365/365 - New Year's Eve at L.L. Bean

Today we left for a weekend getaway to Maine and L.L. Bean. I can't believe that we haven't been here since August of 2009. It will be interesting to see what has changed up here; there is always something different at L.L. Bean.

We spent the evening at L.L. Bean. There certainly were a lot of changes. The coffee shop is now downstairs along with books and pet supplies where the kids clothes used to be. I think Paul is really going to like it. There are lots of comfortable chairs. For years their coffee shop was called the Dew Drop Inn and it was in the middle of their furniture department and book department. This made it really convenient for Paul to read until he fell asleep in a comfortable chair. Then they added their Hunting and Fishing store onto the main building and things got really changed around. The coffee shop was put in a little corridor. Anyhow, this new change is really good. I hope it stays like this for awhile.

L.L. Bean was decorated outside so beautifully for Christmas. Here are a few pictures.

364/365 - Last Christmas picture, I promise!

Since Christmas Day, I have had a Christmas slideshow going with old and new Christmas pictures playing. I happened to walk into the room and this picture was on. It is me and my Aunt Dot in the 1950's. It made me a little sad to think of how she is now, but she still has a lot of the old Dot still left in her, and I am thankful for that.

363/365 - Prims reindeer Christmas decoration

This is the reindeer Christmas decoration craft that we made at the Prims Christmas party two weeks ago. We had one left over so I brought it home tonight and hung it on my tree. Isn't it cute? If all crafts were this easy to make, I might not hate crafts so much!

362/365 - Meeting Naboo

Marley has been wanting a rodent for awhile; as in a rat, hamster, gerbil or guinea pig. Kris and Toby were going to surprise her with one for Christmas, but then decided it might be fun for her to pick it out herself. So, on Christmas morning she got everything for the rodent; cage, bedding, traveling ball, etc. Today they went to Petco and got Naboo. He is a gerbil. Tonight Naboo came to Grandma's in his traveling cage. Mason calls him Boo (of course he is at a stage now where he says BOO, and you are supposed to looked scared. He looked at the gerbil and said BOO. So he is Naboo, Boo for short).

The cats were like magnets to him....





Marley seems quite happy with him. He is going to live in her room (along with their cat Sunny who spends a lot of time in Marley's room). Hopefully they will all live together in harmony :)

361/365 - First snowstorm of the season

I should have taken a picture of the snow on my way to work this morning but I forgot.

This is a weather report on MassLive.com from Dan Brown, abc40 meterologist:


A PVTA bus traverses through the snow on Main St. in Springfield Monday morning

The snow totals may not be as impressive as first forecasted, with between 6-12 inches of snow piling up across the Pioneer Valley, but that does not take anything away from this storms strength. In fact, the central pressure is now down to 968mb making it as strong as a category 2 or 3 Hurricane. Impressive!

A dry slot of air kept us mainly dry for a period of time overnight but now we are dealing with more falling snow. The snow will be winding down by mid-morning but the wind and blowing snow will continue throughout the day.

It will remain cold, too, with highs only in the middle and upper 20s. Winds gusting over 40 mph combined with temperatures in the 20s will make it feel as though it's in the single numbers and teens.

If you hate all this cold and snow, hang in there — it looks as though we have a decent warm-up on the way. It will remain cold and windy both today and tomorrow however as we close out 2010 temperatures could be well into the 40s and perhaps even over 50! All this snow could be gone by the New Year!

Have a great Monday!
Dan Brown

360/365 - Crayola Explosion Glow Dome

Marley got this Glow Dome for Christmas. You draw on it. She drew a tree on the inside pane, then drew raindrops on the outside dome. You turn it on and it lights up and turns. It is really cool!

359/365 - Christmas Day

This was our table for Christmas dinner today. Janelle's parents, Stacia and Joe, and her sister Amy were here, along with Big Baba, aunt Dot, Mark, Janelle, and Mason. Kris, Toby and Marley went to Toby's family, but came for dessert.

Here are a few pictures from the day. Mason had fun with his toys.



