Extended Christmas

     In September Kevin had called Richard to ask if he would join him for a safety convention in San Diego.  Kevin paid for Richard's plane ticket - but Richard had to drive to the Portland airport. They both collected trinkets from the show and brought them home to share.  

    Richard had brought socks and tee shirts (the tees he had purchased in San Diego) and a stuffed whale for Jaime.  I remember taking pictures of the shirts and socks and asking Jai which she preferred.  I placed all items in a bag and added earbuds and a deck of cards to the mix.  I don't know why we missed giving it to her then - but somehow the entire bag of goodies got misplaced and was not retrieved until yesterday.

    For Christmas she had asked for a letterman's jacket featuring "Five Nights at Freddy's".  It had been the only thing she had asked for.  There was a delay on shipment however and we were told that it would not arrive until after Christmas. Richard purchased another coat for her to wear.  I wrapped it without box and she thought it was a stuffed toy.  Thus we went out and purchased a squishmallow as I thought she would be disappointed by the coat (which by the way is warm and does fit her personality).  There were more than two gifts under the tree for her as Ryan had sent gifts from the family.  No FNAT coat.

    Jaime had spent the last 8 hours of 2023 with friends.  Both Richard and I were in bed when 2024 arrived.  And she returned home shortly after midnight.

    Angela and Sam came over on New Years Day and we played games with them for three hours.  I believe all five of us really enjoyed ourselves.  I know for a fact that the girls did.  We continued to play a few games after they left.

    Yesterday we found the San Diego treats when we were looking for something else. We presented Jaime her tote bag of goodies. She opened more gifts yesterday than she had on Christmas.  Her final gift was opened just after 5:00 when Richard went out to check on the mail. She also clobbered us in Spades.  I think it was a really great day for her.

 

Things We Have In Common

 I still do not know Ally particularly well.  I see she shares her mismatched sock wearing with Jaime.  They also both love to dress up and think of Halloween as the greatest holiday ever.  And they both love stuffed animals and collect more than they know what to do with. Neither of them desire red sauce - they act as though it is poison.

I was surprised to learn that Ally and I actually have something in common.  We both Love the song “Happier” by Marshmallow.

Christmas Morning 2019

Each year that we’ve been here we have mailed four packages to Salt Lake -  one for each of my boys and one for my sister and her family.  This year we mailed only one package.  We sent out gift cards to each of my sons and presents to the children of my middle son – not to play favorites among grandchildren, but I knew we’d be receiving a package from them and so wanted to make a gift exchange to the only son that it seems to matter. 

The first gift under our tree was one from some ward members we had had over for Thanksgiving a couple of years ago.  The gift was moved when the carpet was cleaned and we forgot to return it.  We had three small gifts under our tree, presents from my sister and her family.  Jenna guessed what they were – but did not know all of the details that awaited on the inside.  Randy’s gift to Jenna arrived unwrapped, but I took it out of the box and put it in a decorative Christmas tin and put a tag to Jenna from Randy, Carrie and Devin.  Gradually other gifts appeared.  This is how it looked on Christmas Eve before Roland and I finally went to bed:

Roland creates cards and sends them out each year.  He sends cards out the last three months of the year focusing on Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas.  Each year it seems we receive more Christmas cards than we did the year before.  This is what our two doors looked like last night before we went to bed:

And here is the way the fireplace looked last night before Jenna went to bed:

I had purchased some stocking stuffers for Jenna when Roland and I had gone to Eugene (here)

We ended up purchasing another sock to fit all of Jenna’s loot.  So this is what she woke up to on Christmas morning:

Our tradition is to open our stockings first.  This year we opened our socks one at a time – starting with Jenna. I thought she would be more excited over the silicone straws than she appeared to be.  She did express pleasure for the flamingo and pineapple ice cubes.  Her favorite item that she retrieved was a plastic dinosaur that Roland had bought for her.

In Roland’s socks were the first two “stress” super heroes:  Batman and Superman.

I was surprised by the amount of items that my stocking contained – including two pairs of socks.  I selected the warmer of the two and put them on my feet.

My sister’s gift from her family to ours was a pair of socks for each of us.  Minons for Jenna, an almost “cat-in-the-hat ‘thing’” socks for me, and superman socks with capes attached for Roland:

Roland and Jenna put their socks on right away. Jenna continued passing out gifts and we continued opening them up one at a time. 

We had each recived a hat for Christmas – all “wrapped” the same way.  Each in a tin can.  Roland’s to Jenna, Jenna’s from Randy and although Jenna had picked out the hat I was wearing, it had been marked from Santa.

Though Jenna wasn’t wearing her hat until the final few pictures. The last two gifts beneath the tree were for her.  Tony has always managed to sent give Jenna her absolute favorite gift of the season.  Last year it was a lap blanket featuring a tiger. 

The year before it was the first six seasons of Psych (see here) 

She opened the gift from Tony first.  She screamed in delight at discovering the game “Encore” which she has asked for each year since we have lived in Tri City. 

The last gift was from her brother, Randy and his family.  It was a Pokémon hat.  So now she has a Pokémon to wear in summer and one for winter:

 Jenna's top three gifts this Christmas:

Word: Match

I can strike a match to light up a room

or start a fire to toast marshmallows

I can play different versions of match game

For example, I've tried to learn about which flag goes

with what country by matching one to the other

I can attempt to paint the shutters and trim

to match the rest of the house.

