Christmas at Grandma's House

The Carmack family (my mom's side of the family) had our traditional Christmas day at Grandma's house.  Lots of hoopla surrounded this Christmas, since my cousin Jake lacerated his spleen while dirt biking 2 days before.  Way to go, dude.  He was in the hospital until 4:00 Christmas day, but he got out and made it in time for the grand gift exchange.  While we waited for him, we engaged in a little ladderball.  But first, we had to call AAA to open my car because I locked my keys in the trunk along with ladderball.  Way to go, me. But, then they couldn't get the trunk open and left without helping us. But then, a Christmas miracle ensued.  After many failed attempts to open the trunk in any and every way, it magically popped open the first time my dad tried it.  Way to go, Dad (or Santa...or Jesus... or whoever was responsible for that little miracle!  I like to think it was Jesus...it was his birthday afterall),

And so, there was ladderball....

And then there was the gift exchange.

Grandma gifted all of her daughters and daughters-in-law with beautiful new quilts....jealous.

Pictures in front of the tree of the many families within the Carmack family is a yearly tradition.

 Grandma and her daughters...

 Grandma and her daughters supposedly trying to be Swenson girls...

I don't know what makes them think we like to take pictures like that.

But, I think they need a little practice.

I love Christmas at Grandma's!  Favorite day of the year!

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Happy Thanksgiving

It's been a very busy, very fun Thanksgiving break so far.  I have lots to share, but first, a story...

At church on Sunday, as I was singing along to the worship songs, I spotted someone sitting alone.  I don't know if this guy was feeling lonely, or if he has a perfectly happy and fulfilling life, but in that moment, my heart broke.  It broke for all the lonely people in this world.  And all of a sudden I was crying.  And, as hard as I tried to avoid the embarrassment of public tears, I could not stop thinking about it, and I found myself praying for all the lonely people who are hurting.  Praying that they would know Jesus, that they would feel loved, that they would find people who care for them.

And then I felt convicted.  I have spent a good amount of time these past couple of years feeling sorry for myself.  Sorry that I don't have kids, sorry that I (along with Nick and our families) have experienced so much loss, sorry that my life doesn't look the way I thought it would at the age of 30.  But through all of that, I have never, ever felt alone.  I have always been and will always be surrounded by people I love and by people who love me.  And, I have Jesus.  Too many people live without that love.

So, in this moment of realization, I concluded that I am done feeling sorry for myself.  Because, I would much rather face the difficult things I have had to face with people I love than go through an easy life alone.  I am blessed....even in the midst of pain.

And I want to use that to be a blessing to others around me who are hurting and in need of someone to care for them.

So, this Thanksgiving, I AM THANKFUL.  For my saviour, for my family, for my friends. 

Thank you all for being here for me.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Can anything ever seperate us from Christ's love?  Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death?....No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ who loved us.  And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God's love.  Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow--not even the powers of hell can separate us from God's love.  No power in the sky above or in earth below--indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 8:35, 37-39

(New Living Translation)

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Forever In Blue Jeans

During the baseball game on Saturday, they played some good old Neil Diamond....not the typical "Sweet Caroline" that is played at most events.  No, this was the Neil Diamond of my childhood reverberating through the stadium.  And, oh it took me back.  That Neil.  Neil was the only music we listened to (other than Psalty and Colby that is) and he was a part of our everyday life. 

Mine was a unique musical childhood.  I mean, how many people can say they had a picture of a frog with a crown on his head hanging in their house?  Take this frog print, add a little, no add A LOT, of 1970's flair, and you have something not even close to the picture that graced our wall.  But, you get the idea.

Source

And what, you may ask, does this picture have to do with my musical childhood? Well, if you were a true Neil Diamond fan, you would know that there is a line in his song, "I Am, I Said" that goes "Did you ever read about a frog who dreamed of being a king, and then became one." And, when you are my mom, you want to honor Neil, even in your home decor.  That picture hung in the hall of the very house that I am living in RIGHT NOW.  This house has Neil Diamond's spirit living in it.  And to prove it.... when we came home from that game, guess what was sitting in our entry way.  Neil Diamond's Greatest Hits!  I am not making this up people.  I swear....Neil is here (and no, he's not dead). 

I grew up going to Neil Diamond's concerts, or just being babysat while my parents (and my equally obsessive Aunt Karen, who also honored Neil with her home decor) were at Neil Diamond concerts.  Because, if Neil was playing 3 nights in L.A. and then another 3 nights in San Diego, they were there ALL. SIX. NIGHTS.  And, right now, "Coming to America" is blasting on my speakers, and I am vividly remembering that glorious moment at all of Neil's concerts when he would sing this song, and the bigger than the biggest American flag you've ever seen would drop from the sky.  If that moment didn't make you proud to be an American, then you are not an American.  Neil is so patriotic. 

