Christmas Part Deux...and Trois...

*for total inclusion in the Three Christmases Tour, you might want to wander back to yesterday's post so that you can be fully apprised on the magic and mayhem of a triple play holiday*

Moving on, we arrive at the Octamom Parental Unit Christmas. My parents had lived for many years in the northern climes of the country...until it became evident that I would be moving away from Oklahoma, at which point they crossed the state line and bought a house there faster than the original Boomer Sooners.


No, I don't take it personally at all.



Much.



But it does make holidays a bit more convenient. We drive a few miles up the freeway and throw another Christmas with my side of the family. I have two brothers who had the wisdom to marry awesome women and then had the wisdom to give me a plethora of nieces and nephews. When we're all together, it's a loud, laughter-filled hoopla.



Meet the Matriarch, my precious grandmother. That's 2 of 8 giving her some love...











Here's the Octamom Pater Familias, also known as the Rocket Scientist. He may be reading over my Lego Shim Splint dossier...







And here he is with 6 of 8, unaware that she is totally manipulating his heart strings...







And here is the Octamom Maternal Personage. I'm actually amazed I caught this elusive creature in something other than a total blur--she generally spends our Christmas running in frenetic circles, serving ham and pie. It was fascinating to catch her in a moment of stillness...







Actually, to be most journalistically accurate, the next photo would be a better representation of how my mother appears most of the holiday...a blurry dazzle of activity...







This distinguished fellow would be one of my younger brothers. I'm 21 months older than he is...but here's your chance to earn major bonus points when you play Octamom Trivial Pursuit. Whenever you run in to him, be sure and ask him if he's the oldest...I love it when that happens....if he gets asked just a few more times, I suspect he'll start snorting Grecian Formula...







Behold the grand LEGO-build session of 2008. This motley construction crew would be comprised of 5 of 8 and Oldest Nephew and Youngest Nephew...





Let's face it, if they're going to grow up to have amazing medical device LEGO design abilities, you've got to start them early...



Pictured next is one of my brilliant sister-in-laws talking with 1 of 8. This particular sis-in-law has her PhD in bio-molecular chemistry, thereby raising the comprehensive family IQ by a factor of 3 when she married in. But that's really not the most impressive thing about her. I actually get phone calls from her asking me if we are missing any Barbie shoes as she has found one that doesn't belong to their Barbie population and may have been packed in their belongings by mistake in the big post-present-opening clean-up. For real? Like any Barbie in my house has matching shoes? And like I would even know if one was missing? My kids rarely wear matching shoes, much less our naked Barbie population...







These two cuties are Second Niece and 4 of 8--they're thick as thieves, with deep devotion to each other and all thing American Girl paraphernalia...







And here would be Second Niece and her squirrelly brothers, Second Nephew and Third Nephew. Second Niece holds a special place in my heart as she is the oldest and only sister to two younger brothers, just like me. It's a tough calling, but somebody's got to do it...







Second Nephew, there on the left? He just loves it when I ask to take his picture...not.

Now Third Nephew, he's all up for it.







You met these folks last week, my youngest brother and his wife and brood...







If you want Super Bonus Points when you play Octamom Trivial Pursuit, ask this brother if he's older than I am. It makes me soooooo happy.....



After the big Oklahoma festivities, we straggled back to the new home front and somehow miraculously pulled off the Big Day on the 25th with our little band of merry people.



It sort of went like this...







And this...







The twins were just blurry on Christmas Day...I'm sure it had nothing to do with the photographer trying to focus after a restful night's sleep of 92 minutes...



Then there was more present opening and then there was napping and then we had fajitas for Christmas Dinner because we had eaten more Christmas ham in Oklahoma than is probably allowed by law...certainly way more than Levitic law...



Thanks for joining me on the Three Christmases Tour. This concludes our tour. Please be careful as you exit the Octamom Tram. Be sure and visit the gift shop and join us again for future festivals.

Jamming up the Internet, one photo-crammed post at a time...

Three Christmases

When it comes to celebrating the holidays, it simply won't do to just have one big day and be done.


Big families require extreme festivity measures.



So Christmas is held in three different homes in two different cities, with extended family gathering at MiMi and PaPa's house, and then gathering at the Octamom Parental Units' home, with a final hooray back at the Octamom house.