I can mix and match socks

I get tired of trying to match assignment problems

with the responding exercise found in the book

an electronic book I might add

I would like my clothes to match

Occasionally I would like to match the face to the voice

We've been through quite a few furniture pieces that didn't match.

you remember this scene from Frasier? 
We had worse cases than Martin's chair.

Some librarians and instructors will read books and set up an activity

The activity matches themes based upon the book

There is a lot of competition in the retail business. 

So many try to match another's price

I have never owned boots that have matched my coat.

Some people display their photos in all matching frames

Sometimes I get frustrated with web sites that never match

what I am searching for.

match pictures to real items

I love it when Jenna's enthusiasm mirrors my own.

Joe Boxer Made Sock Sorting Easier

I’ve seen three socks and five socks in a package entitled “mix and match” I remember purchasing two five packs of the same prints so that I would have mates.  Selling socks by odd number seemed more foreign to me than mismatching.

         They actually work out perfectly for Jenna, who doesn’t pay much attention to whether they are even the same length or color.  I think she started a fad when she wore her mismated owl socks that I mention in this post

         So I’m sorting socks this morning and since the Joe Boxer socks can be mated with whatever I decide that I can mismatch whatever other socks I can’t find mates for.  I tried to make mine match but took all the left over printed socks and mated them by length and didn’t worry about the print.  I put all of the foreign pairs into Jenna’s drawer.  And she’ll not even care.

         She decided to turn the mismatched solids into sock puppets.  I caught her drawing on an outgrown sock (very white and clean) with a marker and decided to give her most of the solid ones I’ve had around for some time but have still not found mates for.  

        

She had quite the creative and artistic mind.  When she was three, she decided to make knee and elbow pads out of socks.  Her mind never stops thinking of ways to invent and recycle.  I LOVE my little girl.

Another Story by Jenna

Her last day of school was Thursday.  But yesterday she wanted to PLAY school - with real tests and real homework.  She wrote a story about aliens eating her homework.  I like the story this story that I found.  She wrote it last year.

The Shoe and the Sock

By Jenna

One short evening sock and shoe met. 

Sock asked, “Are you shoe?”

Shoe said the same.

Sock said, “Why do I always have to smell you?  You smell!”

And shoe said, “Well you smell, too.”

“I do NOT!!” said sock, “You do.”

“No, you do.”

“Getting angry won’t help,” said sock

They decided to switch places. They said they would switch for a week. For a while they were living the life.

Sock had become more popular as no one had ever seen her as a shoe before

Shoe started becoming more popular as no one had ever seen a shoe worn under a sock before.

Then things started going wrong.  Sock started getting holes and shoe felt  uncomfortable with a sock covering him all the time.  And they just didn’t know what to do.

Just then pillow said, “Whatchya doin’?”

Shoe said, “Not much.”

Sock said, “Trying to figure out something.”

“Maybe I could help,” said Pillow. “I’ve seen you two trying to be each other and from what I can see neither one of you is happy about the switch.  Everything has a purpose. Sock, you’re a sock because we need our feet warm.”

“And that’s another thing, ” said Sock.  “Feet stink.”

Pillow continued, “Shoe, you’re a shoe because sock needs something to keep her warm. But more importantly you prevent sock from getting dirty and worn out so quickly”

“You are warm.” Sock admitted.

Pillow said, “The girl who sleeps on me is warm, too.  I like when she rests her head on me.”

Blanket said, “I would like the girl to rest her head on me.  Would you like to switch places?”

Pillow asked, “Have you not heard me explain to sock and shoe that everything has its purpose.  We are all designed to provide comfort to the girl.  Mine is for her to rest her head upon – or on occasion she has pressed me against her back and the wall.  Blanket, you provide warmth for her when she is cold.  You are much larger than me.  I could never cover her the way that you do.  Just as sock can never fully cover shoe.  It’s her purpose to keep the girl’s feet covered and protect her feet from direct contact with the shoe.” 

                                                                             jfralcd

Mismatched Socks

          I can remember when my mom gave each of us a bunch of safety pins for us to use on our socks in order to keep them together when going through the wash.  I can’t even imagine what would happen if I asked Jenna to pin her socks together.  She can barely get them off her feet.  Sometimes they make it to the hamper.  More often they don’t.

          Sometimes she will put on socks that DON’T match.  A blue sock with a red sock, a dress sock with a causual sock.  A long sock with a short sock.  She doesn’t care.  Whatever’s convenient.

          The other day she left the house with an orange sock and a white sock – but they both had owls on them.  (I think she might be starting a trend, actually) and I spent the day searching for mates.  What a chore.

          Later on Roland and I chatted on facebook:

Me:    got your message. I was in the other room sorting socks. My phone was not in my pocket as I had predicted. It was on the bed.

R:       miss you

M:      sorting socks is BORING

R:       What happened to "whistle while you work?"  Or Mary Poppins's make a game of it?

M:      the wind knocked it out of me. Mary Poppins is welcome to sort my socks. I'd like to nap

R:       We just never see Mary Poppins or Snow White sort socks.

M:      my profile picture makes me look more alert than I actually am; I don't think the dwarves wore socks

R:       you look beautiful

M:      thank you. I love you. You look very handsome yourself

R:       that’s because I am wearing MATCHING sox.