Merry Christmas 2009!

Christmas at our home this year was fantastic. I guess magical is a better word! We opened gifts, ate, slept, played cards and padded around in our PJ's all day and ate some more. We went to a wonderful church service Christmas Eve night and even got to see some snow flurries on the way. Mackenzie had a blast opening up gifts- if they were clothes, she threw them to the side and ripped into the next package. Ha! Aunt Stacy and Uncle Charles got her a gumball machine among several other cute gifts (Tutu, sticker book, pink breast cancer tent). All I can about the gumballs....paybacks are hell. Just wait:) Mom and Dad got Bug a computer to work on her alphabet and numbers, a ton of clothes and so many other gifts I can't even remember them all. Mackenzie and her cousin Cade had matching PJ's Christmas Eve night and Mom, Stacy and I had matching PJ's. We seriously considered getting the boys the adult zip up PJ's with feet... on the feet were sock monkeys... but we decided against it. Although I know Chris would have looked SIZZLING HOT in them. I digress. Santa came to visit although we tried to wait him out playing cards until 3:00 a.m. He must've known we were still up, he visited sometime between 4:00 and 8:00!

At Nana and Papa B's, we opened more gifts and Mackenzie got a talking baby doll with it's own high chair, bed and stroller. She is now a Mommy (she informed me last night that the baby came from her tummy. Hmmm.). Uncle Chase got Mackenzie her umpteenth Barbie (that is exactly what Mackenzie wanted, a girl can never have too many) and Uncle Colton got her a butterfly watch, too too cute. Of course, she got clothes and candy and several other gifts... I am scared to be a "Nana" one day, looks like I will go broke if I am like Mackenzie's Nanas!

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and stayed warm!

Traditions

This is a Christmas of TRADITIONS. Many will be continued, new ones will be made and some will be discontinued for the first time in my life. For 31 years, Christmas with my family (Mendy's), has meant traveling to Lubbock to visit my Grandmas. After Grandma Parks passed in the fall of 2008, last Christmas was difficult, but we continued our tradition with Grandma Watts. With the exception of a few Christmases since I've been married, I don't know what it is like to wake up on Christmas Day in a place other than Lubbock, TX. I am aching right now because there will be no jumping out of the car and seeing who can ring Grandma's door first! No big hug and kiss (THEY WERE THE BEST!), no sausage biscuits for breakfast. No snow here. It is so cliche I hate to even say it, but darn, I wish I could see my Grandmas and hug them JUST ONE MORE TIME. I would give almost anything.

BUT... let me tell you what we DO have to look forward to! A Parks family Christmas at Mom and Dad's house for the VERY FIRST TIME. Mom, Dad, Chris, Mendy, Mackenzie, Charles, Stacy and Cade (and don't forget the dogs- Baylor and Lola). We are looking forward to lots of card games, movies, and of course, sweets. Mom has spent the better part of 3 weeks decorating her house for the occasion. Do you remember me telling you about Mom and her obsession with Christmas decorations? Well, check out the slideshow. Most everything you will see spins, sings, moves and/or plays music. Including Santa flying around the world in the living room near the ceiling and the train circling their 10 foot Christmas tree. When we went over to see the final decorations, I lost my breath. So many things from my childhood were brought out and it brought back so many wonderful memories. I didn't take a picture of everything, but I think you will enjoy the sampling. The Christmas china belonged to my Grandma Parks and she always brought it out for Christmas. After she passed, it became my Mom's. I am looking forward to the new traditions we will start (Christmas PJ's and decorating gingerbread cookies). Mackenzie is at the perfect age for SANTA. He has been such a wonderful bribe these past few weeks and wow has she been a good girl:) I can't wait to share Christmas pictures and stories, I am sure there will be many!

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND LOTS OF LOVE FROM THE BLEVINS FAMILY!

The Citadel vs. A&M

One of Chris's original Shooters players, Zach, now plays basketball for The Citadel. Chris has coached him since 5th grade. You hear me talk about him all the time. Of all the men and young men we know, he is THE person we have picked out in our mind of who we want Mackenzie to marry one day. All rolled up into one man. If he has any imperfections, I still haven't seen them. As I type this, his 5th grade Shooters team picture is sitting on our bookshelf and I can't help but smile. Last night I watched a 20 year old man play basketball. Where did all the time go?! Other than getting off to a rough start (see below), we had an amazing time and enjoyed being there to hug Zach after the game. We loved supporting him and we loved the fact that every time he made a shot, 2 entire rows stood up and cheered for him. Loved it, every minute. Enjoy the slideshow!

