December 26

Luke 2

The Birth of Jesus

 ¹ In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. ² (This was the first census that took place while^[a] Quirinius was governor of Syria.) ³ And everyone went to their own town to register.

 ⁴ So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. ⁵ He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. ⁶ While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, ⁷ and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.

 ⁸ And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. ⁹ An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. ¹⁰ But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. ¹¹ Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. ¹² This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

 ¹³ Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,

 ¹⁴ “Glory to God in the highest heaven,
   and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”

 ¹⁵ When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”

 ¹⁶ So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. ¹⁷ When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, ¹⁸ and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. ¹⁹ But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. ²⁰ The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.

 ²¹ On the eighth day, when it was time to circumcise the child, he was named Jesus, the name the angel had given him before he was conceived.

'Twas the Night

A very Merry Christmas to all my lovely readers...I hope you get everything you hoped for, plus one.

You are truly the prettiest ones out there.

Even you, Mark.

Craftacular

Well, we still haven't managed to get any glitter, but we did entertain ourselves with a few paper crafts. We stayed simple, and cut paper snowflakes and made paper chains, and much fun was had by all.

We also learned something really important.



Cutting out paper snowflakes, while curled up on a comfortable shag rug in the living room and listening to seasonal music is great fun and a worthy distraction on a cold, gloomy day.

Picking out all the bits of paper from said shag rug is NOT.

Gingerly.

We had cookie decoration time last night after supper.  Nanny and Pop Pop gave us a kit of four pre-baked gingerbread cookies, frosting and candy decorations, so each of us took one and got creative.

Doodlebug made a Santa cookie,

and Junebug made Santa's son.

Dr. SmartyPants made Santa's brother,

So that, of course, left me with Mrs. Claus...

Such a happy little family...

 

Merry Christmas, everyone!

I Love a Parade

Gets me in the Christmas spirit every time.

Even if we did freeze our, uh, noses off.

Dell-icious.

Things are gearing up for this move. I've been making lists and checking them, uhm, 900 times. It's kind of nice to not have to move my entire household - I don't really feel the stress of it like I would if I had to pack everything up in this short amount of time. Now - I'm sure that if you call me the week between Christmas and New Year's Day, it will be a different story.

Entirely.

This is the neighborhood park near our townhouse. It's a lovely, big tree-filled space and I can't wait to spend some time watching the boys cavort on the playing fields. Doesn't it look pretty with all those fall leaves still remaining? I'm sure it will look quite a bit different once we get there - bare branches and all.

n n n n n

The Dell technician showed up today. Pretty fast service, I'd say. I called Dell on Tuesday, the tech called me on Wednesday saying he'd received the hard drive and he came this afternoon and installed it. The hard drive came pre-installed with all the software that the computer originally came with, and it's cycling through the decompression, opening everything up right now. I'm keeping my fingers, toes and eyes crossed that this will actually be the fix.

And people? Back up those files. Way more often than I do. 'Cause they are all gone...

n n n n n

My community is having their annual Christmas parade tomorrow. It's got a really small-town feel, with homemade floats and folks throwing candy. The boys and Dr. SmartyPants went last year, and I stayed home to wrap gifts, but I think I'll go this year. Should be a lot of photo ops, I'm imagining. And I need to get a little more Christmas spirit in me. Steviewren posted about it yesterday, and she asked what we were doing to get into the spirit, and I had to answer, "NOT ENOUGH." I haven't even loaded up my Christmas playlist on my iPod.

And that's just wrong.

Once the Dell comes back to life, I'll have to make a new Christmas-y banner, too.

How about you? What really gets you in the spirit of Christmas?

Merry Fishmas

Why a tropical fish on my Christmas tree?

Why not?

People. I'll tell you what. This parenting thing ain't easy. Nothing about it is easy. It is full of worry and self-doubt, of frustration and the occasional outburst. Our children fail and fall and flop. So do we.

How is it that the same child who, when asked to use the word "pretty" in a sentence, says, "Mommy is very pretty," can turn around and look at that same mom with hate in his eyes when she won't let him go to Starwars.com right now.

And yet.

We continue to parent. They continue to grow. We hope and we pray and we nurture and we love. And sometimes it works. And that deepens our resolve to try even harder. To push through the resentful eyeballing. To pull them into our laps and hug them one time more than they really wanted.

What does this all have to do with fish? Well - nothing, really. Except that fish stink and sometimes kids do too, and that a little Christmas goes a long way in making them both a little more attractive.

So. Plug your nose and hug your stinkers today. Maybe if you say, "ass, please," they'll even hug you back.

Tacky.

Do you all remember last year when I was complaining about my lack of the appropriate Christmas tree on which to display my prized ornaments? No? You mean you don't really remember every little thing I say?

I'm crushed.

Dr. SmartyPants remembered, however.



It's so bright, you can actually read by the light of it. It glows and shimmers and sparkles.

Yes. I am aware of its completely tacky nature.

It is unrepentantly fake. It is undeniably plastic.

And I LOVE it.

Merry Christmas!

