Lots of goodies and Happy BDay PapPap

On Friday we celebrated PapPap's Bday-- in lieu of spending a ton of money on a gift, we spent the day together in the Strip District. It almost got postponed AGAIN due to the snow, but we went anyway and avoided huge crowds- yay!

This is one of our favorite eating establishments-- sandwiches to die for~

The children weren't too thrilled- they actually had to wait for their food- if it's not a buffet restaurant, count them out- We had a great afternoon buying lots of yummy treats-- Happy Birthday PapPap!

On to today's morning-- 67 chocolate covered marshmallows, 70 chocolate covered oreo's, and 100 pretzel rods-- not bad for a few hours work- hooray for Christmas orders!

I've Been Tagged-- Hip Hip Hooray >:)

My Dear friend has tagged me once again, this time for a Christmas tag-- OK Carrie-- where's my invite for hot cocoa for finishing this thing? :) I have to laugh because so many of my answers are the same as hers. OH-- and Chuck-- consider YOURSELF tagged-- and it better be good!!!

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Gift bags can be gorgeous, but it's just so much more fun to unwrap a present.

2. Real tree or artificial? Grew up with real ones, then after Xmas we put them outside as a 'bird home' under our bird feeder for the winter- loved watching the birds. But now, artificial- just not into all of the work of a real one.

3. When do you put up your tree? OK- hold your breath-- we don't don't have one-- (HUH- gasp!- WHAT?) Haven't for 10 years -yeah-- I'll blog more later about this whole thing, but we hope to get another one in the future.

4. When do you take the tree down? If/when we get one, more than likely New Years Day or the Day after.

5. Do you like eggnog? Never had the real deal- but love the 'flavor'-- too funny Carrie, but I also loved the Mickey D's shakes.

6. Favorite gift received as a child? Have more than one- "Ricky" the raccoon- stuffed puppet, a race-car set, ruby ring, and a leather coat- was TOTALLY unexpected, but the biggest thing I had wanted in years.

7. Do you have a Nativity scene? 2 of them

8. Hardest person to buy for? My husband-- his toys just keep getting more expensive

9. Easiest person to buy for? My kids-- they have a never-ending list to choose from :)

10. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? When I was little I HATED the china plates my Aunt hand-painted for us each year to save for when we were adults- now I treasure them.

11. Mail or email Christmas cards? DEFINITELY mail!

12. Favorite Christmas movie? National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation- my Dad and I watched it every year- he LOVED it!

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? All year-- I'm one of those 'organized' people-- ha ha!

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Possibly - but you'll never know :)

15. Favorite things to eat at Christmas? ANYTHING related to the Holiday- especially sweet treats!

16. Clear lights or colored on the tree? Clear-- and non-blinking!

17. Favorite Christmas song? Light of the Stable

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? visit family within an hour's drive

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer? Yep---thanks to Carrie :) Dasher , Dancer , Prancer , Vixen, Comet , Cupid , Donner , Blitzen, Rudolph

20. Angel on the tree top or a star? Had a star growing up, but might pick an angel now.

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? ONE gift on Christmas Eve- the rest Xmas morning. (Children are also required to brush their teeth first!)

22. Most annoying thing about this time of year? RUDE people in the already WAY too crowded stores-- I HATE WALMART anytime of year, especially XMAS!

23. What is the "corniest" family tradition you do, or miss doing? I won't let the kids listen to Christmas music on the radio until Thanksgiving dinner is over- but Mark usually gives in before then---

24. Ugliest Christmas Decoration ever invented? I'm not too fond of the blow-up yard ornaments.

25. Which looks the best, theme trees or homey trees? Simple themes and homey ones- I like them both- we always had a homey-bear theme growing up.

26. What does Christmas mean to you? Family togetherness-- a season of new hope and wonder-- and being more child-like I was tagged by: Carrie-- Chuck, unfortunately for you-- You're the ONLY one I know who blogs, except Carrie-- today's your lucky day! So you just HAVE to answer :)

