Ho Ho Ho!

Here's our Santa picture from this year. Henry wouldn't even go near him. Jack wasn't really much more excited about the idea. LOL! Check out that facial expression!

Pretty Pretty Princess

I thought I'd share some pictures of our pain cat, Princess. She has been such a stinker lately. Today I was doing something on the computer, and she jumped right up on the counter (I sit at the island in the kitchen) and started meowing at me. She soooo knows she shouldn't be on the counter! I grabbed my camera and tried to take a picture, but she came in close because she's nosey. The flash scared her. hee hee.



I mentioned on my craft blog the other day how I hang all of our Christmas cards around a door frame. I've done this as long as we've lived in this house, and we've had Princess this entire time. In all of our nine years here, she has never once shown any interest in a single card.... until now. She has fallen absolutely in love with this card we received from my toddler mom friend Kelly. I can't figure it out. I asked Kelly if they have any pets (no), or if they dusted their cards with catnip this year (nope)... I just can't figure it out. She will sit and give Kelly and family kisses all day if I let her...

She'll bat at them when they don't kiss back. ;o) *snort*

Anyhow, she has been cracking me up lately, so I just thought I'd share. :o) Here she is looking all innocent:

Yeah, right.

Christmas Day 2008

Here's a smilebox with some pics from Christmas day. We had a gift opening in the morning at our house where the boys, my mom, and grandma opened their presents from us (and Santa!). Then we had a second opening in the afternoon at my grandma's house, where we opened their gifts to us. It was a busy day, but always a good time!

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Christmas Eve 2008

We have our big family gathering on Christmas Eve each year. When I was a kid, everyone would gather at my Great-Grandma's house after church. Since Grandma has passed, we've been rotating between four different houses each year. I volunteered to host this year so we'd be able to put Jack to bed at a decent time if he got cranky... which he did. He was horrible at 7:30, so I put him to bed, and then he was up at 8:30 and would NOT go back to sleep for anything. Apparently he wanted to spend time with the family too! I brough him downstairs to visit with everyone and he ended up staying awake until 10:30 before going down for the night.

Here are some photos from the evening....

It is so hard to get a picture of Henry without a cheeseball grin on his face lately. Here's a nice half-smile (hee hee):

Here we have (L-R) my mom's cousin Debbie (Jack's godmother), Jack, my grandma, and my mom:

Notice how all of the Kromm men have the same look on their face. It takes *years* to master that look of disinterest and mild annoyance. HA!! If my Uncle Sonny were here, he'd have the same look on his face (unfortunately he spent Christmas in the hospital this year due to some heart problems... please say a little prayer for him if you're the praying kind). On the left is my mom's cousin Bob, in the middle are his son (Matt) and step-daughter (Erin), and on the right is my Uncle Floyd (grandma's brother). I took this picture from the staircase, in case you're wondering why they're all looking up.

Remember that picture of Debbie up there? Well, here's her husband Tod (Jack's godfather) with Darrin, hanging out in the kitchen talking politics. :o)

Henry was so excited to open gifts! He kept running around saying, "Presents? Presents?" hee hee. He got a farmer Elmo set from Uncle Floyd and Aunt Rose (I just realized I didn't get a picture of her... dang it. I hate it when that happens), and a big "working" farm set farm set from Debbie and Tod. He loves him some barns and animals, so both gifts were perfect!

Here's a close up of me (why do I let these things happen?):

And Matt with his new football cards:

Henry opening the large farm set:

Debbie and Jack... note the look on Jack's face. lol! Think he was sleepy?


Farmer Henry:

After everyone left, Darrin and I got to play Santa. We hauled all of the gifts down stairs and finished wrapping, tagging, and bow-ing all of them, then stuck them under the tree so they were all ready for Henry, Jack, Grandma, and Grandma to open Christmas morning! There were A LOT of presents. Here is a picture... they're under the tree, behind the tree, spilling out around the tree. Presents, presents, PRESENTS!!!

I hope you're all having a wonderful Christmas! I'll be back with more pictures from Christmas day (gift opening at home and at grandma's) later this week!

Jack Frost

I just thought I'd share a quick pic of Jackie in his winter get up. I found this cute little quilted, fleece lined coat for him at the Gymboree outlet, and bought the little stocking cap there as well. They don't technically match, but I loved them both so much, I had to get them. You know how it goes, right?

Once he's in the carseat, he gets a heavy fleece blanket tucked in under his legs, and then it flips up over the top of them and folds down. It's the same thing we did with Henry... in fact, it's Henry's blanket. My cousin sent it when he was born, and it has his (Henry's) name embroidered in one corner. I have to be sure to tuck that in at the bottom when I use it. hee hee. I tried to get Jack one of his own, but they (Land's End) don't make them anymore. Oh well, the hand me downs and sharing had to start sooner or later!