Peanut Butter Blossoms

ink and water soluble crayons in large Moleskine sketchbook

D and I made these earlier in the week. J was off playing at his friend's house for the afternoon, so he didn't get to participate in the making, although he did enjoy the eating. Today was the first day I've felt like eating a cookie, so I sat down with them and took a bite and started drawing. They really are quite delicious. You can find the recipe at Hershey's website. Yummm.

On an art materials note - I really like how the water soluble crayons behave in this sketchbook. Watercolors have always proved difficult to handle on the slick Moleskine paper, but I've been using both Lyra and Neocolor II crayons with great success. I use my water brush and take the color right off the tip of the crayon (as if they were pan watercolors), then either mix it in the top of the tin or apply it directly to the paper. I saw where Kate Johnson had done that on a recent trip when she lost her watercolor palette, and thought I'd give it a whirl.

And I just wanted to say thanks for all the sympathy - it's been much appreciated. It's hard to accept sympathy for something that I've elected to have done, and in 24 months I certainly won't need any sympathy 'cause my teeth'll be so purty...

I'll try to not whine too much in the meantime.

Maybe.

Swiftly

This month has more than halfway slipped away - packing so much in a short period of time must be detrimental to ones health. I've hardly blinked and suddenly we're less than a week to Christmas. How does that happen? Even in trying to capture each day in my sketchbook, I've fallen behind and caught up and fallen behind and forgotten. Why do we do this to ourselves every year? I LOVE Christmas, but I hate the busy-ness of the Holiday Season.

Or I could just be cranky because I let someone yank my teeth out.

On Monday, the tooth behind my extraction had a filling crack and fall out, so I spent yesterday at the dentist getting a temporary filling, which promptly fell out again 5 hours later. So...guess what I did today? Yep - back again, this time with different material that will (with fingers crossed) hang on until I can go back for a permanent replacement filling. After I had my teeth extracted, I had a dream that all my other teeth fell out.

Crap.

Okay - on to the sketches. I'm playing catch up here, and please forgive me if teeth completely gross you out or anything - I really did draw them - they're very interesting.



The first sketch is of a glass reindeer ornament that my dear friend Maynelle gave to me. It's one of those that if I had another (pretty white retro-type) tree, I would give it a place of honor upon it. The second sketch is pretty self explanatory, except to say that the teeth on the top should only have two roots each and one of them had THREE. Yeah - I'm just that cool. (By the way - the teeth I've drawn on the top are actually my bottom teeth, and teeth on the top are my bottom teeth. But I did draw them facing the correct way...)



On the left was SUPPOSED to be a drawing of a silver reindeer candle holder, with all it's pretty reflections. Ummm. Well. We'll just blame it on the pain meds.

On the right is Chico, curled up in my lap, which technically isn't a Christmas decoration, it's a living, breathing, ornery chihuahua, but we were watching a Christmas movie while I drew him, and he does kind of look like the Grinch's dog Max, although he acts more like the Grinch.



And lastly, at least for now, is the two-headed chicken. This stuffed toy used to hang from a cross piece on D's play blanket when he was an infant. He would stare at it, and try to grab it and coo and all those cute things babies do when they are tiny. The thing is, he didn't react to the other dangly toys on the play mat - just this one, which I dubbed "The Two-Headed Chicken" way back when. So, when it came time to put away the playmat, after J had used it, too, I just couldn't part with the two-headed chicken.

So. Naturally. I hung it on the Christmas tree.

There ya go.

DANG...gle

Christmas 013, originally uploaded by diahn.

These little teardrop ornaments dangle from my dining room chandelier. I got them last year and they were just lost on my tree, so I decided to hang them from the chandelier - they stayed until about March, I think. They're so pretty and delicate, like mermaid tears, or something.

I'm recovering my my teeth-ectomy. I did a little drawing of them today, but I haven't scanned it yet - Is that gross? The actual teeth grossed Dr. SmartyPants out quite a bit, but the boys thought they were cool.

The tooth fairy still hasn't shown up.

The Stockings Were Hung

Christmas 019, originally uploaded by diahn.

No drawing today - sorry - I started one last night, but didn't finish it, and today isn't looking like it's going to happen. I'm off to the oral surgeon in an hour or so and expect to spend the rest of the day in a distant land called Versed. In a couple of weeks, you will be able to call me "brace face" or "metal mouth", until then, you can call me "hillbilly..."

I made these stockings a couple of years ago with raw canvas. I cut out the pattern, painted them, then sewed them together and glued on the pom pom fringe. It was all pretty easy, except the turning them inside out part - I used regular (craft) acrylic paint, and it stiffens up so much, I didn't think I'd ever get them turned! But they finally worked, and they are hanging from the mantle now...ready for some goodies...

I'm a Little Bit Country...

Guitar Ornament, originally uploaded by diahn.

...and a little bit Rock and Roll.

I bought this little ornament the other day to commemorate learning to play the guitar this year. It's not exactly like my guitar, but it is close enough. I like my acoustic/electric because I can play a little hoe-down and then switch on the amplifier to rock out if I want.

It suits the many sides of me...

inktense pencils in my large Moleskine sketchbook.

