I'm a bit behind on the blogging, so beware over the next few days if I bombard you with posts. After a previous rant about having no traditions in our little family, I just couldn't not post anything about the one tradition we do have...the New Year's Elf. Growing up, Jeff's family always had a visit from the New Year's Elf and we decided to take our own twist on it. Jeff said the New Year's Elf, I'll refer to him as just Elf to save some typing, brought a small gift (usually leftover from Christmas) and stuff you would need like toothpaste or socks and filled their Christmas stockings again. Our twist to the Elf tradition is really something we stole from my cousins Jay and Tracy. On Christmas Eve my cousins would give each other a set amount of money, drive to a 7-11 store, and then buy whatever they could for each other to fill their stockings. They always said it was fun to just be together without kids and see how creative they could be. So we decided that every New Year's Eve, we would pick a store and give each other a set amount of money in cash (no cheating by going over) to fill the other's stocking with. We've gone to Kmart, Walmart, Smiths, Target, you name it but now stick with either Smiths or Walmart (in case anyone is wondering the best stores to go to if you decide to add this to your family traditions) and had anywhere from $10-$40 to spend on each other. It's always fun to run around frantically trying to think of something funny or cool to buy and trying not to let the other person catch you. I admit that Jeff is much better at the Elf thing than I am, he's had more practice I guess, and always finds something super cool or really funny.
The Elf brought Jeff a new camping chair, ice scrapper, Reese's, and a Gatorade. Pearl got a new pair of purple Nike shoes (she could care less if they are two sizes too big, she still wore them), some books from Grandma and Grandpa Spring, and a plate/cup/spoon/fork set. I got a pair of huge (and very fake...it's Walmart people!) diamond earrings, Oreo's, Legally Blonde DVD, sticker book, and a way cute XOX cookie cutter (it came with a hint to make sugar cookies). We love our Elf and look forward to this every year. So for anyone who needs a new tradition, I highly suggest this one!
Just to be upfront, this post won't make sense to anyone but me and I don't expect anyone to read it. I just need to let out some emotions. My friend Carri Jones died this afternoon. This is the first time I've stopped crying since my mom called to tell me. She had a couple of brain tumors and had been fighting them the last few years. Then last week, on the 23rd, she had another MRI and it was bad. The tumors were growing out of control. The doctor told her family she would only have a couple of months but when I talked to her little brother, he told me they didn't think she would even make it a few weeks. That was on Saturday. He told me yesterday that he didn't think she would be here long enough for me to come say goodbye on Thursday. I sent Carri a note and asked him to read it to her...I hope he did. I can't stop crying. I am so mad, sad, crazy, I don't know. I can't believe this, it's so weird, unreal, unimaginable. Carri is gone. It feels like the innocent part of my life is now gone, somehow like that part of me has been stripped away by the heartache this world can bring. We grew up together and I love her. Carri is a very special person to me. I remember at some of my darkest moments growing up that she was always there to listen to me. I would complain to her about boys, feeling ugly, school, uncertainty about who I was, and Carri always knew how to make me feel better. Somehow she could always make me laugh, feel beautiful, special, and it was like she knew who I was going to become even though I didn't. She took me horseback riding and I remember when she got a horse, Doe, and I was so jealous. I don't even remember where we went horseback riding, but I was nervous because it had been a really long time since I had ridden and she stayed right by me the whole time. She took me over to see her baby bunnies, sheep, foals, and other pets she somehow convinced her parents to let her raise. Carri was so gentle. Girls camp was always a blast with her. She was in charge of the fires, self-appointed I think, and we always knew Carri would be there to keep the way too giddy girls in line. We went to a girl's choice dance together (a big step for both of us, since we were so shy when it came to dating)...she took Jesse Mortensen (and boy was she giddy) and I took Justin Simper who lived by us. I think we went to the Haunted Forest and then for pizza. I am so mad, not at her, but me. Why wasn't I a better friend, kept in touch more, especially after "growing up" and getting married? Every time I saw her I felt beautiful and I knew she loved me too. I'm mad that someone hasn't figured out why so many people in my neighborhood have gotten brain cancer, I'm mad that her family has to suffer, I'm mad that I'm not closer to any of my dear friends and I don't even have their numbers to call and tell them about Carri, I can't believe that one of "my girls" is gone. Her family is so strong...her sister has fought a brain tumor, her mom, has breast cancer. I just can't believe this. I don't know what to do other than cry.
