Author Archives: tracye1

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About tracye1

A wee bit about me, Tracy. Married to my high school sweetie for a looooong time. Mama of 4 beautiful kiddos, now ADULTS!!!! This blog is a potpourri of posts. Some wax on about my Catholic faith, others family, some are just a “diary” of life updates. Life is a journey, taken one day at a time (sometimes one step at a time) and my blog is about my personal trek through life. Peace!

Expectations.

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As your life is likely as busy as ours this time of year, I’m sure you are familiar with the reality of things not always working out as expected.  It’s life.  The planets are NOT all aligned for every event to occur without a hitch and if one can’t practice some flexibility in life then it’s going to be one bitter horsepill to swallow on a regular basis.

This weekend I was sure that we were fairly open in our schedule sans for two events:  1.  Walk through Bethlehem on Saturday evening  2.  Children’s Christmas program at our church Sunday afternoon.  Now, in hindsight,  one would think my spidey senses would have been tingling…ERROR, ERROR, ERROR at the complete ridiculousness of an “Open” schedule at this point in December, however, they failed me.  My calendar, the one right on the wall of the kitchen.  The one that we write our life on.  The one I pass a million times a day.  Yes.  That one would have reminded me of all that was planned this weekend.  And that would require looking at it.   live and learn.  live and learn.  Fortunately, I did look at it Friday night, so I had a few hours to mentally prepare:

  • Routine Saturday chores, cleaning, grocery shopping, etc…..AND get our youngest to her liturgical dance practice.  It is the 3rd Sunday (Family Mass) and they perform a little dance and have practice the day before.  Oops.
  • “Happy birthday, Jesus” annual lunch with my grandparents.  At our house.  Menu????  Oops.

So, though it wasn’t a lot of extra activity, the activities DID require time management, organization and calm.  We pulled it off (because generally I work better under pressure, not so great for my stress level, but TREMENDOUS for my focusing abilities).

Amid all the flurry of activity, the biggest disappointment was our Walk through Bethlehem.  Having never been to this particular event, nor had I spoken to anyone who had an idea of how it all operated, we went in blind.  Sadly, we made the call to exit the line after realizing we were looking at least a two-hour wait before we got it.  We don’t do lines well.  When we are ill-prepared for the line, it’s even worse.  However, we regrouped, and drove around to look at Christmas light displays and ate cookies in the care (Dad totally rocked on THAT little preparation!!).  So Plan “B” was a hit.  Mostly.  At least it restored harmony to the family.  Mostly.  And we were able to salvage the evening.  Mostly.

 

 

 

 

The Roman Soldier casing the place…the only part we sa

 

 

 

 

Some of the lights from our drive 

 

 

And because we weren’t busy enough, the baking bug hit me Sunday.  Between Mass and the Christmas program, we baked away:  Poppy seed bread.  Chocolate chip cookies.  Pumpkin chocolate chip cookies.  and our family favorite, Buckeye Balls.  I’m done.  done.  done.  done.  done.

Good lessons learned this weekend:  Check the calendar.  Always.  Twice daily when it’s December (or May).  Roll with it and be prepared to modify the “Plan”.  Expectations are destined to fall short.  Flexibility is king.  Have plenty of preparations on hand.  Or a decent time frame whilst the bread is baking to make an impromptu trip to Publix to re-stock.  Enjoy.  Every.  Little.  Moment.   It will be January before we know it!

 

December goal: SANITY!

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We’re a little over the half-way mark for the month, finishing up an amazing year of “FIRSTS” and looking forward to seeing what 2012 has in store for us.  With my recent blog posts of December mayhem and “busy-ness” it’s been a one-foot-in-front-of-the-other kind of month, and I’m not alone.

commiserating with friends the other day on the runaway-train called “December” we decided as a group to come up with a plan of action to get us through the last few weeks with some semblance of sanity intact.  Collectively, we realized that NONE of us were really getting any good exercise, a.k.a. endorphin release, in and THAT was a HUGE problem.  Agreeing that a realistic goal of a MINIMUM of three days a week for the remainder of the month for some type of exercise in our schedules, we now have one whole week under our belt.

For myself, it’s been a great stress reliever.  Last night, I realized that a walk was an absolute necessity for my sanity and general peace in the household (meaning, me not stressing on everyone in the house) and at 8:42 p.m., I laced up and hit the streets for 25 minutes.  It felt good. My head felt clearer.  My heart calmed down. My body thanked me.  I was nicer to my husband.  I was able to peacefully tuck in my children.

This morning, I accomplished the goal of DAY 3 by hitting the gym with my good friend (because you REALLY have to like someone to agree to meet them at o’dark hundred to work out), and I’m feeling good going into Friday.  Now, truth be told:

  • the kids are out of school and my mornings just got WAAAAAAAY easier for the next 19 days
  • softball and flag football are finished which means my nights just opened up
  • the majority of my Christmas shopping is done
  • Christmas cards are sent out…..with all SIX of us present and accounted for….God is so good!
  • we have only 2 functions this weekend, both fun!
SO.  As long as the Christmas treats continue to taunt my complete and total lack of self-control and things like this (show up)………
I’ll just keep on keepin’ on with our December goal and come January…..well, let’s just continue to take this one-day-at-a-time.  No need to get all crazy with resolutions, it’s WAY to early for that, but let’s just say we already have the beginning of a sanity plan with added health benefits come January….wink, wink!


The merriment continues…or…how much more can I pack into this month???

