Fantastic Friday...

Dang it this has been one hell of a hard week... 

sick kids, sick me and hubster out of town!!!! 

To top it all I have dealt with passive aggression at it's 

worst but won't go into all that. 

Soooo... TGIF... here's what's making me smile this morning.

Syd had to pick something to take to school to put in everyone's 

stocking in her class... she chose Christmas Crackers! Her 

fav tradition from Merry Olde England... I'm so proud.

The girls both have field trips today to see the Nutcracker, they are 

so excited, they love it and want to start dance lessons so that they

can be in it next year. I have warned Ash to stay in her seat

and not run up on the stage!!!! 

Tomorrow I'll be out there in the cold ringing the Salvation Army Bell, collecting

donations for the needy. I don't relish the thought of the cold but 

I take the girls with me and we usually have a good time, I'm happy that

they are happy to do it. 

OK that's it... gotta get ready to start the day... just wanted to 

pop in real quick and let the blogosphere know I'm still alive and 

kicking, not quite on full revs but kicking none the less!!! 

Happy Friday Y'all. 

On the Second Day of Christmas....the second in a series of Holiday Memories

So, moving on, here's another in my seasonal series of posts in which I share fond

 memories of Christmas past.....

When I first moved to the States my adorable husband and I didn't decorate for Christmas, the first year we were together we traveled home to England and visited with family and friends... actually we had a blessing of our holy union and it all turned pear shaped and we flew home weary and bewildered... but that's a whole 'nother post.
Sooooo the following year we lived in a hotel at Christmas time, rather nice really, we were in transit from Texas to Georgia and had a month where we were looking for an apartment and our belongings were in storage. We had a few items with us but not too much, his Gorgeousness was starting at a new position within his company and they were handling the relocation. What they failed to tell us was the Christmas Party was the Friday after we arrived, hmmmm, hadn't packed any finery in our limited luggage so we went on a shopping trip and purchased new duds.... oh I miss that kind of shopping spree, just me and him getting decked out in fabulous attire with matching accessories and shoes!!!
So off we trot, all gorgeous like, making our way to a fabulous evening of dinner and dancing and getting to know the new crew.  These people consisted of a pilots, engineers, officers and their wives.... and us! We didn't know a soul, other than his hideous boss and hideous wife, so it was just a little awkward to say the least. What else was a girl to do but drink the fabulous free wine and have a good time! The rest is history and can't be splashed across the pages of a blog for any old reader to see.
Major digression, the point of the story is that when we were out shopping for our couture, we came across these two little Santa's and just had to buy them. I was thrilled but totally bewildered as to why the English Santa is dressed in green and carries a guitar or whatever that is. It seemed so fitting that these guys would be our first Christmas decorations.... so twee!!!!! We still bring them out every year and inevitably have to explain to an American friend that this bares no resemblance to an English Father Christmas and that it was obviously the creation of an over imaginative American. But we love him all the same!!!!
Hope you enjoyed this memoir and that you will stop back for another episode in the next couple o' days!!!
HoHoHo!!!!

Lets take another look at online shopping shall we?????

Do you shop online for things other than the usual? you know, 

lets say have you ever tried to buy furniture online. I usually check stuff

out but have yet to actually purchase something of that magnitude from the

world wide web, and to be honest I don't know what stopping me.

While surfing I have been really impressed with CSN and their

selection of coffee tables and other pieces that truly suit my style. I have 

shopped there in the past, I mean they have 200 stores people so you can 

find just about anything thats ubercool there!!!! 

There is a need for storage in the McGilli house seeing as there are four

of us and two shih tzus and our house ain't Buckingham Palace believe 

me... so I'm thinking about the trunk style tables they have for when we

purchase our new couches... yes it's that time of life again when the 

old reliables have done their job (and done it well) and we need 

to think about some newbies. We originally bought our couches 

when we bought our first house about eleven years ago and we picked 

them carefully knowing they would have to take us through the young 

children phase and they have indeed excelled!!! However, there are a couple

of wounds from the dogs and there are weird sinking noises occasionally

that do offer a little cause for concern. We never agree on these things

so it will be approx six to eight months before we reach a compromise

...but I'm on the hunt .. NOW!!!! 

So .. go check out the link and have fun browsing.

I received compensation for this review but all opinions are 

completely my own and I do use CSN often.. and love them!!!!!  

Macro Monday...

Just a quick one this morning...... hop on over to Lisa's Chaos to check out all the other Monday Macro's or join in yourself why don't ya?

I call this.... Objects in the Rear View Christmas Balls May Be Scarier Than they Appear!!!!!! 

If you keep your ears open....

So.... for some reason I can't get the alignment to work.... crap... not a good way to start a post!!! 

OK ... there we go, this is how I like it, even though someone commented once that it is 

stupid looking and distracting, thanks anonymous!!! 

This weekend has been a hugely busy weekend full of weird and wonderful things. 

I have, once again, been volunteering with Junior Service League in an 

effort to raise money for children's charities, this time at an event of epic

proportions consisting of ballet performances, arts n crafts, Santa in all kinds

of situations.. that doesn't sound right does it but you know what I mean. 

