Diane (who only had one name) were hanging out at our house. The book was ...






Yes, this scary tale was my favorite bedtime story.
Explains a lot, I'm sure.

So Uncle would read this story to Shell and me as we lay in our little matchy matchy twin beds with the gold shag carpet and little girl flowered bedspreads and our tiny slippers stowed on the floor between us. When the lights were out, we'd see sparkles in the air, and we'd swear that if we scooped them up into our slippers then the jewels would be there in the morning. They weren't.

Still, those sparkly gems must have been what fueled our sweet dreams because not once did I wake with visions of headless horsemen or Brom Bones or cannon balls. In fact,  every now and again, when I close my eyes, I can still see the glittering sparkles, and I want to scoop them into my hands and hold them till tomorrow.







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Hi, y'all. Sophie here. 

I've knocked Grandmom out and taken over her MacBook Pro. Thankful I am that she's not a PC. Cause I don't know beans about that. 

Yes, she's really my grandmom. The kids at school are my actual parents. They love me and play with me and long for me all day and night, and that random lady is just my grandmom. 

She's cool, though. 


So, here's the deal while I'm living at Casa de Grandma during the Christmas break. 

I sleep all day. These people are so boring. They go to the grocery store or Target, whatever that is, or they just hang out taking stuff off the walls. The other day they toted an entire fir tree out of the house! It was a whole entire tree!!!


There were these amazing beacons of light on that tree. Blue. Green. Red. Orange. White. Lights that made you stare into the cosmos. Oh, the pretty colors. 

And these humans dismantled them! I saw Grandmom wrap the pretty orbs of light around her hand and elbow and box them up. She has to be magical! At least she had some nice clear boxes to store them in. She told me all about the $4.50 a piece price. Proud, she was.


But during the night? Not a sound! These humans are on the wrong track. They are silent at night, loud at day. I'm trying to sleep, all curled up in my bedding when I hear awful racket.

It sounds like gunfire!

It sounds like fire alarms!

It sounds like wild banshees chasing prey from their young!

I've learned that these are human sounds.

They do it during the hours of sunlight.


There are two small humans here. One is called Camden. He is loud. 
Very loud. 
Unless he's holding a device called a Nook.
Then he's quiet as a hamster. hehehe
He likes to hang out in his own space, but the grandmas and pas make him come out periodically and hang out with us riffraff.

The other boy is called Benjy, but he has taken to the name Ben of late. He makes a lot of noise, too. But he has more quiet times than the other boy. Ben likes to snuggle, it seems. He twists his body into a blanket like a burrito (yes, I am familiar with burritos) and hangs there for, like, ever. 

Cool kid.


These human youth have it made. 
I'd love to be the Loud Boy for just a day. To yell and smile and giggle and guffaw for a minute! Wow. And all I have is a spinning wheel.


Well, at least I get to spin around in purple ball for a bit.

They have to wake up tomorrow.


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Monday, December 26, 2011

Christmas was heralded in Sunday at 6:59 a.m. The sunlight was beginning to creep in through the blinds. I lay awake, barely, Emma hogging more than her third of the bed. Curt snored lightly. Then before I could rustle the flannel sheets, Emma startled as the boys rushed into the room. I struggled to keep Emma on the bed, knowing full well that if she managed to get downstairs, she'd bark incessantly till somebody let her outside. That's no way to begin Christmas morn. 

"IT'S CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!" the boys bellowed, and they climbed up on the bed and snuggled for a half second before running off to get up Mammaw and Pappaw. I didn't know it, but they'd been up for hours at this point. Nobody's quite sure how many.

Within an hour every package was opened, most every speck of wrapping was in the garage, and coffee was half-gone. It may sound like this morning was a rushed exercise in consumerism, but it wasn't. This was, for me, the first Christmas I chose to relish each moment. Yes, relish.

That nanosecond of snuggling with my boys. That look of utter shock and glee when Camden saw his Barnesey Nook Color nestled in a giant Amazon.com box. Curt's smile as he read the dedication on the book I had written for him. Benjy's prayer before dinner: "God, thank you for Jesus."  I wanted to hold each of these moments close to my heart and remember them for what they were - blessings from God.

You see, Christmas has been building for weeks now. And I have been praying that the season wouldn't kill the spirit this year, as I've let it in years past. God, please let me remember your present, your presence, your love.

So I addressed the cards and mailed them with a happy heart. I didn't worry if I ran out of time to make the buckeye candies I liked to pass out at school. Oh well. I wrapped a little at at time and didn't even bother with bows. And the presents looked just fine. I made two nativities with my school kids because you just can't get enough of Jesus. 

