The 'perfect' Christmas card

This year I tried more than ever to enjoy the moment and not get stressed out about all of the things I had to do in order to get ready for the holidays.  One of those things on my 'list' happen to be pictures for our annual Drewery Christmas card.  In years past, we I have taken the girls' pictures at church.  They always sing in the 'Hanging of the Green' ceremony the weekend after Thanksgiving.  The church sanctuary is all decked out in greenery and poinsettias. The girls are already dressed in their Christmas outfits, so it works out great...  unless someone decides not to cooperate.  Perfect hair, perfect outfits, perfect background - as I was trying to convince the girls to smile and stop punching each other, I could feel my blood starting to boil. 'We have to have the perfect picture for our Christmas cards!!   What is Christmas without that perfect picture!'   Just as I started to lose it, my friend Terrie came by and smiled, making light of the situation.  I can't even remember what she said, but I know that she was there to remind me that it's not about 'perfection' this season.  I was beginning to focus on the wrong thing - thank you Terrie for your smile and kind words at that moment!    I'm getting better.  As I look back on this Christmas, I am grateful for family and the blessings that we receive.  It's about simplicity. I am beginning to appreciate it more and more.  

As for the Christmas cards, we took some shots right before leaving for church that night - it worked out just fine!!

Missle Toe Champs!

Emily played in the 'Missle Toe' Indoor Soccer tournament the weekend before Christmas with her club soccer team, Andromeda.  They won the championship for the second year in a row.  It was a riveting match - they were tied 1-1 at the end of the championship game.   After double overtime and a shoot out, they finally took the title.  

The Trot

Kris and Kelly (Lonnie's twin brothers) met Emily and I in Downtown Dallas on Thanksgiving morning to run the Turkey Trot. Well, for me it was more of a walk/run. Emily and Lonnie went last year with Coach Stephen, Emily's Andromeda Soccer coach. This year, Kris and Kelly were going for the big 'W' and left us all in the dust. Emily beat last year's time by almost 10 minutes!! She was able to run the whole 3 miles this year. She was so proud of herself and is already setting goals for next year. As for me, let's just say that I finished.

Dear Santa,

I want a real live puppy and that barbie dog walking thing. You can surprise me with the rest.

Gloria Drewery



This was her letter to Santa. She is bound and determined to get a puppy. She told me this week that she wants a puppy that she can sleep with, that will play with her and a puppy that will wait for her to come home from school.

During Fall Break last week, the girls were playing outside. I was painting Emily's room, sort of in my own little world. After a long period of peace and quiet, the front door swung open and Gloria yelled in her 'outdoor voice', 'Mom, we found a puppy and it's lost. Can we keep it?' I climbed down off the ladder afraid of what I might see. Gloria was holding a cute little gray Schnauzer, no collar or tags. In my preoccupation with painting, I told the girls that I was sure he belonged to someone, so they needed to go back outside and see if they can find his owner. A few minutes later, they were back inside with the dog. Emily decided they needed to make a flyer to hang in the neighborhood. Emily took a picture of the dog, uploaded it on to the computer, and made flyers. I'm amazed at how quickly she figured it out. She is my technical advisor for all electronics. While the flyers were being made, Gloria was getting to know the little guy quite well. She found a pink leash and collar from one of her stuffed animals and put it on him. She even had him in our bed! She made sure he was well fed and watered as well. He seemed to like the cat food she gave him! The girls went back out into the neighborhood and posted the flyers. As I continued painting, it dawned on me that our neighbor Kathleen had a Schnauzer that resembled the 'lost' puppy. Upon their return from hanging the flyers, I told the girls to run down and see if Mrs. Kathleen was home. A few minutes later, the girls came walking through the door. Gloria was sobbing, holding the empty pink collar and leash. 'Mom, I really wanted to keep him!'