And for you photo lovers out there - here's my dining room, all the way around...

Flying Santa

Flying Santa, originally uploaded by diahn.

This is another ornament I bought for one of the boys, back in 2002. It's a resin ornament, but looks kind of like ceramic. I just love his little joyful face - like I think I would look if I suddenly discovered I could fly. I hung it from my desk lamp to paint it.

I used Dr. Ph. Martin's Radiant Concentrated Water Color - which is WAY concentrated - lordy. I had to go back on the body and add some white acrylic ink after the red just got WAY to dark.

WAY.

Angels and Heaven

Angels and Heaven, originally uploaded by diahn.

Yesterday, I drew the angel from my nativity set. It's interesting to me that the angels in nativity sets are always female, even though Biblically speaking, they aren't. In the Bible, they are either referred to as masculine, or the gender is neglected altogether (i.e. "Heavenly Host" of angels). But - you never see a nativity set with a big warrior-like male angel, sword at his side. I wonder what it is that makes us feminize them? hmmmm...

pencil

And today I drew a little bit of heaven. Or, rather, I drew what was left after I finished eating a little bit of heaven. I'm pretty sure that Hershey's Kisses were dropped straight from the pearly gates. yummmm.

pencil and inktense pencils

Just Whisper it in His Ear

Just Whisper it in His Ear, originally uploaded by diahn.

There once was a boy named "D"
Who would not sit on Santa's knee.
Once we tried, but OH, how he cried.
And so - it was never to be.

I'll be back later with the drawing for the day. I just couldn't resist posting this picture. Five years later - still has never actually spoken to THE MAN.

Only 18 Drawing Days Left...

I finished my yesterday drawing this morning and then I did my today drawing today, too. As a result, neither are terribly good. But - I did them, and that is the goal of the month, now isn't it?

I drew the Mary figurine from our Nativity scene. It's funny - when I was a kid, I wanted our family to be Catholic. We were members of a large, well known, denomination, but it seemed that most of my friends were Catholic. I just loved to visit church with them - it was all so mystical and liturgical and pretty. My church didn't have carvings and paintings and altar pieces and incense - it had burgandy carpet and a really badly painted mural behind the baptistry that was supposed to represent the Jordan River, I suspect. I didn't make me want to visit the Holy Land.

I loved the idea of confession and repentance and penance, too. My church really didn't want to know you had ever sinned, and they didn't seem to have an insurance policy if you did. I wanted a priest, by golly. And a rosary.

ANYhow - I drew Mary, although I kind of think she looks like a cross between Mary and the Buddha. I used my Lamy Vista fountain pen, and just smudged the ink with a waterbrush.



Today's drawing is of a couple of keychains that Ron and I bought in Berlin. We had been in Germany for about 10 days, and were flying out the next morning, so we thought we'd go in search of an ornament as a souvenir. Yes, it was June, but come on - you should be able to find an SOUVENIR ornament! Well, we couldn't, even after going in every single shop that we could spot - I even looked for a Checkpoint Charlie ornament, but no such luck. Finally, we found these little keychains that were shaped like the crossing lights in what was East Berlin. I thought it was so strange that the lights were so happy in East Berlin, when the architecture was so dismal. Strange. Anyway - they hang on our tree instead of a proper ornament, but we love them anyway...



This photo is just for fun - I made this ornament (and a few others that hang on my tree) when I was in Kindergarten. I can still remember sitting at the kitchen table and painting them while my mom puttered in the kitchen. I still try to make at least one ornament a year, almost 35 years later. We'll be putting the finishing touches on this year's tomorrow, so Daddy can help.

Self Portrait with Deer

Self Portrait with Deer, originally uploaded by diahn.

Feeling a little kicked around today. Trampled. Frustrated. Nothing terrible - just one of those days in the life of a homeschooling mom that makes you want to pull your hair out. NOTHING was accomplished today that could be considered creative or worthwhile, althought I did get to eat a chocolate glazed Krispy Kreme doughnut, and I didn't even have to pay for it. (Thanks, C. - I needed that!)

DANG.

I'm going to do my Christmas drawing for the day - maybe it will put me back into the spirit. So - tomorrow should be a double drawing post kind of day. In the meantime - here's me...getting kicked around by one of those sleigh-pullers.

Christmas in Whoville

Christmas in Whoville, originally uploaded by diahn.

pencil and inktense in large Moleskine sketchbook

I bought this little metal Christmas tree at a local discount store a few weeks ago - it cost me about $3, I think. It stands about 10 inches hight and is shiny and sparkly - the base is covered with glitter, and the jingle bells really jingle.

It sits on the pedestal sink in my guest bath and is just adorable. It reminds me of the tree the Grinch stuffed up the chimney in "How the Grinch Stole Christmas." I need a miniature Cindy Lou Who to stand next to it.

Have I mentioned that I love Christmas?

I was going to wrap presents this morning while the boys were at school, but SOMEONE forgot to open the secret hiding place for me, so there are still NO presents under the tree. (Thanks a lot Ron-OLD).

Oh, I'm going to get such mileage out of that one...