It's the ultimate Yuletide triple play.



It can also fill up a camera memory card in a blink.



So without further ado, I'd like to introduce you to the faces and places that make up the Octamom Three Christmas Celebration. This may have to extend over a couple of posts...my need for family photos seems to rival my need to have little babies around the house....



We begin our tour with our traditional MiMi and PaPa Christmas...



Behold, our oldest child and her daddy...I really, really like these two people...and they think I'm funny...bonus points.







Here's Third Niece, rocking the house...







Here's First Niece, giving 7 of 8 some love...





M's sister, Aunt A, with 4 of 8...think they're related, maybe?





I'm still trying to figure it out, why my kids all seem to look more like my sis-in-laws than me.  And none of them have had the decency to throw one of their kids my way, just one out of the whole batch who looks just a teesy bit like Octamom...


Next up we have 6 of 8 and Second Nephew...or as I like to call them, Cheeseball 1 and Cheeseball 2...





Here's my favorite brother-in-law.  He would argue that he wins the title by default, since he is my only brother-in-law.  Still, I believe the title should hold, regardless of the contestant population.  And he's a dentist.  Which I have found is pretty handy, should you decide to go and have a bunch of kids who insist on eating Tootsie Rolls like vitamins.  Just a little tip from me to you.





Here's 3 of 8 at the very second when he found that he would be able to realize his dream of world domination through killer video game guitar skills...





First Niece and 2 of 8, the Co-Brace-Face Homecoming Queens...





5 of 8 and his PaPa





An Octamom sighting...





And of course, the place where it all started, the original love story, MiMi and PaPa...





Okay, y'all, seriously, this is gonna take a couple post at least.  I mean, we're only through the first Christmas, with two more to go.  I've already uploaded so many pictures that the blog may run slow as molasses.  I'll have to pick this back up tomor....


What?  What's that you're saying?


Well, okay, if you insist.  I suppose I could throw a picture of the twins up for you.  But only because it would make you happy...


Here they are, sitting in M's and Aunt A's childhood rockers....some serious 'awwwww' factor, in my book...





Thanks for coming along on the first stop of Three Christmases.  I suppose I should sign off now and give the internet a break as I may have clogged the lines to a slow drip with all the holiday cinematography I've put you through....


Home of the Thousand Photo Christmases,

Monday Musings...Boxing Day...

The riders in a race do not stop when they reach the goal. There is a little finishing canter before coming to a standstill. There is time to hear the kind voices of friends and say to oneself, 'The work is done.'”

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr

I may have had a little Brit heritage in me...for a little while.

Used to be, day after Christmas, the tree came down, the garland was crated up, the lights were snuffed out and the general holiday flotsam and jetsam was relegated once again to the dark reaches of the attic.

The day after Christmas, I officially declared the holidays over.

And, sure, we would always do some kind of New Year's bash, but it was sans tree and Santa statues.  I was done. D.O.N.E.  No more peppermint stripes, no more jingle bells, no more mistletoe.

D.O.N.E.

December 26th. Boxing Day to the U.K.

And I felt pretty organized and righteous about it.

As long as we were in Oklahoma, my house was Christmas Central.  My out-of-town brother and his wife and family would travel in, my 2-miles-down-the-road brother and sis-in-law would practically move in, and we would Christmas, Christmas, Christmas.

(Yes, I just used 'Christmas' as a verb.  I'm a maverick that way.) 

We would have our time at my in-laws, we would gather round the tree with my siblings, we would unwrap, laugh, eat, watch movies, laugh some more...and eat some more.

And then I up and moved.  Moved far, far away.

I cherished my role as Aunt Sissy, the moniker bestowed on me by my precious nieces and nephews and siblings and siblings-in-law.  I cherished those years that I hosted the holiday cruise. I cherished being Aunt Sissy, replete with all the holiday trimmings.

I miss it still.

But part and parcel of the Aunt Sissy Christmas was also the grand pack-up, the day following all the festivities.  I was usually Noel-ed out by that point, ready to clear the surfaces and banish the wreaths.

(For those of you counting, that was another use of a Christmas noun as a verb...'noel-ed'.  Just trying to keep you on your grammatical toes...)

