Christmas Fun

Taking a moment from Christmas traditions, I got this email the other day from my good friend for the Christmas edition of Getting to Know You . So I am posting my answers and tagging a couple friends to answer also.

1. Do you put up a real tree or artificial? Artificial
2. When do you put up your tree? Weekend after Thanksgiving
3. When do you take down the tree? Weekend after New Years
4. Do you like eggnog? Yes Spiked or not? Spiked, sometimes
5. Favorite gift received as a child? Bracelet from my brother
6. Worst Christmas gift ever received? Can't remember one
7. Favorite Christmas movie? White Christmas or Christmas Vacation, watching with my brothers
8. Have you ever recycled a present? No
9. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Homemade cookies
10. Favorite Christmas song? White Christmas, love Bing Crosby
11.Most annoying thing about this time of year? People who don't wish you Merry Christmas, Scrooges
12. What you love most about the holiday? Spending it with family, especially my brothers & their families
13. How many reindeer did Santa have? 9
14. Best Christmas memory? Santa showing up at our door and I jumped in my moms lap because it scared me
15. If you could have one Christmas wish what would it be? To spend one more Christmas with my mom, it was her favorite holiday

I am tagging Saralyn, Beth and White Lighting Axiom

More Holiday Traditions

One tradition I started when Mitchell was born was the Christmas card with his picture on it. I know so many people hate these kind of cards but for me it is my way to have people see how Mitchell has grown over the year. We try to get creative with the pictures every year. Mitchell is still into it so I have that in my favor for awhile. I have in the past also sent out a letter on what has been happening throughout the year too. We have friends and family out of state so this is a way to keep up with each other. We didn't do the picture card when I was growing up but friends did and we looked forward to seeing the cards every year. I have friends now that do it also. Some are very creative with their cards. Of course this year Mitchell wants something to do with his joining basketball. I'm trying to think of something special but it hasn't come to mind yet. Hopefully soon. I ususally have my cards out by the second week of December. It has to be early so I have more time for the Christmas cookies. That's another tradition.....for next time.

Holiday Traditions

I guess this is going to be the theme of many peoples blogs this next month. That's ok, I love to see how people celebrate there Christmas season with family traditions.

The day after Thanksgiving, ever since my husband Polo & I got married, we have our own little Thanksgiving dinner, just Polo, myself and Mitchell. Mitchelll is actually the one that started this. Some years he is at his dads and others we go to my brothers. So on Friday I make us our own little dinner. Since Mitchell was little we go the Woodstock Square on Friday night, the day after Thanksgiving, and watch the lighting of the square. There are carolers, hot chocolate, carriage rides, Santa and such Christmas spirit. Then we go home to warm ourselves up and watch some movies we had rented and eat leftovers until we can't move. Also on this weekend is when we put up our tree and lights outside. The outside lights duty is for my hubby and Mitchell to do. I usually stay in and have the hot chocolate ready for them. The putting up of the tree on this weekend started when I was little. I love passing down the traditions I had growing up to Mitchell and making our own new ones. Mitchell is really into traditions and I love that. My husband kind of laughs at me because some things have to be done just right, it's TRADITION! He didn't grow up that way but enjoys getting into the spirit. I wonder if anyone has a tradition for something else besides around the holidays. Happy Holidays!

Being Thankful

So I have been looking back at some past posts, won't do that again. Man am I a whinner. Anyways, with Thanksgiving coming up I was thinking about what I am thankful for. The first thing that popped into my head was my health. Now I know some of you are thinking, what the heck is she talking about. Well I haven't been having the best year with my MS but I am still thankful. As sad, upset, angry, SCARED as I have been lately I am thankful that things aren't worse. My beautiful, amazing son. He is the beat that keeps my heart going. My family, I have 4 awesome brothers. Well, three are my crutch. They have taught me so much in my life. My husband for his patients, easy going nature and strength dealing with such a stubborn strong headed Sicilian woman. (don't think the poor guy knew what he was getting into) My neuro, couldn't do this without him. Friends, don't have that many that have stuck around through my medical journey, but the ones that have stayed are the best. My church family, they give me strength and guidance more than they know. My list can go on but without this last gift I am thankful for I couldn't have any of these things. That is GOD. I am thankful he excepts me for who I am and loves me anyways.

Tag your it!

So I have been tagged by my friend Saralyn to name 8 random things about myself. This was actually more difficult than I thought, especially with the ms brain lately. So here it goes:

1. I had cervical cancer and was told I would never be able to have children. Proved those docs wrong now didn't I. Hello to Mitchell 2 years later

2. I am obsessive about keeping my house smelling clean. I have 3 dogs & one preteen need I say more. Just joking about the animals & my son.

3. When I was little I wanted to be a professional dancer.

4. When I was a CNA in a hospital I got to witness a man that was in a coma for 2 years wake up. His first words were "I'm hungry". We didn't give him the hospital food, that would have been to cruel.

5. I met my husband, Polo, when I worked at the hospital. He worked as a security guard. His story is he protected me from a violent patient and saved me. Partly true

6. I have one friend from middle school that I still keep in contact with. She actually lives in my same town and we went to school almost two hours away from here. She is a friend I can really count on. Now remember we are 41 now so it has been awhile

7. I had perfectly straight hair until I was diagnosed with ms. Two months after starting my meds, my hair became curly.

8. When I was little my mom would make candles. One day when I was bored and my brother was supposed to be watching me I decided to try to make a candle. The entire kitchen was filled with smoke. My brother called the fire dept. because he didn't know where the smoke was coming from.

So here is my eight. Now it is time to tag some others. My fellow taggers are: Braincheese, Bubbie, AZ Chick, Disabled Not Dead, White Lightning Axiom

Ho Hum

Eeyore was very glad to be able to stop thinking for a little, in order to say "How do you do" in a gloomy manner to Pooh. "And how are you?" said Winnie-the-Pooh. Eeyore shook his head from side to side. "Not very how," he said. "I don't seem to felt at all how for a long time."


So how many times have you felt like Eeyore? This past week has been a total Eeyore week for me. I feel like I'm just trudging along. Is that even a word? I had a slight relapse about 2 weeks ago or so. My memory hasn't been the same since July. So doc put me on a 6 day dose of steroids. Not to much of a change. Now we are trying some major amounts of vitamins to see if that will get the brain working. He has some other ideas if that doesn't work. If this is the way of life I may have to get used to now, well then call me Eeyore. No not really. I'm going to keep fighting this and see how far I can bring the memory back. Thanks to my favorite Cheese, my spirits are getting better. This is a hard one to handle. I have my days where I think I'm just going to give up. It gets so frustrating talking with someone and not being able to find the word you are trying to say. It is like it is floating in your brain but you just can't grasp it. But on the days I want to give up I look into my sons face and know I don't have a choice of what to do. I'm done giving myself pitty parties. Not to many people show up anyways. I have found support from some of my church family. It's actually comforting when they ask about the details instead of the generic, How are you feeling? For me it makes me feel like they are taking the time to listen & understand. Not like they did their job of asking. Ok, enough of being Eeyore let's see who else I can be. How about ME! It's not all that bad.