And it wasn't only Neil Diamond that my parents would follow from place to place. Once, while we were driving, my mom spotted Neil Diamond's back-up singer driving down the road.  (Only my mom would know what Neil Diamond's back-up singer looks like well enough to spot her in this way.)  We followed her...all the way to her house...just so we could see where she lived.  Maybe they could become best friends.

It's so nice to have the sweet melodies of my childhood serenading me once again, after all these years.

Hello Again, Hello Neil.

If you click on all those colored song titles, you will get to enjoy some Neil yourself.  Trust me, you want to click.

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Meet My Family Monday

Uncle George was a little iffy about doing the interview with me at first. Here’s how it started.

Me: Could I interview you Uncle George and Aunt Cindy?

Uncle George: Is this for your blog?

Me: Yes

Uncle George: I don’t know about having myself plastered all over the internet. If you want to put something like “introducing my favorite uncle” I would be ok with that.

Me: Okay

So, Introducing my favorite Uncle and his wife

Uncle George

and

Aunt Cindy

 My interview...with a little help from Amy:

Me: Tell us about your family.

Uncle George: Well you know who the kids are. We have 4 children: Doug, Matt, Beth and Scott.

Here they are minus Doug...don't worry though...you will get to meet him later.

And the little guy in the picture is Sean...he is the grandson of Uncle George and Aunt Cindy.  He belongs to Beth and her husband Richard.

Me: How did you guys meet?

Uncle George: We worked together at a hamburger stand in Huntington Beach. She called me up and asked me to her senior prom. You can put in parentheses “a call she now regrets”.

Aunt Cindy: I was brave once.

And here they are!!!

Me: When did you guys get married.

Uncle George: 1974. She was a month shy of 20 and I was a month plus 21.

Amy: How did you propose?

Uncle George: With words.

Me: (rolling my eyes) Could you elaborate please?

Uncle George: We went to a restaurant. Stuffed shirt, wasn’t it?

Aunt Cindy: I think it was somewhere else. I can picture it, but I don’t remember the name. We’ll just say Stuffed Shirt.

Me: Tell us something no one in the family knows about you.

Uncle George: I can’t do that. If I tell you guys that then that will be just one less secret I have.

Me: What was your favorite part about growing up in this family?

Uncle George: You don’t think about it at the time, but you realize it in retrospect. In a large family, no one wears the harness or gets scrutinized like someone in a smaller family. That is a small advantage to a large family. But I have 5 sisters. Don’t think for a minute that was fun. We lived in a house in Pennsylvania that had 1 bathroom.

Me: How do you like being a grandpa?

Uncle George: I love it. It’s almost as good as being an uncle.

I have had people tell me you enjoy your own grandkids more than your own kids because they get to go home. It’s kind of like other people’s dogs. I like other people’s dogs, but I don’t want to have my own. Not to compare grandkids to dogs. But, we’re kind of in a hybrid situation, so it’s a little bit different for us. But he is SO much fun.

Amy: How do you like being a grandma, Aunt Cindy?

Aunt Cindy: I love being a grandma. It’s really fun!

Amy: What made you move to Murrieta?

Uncle George: I had a friend that moved there in 1990 and we went down to visit him and really liked it. In 1992 we moved down. The trigger was when there were 2 murders in our neighborhood. Our van was stolen, and I caught people trying to steal our boat.

(Uncle George went on to tell us many reasons why he loves Murrieta. It sounds like a great place to live.)

Me: What is your favorite part of being in this family now as an adult?

Uncle George: I love my nieces to pieces!

 

Truth be told….I do not have a favorite uncle. I love them all equally. But Uncle George does hold a special place in my heart. Not many uncles would celebrate their birthdays by attending their niece's wedding.  But, Uncle George did!

Here we are singing to him.

(It was Esther's birthday too.  That is why she is up there.)

Thank you Uncle George and Aunt Cindy for being such good sports about the interview and the blog.  I am so happy we are members of the same family.

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Meet My Family Monday

Today you get to meet my fabulous

Aunt Karen!

This is my mom’s sister. She is the fifth of the eight kids in my mom’s family. She is next in line after mom. I thought that a picture of the 8 kids might be helpful for those of you trying to follow all this.

I grew up very close to my aunt. She would come over to our house and hang out with us a lot when we were young. One of my best memories is of her coming over and making nobakes for us at least once a week. If you have never had nobakes, you are really missing out. They are my favorite dessert! She also worked at my parents store for a loooong time. One of the things I miss the most about the store is seeing her lovely face whenever I went in to visit.

She spent many Christmas Eve’s with us, which always spiced things up.

She is a natural born model!

She prides herself on being the favorite child of my grandparents.  I think Grandpa's face in this picture reveals the truth on that one.

