Mother’s Day has stirred thoughts about the mothers in my life, past and present. My mother passed away 4 years ago in March. I still miss her. In some ways I am very much like her, in others not as much. She was very visual, like I am, and had strong opinions about what constituted “tacky” (or in some cases, “high tacky”!). Although my tastes in color and design are often bolder and more adventurous compared to the more conservative and delicate ones that she preferred, I know I am very much governed by the internal “tacky meter” she passed on to me. I think it’s helped me in my blog design business.

My sister and I always loved this picture of Mother; I don’t know her exact age, but I would say early to mid-20s. She looks so glamorous, doesn’t she?

This picture shows “The Golden Girls” - my Aunt Thelma, Grandmother, and Aunt Mayme. They’ve all passed on, but their imprint on my life will live on as long as I do. I just wish I had written down all of their family recipes!

This is my Aunt Linda, possibly the only person who reads this blog daily (Hi, Aunt Linda!). She is my mother’s sister and a grandmother figure to my children. Her daughter, Laura, is like a sister to me.

Here is my mother-in-law from last Christmas, pictured with my dad. She hasn’t been able to visit for a few months because her house is for sale and she’s spending a lot of time taking care of her parents in Kansas. She is a real sport and tags along to all of our ball games, classes, music lessons, etc. when she’s here.

Last, but not least is my new stepmother, Frankie. My dad’s wedding at the end of March is one of the big events that I’ve been meaning to post here (along with our father/daughter dance). I’m not sure how in the world this happened, but there was a fluorescent lighting filter on my camera lens at the wedding, so all the pictures have a red tint. That pretty much explains why I haven’t posted. I can’t tell a story without pictures, and it will require an extended appointment with Photoshop to doctor all 186 of them from that day.

Frankie is a beautiful lady both inside and out, and we all love hear dearly. It is sweet to see how excited my kids are to have her as their new grandmother. She makes my daddy happy, which means a lot to me.

Speaking of weddings, my sister is getting married IN TWO WEEKS! I am so incredibly happy for her and Steve. This is just after she caught the bouquet at Daddy and Frankie’s wedding. I am taking pictures at the wedding so feel free to leave me links to any great wedding photography sites or blogs. I need inspiration and ideas!

My Mother’s Day was extra special today. I saw all of my children, including my oldest who no longer lives at home. Here am I with my 2 oldest boys. Handsome aren’t they?

This was my first Mother’s Day gift, a day early during a nature hike. We were told that these are rare azaleas native to our area. They made a sweet bouquet from a sweet little girl (who complained to me this week when she didn’t see any pictures of herself on the blog).

This was a special note I found waiting for me in the dirt yesterday. I was last in our party at the end of our walk, lagging behind taking pictures, if you can imagine that. Can you read it?

Visit my photoblog for a picture of my youngest sweetheart from yesterday.

HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY!

From my family to yours, have a blessed new year!

Go here to listen to three minutes and twenty-nine seconds of Christmas cheer!

The old version of The Little Drummer Boy always gets to me. I remember how my mother sang it, rolling the “r” in “rum pum pum pum.” I heard Snoopy vs. The Red Baron on the radio the other day and it made me think of how much my cousin and I loved it as children. My favorite Christmas CDs in our collection are the two by Harry Connick, Jr., and Vince Guaraldi’s A Charlie Brown Christmas.

There’s a song I haven’t heard at all this Christmas; I’m not even sure of its title. It’s about a man on a train at Christmas and he hears a woman crying on the train. I can’t remember all of the details, but the song is narrated instead of sung and there are bells in the background. If you know the title or artist, please leave it in comments for me.

What are your favorite Christmas carols?

This post has been brewing in my head the last few days and was originally to be entitled something like “Wii Schmee” (a less-than-inspired title), until an unexpected twist altered the ending today.

My 12-year-old asked for a Wii for Christmas. I told him that we couldn’t spend that kind of money per child, so he launched a campaign and talked one brother and one sister into agreeing on it as a group present. He even handed me his extra cash and donated his Amazon earnings from selling old video games. My husband and I decided that if the kids wanted it that bad and were willing to work together, we’d get one. Silly us.

I thought Wiis were in short supply last year at Christmas - that surely there would be plenty to go around this year - but that is where I was completely and hopelessly mistaken. The saga began innocently enough at Wal-Mart where I went to the electronics counter and asked to buy a Wii. I might as well have been wearing a sign that said “Clueless.” One guy told me he bought his off of eBay for $800!

Based on a suggestion from store personnel, my husband got in line at 7 a.m. on Sunday morning at a major electronics retailer, only to learn that they had pre-sold theirs to customers who started lining up at closing time Saturday night. Armed with another hot tip, he raced to Target; they pre-sold on Saturday night, too. [I am in no way faulting these retailers. It was a very cold and windy night and I don't think they should have left people lined up outside all night; I just wish we'd been there at closing time among them.]

We started making lots of phone calls, but were always just a little too late. I learned that retailers don’t actually place their orders, but receive shipments directly from the manufacturer for odd quantities and usually at unexpected times. While most retailers seemed to think their weekend shipment was the last before Christmas, I was finding that small shipments were showing up this week, although snagged before ever reaching the shelves.

Last night I admitted that unless my husband took the rest of the week off of work and we drove separate cars, hitting as many stores as we could when the doors opened, we really didn’t stand a chance. I was already feeling a little silly about the amount of effort we’d put into this anyway. Plan B went into effect, which is a fancy way of saying I gave up on the Wii and bought other Christmas presents.

I have a son who works for Chick-fil-a. Another employee was sick this morning and called to see if he could fill in for her. After we dropped him off, we went to Wal-Mart to pick up a pair of shoestrings (yes, this is a true story). We ate breakfast at the McD’s inside the store, and then went to look at the toys.

Electronics sits between the toy and shoe departments, and like a glutton for punishment I stopped at the counter and said, “You won’t be getting any Wiis before Christmas, will you?” The employee darted his eyes from side to side, leaned forward, and practically whispered that he had two in a box behind the counter. After asking me to remain calm and not draw attention, thereby creating some sort of a riot, he double bagged my purchase and slipped it to me with all of the secrecy of an illegal drug transaction. The man next to me asked if they would hold his driver’s license and allow him to run to the bank for money to buy the other one.

Although obviously there will be no surprise to this gift, I quickly vetoed the kids’ suggestion that they just open it now; since Plan B was implemented prematurely, I also have some returns to make. I’ve got some happy kids, though.

[As a side note, the stores are well-stocked with Tickle Me Elmos this year!]

If you’re looking for a Christmas blog design for your Blogger blog, please visit my design site, Barefoot Blog Designs. You’ll find links in the top of the sidebar for the 4 Christmas templates that are available. Here are previews of each; if you click on the image, you’ll link to the information about ordering that design.

Thank you, and Merry Christmas!

Sisterlisa at Apples of Gold Ministries is hosting a Christmas blog decorating party. Submit a link on this post if you’ve decked your blog for Christmas. This is kind of fun for me since I got my diary girl all spruced up just in time for the Homeschool Blog Awards. This year, however, the HSBA team members removed ourselves from the polls and nominations list.

I sincerely appreciate the nomination for Best Blog Design, and so in the interest of good fun I’m conducting my own poll:

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Overwhelmed with Joy will once again be hosting Holiday Cooking, Blogger Style! Mark your calendars for next Friday, October 5th. On that day she will post the specific instructions for this holiday recipe exchange and then open up Mr. Linky so that those interested in participating can be listed in one central location.

Here’s a link to my post from last year.  This really makes me excited about cool weather and great holiday recipes!