Well, I'm not sure if we are quite ready for a puppy. We had to have our Ashley put down back in July of this year (the picture was taken in her last days). She was a beautiful greyhound that we rescued 12 1/2 years ago. She had been bred to race, but was too slow. She was going on 14 years and her quality of life had gone way down hill. Ashley was Lonnie's dog. She would lay on her mat all day long while I was home, but the second Lonnie would walk through the door after work, she was up to greet him. She was a sweet dog - you could tell Lonnie was her favorite. He's not quite ready to try and replace her. We'll see what happens!

Don't Kill Bambi!

Lonnie is hunting with Kelton in West Texas. Bless his heart, he hasn't gone hunting since I've known him. He's certainly tried, but something (usually me) has gotten in the way. He's spent the last couple of weeks building up his hunting gear with several trips to Academy and Walmart. Now that he is completely outfitted, hopefully he'll get to go more often. When he told the girls he was going hunting, Gloria asked, 'What are you hunting for, Dad?' When he told her that he was going to hunt deer, she had all sorts of questions. You can't get anything past Gloria. She finally decided it would be okay if he shot a deer, but gave him specific instructions.. 'Don't shoot a mommy deer, a baby deer, a rabbit, a turtle, or any animal that is nice to you'. She even called him last night and left a voice mail reminding him of the 'rules'. He called back to assure her he was following the rules, as he hadn't gotten anything yet. However, Papa Kelton had already gotten his deer - it was a daddy deer, of course!

Keep the 'thanks' in Thanksgiving!

This morning Lonnie and I went to Starbucks before he headed to work. The store was embellished with all of the holiday goodies from decorations, to gifts, to new toys and games, and even the holiday drink specials and baked goodies. I have to admit that I get excited about Christmas and tend to be filled with the spirit as soon as I can purchase my first Eggnog latte, but it seems as if it is happening earlier and earlier. I even resisted temptation, as I'm afraid I may be burned out on the holiday lattes by the time Christmas actually rolls around!! Lonnie even asked our local barista why they already had 'decked the halls'. Nate agreed with Lonnie in that it was too early. I know it's the retailers trying to get a jump on things and get everyone in the buying mood. Lonnie, by the way, is the holiday decoration/festivities police. It is absolutely against the Lonnie law to do anything Christmas related until the day after Thanksgiving. I think he'd prefer that we even wait a week after Turkey day to start decorating. The girls bought a new Disney Christmas CD last week and he wouldn't allow it to be played in the car! I have to say, I used to think he was a grinch, but as time goes by, I tend to agree with him more and more... Let's keep the thanks in Thanksgiving and enjoy this time! With an extra week than we normally have between Thanksgiving and Christmas (we have 32 shopping days between the two this year), there will be lots of time to get ready.

The Great Pumpkin

Isn't she beautiful? We have so much fun with Miss Bailey. She has quite the personality. She is starting to turn over and wants to look up and see everything going on around her. Yesterday we all went over to mom and dad's, as Uncle Bob was in town. It was fun to just relax and hang out with each other. We are so blessed to have our family!

41 Boxes for Operation Christmas Child!!!

Emily wanted to do something different for her 11th birthday... she asked if she could ask her friends to bring something to donate to a charitable cause instead of gifts. We explored several options. Emily decided on Operation Christmas Child, an ministry that distributes shoes boxes filled with gifts to children in third world countries. The 18 girls filled 41 shoe boxes with toys, toiletry items and small clothing items. They had a ball filling the boxes, writing cards and praying for the children that will receive their boxes. What a blessing it was to see the girls focusing on giving to others. We live in a society where our kids are very priveleged. They have the latest video games, countless pairs of shoes, the trendiest clothes and the most up to date sports equipment. We take for granted just how blessed we are in this country. I think Emily was much happier delivering those boxes to church than she would have been opening her own gifts. Emily decided that this was indeed her 'First Annual' Operation Christmas Child birthday party! More pictures to come from the party...

That Glo!