These are some reasons why I love her:

1. She is a wonderful baker.

2. She is very funny and makes me laugh a lot!

3. We are always welcome in her home.

4. She reads my blog—and even comments occasionally.

5. She shops at Costco and buys way more than she needs and then gives us any extras.

6. She has a very kind heart.

7. She is always happy to talk to me whenever I call her.

8. She is extremely generous.

9. She is beautiful!

Thank you Auntie for always being such an incredible aunt!

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Meet My Family Monday

Uncle Bill

and

Aunt Becky

Uncle Bill is my mom's brother.  He is the youngest of the eight kids, and Aunt Becky is his beautiful wife. 

I sat down with Uncle Bill and Aunt Becky last night for a little interview.  Amy helped me transcribe the interview, so this is pretty much word for word.  Enjoy!

Me: What do you like to do in your free time?

Uncle Bill: What free time? No, we like to do watersports, kayaking.

Aunt Becky: I like sewing, but I don't have any time to do it.  And kayaking, and slapping Uncle Bill.

Me: How long have you guys been married?

Uncle Bill: 12 years

Me: How did you guys meet?

Uncle Bill: She worked in a restaurant I frequented.

Aunt Becky: I was a bartender.

Uncle Bill:  She saw me and fell in love with me.

Aunt Becky: I met his friends and they told him to come meet the new bartender, and it was love at first sight.

Uncle Bill: Five months later she finally went out with me.

Me: What is the best thing about being married?

Silence

Aunt Becky: (to Uncle Bill) You can say it. Being married to my best friend.  I'm not making that up.  He tells me that all the time, he just doesn't want to seem like he's mushy.

Uncle Bill: Uh huh. It's true

Aunt Becky: We still find each other very funny, we enjoy each other's sense of humor, and we have two beautiful children.

Here are the two beautiful children

They like watersports too!

I love my aunt and uncle.  They are so much fun!

We love going over to their house and hanging out with them. They live at the harbor, so we get to ride kayaks with them, hang out on their boats, and play all the fun games they have in their game room.  Watching the boat parade at Christmas time is a yearly tradition with them.

Here we are in their backyard!

Thanks you guys for being my guinea pigs and letting me interview you!

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Meet My Family Monday

I am going to be starting Meet My Family Monday next week.  But, I wanted to give you a sneak peek at some of the people you are going to get to meet.

Nick's Family will be included in this!

And I might even include a few of these people....extended, extended family.

Check in next Monday to see who the first person will be!

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Carmack Christmas Part One

This is Christmas at my grandparents. Every Christmas of my entire life has been spent here. We always did our little family Christmas in the morning and then came here for the rest of the day. I am so thankful that they changed our celebration to the day after Christmas this year because that meant that Nick and I could be there!

My family is HUGE, so this is always a very eventful and extremely fun day!

Here is some of my family...

(You can see that my new hat from Aunt Beth was very popular.)

Aunt Vickie and Uncle Mike brought some snow out from Colorado in their truck. When they first got there on Thursday, they made a six foot snowman. By Saturday when we got there, there was no longer a snowman, but we did still have some snow to play with.

We played several rounds of around the world ping pong.

Uncle Harry and Uncle Bill were a little too intimidated to join in on our game, but they were inspired enough to have their own little game when we were done.  I don't know who ended up winning....I am going to have to find that out.

After ping pong, we played a rousing game of football down at the park.  I was busy playing, so I did not get any pictures of the game.  My mom did, however, take many pictures, so those will be coming in Part Two of the Carmack Christmas.  When the game ended, we came back to the house to exchange gifts. 

We all give Grandma and Grandpa gifts, and they give gifts to all of us.  But, for the rest of us, we do a ruthless gift exchange where we can steal each other's presents.

The kids went first.

Aunt Betty opened the present that I brought, which included this beautiful magnet picture of myself (I got a whole sheet of these.....the joys of being a teacher.  They provided me with many great white elephant gifts.)  This picture is not good, but I wanted everyone to see Aunt Betty's overjoyed reaction when she opened the most coveted gift of all.  Isn't it shocking that no one stole this gem of a present? (It did include other things besides the magnet).

This is another family tradition that my mom is very adamant about every year....each family has to take a picture in front of the Christmas tree.

I love my family!  We have so much fun together!

Well, this may very well be my longest post EVER!  That is what happens when you have a family as big as mine....and this is only Part One.  I realize that there are many many people in these pictures, and you probably have no idea who most of them are or how they are related.  And, these pictures show probably only about half of the people who were there.  I am sorry to those members of my family who are not pictured.  Remember that we still have Part Two though.  I was thinking of doing a Meet My Family blog post each Monday.  I would introduce members of my family from both my side and Nick's side of the family.  It would only take me a couple of years to get through everyone :)

What do you think?  Should I do it?

Okay, so I know that Christmas is over for pretty much everyone, but Nick and I still have to do our Christmas tonight, and my family's Christmas on Friday.  So, you are going to be seeing a lot of Christmas on this blog for a little longer.  Sorry.

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