And I kept praying. Not long-winded fancy prayers. More often they were quick driving-to-school tuning-out-the-noise-of-boys prayers. Happy praises lifted to God when Benjy declared, "I love God more than you!" Tearful prayers as a 2nd grader and I wrapped our arms around each other for the last time. She's moving away after Christmas. Her sweet hug was especially tender. There was that Christmas Eve disappointment before church that God turned into a prayer request that he will answer. He promises he will.

And so on Christmas day, I tried to keep those prayers and praises  ringing. Even when the caffeine had worn off. Even when my bare foot stomped down on a tiny brown Lego. Even while I raced to finish The Girl With The Dragon Tatoo that night (cause I had to start The Girl Who Played With Fire). 

And do you know what I noticed? It was my first Christmas when I didn't feel the Post Christmas Letdown. I didn't set out to NOT feel it necessarily. But I think that focusing on God's blessings and promises left no room for anything else. 

Thank you Father God for letting me experience your love in such a real way this Christmas. 

I'd share pictures of this blessed day, but the camera battery died on the first photo. Good thing I'm holding the memories close to my heart.






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Thursday, December 22, 2011


Here are some of my favorite things 
about Christmas...

1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate? Hot Chocolate. Egg nog is too thick to not be a milk shake.

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? Since last year, Santa has wrapped presents. The kids are just too nosey around 3 in the morning.

3. Colored lights on tree/house or white?  White lights on the outside. White and a sprinkle of blue on the mantel. Colored on the little trees scattered around the house. Big fat colored bulbs on the wonky tree. The more lights the better!. 

4. Do you hang mistletoe? No mistletoe. Isn't that stuff poisonous????

5. When do you put your decorations up?  The day after Thanksgiving. Not a minute sooner. 

6. What is your favorite holiday dish? I made the most amazing brisket a couple of years ago and I can't eat Christmas dinner without it. It's from Pioneer Woman's cookbook. And did you hear the good news? She's got another one coming out!!!!
  
7. Favorite Holiday memory as a child? Every Christmas Eve after the candlelight service at First Baptist Church, Daddy would take the long way home, winding around the back roads and hollers (yes, I said "hollers") of Norton, Virginia, so we could view the Christmas lights. Shell and I would always go berserk at this one house at Hoot Owl Holler that was decorated to the hilt. We'd oooh and aaah at the other ones, but that house was a show stopper by Norton's standards. Those Hoot Owl Holler people could pimp a house. Oh, and also, there was the stretch of years when Daddy would go outside and yell, "On Dasher, on Dancer, Prancer, Vixen..." and we totally KNEW it was Santa Claus. 

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? I believed and believed and believed till Mom bought my Holly Hobby purse at Hills (is where the toys are!) in Kingsport, Tennessee. And then, that purse appeared under the tree one Christmas morn. I'm gullible. I'm naive. I'm a fool for a good story. So I could have been 17 when this happened. But it's hard to imagine that even I would have not been humiliated to tote a Holly Hobby purse around in high school. So I'm gonna assume that I was around mid-elementary aged. But I don't know. Who knows, I could have been in 6th grade and that would surprise not a soul who knows me.  

 9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? Yes, every since I was a wee little naive girl. Shell and I had our choice of a gift to open on Christmas Eve, but Mom had veto power. As a grown-up, I open presents from my school kids at school and do their thank you cards right that very day. The boys have no choice at all in this house. We, ---- IIIIIIIII ---- choose it. They open it. They bow to us and thank us. Strict dictatorship here on Christmas Eve. They usually get Christmas jammies, but a little goodie is tossed in for their enjoyment and glee. :)

10. How do you decorate your Christmas tree? We have the most amazing collection of hand-carved wooden ornaments from Curt's sister, Tam. She has been giving these to us since we got married. Waaaay back in 1992 when big hair was on the decline but I hadn't received the memo what with snail mail and all. Any other ornament that is special to us is on our wonky live tree. Some of our faves: the White House Christmas ornament from 1996 when Shell went to the actual White House Christmas party with then boyfriend Secret Service dude Dave (yes, she actually went to a White House party! I've got pictures to prove it; she's posed with Dave and Bill and Hill. Bill is not copping a feel of my sister in this picture. Neither is Hill.), the Santa gourds from Kathy the crafter friend, the handmade ones the kids have brought home through their school years, a leg lamp from A Christmas Story (It's fragile, honey), a glittered stocking from my sorority in college, and a chain of tinkling blue bells from Curt's mom. So many more.... I think I need a pigeon to make my tree complete.

