Festive Ride aboard the Jeep Express

On December 12, 2009December 12, 2009 By AngeliaIn Life is what you make it., Love and Light24 Comments

Have no doubt, I will miss my Dad greatly. But I am not one to curl up in a ball until the hurt goes away. One thing my Dad’s life taught me is that, whatever storm you face, you have to keep going. He wouldn’t want me to stop living. He wouldn’t want me to stop laughing. He certainly wouldn’t want me to stop loving.

That said, will you join me? Would you climb aboard the Jeep Express? I promise you won’t regret it. It is a new tradition born out of an idea from Shell in your Pocket’s mini van express ride. I read her entry several months before Christmas and fell in love with it. I’m giving her all the credit because I couldn’t possibly think of something so creative.

I must saying starting a tradition requires a lot more effort than following one. First, you have to set the scene, have the props, then follow through with it all. Not easy to do with a three and five year old, who doesn’t quite get it, although I think next year they will catch on much quicker. This year, it took them a bit to warm up.

I set the scene by telling Molly the story of the Jeep Express. I said, “Sometimes during Christmas when the kids get their jammies on, and head to bed, they discover under their pillow a ticket to ride the Jeep Express. The Jeep Express has popcorn, candy, and drinks. It goes to see the Christmas lights.”

Molly decided she didn’t want to do that. She thought the Jeep Express would take her someplace scary. I had to convince her that Daddy drives the Jeep Express and he wouldn’t take her someplace scary, right? Then, she said didn’t want to go look at Christmas lights this year. WHAT???

Don’t worry I didn’t panic, I just went to look under Daddy’s pillow for a magical ticket. Lo and behold there WAS a ticket! It read Praire Lights one admission tonight only on the Jeep Express! (not that they can read….)

Now that pretty much did it, we began the great hunt for Jeep Express tickets. We found tickets under both of their pillows. We began jumping around the room, holding our tickets above our heads, dancing, and waving them around. YEAH! Tonight we ride the JEEP EXPRESS!! TOOT! TOOT! (good thing Dad drives a Jeep, wink)

The conductor (Daddy) took the tickets at the door. Inside the express they went, with their goody bags of candy, Christmas necklaces that blink, and warm fuzzy blankets.

The Jeep Express had to make one stop on the way. It was to pick up Sydney and Kyle, question was, did they have a ticket to ride?

Why yes! Yes, they did! Upside down and all. Off we go on the Jeep Express, which is not to someplace scary, but a place of festive wonder. A display of FOUR million lights, along two miles next to the lake. A place to transform Daddy’s Jeep into a junk food smorgasbord. You can eat, drink, and be merry. It was incredible. We had popcorn, candy, and soda. There were many exclamations, “Look at that!” “Wow!” It seemed like the more you looked, the more you saw something else in all the glow.

I think this new tradition will stick. As much as I miss my Dad, I can’t miss these opportunities to begin anew. Dad never remarried, maybe he was scared to, or maybe he never had the chance. I know had it happened, he would have been greatly rewarded. So Dad, this ones for you. Enjoy the ride.

The finale, which was who knows how many LED lights in a tunnel. Unbelievably, spectacular!

May your traditions burn as bright as you are this Christmas, and always. Thanks for riding the Jeep Express.

Timeless Memories

On November 30, 2009December 1, 2009 By AngeliaIn Life is what you make it., Timeless Treasures21 Comments

I never imagined this weekend as a gift, but it truly was. A gift of delightful memories.

This weekend wasn’t just about Thanksgiving, it was about how much could Jason take and still love me? Mom staying with Jason and meeting the girls for the first time. Of course, she fell head over heels in love. And they took to her like stink on a dog because, well….she brought four furry children with her. FOUR.

Two tiny Papillons, Buddy the man, and Little Chevy who weighs an ounce? A Yorkie ~~terror~~ terrier named Lola. Poor thing, she has a disorder that requires medication every six hours to keep her from convulsing scarily. Yikes! And lastly, one FRED, a Shih-tzu boy, the biggest of the bunch, found wandering the highway one evening, that she promptly picked up in the Chuckwagon.

I call her vehicle the Chuckwagon, because it’s like the old commercial where the dogs are chasing the wagon with dog food, except it’s her van. The van stops and the dogs pile in. She takes them ALL home. I am not even kidding. My mom has 23 dogs (yes, she lives in the country).

I think half of them she has been trying to find homes for…for-EVER. But ya know? Her guidelines for a doggy home is VERY strict (which is good). Most don’t qualify, the rest don’t want grown up dogs. Then, MORE dogs come chasing down the Chuckwagon, which isn’t hard to catch. I think she ties meaty lamb chops to her bumper. Kidding! She doesn’t.