(I have debated all morning whether or not to include my "negative" experience from the game last night. Since I say so many positives on here, I decided to include it and the disappointment I felt. I will let it go after this. To all of my A&M fans, I love you, but I lost a lot of respect for your school after last night. I have heard so many wonderful things about the community of A&M and the people. "All you have to do is go visit the campus. You will understand." I have been on the campus several times over the years when Baylor played them, etc. It felt like any other place. But last night, their true colors really showed. I am thinking that what we experienced is NOT representative of the university as a whole, but I am not sure. There were probably 50 Citadel fans out of 6,000 there last night. To support Zach (we are so incredibly proud of him), we drove to College Station decked out in our Citadel t-shirts and Mackenzie in her Citadel cheerleading uniform. IT WAS OBVIOUS WE WERE WEARING THE WRONG COLOR OF T-SHIRTS, AND PEOPLE MADE US FEEL JUST AS UNWELCOME. We smiled, stood and clapped for the other team, we tried to talk to people. Just to get into "will call" to get our tickets, we were sent to 5 (FIVE) different windows. Had to walk all the way around Reed Arena before I finally said, "come on people, do you have any idea where we need to go? I have a 3 year old for crying out loud!" The girl snickered. (I didn't say the word, but you know what I was thinking. Starts with a B...). THEN, when we went into the back entrance for players' families, this ignorant man asked to see in my purse and said I couldn't take my daughter's drink in. EXCUSE ME? I politely explained that while I understood it was about A&M making their money on concessions, this was NOT an adult's drink, this was for my 3 year old daughter. He snickered and in the most hateful tone said, "you have to throw it away." I kindly stated that it was for Mackenzie and I did not want her drinking concession items. Again, he was rude. So Chris took the drink out and laid it on the ground and we walked off. Maybe not the best way to handle it, but what do you do when your daughter has tears in her eyes and doesn't understand why she can't have her drink? How do you explain to her this man's actions? I have found as a parent that the quickest way to make me mad and act without thinking is to in some way attack or hurt my daughter. Okay, so rules are rules. Then everyone should follow them, right? Nope. Only if you are from the "other" school. I learned 2 things tonight: You can't fix stupid AND we were wearing the wrong colors. If we were a bigger rival and had a bigger fan base there, I could maybe understand... But Citadel??? 50 fans total? Come on A&M students and fans, have a little more respect. I forgot to mention, we stood for their school song and we clapped for every single starter on their team. AND THE PEOPLE THAT WENT IN THE DOORS BEFORE AND AFTER US WALKED IN WITH COKES IN THEIR HANDS, NO QUESTIONS ASKED. THEY WERE WEARING MAROON AND WHITE.)

Merry Christmas from Fido

Loved this! Thought you might enjoy it, especially if you have a special place in your heart for a furry four-legged family member:) Click on the title.

Yummy recipes

Here's 2 you are sure to enjoy and ones I make over and over. They are super easy, CHEAP and just darn good. They are passed down from family members, so I can't take credit for coming up with them on my own. I made both today and they were delish. ENJOY!

Your favorite kind of Cookie Recipe (what else do you call this?!)

1 box of your favorite store bought CAKE mix (can use vanilla, chocolate, etc.)
2 eggs
1/2 cup oil
1/2 cup chips (chocolate, M&M's, butterscotch, peanut butter, etc.)

Mix all ingredients with a spoon until well blended
Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes
YIELD: 2-3 dozen depending on cookie size


Homemade Chicken and Dumplings

2-4 Fresh (not frozen) chicken breasts
1 stick butter
1 can Carnation milk
1 can low sodium chicken broth
2 cans regular biscuits
salt and pepper

Cut chicken into small strips and stab with a fork to tenderize
Boil chicken uncovered for about 15 minutes
Remove chicken from the pot and set aside to cool
Using the broth the chicken just boiled in, add the milk, butter and 1 can of broth
Pinch biscuits into small or large dumplings depending on your preference
Cook this mixture at medium to high heat for 20 minutes- DO NOT STIR
Finally, add cooked chicken back in and salt and pepper to taste, no additional cooking is required- it is ready to eat!
YIELD: 6-8 servings

Floatin' with Blue Santa

This evening was our local community Holiday Stroll and Parade. It was a litte nippy, but perfect weather to ride on a float in the parade! I have volunteered as a Victim Services Volunteer with the police department for the past 5 years, and Operation Blue Santa is a city-wide toy drive for those children less fortunate that we participate in every year. A great cause! This is actually Mackenzie's 2nd year to be in the parade, but she probably doesn't remember going when she was 14 months old (I pushed her in the stroller). This year I was unsure how she would handle riding on the float. Would she be still and not try and stand up? Would she be afraid of Santa? Would she hate him because he was "blue" instead of red? Hmmmm... Well, we showed up early to help decorate the float (Chris was thrilled:). When it was finally time to ride, Mackenzie hopped right up and plopped her adorable little self RIGHT NEXT TO the jolly old man himself. Where she sat for the next hour. She waved to the crowd, yelled "Meddy Chrissssmasss!" and waved her tiny mittens to the crowd. I LOVED IT. LOVED IT. Did I mention I loved it? She was such a tiny little thing next to Santa and he doted on her the entire time. They became great buds!