For the most part, Jack is content in his car seat as long as we are moving and not traveling a great distance. If we sit still too long without the car running, he gets cranky. Reeeeeally cranky. I think he'll be happier when he can face the front, but we still have a little over three months before we can even think about that. Meanwhile, I keep lugging this beast around. It must weigh a good 10 lbs empty, so we're looking at close to 40 lbs here when he's in it (he weighed 26ish at his last appt). The seat has a weight limit of 30 lbs, and I plan to use it as long as possible... for better or worse. That's what physical therapy is for. LOL. :o)

Mama's Got A Brand New 'Do

I have been wanting to go back to a shorter haircut for awhile now. I thought I remembered it being easier to take care of. Turns out that really isn't true, but oh well! Anyhow, I thought I'd share a quick before and after.

Here is a picture that was taken last weekend for our Christmas cards:



And here's my new look:

I had this cut about five years ago and loved it. My stylist ended up moving to Milwaukee then, and I never found anyone else who could duplicate it correctly until now. I've been going to Shawna at Jacinda's Spa and Salon and love her. If you're in the Oshkosh area and looking for a new stylist, give her a try. I think you'll be pleased.

Deck the Halls

I love this time of year. As crazy and as hectic as it is, I just love the feel of Christmas, the warmth of the holiday (despite the chill in the air!) and the feeling of peace that comes with remembering the true meaning of the day. I love to sing Christmas carols, and make Christmas cookies, and go to candlelit church services, and sit in a room where the only light is coming from a massive Christmas tree. It all makes me feel happy and cozy and content.

When I was a child, decorating for Christmas was a big deal. I can remember my mom would pick a day at random in early December and surprise me by waking me up late and telling me she had called in to tell them I wasn't coming to school that day. I was staying home so we could decorate for Christmas together. We'd listen to Christmas music all day... Elvis, The Statler Brothers, Perry Como, and Andy Williams. I still play the same music when I decorate. And just like mom, I decorate the whole house. We pack away almost all of our every day knick knacks and exchange them for Christmas-y ones. Here are some of my favorites...

We have two of these little alcoves in our living room. This year I used one to display some of my Charming Tails collection, as well as the new Peanuts stuff my mom bought me for Christmas last year (I love Snoopy!). I also collect vintage Christmas stuff, like the elf boot you see here. Lefton is one of my favorite companies. If you aren't familiar, search eBay for "vintage Lefton Christmas" and feel free to purchase anything you see and tuck it under my Christmas tree this year. ;o)

This plate was made by a former co-worker. I love the folk-y snowman, and the red background. The candleholder has been with me since childhood.

This church used to sit on my great-grandma's big console tv set every Christmas. It has a light inside, and it is beautiful the way the light shines through the stained glass windows.

Here are our stockings (don't worry, it's a fake fireplace!). Some of the gals I talk to online like to get everything matching. Not me! I like that our stockings are as unique as we are. The Disney stocking is mine (big Goofy fan), the middle one is hubby's (this is the guy who only wanted a plain gold band for a wedding ring - how fitting that he also picked a plain red stocking), and the fire truck is Henry's. I picked that for him on a whim last year, but it couldn't be more perfect! I tried to order one for Jack this year, but the only one I found that I liked was sold out, so I'll wait for next year and make sure to buy earlier...

And here is my tree. It's 9 ft., with about 12-1300 white lights on it, and a beautiful snowflake star that you can't really make out in the photo. It's filled (and I do mean FILLED) with dozens of ornaments. Some are new, some are old, some are hand made, some are plastic, some are glass, all of them have special memories that go right along with them.

Near the bottom left of this pic, you see a Scotty dog angel ornament - in memory of my friend Pepper. In the middle of the far right you'll see a Santa made from a shotgun shell (I also have a snowman!). That was made by a (different) former co-worker. I love it! The blue ornament in the middle hung on my grandma's tree when I was a kid.

The pink ornament with hearts (right side, center) was also from grandma's tree.... as is the mouse peeking over the North Pole sign just to the left of it. You can also see a Goofy ornament (one of about 10) near the bottom left.

Near the center of this pic you'll see a turquoise foil wrapped gift ornament. That's from my mom's tree when I was a kid. She had a whole set of them, and I loved them so much, so she gave them to me. Awww! Down from that you'll see a green bell from great-grandma's tree, and to the right of that, a Charlie Brown ornament that I painted when I was about 7 years old. I gave it to my great-Uncle back then (1983) and he hung it in the window on a string until two years ago when I hosted the family Christmas. He brought it with him, and hung it on my tree (Double awwwww!). I don't normally leave strings on ornaments, but that one had to stay.

Here you have a small santa bell, that was a gift from my bff when he traveled to Mexico (you soooo didn't think I kept that, did you?!), an antique ornament from great-grandma's tree in the middle, and a glittery snowman, who was a gift from a friend.

There you have it! I could have shared more, but I didn't want to overwhelm you! Maybe I'll post a few more pics over the next few weeks, if anyone is interested.

Meanwhile, enjoy the season and like the sign said in front of a church I passed today.... It's OK to say MERRY CHRISTMAS!