But moves and forced changes of tradition have yielded a kinder, gentler Aunt Sissy when it comes to the big Boxing Day.  We travel back to our home town city now, the week before Christmas, and are still in the process of rewriting what our holiday traditions will be.

Gone are the days of my table surrounded by nieces and nephews building gingerbread houses. Gone are the days of a house-full of extended family snoring in our extra beds.  The Aunt Sissy Christmases are no more.

So when we arrive back to our new home, when we come in the door, somewhat breathless and exhausted after many hundreds of miles, when we gallop toward Christmas Eve and the Big Day and the presents and the stockings and the dinner and the toys, I'm just not ready yet.

I'm just not quite ready to call it done.  I'm not ready to tear down the tree. I'm not ready for Boxing Day.

And maybe, just maybe, that's the newest Aunt Sissy tradition....relaxing.  Leaving it all up until the New Year.  Letting it be.  Lingering in the lights just a little longer.

Ushering in this new season. 

Rewriting tradition.

Is your tree still up?  Or does it make you itch to still have elves on the mantle and ornaments on the greenery?  What is your tradition for taking it all down?  Day after Christmas?  The day of New Year's?  Easter?  Write a post about this topic and leave your name and the url of that post in the Mister Linky's box below or simply leave a comment.  When do you put all the magic back in the Rubbermaids?

Making History,

Aunt Sissy....er, um....,

Sunday Selah

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!

2 Corinthians 5:17

Auld Lang Syne is just around the corner. The chance to start over.  The opportunity to set new goals.  The gift of putting behind us the difficulties and failures of the previous year and to look ahead to the next one, full of promise and clean pages.

We are fascinated by the concept.

New beginnings, new resolutions. We promise to remake ourselves, to change our weaknesses, to develop strengths.  The weight-loss businesses of gyms and workout tapes and diet programs will be advertising like mad starting January 1st.  We will be asked and we will ask others about New Year's resolutions.  Business plans will be printed out and spiral bound.  A new semester will start.

And most  likely, within a few weeks, we'll be off the diet.  We will have blown our 'no angry words' policy.  The laundry will be behind once again, and the term paper we were going to finish early will now take a mad midnight dash to be completed.

And the shiny New Year will have been sullied.

But I wake up each morning in a  New Year.  It comes packaged in a  Savior who clicks over the clock to let me begin again after each failure, each dropped promise, each moment of laziness.  The clock resets with  repentant prayer. I'm handed a fresh sheet of paper.  I am asked to write my resolutions anew.  The only thing that is required is that I dip the pen of my heart in the ink well of His blood.  

And I am made new again.

Consequences still exist.  The batch of devoured cookies will still grace my hips.  The angry words from my lips will still sting a loved one's heart.  My selfishness, my thoughtlessness, my winking at things that should be purified, all those things carry aftermath.

But  I am becoming a new creature.

And not just because a ball drops in Times Square.

Every day I wake up, it's a New Year.

With an eternal Savior.

Selah.

JPEG of the Week

~MiMi & PaPa Under the Mistletoe~

(yep, they're the cutest in-laws ever...)

Santa Baby....

These little love notes were carefully placed by the fireplace BEFORE any gift distribution had even begun...

I appreciate the arrows in the bottom corners of this particular missive as it makes things a bit clearer as to how to operate the correspondence...



The 'thanking you in advance' portion of this note makes me think this particular kid could have a future in fund-raising...or drawing up bail-out packages for Congress....



The contents of this particular love letter are a bit more subtle in their content, but equally as persuasive...



Hey, it can never hurt to butter the big guy up, now can it?

I'm starting to think the kids may have gone on some Dale Carnegie podcast for How to Score Big and Influence Santa Through Expectant and Compassionate Note Writing...

Still Trying to Extricate Small Toys from Their Packaging,

Could You Pass Me the Phillips Head?