Innocence and UP

I read so many books and we watch a lot of movies, so I usually refrain from commenting on them unless I think they are exceptional or leave me/us changed in some way.

The Innocent Man: John Grisham (his only work of non-fiction).
"If you believe that in America you are innocent until proven guilty, this book will shock you. If you believe in the death penalty, this book will disturb you. If you believe the criminal justice system is fair, this book will infuriate you." JG


















The Disney Pixar movie UP.
Chris took Mackenzie to the theater to see this when it first came out in the spring. They talk about it alot. With freezing and rainy weather this weekend, what better time to rent some movies and lounge in our pj's? We watched it this morning... I LOVED THIS MOVIE. Not sure if it was because it was such a "different" movie and deviated from the Disney norm, but it was fantastic. I cried like a baby in the beginning (Mackenzie is still too young to really "get" the sad part, thank goodness), but the message about life, love, relationships and keeping promises is inspiring. It was also funny and heartwarmimg. It is one of Chris's all time favorite Disney movies, and maybe mine.

Decorating and other such fun stuff

I absolutely LOVE Christmas. It is my favorite holiday and was always such a big deal for my family growing up. My Mom had every holiday decoration EVER made. Every snoring Santa, light up reindeer, Christmas villages, the list is endless. And our tree was always BIG. At almost 12 foot, our old one was retired last year and they now have a new one. It is just as beautiful and a little smaller (9 ft.). This year, Mackenzie spent an entire day over there helping Nana & Papa hang ornaments. Most had to be handed to Papa on the ladder, but she loved hearing the stories about each ornament and telling Papa where it should go.

So, in following in my Mom's footsteps, I love decorating. It is always done the day after Thanksgiving so that we can have the most time to enjoy before taking it all down. A little about our tree (and Mom's as well)- There is no "theme." Our trees are decorated with ornaments we have made as children and collected over the years. Growing up, Mom bought Stacy and I an ornament for that year. For special occasions and vacations, there were additional ornaments. When we married, we were given our ornaments that she had collected for us as children. I have handmade ornaments, collector ornaments, vacation ornaments, ornaments I made Mom and Dad while I was in school. Some have pictures, one is me in 2nd grade. Mackenzie asked me inquisitively the other day, "What her name?" Some ornaments I am amazed have survived... that is why each one is carefully wrapped individually in tissue paper and stored in its own comparment before heading back into the attic. This is the second year with my new "big" tree. I found it after Christmas at Home Depot for $40-it is a 7 foot pre-lit and I love it! My 5 foot tree got retired to Goodwill and hopefully made someone very happy. Mom bought it for me at Walgreens the first year Chris and I were married and we had it 5 years.

I have 3 other small trees. The red one (you can see it in a reflection in one of the pictures) is just pretty. It is not decorated, I just liked it because it was only $4.99 at Home Depot after Christmas. I just LOVE a good SALE on Christmas goodies. The other 2 trees have a theme, but original ornaments (I am not at all against generic balls or decorations, I just have no room for them!). One is Mackenzie's tree. It has all of her first ornaments on it, and I bought it especially to showcase her Hallmark Collector's series ornaments that Nana B collects for her every year! It has her James Avery First Christmas Ornament, her first picture with Santa ornament and a Mother/Daughter ornament that was passed down from my Mom to name a few. The other tree is Chris's and it is a fishing and basketball/sports theme. Notice the gold ball ornament in front- that is my 2002 ornament from LSU. Oh, yes, it is on the sports tree! Please notice Lola also got in the holiday spirit herself, wearing her snowman necklace Mackenzie put on her. Fun times for Lola!

Finally, Mom, Dad and I took Mackenzie to Elgin, TX, yesterday for a little holiday stroll in downtown. I love going to the small town Christmas festivals. She ate cotton candy, rode a pony and got to see Santa. She sat in his lap and loved every minute of it. She even insisted on wearing bright red lipstick for him. Wow. She told him she wanted "Ariel" and a "Barbie." Crap. Guess she doesn't want the bookshelf I bought her, ha! I am a practical Mom, especially at this age, what can I say? So, I am off to the Disney Store next week hunting an Ariel Doll. As for Barbie, this will make number 11 I think. Or that's how many we have left after Lola has made friends with a few and claimed them as hers.