Christmas Tag!

I was going to ignore this because my sister tagged her "family" instead of me by name. But she e mailed and reminded me, so here goes!

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Both
2. Real tree or Artificial? Sadly, artificial. We grew up with a real tree, but Wendell says they are" expensive and hazardous". If you know my husband, you are not surprised;)
3. When do you put up the tree? I like to get it up the day after Thanksgiving, but I will settle for any time that weekend.
4. When do you take the tree down? As soon as Wendell gets around to it. He is usually good about this.
5. Do you like eggnog? Love it. In liquid and ice cream form. Or a concrete from Nielson's. Yum.
6. Favorite gift received as a child? I am too old to remember. Probably an ID bracelet from my Jr. High boyfriend. I really wanted one. I am pretty sure I still have it. I was so cheesy in Jr. High;)
7. Hardest person to buy for? My Mother in law. Though she doesn't try to be difficult, and is always happy with what she gets.
8. Easiest person to buy for? My little kids. They are the reason Christmas is so fun. They are excited about everything.
9. Do you have a nativity scene? Lots. My favorite is the big one I bought on my honeymoon. And I love the olive wood one my mom bought in Jerusalem. Something about using wood from where the Savior actually stood is very sweet.
10. Mail or email Christmas cards? Mail because they are fun to put all over the house.
11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? A gift cannot be bad.
12. Favorite Christmas Movie? Elf. Classic. And It's a Wonderful Life.
13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? I refuse to think about Christmas until after Thanksgiving. But I should.
14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Probably
15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? My mom's cheeseball and orange rolls. Yum.
16. Colored or Clear Lights? I like them both
17. Favorite Christmas song? I love love love the Carol of the Bells by the Trans Siberian Orchestra. It is one of my favorite parts of Christmas. I love a strong piece done by a great band. And I love the Christmas song set to Pachabel's cannon (sp?). Can't remember the name, but it is a favorite tune.
18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Home
19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer? I'm trying not to cheat. Dasher Dancer Donner Blitzen COmet Cupid Vixen Rudolph I am forgetting one. 20. Angel on the tree top or a star? It is currently naked. I am waiting to find something I love.
21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? We open P.J's on Christmas Eve and the rest Christmas morning.
22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? Christmas music starting before Thanksgiving. And Christmas music that tries to sound sexy. Yikes!
23. Favorite ornament theme or color? My tree is red, gold, and silver. But I love the light blue and silver as well. And red and white, Or blue and green. How can you go wrong, really?
24. Favorite for Christmas dinner? Traditional Proffitt family Christmas food.
25. What do you want for Christmas this year?My bedroom painted. Most of the gifts that I really want are labor intensive. Or maybe a fabulous diaper bag.
26. White or Warm Christmas? Love them both
27. Favorite thing about Christmas? Reading Christmas stories. Especially if my kids are actually listening. And even more if it makes them Feel something;)
28. Favorite Christmas Tradition? Christmas breakfast with my big family, and playing games.
29. Favorite Christmas Location? Home.
30. Who do you tag? hmmm. Laurie. And Julie. And Jennifer. Ooh, and Rachael. Can't wait to see what she says.

My kids think a post without pictures is lame. And now I have done two in a row. I promise I will start posting about Thanksgiving next, with TONS of pictures. Expect a picture overload.

Tagged! Quirks

Six Quirks:

When I got this tag I said, "But I don't have any quirks". And Wendell and Rachael laughed out loud. I guess I do.

1. I am allergic to the telephone. I hate it. I don't like talking on the phone at all. I don't know why. I rarely check my messages, which is annoying to most people who try to contact me. If it weren't for e mail, I would barely communicate at all. And I would get nothing done. My best friend from high school and I almost never communicate because I won't talk on the phone, and she won't e mail. We can only talk in person, which almost never happens.

It is not that I don't like people! I love to go to lunch with my sisters or friends. We love to go out at night with other couples. I'm pretty much up for anything. Except a conversation on the phone.

2. I can't sit quietly through a movie. Well, I can, but I don't like to. I like to discuss and critique everything. My sister,my husband, and my kids put up with this pretty well. So if you don't want to be whispered at during a film, don't sit by me. Or at least warn me. I can bite my tongue if I must.

3. I can't just watch T.V. I can watch T.V while I am reading a magazine. I can watch T.V and fold laundry. I can watch T.V and clean.(O.K- I'm not often cleaning. Sometimes)But I rarely just watch T.V.(Wendell thinks this quirk would disappear with a good Tivo. It is the commercials that make me antsy)

4.I exaggerate. In fact I am downright prone to hyperbole. Apparently it is genetic. I got it from my father, and share it with many of my siblings. Wendell gets frustrated in the car because I am either "freezing cold in here!" or "dying of the heat!" Often both within the space of 5 minutes. Today I told my sister that it "takes 5 seconds" to start a blog. And, often heard around my house, "I already told you 5,000 times!"

5. If I know something, I expect my husband to know it too. Without telling him. I think I expect him to share my brain. He gets a little frustrated when he gets a call about an event that he should know about, but I never told him. Not because I FORGOT to tell him. But because I expected him to already know. It took a little while, but he rarely hears, "What, Sherry didn't tell you?" from his family any more. They expect me not to tell him. They know any pertinent information needs to go right to Wendell, or to us both.

6. When I am really stressed or upset I need a project. This project, unfortunately, is never super constructive like "cleaning out the closet" or "organizing the garage". It has to be something I can see afterward and makes me happy. Like: making new window treatments (after a crash course on how to use a sewing machine) Making a baby quilt; redoing the kitchen cabinets; painting a bedroom (usually involving stripes, plaids, clouds, circles, or something else I have never done before); making baby bows, etc.(I should include pictures of these projects) The cleaning, obviously, gets neglected while I am doing a project. And often, so do the kids.

