I was so tired all day today, and nervous, and a little stressed. Tired because....actually I'm not exactly sure. You see Hubby has a very bad cold and has opted to vacate the bed to spare me his disease which I think is the SWEETEST thing. However, last night he slept in the bed so I'm wondering if there was coughing or tossing and turning that might have made it impossible for me to deep sleep.
Nervous because I hate speaking in public. We've gone over this in other posts, I always feel flustered and predict that I'll say the wrong the things. I always want to run away after I speak, it's very strange I admit. I feel like I'm going to be judged and criticized to the hilt when that's probably not the case at all. All in my head right?
Stressed for my children. I remember high school and high school exams. No matter how much you think you know and how prepared you think you are you never seem to get the grade you expect on your finals. Tonight I spent time with our daughter going over what she needs to be able to do and comprehend in American Lit. I didn't mind it I actually quite enjoying teaching, albeit on a smaller scale. I'll keep working on that public speaking thing. It bugs me that I'm always so flustered. Anywho, tried to go over proofs with our son for his geometry class. I say tried because sometimes he gets defensive when you try and check up on him or offer him some help when you see he needs it. I get it, fifteen years old, independent. I just wish I had the magic words to 'soften' him up a little bit and accept the help or at least someone who is willing to help him study the things he's unsure of. If not me at least someone.
Today instead of Christmas Caroling, which is something our family loves to do, we and our worn out selves all fell asleep and had nap time. Can't say I minded. It's like a preview to Christmas Break. Still really looking forward to the sleeping in, the lazy afternoons just spending time together, the food. Working on planning the day before Christmas Eve thinking about seeing a movie with the whole family. This will be 'MissToddlerPants' second movie in a theater. It's so fun and exciting to see children experience new things like the movie theater. They see all the people, the popcorn, the posters and videos playing in the hallways, the big screen.
I remember having a drive-in where I'm from. Green Acres Drive-In I believe it was called there in Lethbridge, Alberta. We used to pop a big brown paper grocery sized bag full of buttered popcorn and sneak it in along with a bottle of soda and some plastic cups. I remember seeing a double feature once. Grease 2 and Lady Hawk with Michelle Pfeiffer. Loved them both and pretended with all my friends that we were the pink ladies that summer all summer long. We dressed in whatever pink we had and wore bandanas in our hair sitting on each others swing sets and singing all the songs. ESPECIALLY cool rider! The best! To this day still love both movies and I think I have seen every Michelle Pfieffer movie ever made.
This time of year makes you think about holiday traditions and childhood memories of Christmas. I loved going to my Grandma Moen's in Camrose, Alberta for Christmas. There was nothing like it. My mom and her two sisters were very close to each other and very close to Grandma. They were best friends. You'd hear them laughing and talking for hours. Hard not to be happy when you have lots of cousins to play with and happy parents. We would all get so excited. We all loved Christmas Eve, big turkey dinner, opening presents under the tree. The Moen's are Norwegian and I love this family tradition. Then we'd pout and whine and try to be sneaky when we thought Santa was coming. Sometimes we would just creep up the stairs a little bit to spy on all our parents and see what they were up to, what they were taking about. Maybe a surprise here and there we could catch wind of and ruin. For the most part we'd just pass out and wake up as early as possible. Trying to stay quiet in our mind blown excitement when we'd see our stockings filled with presents from Santa. Shaking any new presents under the tree trying to guess. Eventually we'd be exhausted from being up so early and waiting for our parents to wake up that we'd fall back to sleep. I miss that.
Of couse St Louis has totally ruined me. I went from Alberta beef to St Louis ribs, not that I'm complaining yum! It's taken me a little while to get my own rub for the ribs right and how I like to cook them but I'm thinking move over turkey hello ribs this Christmas Eve! No one ever said you can't create a new tradition now did they? Will still do Swedish Meatballs, the hot crab dip, the cheese dip we make into a Christmas Tree on the platter, the hot chocolate. We'll be adding another Moen tradition of Rosettes this year, the kids have only ever had them once and since I have inherited the Rosette irons I'm really looking forward to making them. For those of you who don't know, Rosettes are a light pastry. A batter you put on the iron and place the iron in hot oil to fry and then sprinkle icing sugar on top. Dangerously delicious.
I guess I should be thinking about bed now even though that nap this afternoon messed me up. I have 6 hours until I have to be up again and begin another busy week of hustle and bustle, getting this done and that done. What are some of your traditions?
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