Lost teeth and my little musicians

A little behind on the weeks events-- the house is recovering from a bout of colds/flu and Mom's moving a little slow today. So today will be the recap from Tuesday's Symphony performance. But first: Little Lydia FINALLY lost her front two teeth. She was going to have to have them pulled, but she decided that she'd work on them herself, and out they came- YAY! No traumatic dentist experience- phew! We had to attend practice for the Wheeling Symphony on Ice Christmas Show during the day on Tuesday. Lydia had a little trouble concentrating with all of the skater's practicing on the ice- how's a girl to sing with so much to look at? :)You can get an idea of the layout- it was much prettier in the evening with the dark arena and show lights on the ice! The children sat in the seats above the orchestra- I'd say there were 200-300 elementary/high school students singing. Ready for the show- Lydia was a bit upset that she had to wear the standard white shirt/black pants and couldn't wear her Christmas dress. The show was beautiful- brought tears to my eyes hearing all of the little voices. Now I'm not too sure that my children even sang any notes, but I was proud because they practiced so hard and overcame their nerves. I asked Elisha if he'd like to do it again-- he said No. I asked why- he said "I thought it would never end and I was thirsty." Mom may have to override next year anyway :) Lydia loved watching the skaters. I told them most people have a little school Christmas play- they got to have theirs with the 'pro's'. Loving the homeschool opportunities here :) I told the children to be on their best behavior as the show will be on TV Christmas Day, and made sure they knew anything they do can be seen by everyone. I caught Elisha picking his nose and I'm secretly hoping that's on the tape just for the wonderful blackmail material it would provide when he's older-LOL :) Mean mom, I know! Had to throw in the above picture of some of my Yankee Candle purchases. I also threw in a picture from today of a 'winter-snowed-in-game afternoon'. Little Elizabeth appeared to be manipulating things to her advantage. Watch out little one-- Jacob will get bigger :) OK Carrie- tomorrow I'll answer your tag. ;)

Our BE Taylor Day "1"

This is our super-crazy week of Christmas~ On Monday Mark and I enjoyed our tradition of 8 years-- an adult day out on the town- LOL! This tradition started when our dear friends took us to our first B.E. Taylor Christmas concert at Heinz Hall- we loved it so much, we HAD to take our family to see it in Wheeling the following week. Thus started the tradition: a day out in the big city- complete with concert- for Mom and Dad- sometimes even spending the night at the BEAUTIFUL Renaissance Hotel, then later in the month a concert for the entire family. (and Mom and Dad get to go twice- YAY!)

We had a wonderful day of dining, sipping coffee, strolling the streets of 'the Burgh' in the EXTREME bitter cold- (boo!) and shopping- we bought out the Yankee Candle store, and needed to buy Mark a new outfit to wear because the sweater he had was making him itch-- how's that for justification? Think I'll try it next week- ha ha! OK- in his defense, I had to prod him because he never buys things for himself. I still like that excuse though :) Oh yeah- we also saw an awesome concert- again! I've been asked by a few people on different occasions why we attend so many of the same concerts every year, starting in October with Christmas in the Woods-- so that got me thinking- why do we love them so much?

Guess I would have to say that it's the feeling of 'one big family' that we get when we go. The children have attended since they were literally babies, and watching the sparkle in their eyes each time is never tiring. Sure- you can watch a multitude of Christmas specials anywhere, but there's just something special about the 'life' shared on the stage of those concerts. We've gone to so many, it's almost like the BE Taylor group is part of our family in a way too-- the children LOVE them, and they've always been so gracious to stop, take moments out of their time to simply shake their hands and take pictures- not too many people genuinely care and would do that anymore- that means the world to children. (By chance if any member happens to read this- come on over to share dinner with our family ANY time- the invitation is ALWAYS open! :) )

No matter how many times we see the show, for some reason it just never gets old- not to mention that Heinz Hall is gorgeous at Christmas (SO mad I forgot my camera!)- for those few hours there are no worries, and we still get chills when the first notes of music begin. I can hear to the CD's for hours on end (which thanks to the little ones, does occasionally happen) and then hear Light of The Stable on the radio and again get goosebumps of excitement- for some reason, when I hear that song I can see my Dad looking down and smiling on us- I think it's the memories of happy times in the past and more to be made in the future that we think of when we hear the music.

In a few word summary- family tradition, memories, love, life, joy-- oh yeah- and some VERY talented musicians too! Don't know if any of that makes sense- you just might have to experience it yourself to understand. ;) Many thanks to everyone working so hard to make the shows happen! (OK- how's that for a BE Taylor Christmas plug-- ha ha)

And so ends concert day "1"-- Wheeling is yet to come-- YAY!

Yesterday the children sang with the Wheeling Orchestra and Symphony on Ice- more on that later.... as well as Carrie's tag-- THANKS ALOT AGAIN ;) ..... and today's snow day :( ..... we were supposed to be in the strip district celebrating PapPap's bday, but thanks for 4 inches of snow and 3 sick little ones- we'll have to do it another day. I'm taking a nap-- after 3 hours of cleaning up after sick children last night- it's Mom's time to rest!