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We are half-way there, baby!  Should that strike fear into your heart if you haven’t begun your Christmas shopping, fear not…..there are still 12 11 shopping days left!!  This gives me GREAT pleasure as currently we have only purchased ONE gift for 3 children with the 4th child’s gift to be procured today.  Which means at some point I need to get crackin’ on the online shopping…….but let me stop there, because I feel my anxiety level rising at the thought of it!  Let’s move onto other things that December is bringing…

We’ve enjoyed the Christmas parade………

A middle school Holiday concert, it was actually pretty good.  Now at the end, we were unknowingly seated RIGHT where the percussion section marched to, the video I was going to upload** does NOT accurately convey the LOUDNESS of this seating arrangement, but perhaps the lady plugging her ears does somewhat.  I know.  My life is good.  Please don’t hate.  **at this time of year I have neither the time nor the patience to figure out how to change to format to be included…forgive me...

Flag football and Softball games in between the merriment of December, bringing their own joy, shouts and late nights….is it over yet???

A broken toe….

The Nutcracker ballet with my girls.  A first for ALL of us and we thoroughly enjoyed it to decide it should be an annual tradition!  (our youngest really WAS thrilled to be going, she was NOT, however, thrilled with the fact that her mother was running her usual LATE and insisted on photos in spite of running late!  that’s me, always pushing the envelope–and for the record, we made it RIGHT on time!)

My annual (big) Girl’s Night Out, Christmas dinner edition.  This year at a fun, loud and delicious German restaurant near us.  Entertaining.  Relaxing.  Good laughs.  Catching up time.  And my fingers are slowly returning to their regular size after all the sausage, sauerkraut, cabbage and pork!  Only a month-ish until our Girl’s Weekend….ahhhh, let the good times roll!

Dress rehearsal for the church Christmas performance.  This year we have an angel and a dancer……

West Side Story, performed by a local high school.  FANTASTIC!  WOW!  I can’t say it enough.  The talent was truly amazing and I was crying at the end…which my husband found humorous…whatEVER!!!  It was tear-worthy!!  (and I don’t say this because my girlfriend’s son was “Tony”, either)–no pics due to copyright laws…ah BOO!!!

Christmas cards are wrapping up and should be in the mail this week.  Today.

In between school wrapping up this week and work, there’s still lots ahead….more baking, Walk through Bethlehem, church Christmas program, football, softball, and all that shopping, wrapping and eating!  Carry on with your busy selves!

The Merry, Crazy month of December!

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And so it begins…..the merry, crazy, chaotic, overscheduled month of December.  Thanksgiving and Christmas are positively my favorite holidays of the year.  Thanksgiving because the focus is on family, food, friends and taking a few seconds to appreciate how much we have to be grateful for.  And blessed we are.

(Ok, this picture is actually from last year because I took NO food pictures this year, possibly because I was truly enjoying the moment, however, the bounty was similarly traditional and full!)

Hubby was truly thankful to be enjoying non-institutional food with his favorite people on the planet (US!!).  My grandparents joined us last-minute due to car trouble while driving to SC to see my aunt and cousins.  I know she was sad to have missed the trip, but it all worked out and we had a great dinner. and somehow there just weren’t as many leftovers as I had thought….and it was all worth it!!

The remainder of the month will be filled with:

  • the town Christmas parade:   2 of 4 children participating
  • school programs:  band concert x 2
  • shopping:  any time I can fit it in…lunch time is UBER productive during December!
  • church programs:  2 of 4 children participating
  • cookie exchange:  an annual event by my old roommate, her mother in law and sisters in law and the focus is on fellowship, food, exchanging AMAZING cookies and Jesus.  Yes, I said His name, Jesus.  This IS Christmas people, notice the “Christ” at the beginning of the word?  The entire season is because it is a celebration of Jesus’ birth!!!  (had to clear that out….political correctness has no place here..)  It is a fabulous time!!
  • “Happy birthday, Jesus” party with my grandparents, an annual event which we ALL look forward to!
  • tree decorating, holiday baking
  • dinner with our Priest at our house
  • Walk through Bethlehem with one of the local churches
  • Hiding Finding our “Elf”, Friefel
  • West side story high school production (date with hubby)
  • Sending and receiving Christmas cards (of which we are ALL in this year!!)
  • Nutcracker with the girls.  It will be the first time for ALL of us and  a total surprise for them.
  • finish up with regular school, work, flag football and softball and it’s a crazy month.  And I bet YOUR month looks JUST the same!!

(these delicious Peanut butter Buckeye balls are the favorite of our family for holiday baking!)

Don’t forget, the Reason for the Season.  Christmas is a day to celebrate the birth of Jesus and the days leading up to that, Advent.  The waiting on the Lord.  The anticipation.  Enjoy every moment.  Every morsel.  May your Advent season and Christmas be as joyous and filled with thanks as ours!!!

The advent of Advent….

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‘Twas a busy weekend with our little family and with today following a 5 day Thanksgiving break for the kiddos the morning is set to be a lovely cacophony of tired wails, whines and sluggish morning movement…

But it’s all good.  We put up the outside Christmas lights (after hubby finished painting the FRONT of the house), brought all the decorations down from the attic, washed and put up all the Christmas dishes, 2 children finished up school projects (a weekend long affair fraught with anxiety, stress and whining….oh, wait that was me….), picked up a kayak to borrow for a while from a friend AND…….took the family Christmas Card picture AND….ordered it.

Perhaps I will look at the kiddos’ Christmas lists now….I’m starting to feel Advent-Y!