Dot seemed to enjoy all the festivities.




Marley played Santa and handed out all the presents, with help from Mason!









Somehow this bow ended up on Mark's head - it made for a good picture.



It was a very nice day. Good food, good friends and family. I wish my Dad and Marge could have been here. Hopefully they will both be feeling better soon.

358/365 - Merry Christmas (Eve)

I am trying to remember, during this busy season, that Jesus' birth really is the reason for the season.


(picture from 2006 Bethany Singing Christmas Tree)

357/365 - Photo Shoot and Reindeer Cookies

The plan tonight was to make our traditional Reindeer cookies for Santa with Marley since Kristen and Toby had some last minute shopping to do. I thought Mark and Mason might like to be in on the festivities (Janelle was working). Since I didn't have any pictures of Marley and Mason in Santa hats yet this year, I thought that we could fit that in too.

Well.... it turned out to be a little crazy around here due to a little project that Mark and I had for a Christmas present for a certain someone (no names mentioned). Marley wasn't too excited to have her picture taken (again), but I was a bad grandma and said that we would start the cookies as soon as the picture was done. I took a couple of pictures of her first which I thought came out cute.






The plan was to put Mason on her lap and stick the Santa hat on fast and take the picture. These are the photos that I got.......



We tried having Paul stand behind me to get Mason to smile, but that didn't work either. Mason just looks like he is afraid of Paul!







I got another Santa hat and tried having Mark sit with him. Still no luck!



Well, I finally decided that "it is what it is", and would be a memory of the way things were this year.

In the end, we finished the project, the pictures got taken, and the reindeer cookies were made!

356/365 - Marley's narration

Marley had the beginning narration of the children's musical Meet Me At The Manger last Sunday night at our church. Someone on Facebook tagged me with this picture. I am so excited to have it.

355/365 - Dot's new perm

Today we took Dot to get a perm. She has been going to this hairdresser since she moved to Agawam in 1979. She is very comfortable with him and he treats her like a queen. Doesn't she look great?


When I got to her house today, a Christmas bouquet was on her table, sent to her from her sister. It was beautiful. In the middle was a little Christmas scene with Santa his workshop and sleigh full of toys. Dot absolutely loved it. Thanks, Ettie.



Dot had a good day today!

354/365 - No picture of Mason and Santa

Tonight we met Mark, Janelle and Mason at the mall. Mason has not wanted to sit on Santa's lap this year but when I saw Santa with no one around him, I decided to see if, maybe, we could get a picture, any picture! I held him and walked in where Santa was. He didn't cry. Santa held up his hand and I patted the fur on his arm. "Nice Santa" I said. Mason patted his arm too. So far, so good. I moved in a little closer and was about to bend down near Santa (at this point I didn't even mind being in the picture with him). He started to cry. No picture this year. He did "high-five" him and blew him a kiss on the way out; just no picture. Oh well, maybe next year.



I was reminded of his father who was also a reluctant Santa lap-sitter. This was the first year that Kristen and Mark went to see Santa. It was 1975; Kristen was 3 and Mark was about 15 months. This picture was taken at Baystate West, downtown Springfield, which had the best Santa around, but also the longest wait. After waiting all that time, Mark wanted nothing to do with it. He stayed there just long enough to get a picture. Like father, like son I guess.

353/365 - Meet Me At The Manger

Tonight Bethany's Children's Choir put on the Christmas musical Meet Me at the Manger. They have been working on this since October and they were wonderful. I absolutely loved it. I was so proud of Marley. She had the opening narration Twas the Day Before Christmas. She did a great job. They all did. Everyone there seemed to love it. They got a standing ovation!

Marley had a lot of her people there. Mark, Janelle, and Mason came. Mason got so excited when he saw Marley up front waiting to saw her part. He waved both hands and said "Arla". Toby's father (Bebil) was there along with Big Baba, and of course me and Paul. It was a great night. It never ceases to amaze me how much Bethany does for and with the children in our church.

This is the choir. Marley is in the back row, far right.