In all honesty, she rescues bloodhounds. She is part of an organization that will save a bloodhound (or part bloodhound) before they are euthanized at a shelter. They pick them up, put them in foster care until they can be adopted out. So, some of the dogs are fosters, others followed the Chuckwagon, and the rest happened to be on the right road, on the right day.

Whichever way you want to look at it, if you need a pet, please let me know. It really is a great service they do. They all have their shots and have been fixed. The fact that Mom only brought FOUR, ha, that’s a miracle. Lucky JASON!

Why did she stay at his house and not mine? Well, there was a little incident at my Mom’s house where Buddy the dog decided to get in Salem’s face, all chest bumping, and fake punching. She told him to get lost with her teeth and thirteen stitches later……yeeeeeaah. Not good.

Salem does NOT like little yappy, bossy Buddy dogs. Did I mention Buddy is eleven years old and has no teeth? Oh Salem, you are such a brute. Making her apologize would not have come CLOSE to making up for what happened to the little guy. In her defense, she only put her mouth on him for a second.

So, NO, I would not risk four doggy lives at my place with not only one big dog, but three. Not to mention, I have no extra bed. AND three grown ups share a very tiny bathroom already. One more might just push me over the edge. Ahhh!

Jason’s house it was. Extra bedroom, new mattress, cleaned up toy room, converted to guest bedroom (which Bridget kept asking me if I was going to sleep there). Uhh, no GRANDMA is “Gwanmah seep dere?” Yes, SHE is sleeping there. Isn’t that cool? (nods head, beams a smile) She only thought it was cool because Grandma has presents, and puppies.

Jason has a doggy run in his backyard, and LOTS, and LOTS of tile. Jason, sweetie, I know I can never EVER possibly make up for your most generous hospitality in the whole wide world. Ever to infinity times squared to the tenth power. But pssssst, you totally passed the TEST. Heh! You had no idea right?

Watching the little girls with my Mom and the dogs brought me great joy. Molly and Bridget LOVE the puppies. They love to hold them, pet them, cuddle them, and even drop them. Luckily they are close to the ground. Please don’t tell them they are not “really” puppies, especially old man Buddy. They were in heaven with all the puppy love.

Fred the Shih-tzu is one of my personal favorites. Cutest dog in the world. He is a love. I am not a little dog fan, but I would take him home in a second (Jason says no, hmph!). This weekend we carted around lots of dogs. Moving them back and forth from outside to in (even in the rain, right Jason?). Pictures galore were taken, adorable subjects, equals timeless shots.

Molly and Fred

Molly, Bridget, and Sydney – Can I just say this photo turns me to mush, awh!

Mom and girls walking together.

Then finally, we ended with ICE at the Gaylord Texan in Grapevine. What a finale! That place was incredible. The decorations, the art, the imagination of it all, just wraps you up, like a living present. Plus the ice slide, a grown up child’s dream – FLYING down the ice – no holds barred – Weeeeeeeee! It was glorious fun. If it wasn’t so crowded, I would have done it over and over til my fingers and nose froze off (totally worth it by the way).

Did I mention it was nine degrees? Before you can go in, they wrap you up in these big blue suits made for Eskimos. I guess they know Texan’s don’t have “real” winter coats, nor do we need them, although some people think we do when it goes from 110 degrees to 60 degrees, phhsss. Either way, we got a nifty warm ~~sleeping bag~~ garmet to wear in the ICE. Awesome.

Without further ado, timeless memories..

Jason, Mom, Me, Sydney, Kyle, Molly, and Bridget in front.

Jason and his two beauties.

Sydney and the girls.

One of my favorites, Bridget and my Mom.

Ice sculptures.

Molly and an ice lamb.

Me and Sydney. I swear that’s a camera bag under my coat, not like one of Mom’s small dogs or something. Heh!

The Grinch and my heart after this weekend.

Sweet timeless memories, I am not worthy.

I don’t “do” Black Friday

On November 27, 2009November 28, 2009 By AngeliaIn Life is what you make it., Love and Light, Wee Wee Wee all the way home!21 Comments

It scares the wee out of me. Aggressive trampling crowd, elbows flying, sprints to endcaps, a tug of war over the last one, where you end up beaten bloody on the floor -crying Mama – while you rock back and forth sucking your thumb.

Um, no thanks! Okay, I’m sure that’s not what really happens, but I have no desire to find out otherwise. I’ll just lounge in my PJs, thankyouverymuch.