That's the question Pearl has been asking for the past week. The conversation goes something like this:
Pearl: Grampa
Me/Jeff: Silence fills the room as we try to avoid this conversation and hope to distract Pearl with a toy or a phone call to grandpa (which doesn't work because she won't talk on the phone).
Pearl: Grampa?
Me/Jeff: No, we aren't going to grandpa's house today.
Pearl: Grampa!
Me/Jeff: No, we aren't going to grandpa's house. We can go another day.
Pearl: GRAMPA! GRAMPA! GRAMPA! (Repeat above about 500 times)
When it came to Christmas, Pearl could have cared less about her presents, she wanted her grandpas! It really is cute to see how excited she gets around them but one can only take the repeated pleas for grandpa for so long. Every time we get in the car she thinks we're going to visit one of her grandpas. I don't blame her, I mean besides my dad and Wally being way cool, every time she woke up Christmas Eve and Christmas Day she was at a different grandpa's house... a dream come true. We spent Christmas Eve with Jeff's family then Christmas Day with mine.
Pearl figured out that unwrapping presents was fun, but ran out of steam with two presents to go. So we'll just save them for our New Year's Elf tradition. We all got spoiled rotten as usual, but really the best part was just being with family. Even Pearl was more happy to be with her grandpas and Uncle Kurtis than to play with her new toys. But now that she's back with just her boring parents, she is enjoying her tea set, Little People barn and petting zoo, and baby doll. Oh and of course the new pairs of shoes her dad gave her! My favorite part of Christmas was giving my parents, in-laws, and grandparents a photo book I made with pictures from the past two years. It took a couple of really, really late nights right before finals and my comp exam but it was totally worth it! We kept a copy of the book and Pearl can look through it for hours, to the point where I'm sick of staring at pictures of my cute family. I even had a couple of requests to make this a new gift tradition! We had a wonderful white (very white!) Christmas and hope everyone did too! Oh, and just to warn you, the slide show is huge so hang in there! I was lazy and decided to just dump pictures from all the family events into one gigantic slide show.
I'm a bit behind on the blogging, so beware over the next few days if I bombard you with posts. After a previous rant about having no traditions in our little family, I just couldn't not post anything about the one tradition we do have...the New Year's Elf. Growing up, Jeff's family always had a visit from the New Year's Elf and we decided to take our own twist on it. Jeff said the New Year's Elf, I'll refer to him as just Elf to save some typing, brought a small gift (usually leftover from Christmas) and stuff you would need like toothpaste or socks and filled their Christmas stockings again. Our twist to the Elf tradition is really something we stole from my cousins Jay and Tracy. On Christmas Eve my cousins would give each other a set amount of money, drive to a 7-11 store, and then buy whatever they could for each other to fill their stockings. They always said it was fun to just be together without kids and see how creative they could be. So we decided that every New Year's Eve, we would pick a store and give each other a set amount of money in cash (no cheating by going over) to fill the other's stocking with. We've gone to Kmart, Walmart, Smiths, Target, you name it but now stick with either Smiths or Walmart (in case anyone is wondering the best stores to go to if you decide to add this to your family traditions) and had anywhere from $10-$40 to spend on each other. It's always fun to run around frantically trying to think of something funny or cool to buy and trying not to let the other person catch you. I admit that Jeff is much better at the Elf thing than I am, he's had more practice I guess, and always finds something super cool or really funny.
The Elf brought Jeff a new camping chair, ice scrapper, Reese's, and a Gatorade. Pearl got a new pair of purple Nike shoes (she could care less if they are two sizes too big, she still wore them), some books from Grandma and Grandpa Spring, and a plate/cup/spoon/fork set. I got a pair of huge (and very fake...it's Walmart people!) diamond earrings, Oreo's, Legally Blonde DVD, sticker book, and a way cute XOX cookie cutter (it came with a hint to make sugar cookies). We love our Elf and look forward to this every year. So for anyone who needs a new tradition, I highly suggest this one!