Dateline: December 25, 2008, 1:58 AM

28 Red Cross Dowel Bolts

26 Cross Dowel Nuts

8 Twisted Nut

1 Threaded Dowel

4 1 inch Red Screws, 25mm

10 1 inch Red Screws, 25 mm, graduated head

2 3/4 in Screws, 18mm

18 5/16 in. Screws, 8 mm

8 Screws, 7/16 in. 11 mm

4 Red Hex BOlts, 35 mm

2 Silver Flat Screws, 1 3/8 in.

10 Screws, 5/16 in, 8mm

1 Large Nylon Nut

2 Small Nylon Nut

1 Cam Lock

1 Big Washer

2 Small Washers

5 Latches

1 Allen Wrench

2 Wrenches

1 Phillips Head Screw Driver


Yep. It's been quite an evening....or should I say, morning...

Merry Christmas to All~!

6 of 8 Dabbles in Theology

6 of 8 has been hard at work, developing new theories when considering the holidays. Take for example this recent reported exchange between 6 of 8 and her best buddy, AT.

6 of 8: "Do you know the real truth about Santa?"

AT: "What?"

6 of 8: "He's actually Jesus. He likes to dress up and give out presents..."

Mystery solved, theology balanced.

You can count of 6 of 8 that way.

Giftus Interuptus...

To All Members of the Octamom Clan:

Dateline: For Immediate Distribution and Review

Subject: Gift Continuity and Deadlines

It has come to the attention of the personal shopper for the family, aka Octamom, that a distressing phenomenon has begun to be in evidence in regards to the requested seasonal gift items, i.e. The Santa Christmas Letter. The requests processed in late November were taken at face value and were assumed to be of validity for the duration of the holiday period. However, it has now come to the attention of the management that several of you are beginning to waffle on the specific items found on those original lists. While Octamom experienced great personal joy and fulfillment going from store to store to search for the discontinued Barbie that appeared on the original request forms for one particular girl in the family, there is a growing sense of distress and futility now that the request for said item has been changed. While Octamom also found it darling and precious that a specific DS game appeared in the first paperwork, the verbal changes made to the previous written contract are leaving her feeling a bit overwhelmed and out-shopped.

While there may be validity to the arguments that surely such a creative and ingenious mythological creature such as Santa Claus should be able to handle such late changes, Octamom would not want to put the poor guy out. Therefore, new procedures will need to be followed concerning this issue. From hence forth, items put in writing on the original Santa Letter will be considered binding and impermeable to whims and fancies as the holiday season and its attendant commercials drone forth. It is recommended that any item included in the Santa Letter document be carefully considered for inclusion before the final drafts are sent, as further changes will not be allowed as they cause hysteric levels of stress and holiday-failure syndrome for Octamom. Please be advised: if you include a request for a High School Musical clothing item, that request will be processed and unavailable for further edit once the month of December clicks over on the calendar.

Please provide your signature in the space provided to show that you have read and understood the policies and procedures. Also please note that orders will be processed in the order in which they were received, not by virtue of how many items are included on the Santa Letter list. Let it be known that having more items on your Santa Letter list than any other family member does not, in fact, make you the 'winner', contrary to the beliefs of a particular 5 year old in the Octamom household.

We appreciate your understanding and adherence to these policy clarifications.

_________________________________________________________________(please sign here)

The Management

Monday Musings Break....

I'll be a bit sparse this week as we continue to celebrate the season through logging driving miles to visit extended family. It is my hope and wish for all of you that you have a wonderful holiday season filled with laughter and seeds of precious memories for many years to come. I'll be posting pictures of our events and travels and look forward to see what your holidays are filled with!

Meet the youngest Octamom brother, his wife and the two nieces and one nephew they've given me!



That's my mom's holiday vinyl tablecloth making up our backdrop there--we're nothing if not high-tech!

Sunday Selah

And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ[a] the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger." Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,

"Glory to God in the highest,

and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests."

Luke 2:8-14

No electric lights. No fog machines. No computer-generated battle scenes. No theater, no special effects, no spot lights, no photographs, film or orchestras.


How overwhelming for a simple group of shepherds to suddenly be audience to a night sky filled with angelic voices and beings, with that most intense and pure of energy emanating from the message, the very glory of the Lord.



In our modern culture, we are constantly inundated with imagery that is fantastical in nature. We are accustomed to and almost blase about the astonishing phantasms that pour from the imaginations and technologies of Hollywood. Entertainment films create completely new vistas and creatures, planets and galaxies.



And we expect it.



We are hard to dazzle.