On our way to soccer practice tonight, Gloria asked, "Mom, does Gloria Kate Ledbetter make sense?" I told her that the only way it would make sense is if she married Jake Ledbetter. She said "Well, I am!" I asked her if Jake knew... she said, "I already told him that he was going to ask me to marry him!"

The Bathroom Project

I'm finished! I began the 'Extreme Bathroom Makeover' exactly 10 days ago. No more plaid wall paper! Several trips to Home Depot and Lowe's later, it's complete. I had a few loose ends to tie up today - I called Lonnie at work and asked him where the drill bits and the chisel were... I think I scared him. He told me not to touch a thing, that he would be right home! While I was at soccer practice with Gloria, he hung the mirrors and installed the new doorknobs. The next project? Emily's room. Stay tuned!

Trick or Treat!

We all went to the Fall Carnival at church tonight. Emily wanted to be a clown... after searching every Target, Walmart and party store in North Texas, this is as close as I was able to get.

I'm not sure I've ever spent to much money on Halloween costumes until this year. I've always managed to make costumes or talk the girls into being soccer players, wearing the poodle skirts I made a few years ago, or wearing one of the spare Karate outfits we have lying around. We had even gotten our money's worth from the Cinderella costume. Well, Gloria has the memory of an elephant and knows what she has been dressed up as every year of her life. Heaven forbid she do a costume repeat. It reminds me of the 'Great Pumpkin' costume mom and dad made for me of wood, chicken wire and plaster of paris. That sucker was heavy!! It had no arms, so it was quite difficult to hold the candy bag. I was always afraid of falling... I wouldn't be able to get up and would probably just roll down the street until I ran into a curb or something. I think that was the only costume I ever had growing up. They put so much effort into it, I had to wear it every year. Then there was the last minute shopping spree on Halloween when Dennis was about 5. Mom came home with a Tweety Bird costume, as that was all they had left in his size. I'm sure he was looking forward to Superman, Batman, or some other super hero. But no, he got to be the dreaded, horrifying Tweety. Scarrrrry!

As I was looking for the highly sought after clown costume today (yes, I waited until the very last minute), I was amazed at how they had already cleared out the Halloween paraphernalia to make way for the Christmas decorations!! Can't we get one holiday out of the way before thinking about the next one? Good Grief Charlie Brown!

Give me some respect!

Emily and Gloria are attending a new school this year. Transitioning from a private Christian school to a public school has been a positive experience. Gloria has done beautifully. She is ahead of her class in reading and spelling and is doing well, with the exception of a check here and there (checks are disciplinary marks). Emily misses her friends, but she is developing new friendships and fitting right in.

One day last week Emily and her friend, Charlee Davis, were summoned over the loudspeaker to report to the office immediately. She said that her first thought was 'Oh no, what did I do?' When Emily and Charlee had arrived, they were informed that they had been nominated by their teacher for the character trait award of the month, Respect. Whew!

Bailey Lu

I feel the need to record the happenings in our family. Just about everyday I say to myself, "I'd better write this down somewhere". Now that we've outgrown the baby books and my written journal doesn't get used much, this seems like a great solution.

My first post is about Miss Bailey Louise. She is nearly 4 months old!! Auntie Amy got to babysit yesterday. I picked her up around 11 - we went downtown to meet Gran for lunch. I bumbled around trying to open doors, running into everything with the stroller. It took me 10 minutes to get out of the car!! Gloria is only 7, but it seems like a lifetime since I have toted around a baby and all of the gear. Speaking of gear, I'm amazed by the technology... a temperature gauge in the stroller? Good grief!

After hearing, 'What a cute baby boy!', I immediately told Mom that we needed to put that child in some pink so that she would not be mistaken for a boy again. We went to Neiman Marcus and found the cutest little outfit, complete with shoes to match. She loved it!! I'm not sure she's worn shoes yet... she was fascinated by them.

I've never seen a baby smile so much. You just look at her, and she lights up. What a precious baby! She's so laid back - just like her parents. After our outing, we came home just in time to have a bottle. As I sat in the chair feeding her, I fell asleep!