Yesterday was my first Thanksgiving with Jason’s family. His mother graciously welcomed me, my mother, and my daughter Sydney to the grand feast. The table was decorated with ceramic pumpkins, fancily folded napkins in rings, and beautiful china. The food was a foodie lover’s dream, so friggin’ delicious. She went above and beyond. That is one mother who LOVES with all her heart, and it spills over into all the hard work she puts into this Thanksgiving dinner for her family.

Even more beautiful was the children racing around, giggling, screeching, and constantly filling their bellies. I have decided my delight in children comes from a long line of family genes. Goes back as far as we know to teachers in the previous generations. Except it ended with me, because I loved travel more, but I digress.

I got a kick out of watching my mother, mingle, laugh, and enjoy the meelee. Most of the children in our family are grown, so this was a sight to see and reminisce. It was eerie how well she fit in. But I’m not surprised. Good people with the same values, and upbringings as ours, which is why I love them so much.

Black Friday kicks off the start of the countdown to Christmas. Black Friday is a shoppers dream. Black Friday reminds me of the time my car was broken into. I was running on the trails in Fort Worth. It was somewhere around six or seven miles. I get back to find a policeman next to my car which has a shattered drivers side window.

That wasn’t even the worst of it. My purse was in the car. Yes, I know – how dumb. I went to the back hatch opened it, popped the hidey hole, and voila there was my purse. Then I checked the middle console where my keys were (to the car, house, etc). Yep! Still there. Oh the cop was none to happy about that, but seriously – jogging with a big wad of keys? – or jogging with a very small remote to the car? Yeah, I chose remote – shamefully.

I was very lucky. I never parked there again, and at the time – I wasn’t sure I’d ever get to jog again. Husband 2 was a tyrant. He went ballistic over this infraction. Of course, it was my fault, and I was never to jog again, EVER. Insurance does not pay for that, so we had to fork over a few hundred dollars. Some Black Friday, huh? See why I don’t like them.

But the gift was that it could have been so much worse, being my purse was in the car, and keys. All I lost was a lousy tinted window. I have never parked there again, in fact, I started parking in a shopping center and walking to the trails. I never, ever took my purse with me. So, it all worked out, I got to keep running at my favorite park and learned some valuable lessons.

That brings me to what I promised myself, that I would begin a series of posts, from now until Christmas titled Timeless Gifts. You know what those are – things you can’t price – just revel in the majesty of the gift. Instances of kindness that blow you away, or movement of the season to make you really realize what Christmas is all about. An unbelievable act that has you falling to the floor, shouting “I’m not worthy!” Yeah, those kind.

I have a lot of those in my life. The car breakage is one. Can you imagine right before Christmas to have your I.D and bank card stolen? It would have made for a tough time, to deal with all that, and wonder if you’d ever be safe again – not to mention the fallout, and punishment from #2.

I, for one, was very grateful it wasn’t that bad and still am. My eyes were opened to the Timeless Gifts that happen all around. I hope I can share them with you. I hope I do the stories justice in the coming weeks. Until then….

Happy “black” Friday! I hope you get gifts galore at half the price.

Random Awesomeness

On November 25, 2009November 25, 2009 By AngeliaIn Life is what you make it.16 Comments

Last night, sitting in the recliner with Jason’s oldest daughter, age five, playing Italian words off my 24/7 Italian app on iPhone. She repeated each word perfectly. She even rolled her R’s. I love this kid. She is awesome. I can’t wait to take her to Italy, for Italia-awesomeness.

Jason’s youngest daughter who is three, with no prompting, throwing her arms around me saying, “I wuv you.” And always, always pooching her lips up for a good-by kiss when I leave. A child’s love awesomeness.

Sydney cooking cheese enchiladas for her Spanish class fiesta. I sure didn’t teach her how to cook, but she just loves to. Breaking the cycle awesomeness.

My mom coming for Thanksgiving, FOR REAL. Awh-SOME! Oh, and bringing her famous cheese balls. Nummy food awesomeness.

Jason buying a new mattress, and a new nightstand for the guest bedroom in his house. Doing it for my mom when she visits for Thanksgiving. Taking her out for Sushi, putting up with her five dogs. Full throttle – oh my heart – awesomeness.

Still tucking Sydney in to bed, at age fifteen, shhh don’t tell her friends. That last kiss and hug is my nightly being a mommy AWESOME-ness.

Heart swelling up when I get a thank you call from Carter Bloodcare about my donation. I get to hear a blood recipient detail their story of how a blood donor saved their life. Tear jerking awesomeness.

Wearing Jason’s pajama pants in the winter while running around my house. Thinking of him in my pure comfy awesomeness.

Volunteering in the Church nursery, playing with three boys when in struts a two year old diva wearing these. Pink Texan boot kicking awesomeness.