And so in that regard, it seems to make more sense that the entrance of a baby Savior would come at the time in history it did. A simpler time with complex politics. An era of facile technology mixed with difficult challenges. A people who were jaded by oppression and open to miracles.



And so a host of angels was sent to announce a birth.



I wonder what it would take in today's world to get folks to pay attention to such news. Would we take it seriously if we heard it from Cirque du Soleil? Would we pay more attention if it were off Broadway or on? What kind of pyrotechnics, CG vistas, indie music scores would be enough to capture our contemplation?


And if we saw some amazing vision, would we believe it?



Maybe that's why God's messages seem a bit quieter now, a little more difficult to discern. We tend to explain away His miracles and plagiarize His artistry. I doubt we would respond in holy terror to the vision of glorious light. We would be looking for the tech crew.



But regardless of the method of the delivery, it's the message that's the thing. It's what the shepherds are told that holds the most miraculous piece. A baby born to be a Savior for the glory of God, and the peace of God resting on those He favors.



And in the end, that is what the shepherds grabbed hold of, not the experience of seeing an angel, not a discourse on the phenomenal harmonies of the host, not the glowing light of glory. After going to see this infant Jesus, they spread the word about what they had been told. They told the news that this child, this Jesus, this Christ had arrived to bring peace to man.



And when we hear this news, may we be compelled to do the same. May we lay down our casual comprehension of fantastical sights and be dazzled anew that we are loved enough in the eyes of God to warrant the arrival of His sacrificial Son.



Selah.

JPEG of the Week

~Two Turtledoves~

You can also join me over at 5 Minutes for Parenting Dose of Humor feature, where my Dark Frugality post will be available for your laughing pleasure--and as a side note, the picture on the post was our family Christmas card photograph in 1995...just a little bit of Octamom seasonal trivia for you...

Being Neighborly...And Giveaway Winners!

Living a few doors down from the Octamom clan is an opportunity to traffic in intestinal fortitude.


It's not just the 15 passenger van parked in front of the house.  It's not just the multi-population of soccer balls decorating the front yard.  It's not just the cardboard castles designed, taped and sagging in the front flower bed.

It's probably just the generalized chaos, particularly if you are someone who actually believes in clean base boards and knows if your kids are missing a pair of shoes.


These items are not things that would even grace my radar screen. 


But for my fearless neighbor, JT, being the Octamom long-suffering neighbor is a daily marathon of watching the chaos and craziness from the coziness of her perfectly appointed home.  She is a brave, brave soul.


She puts aside her natural strengths and preferences for order and cleanliness and braves the laundry piles and shoe population right inside my front door, just to tell me hi or to invite the kids to come play.  She surveys all the mayhem in cheerful disbelief and pretends to not be too scandalized.


You gotta love that.

So since I owe her such a debt, I jumped at the opportunity to give back a little, to try to in some way to pay her back for her support and love and lowering of standards.  We set up a little impromptu photo studio in the natural light of my master bath and clicked a few shutter stops:





Yep, darn cute. These fine young Americans are 5 and 6 of 8's best  buddies, CT and AT,  and are JT's darling kids.  We got a few pictures for the Christmas card and the grandparents.











But even after taking the pictures, even after bringing down a few baked goodies, I still felt indebted to the long-suffering JT.  How could I ever repay her for her tolerance, her patience, her willingness to ignore her own need for peace and order and enter the chaotic world just three doors down?  How could I ever make it even?


And then it happened.


She called while we were on the road, pounding the miles to get to our Oklahoma Christmas Family Celebration Extravaganza.  My cell phone rang...and JT uttered these magic words, the words that made every thing even again, the words that rendered the friendship balance sheet back to equitable.


And those words were...


"I just got back from the pediatrician.  CT and AT have strep...I think we've infected your family."

Ah...the inequities have been reconciled.  The friendship ledger is now balanced.


I think I'm good to call the debt resolved...

*I'm also thrilled to announce the 5 winners of the Scrapblog Giveaway:
Angie of Nanna Days
Rachael of Little Bites of Heaven
Brandi of Lolo's Blog
Dixie Mom
Tracy in NC

Congrats to all the winners and many thanks to all of you who entered. Winners, please email me at octamom@octamom.com for instructions on how to create and print your very own Scrapblog Calendar!