Our Girl Turns 40

 My Decembers have been especially busy these last forty years because of the birth of our firstborn, dearest Kristen.  Years ago she designated this special time of year Kristenmas.  The festivities run parallel to our regular Christmas doings, but are celebrations of a girl born 9 days before Christmas and who changed our  lives forever.

We had Penny so we visited a local park to look at the Christmas lights. 

 Penny loves holiday lights, and has a list of what makes a good display.  Giant snow globes top her list, characters such as snoopy are a plus, and blow up snowmen and Santa's earn points.  No scary Santa faces!  This girl is full of opinions.

 She drives us hard, but her spirit and determination is endless.  We are putty in her hands.

 Who could resist that smile?

 We came home and inventoried the treats and decorations we had for Mom's castle birthday cake.
We had to wait till the day of the party to decorate, sheer torture for our girl.  What a great job she did. If you are interested, it is made with the Nordicware sandcastle Bundt pan. 

 Five and a half year old decorators do not subscribe to the less is more school of cake decorating.  We had so much fun.  Penny loved the cake scraps I had to trim and hated the wafer snowflakes. 

 The table was set for Mom's Birthday.  There is baby wearing the candy striped jammies Kris wore on her first Christmas.  They were made by a friend and will last at least forty more years.  There is Kris' Winnie the Pooh Blanket.  It was Kris' first but all my kids loved that blankey.  We had oatmeal pies and sixlets, favorites of Kris and Penny. 

 Remember when Sears had exclusive rights to Winnie the Pooh?

 Had to add a photo of this little arrangement.  I've looked for years for the birch (that I could afford), found the greens at Trader Joe's, found the crock at a rummage sale years ago.  Makes me happy.

Our beautiful daughter.  A wonderful woman and great Mom.  So glad to have her close so we can celebrate all of life's events together.  Earlier in the week we took both the girls to the doctor instead of going to Grandparents Day at Penny's school.  Penny had an earache and Kris an upper respiratory infection.

 By party time they both were so much better.

 My girl.<3 p="">

 All my girls!  A big surprise was the cousins able to come to the party.

Needless to say, we saw very little of them as they played.

These are the sweetest girls, lots of hugs and laughs.

All the boys and their girls were able to come and our good friend John and Greg and Elizabeth, Tracy and the girls. We had dinner together and enjoyed the cake and ice cream.  

 All of these girls are so strong and run and jump into our laps.  My crazy hubby gets them all wound up. He's hilarious.  Funny faces and tickles and rough and tumble as Grandpa's and wacky Uncles usually are. This time Charlotte F. (not to be confused with Charlotte W. my dear DIL) caught me when I was not prepared. Charlotte ran and jumped on me, literally knocked me off my chair, we fell to the floor.  I could have squished her but was able to support myself until she moved out from under me! Everyone ran over to see if I was alright, old woman that I am, but all I was worried about was Charlotte.  Sweet Charlotte was fine, trying to help me up, and I was laughing.  This morning I am fine, thank goodness and a memory made.  The day Charlotte took down Auntie Penny! How I love those girls, they make me happy.

When it was time to leave, Penny asked how big the container was I was sending home with leftovers for her... LOL  I knew that when things settled down and the girls went home she would be hungry.  I made a small container for her to eat before she left and a big container for today.  Kris had a great celebration, love from her brothers, SIL's (Amanda to be;-) Uncle, Aunt and amazing cousins, great gifts and many happy memories.

Time to make the cookies, do the laundry, clean up from our party.  This week will fly by, but I am determined to stay calm, enjoy the process.  It sometimes feels impossible, with all that has to be done to be ready for Christmas Eve.  Somehow, every year, all things fall into place.  All the "things" that were important, seem to fall away, when all the people I love the most gather.  Those precious times, when we are together are what I love most about Christmas. 

Wishing all of you a very Merry Christmas and a new year filled with love and peace.

Thanks for your friendship and support.

Enjoy this beautiful day. See you in 2018!

Love, Penny