The best part about a tag is getting to pass it on. So I am tagging: Patrice, Jannalee, and Michelle

Thanks for the tag, Tracey!

Twilight

My toddler and my cranky baby are both asleep. So I have decided to clean. I am proud of this decision.

But I am obviously not really going to do it! I am going to blog about the Twilight movie instead. C'mon, you've got to have priorities!;)

Rachael has been trying for over a week to earn the right to go to the new Twilight movie. As the week has gone by, my standards have gotten progressively lower. By Saturday night she just had to have all of her Saturday jobs done, her room clean, and be nice to her family for...an hour. Well, I was ready to see it too!

We went to the 9:15 showing and it wasn't crowded at all. We got fabulous seats.

Honestly, I had a hard time not giggling through most of it. Even Rachael, who has read the book 11 times and loves all things Twilight, admitted that they should have added more humor. They tried to be serious all the time. I couldn't stand how heavy it felt! Or how awkward Edward was.

(Baby's awake. Typing one handed. Which we all should have been taught in school, by the way.)

I did have to use the restroom and missed,"the kiss". By Rachael's description, it sounded pretty intense. And maybe not appropriate for my 11 year old. I'm a bad parent. Hindsight.

Because I missed such a crucial part of the movie, Rachael refused to use the bathroom when she needed to. And she had a hard time enjoying the rest of the movie because she had to pee so badly;) So now she thinks she needs to go again.

I did actually enjoy it. The second half was much better than the first. More action and less silly intense looks. I loved the baseball game. And the rest of the movie after that.

And I thought Jasper was HOT! It's not his fault he always has that look on his face. He is trying hard not to eat all the people! You try it. I think he should have been Edward. Nothing against Ol' Cedric Diggory, but he WAS a little scrawny. And needed braces. Moving forward...

I have high hopes for the next movie. I think they will learn to add more humor. I think they will have a higher budget (seriously, whose idea was it to do this movie low budget? Did they not realize how hugely popular the books were?)and I think the young actors will learn to act better.

Will I watch it again in the theater? Probably not. But I am pretty sure we will buy the DVD.

Christmas Cards!

My friend Melanie pointed out to me recently how lucky I was to have so many talented family members. The conversation went something like this:

"I love Abigail's bracelets, where did you get them?" "My sister made them for me"

"Where did you get her Halloween bow?" "Jannalee made it"

"Cute burp cloths!" "Jannalee makes those too"

Another friend pipes in-"She has a brother in law that is an orthodontist, that's handy." Yes, yes it is.

(I have another brother in law who is a pilot, which comes in handy sometimes too.)

"Now you need a sibling that does invitations and announcements" This was a funny coincidence. "I do! and she has a great eye and a talent I just don't have. She's my sister in law and I have a link to her website on my blog"

I am very blessed. My family is basically a mechanic away from being totally self sufficient;) O.K I am exaggerating.

But this conversation also reminded me that I needed to get crackin on my birth announcements. And Christmas cards. So I decided to combine them. This was no problem for Margaret.

I love it so much I can't stop looking at it. I think I will make it my new screen saver;)

The blog I have linked is mostly baby announcements, but she does Christmas cards, birthdays, anything really. You can choose from a layout she has or she will make you a totally custom design, like she did for me.

So if you want something new for your Christmas cards, it is time to check her out!At Tiny Tale Design.


I am tempted to show you my card , but I will wait for after Thanksgiving. Willpower!

I Give In!

You Are The Cranberry Sauce

A little sweet, a little sour - you've got the flava! Though, you do tend to squish in people's mouths...

What Part of Thanksgiving Are You?

My cousins have been doing this quiz. And when my brother did it too my curiosity got the best of me. So far they have all been mashed potatoes, with one stuffing (of course Laurie is the stuffing) so I was curious what else was out there.

Of COURSE I am cranberry sauce. What else could I be. I'm not exactly sweet these day;) Leave it to me to be a little tangy. I dig cranberry sauce.

I'm Sleepy

I have had about six other posts that I have wanted to do. But I have been dealing with a seriously high maintenance baby. And I am going a little bit crazy.

The last couple of days I have come to the dreaded realization that she is downright colicky. Dang it. I thought we had a deal. I go through the pregnancy from H and in return I get a nice, easy baby.

It didn't work that way. I am too old for this.

My poor husband and kids. I told them it would be better after the baby came. No more crazy, sick, cranky, useless, pregnant mom. Unfortunately they are learning that they only traded her in for crazy, fat, sleep deprived, cranky mom and a screaming baby.

They got swindled.

Does that Really work?

Does anyone recognize this image? Does anyone actually have one of these in their homes?

I do. We keep one in our bedroom just in case. In case the other phones are lost, or the battery runs out unexpectedly.

Apparently, we never use it. The other day Wendell pulled it over to the computer desk while I was on an important phone call and was waiting on hold forever. He was afraid the phone would go dead.

It has been sitting by the computer for a few days now, and our kids are incredulous. Like it is some kind of technological dinosaur. The funniest thing is that they weren't surprised to see it. They only got surprised when I actually answered it. "What! That thing really works?" You would think it was a rotary phone or something.

The funniest thing was the look on Rachael's face. She was so amazed. She started slamming it on it's cradle and said, "It's like in those old movies! Where they get mad and slam the phone down. Then they do it the wrong way and have to pick it up and put it down again.!" Then she took it into the other room and said,"Or when they stretch the cord as far as it will go to get some privacy. It is totally, like, the 80's Mom!"

DO I feel old now? Like, yes;)