11. Snow! Love it or Dread it? The more the better! When it snowed three feet that never melted last winter, we were in SNOW HEAVEN! I think God has our house in heaven planned for the snowiest part of the land. 
 
12. Can you ice skate? Yes, but I'm shaky wobbly, and it makes my ankles hurt. But I can roller skate backwards. 

13. Do you remember your favorite gift? Holly Hobby purse. No wait, that's not right. Suntan Tuesday Taylor's penthouse. 
. 
 
14. What’s the most important thing about the Holidays for you?  Keeping the focus on Jesus. Without the King's giving up his heavenly crown for a crown of thorns, Christmas would be nothing. 

15. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert? Mom's chocolate pound cake.

16. What is your favorite holiday tradition? The eight o'clock viewing of A Christmas Story. Ad nauseum for the next 24 hours. 

17. What tops your tree? A star

18. Which do you prefer: giving or receiving? As much as I LOVE presents, I do love the joy of giving. It's probably a God thing. And I thank Him for the ultimate gift, Jesus. 

19. Candy Canes: Yuck or Yum?  Sticky and icky. Yuck.

20. Favorite Christmas show? A Christmas Story and It's A Wonderful Life. Oh yeah, and Elf.

21. Saddest Christmas Song? Ummm, I don't know a sad one. But Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer would be awfully depressing if it was really true.

22. What is your favorite Christmas song?  While You Were Sleeping, by Casting Crowns.



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Last night's facebook post has grown slightly. Maybe a Sister Wife wouldn't be so bad after all. I'm thinking that if she cooks and cleans and can keep the wood stove going during the day, that's good. And plus she could let Emma out when she has to go, so that would help the carpet situation. And plus also too, she could clean the toilets for me. Sister wife, Molly Maid, safe diff, right? 
 
Wendi Gibson Richert
Curt is home from Utah!!! He brought me a gift - a book, not a sister wife. :)
· · 23 hours ago near Windsor

  • Candace Dunn Harris, Laura Bevins Wilson, Mandy Miltimore and 12 others like this.
    • LuAnn Walker If he brought you a sister wife I'd be alarmed!"
      23 hours ago · · 1
    • LuAnn Walker No...I'd be up there to rescue you!
      23 hours ago ·
    • Leslie LaRotonda You were hoping he would bring me, weren't you!? I'm glad he's home!
      23 hours ago ·
    • Teresa Burgan Tate lol
      23 hours ago ·
    • Barbara Stapleton Gibson So glad he's home, honey. Now it's really Christmasy at your house. Love ya guys.
      23 hours ago ·
    • Lisa McCullough That almost made me snarf my drink! Lol That was the funniest thing I've read all day!
      22 hours ago ·
    • David Walker It was a book about sister wives? :-)
      22 hours ago · · 1
    • LuAnn Walker David just got back from Kentucky and didn't bring me anything.....not a sister wife or a book about one :)
      22 hours ago ·
    • Wendi Gibson Richert BAh! The book was not, in fact, about sister wives. It's about the girl who played with fire. :) I'm wondering if my sister wife might just be in my stocking on Christmas.
      22 hours ago · · 1
    • LuAnn Walker I'd skip stockings this year just in case:)
      22 hours ago ·
    • Wendi Gibson Richert LuAnn: But what if has Chick Fil A franchise? They have those in Utah. True dat.
      22 hours ago · · 1
    • Sarah Grant Haskins That whole sister wife thing is kind of fascinating to me. I admit, I watch the show. Not religiously, but I do watch. I keep trying to figure out why they all want to be married to him.
      21 hours ago · · 1
    • Sue LeBlanc Delacruz OH WELL, MAYBE NEXT TIME.
      20 hours ago · · 1
    • Karen Hopkins Kommes I know you must be sad. But, it will be ok. You will get used to the book.. lol
      17 hours ago · · 1
    • Emily Flowers Bummer. Hopefully it is a good book, at least!
      10 hours ago · · 1
    • Ron Happel Wendi, you are so funny! I can't determine whether you are disappointed in the sister wife thing or happy!! Ha Ha. Merry Christmas to you all.
      10 hours ago · · 1
    • Wendi Gibson Richert Uncle Ron - well, if Sister Wife could clean and cook, I could get used to that! Bah!
      19 minutes ago ·
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Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Tonight on Facebook:

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