In the afternoon we had dinner and Marley worked on her project for school Touring the Northeast



After dinner we had cake and ice cream for Toby's birthday. One funny thing...Marley lit the candles for Toby's cake and we turned off all the lights while she walked in and we sang "Happy Birthday." Mason started crying, really crying hard. At first I thought it was because we turned the lights off, but I think it was when he saw Marley holding the cake with the candles lit in the darkness.



Mason loved Toby's cake!




Poor Toby, it was a short celebration as Marley had to be at church early.

Anyhow...Happy Birthday Toby!

352/365 - Christmas flowers

Today the doorbell rang and it was a flower delivery. This beautiful Christmas flower arrangement came from Stacia and Amy (Janelle's mother and sister). Isn't it pretty? It's unusal too; instead of being in a vase, it is in a clear bowl of water. It will look beautiful on my Christmas dinner table, and I can also enjoy it for the week before Christmas. Thank you Stacia and Amy!

This picture gives you a better closeup.

 

351/365 - New favorite Christmas decoration

I know this isn't a good picture, but it is the best I could do. I didn't want to use a flash because I wanted you to be able to see the light coming through the tree.

Anyway...at our work Christmas party on Wednesday, this was the gift I received from my Secret Santa. I later learned it was the gift my boss brought because she asked me if I liked it. It is from Yankee Candle and the tea light is a Christmas scent. The whole tree has little holes in it and light from the candle shows through. I absolutely love it. It is so pretty, and it smells good too!

350/365 - Don't you just love a bargain?

Tonight Paul and I went to the mall to do some Christmas shopping. At the end of the night we still had a $10 coupon at Penny's. Paul said maybe I could walk down to the store and get him some socks or underwear (while he went to Borders to rest up). Well, I never got past the coat department. Just to give you a little FYI, I love buying coats. Some people love shoes or pocketbooks. For me, it's coats. I have a hard time walking through a coat department without at least looking. Well....tonight I found a Liz Claiborne mid weight jacket, something I actually had been looking for for awhile. It was $150 (which I would never have paid) but it was on sale for $59.99; the $10 coupon brought it down to $49.99. How could I resist? Merry Christmas to me!

P.S. I don't think Paul was surprised...

349/365 - Party Day

Two parties today! Our annual Christmas party at work was today. Good food, secret Santa gifts.

Then tonight was the Girls Ministries Christmas Party. It was only with the Prims and Stars, so it was a smaller group and therefore not as chaotic.




The girls got the badges that they have earned since September, and then they made a craft. We had lots of help tonight. Many of the girls' mothers were there and they all helped. Marley's group was small (and they are older than my group), so Kristen helped in my group as well. I might even get to like crafts if we had this much help all the time!



This is Pat, the Prims leader (I insist on only being the helper). Doesn't she look cute in her Santa hat? She has so much patience with the girls. Not much seems to bother her (I worry and fret enough for both of us - LOL!)

348/365 - Janelle's Christmas Cactus

A few months ago Janelle asked if her Christmas Cactus could stay at my house for "safe-keeping" for awhile. It seemed that the only place they had for it was right within Mason's reach. It must love my house! I have two Christmas Cactus and neither of them have bloomed as much as this one.

347/365 - Another Monday night at the mall....

We met Mark and Mason at the mall tonight. When we got there, Kris, Toby and Marley were there too. It's a good thing the seating area in Borders wasn't very crowded; we basically took it over. Kris, Toby and Marley came to get Marley's glasses fixed; they didn't stay too long.

Mason just loves to be let loose there. He just takes off. I wonder if he would notice if none of us were following him.

He spotted these. "Balls", he said. LOL




Janelle and I went shopping for boots for Mason. He didn't like getting his feet measured, and when they put the boots on him, it was like he was stuck to the floor. I wanted to get a picture of him walking in the new boots, but he wouldn't walk. Finally I picked him up to get him started and Janelle snapped this picture. He is just too cute!



He has a new snowsuit and new boots. Let the snow begin.