It was a great opportunity for me to help out an old friend who is a pretty 

awesome photographer and I'm glad to say she shared some stuff with me

that I'm excited to take note of and work on. 

It's great to listen to someone who's already worked it out and worked it out brilliantly

I have to say. One of the things I admire most

about her work is the one thing I'm crappy at

so hopefully I can take her advice and run with it and improve my 

picture taking in turn creating more satisfaction with the end results.

It's strange how territorial and snooty some other photographers can be though,

I did actually witness the "official photographer" of the event whining to the 

organizers about all the mothers and their DSLR's. What??? Seriously???

Get over yourself dude, I wondered if it's a male domination thing or if 

he's really such a douche he wants the whole place to himself. 

I wonder if it's the same in other areas of the arts? Does Justin Timberlake

bitch about Justin Beiber? kinda unfair comparison there but you get my point.

On the home front... little Peanut has been sick AGAIN.... wtf? enough 

already. She's been on Prevacid for a while now and it seems to be working, I think 

this is more of a virus because she's been running a fever and has a sore 

throat. Maybe flu? Dear God I hope not! 

It's been hard to tell her I had to leave her and go to work the Christmas

thingy and not be able to take her with me to see Santa. Boo!

One of my close friends also had a little sick one at home and she 

worked longer and harder than I did, so if you're reading.. I'm 

full of sympathy and hope you can now take a little rest and be good

to yourself and your family no one deserves it more than you.

And so after this little whiney post, I offer you this, keep your eyes and 

ears open, it's amazing what you can learn about others and more

importantly what you can learn about yourself.

On the first day of Christmas.....

As promised…. Here it is, the inaugural post in my series of very personal Christmas experiences and impressions of the season as a whole. I’ll be sharing things very close to my heart in a lot of these posts so get ready to be tantalized by what will prove to be a weird and wonderful expedition into the ugly reality lurking behind all the tinsel and glitter!!!! Whatever… just get on with it…

On the first day of Christmas…. I’ll kick off with something from my childhood, may as well start at the beginning right? I do recall way back when, and I’m talking waaay back.. when I was about four or so, circa 1973/4, I was tremendously excited to receive a little stuffed panda and a book called the Twinkle Annual. Twinkle was a magazine for little girls and every year they came out with an annual (as did most comic’s at that time, do they still do that??). I seem to remember these gifts being given to me by my Mum’s hairdresser who we called Aunty Margaret, a lovely older lady with curly hair and glasses and a beautiful warmth. I could not sleep on Christmas Eve, I was soooo full of excitement about Santa coming and what gifts he would leave for me, my brother told me that the sooner I went to sleep the sooner I would wake up and see what I had. I lay there for what seemed like forever thinking that the night would never, ever end, and I remember it as if it was just yesterday!  Well, the funny thing about that particular year is that I don’t recall anything other than the panda and the Twinkle annual. I’m sure I got a gift pack of soaps and bath stuff, we always got one of those from one of our aunts, and another aunt would send us World Wildlife Fund Christmas Cards with a crisp one pound note taped inside with perfect precision.

There is a photo somewhere of me on that wonderful day, I’m wearing a red maxi dress with blue ruffles around the neck and wrists (it was lovely polyester nylon!!) and I’m holding that precious panda in my arms. Cute! We liked to dress nicely on Christmas day and I loved that part of it, even at that tender age I was definitely one for formality and had a sense of occasion!!!

I believe we lived in my Grandmothers cottage at the time, maybe we had just moved to Scotland I’m not sure but I do know that there was my Grandmother, my parents and all four of us kids in a tiny one bed roomed cottage and we had two bull mastiffs….. Whoa… what a thought!!! I know we must have lived there cos that’s where I was when I remember trying to get to sleep, lying on some blankets that were on top of an old travel chest that she had lying on it’s side. I can only imagine the rest of the kids were on the floor or the large double bed… did they sleep on the couch?? Where did Nanna sleep?? I know I’m not wrong about it but I can’t imagine four kids and three adults in a teeny tiny one bed cottage? Freaky.

Anyhoodles, one or two meager Christmases when I was a little girl didn’t kill me and the memories are fond to be honest. I loved that panda and kept him for a long time, until one day my dear brother used it for target practice for his air rifle. Nice!!! And if I could find the picture you’d see a happy little blonde girl with shiny cheeks and a happy little smile in her fancy dress. So… think about it… forget the credit card overload and get your kid a little panda this year. She will love you for it…. I guarantee it!!!

Countdown to Christmas..... whatever!!!

OK, see ya November…. Nice knowing you although seems like you snuck in and snuck out again pretty damn quick without so much of a Howdjyado.

And so it begins, the merry month of December! Time for wonder and joy, peace and goodwill, joy to all mankind! For who exactly? Not this mama… no… the month starts out badly with my sister having the audacity to be born at the beginning of one of the busiest months of the year.  Whoa McGilli, that’s a little harsh I hear you cry… the thing is I hate it when someone has a birthday at the beginning of the month… for this reason… this is me merrily skipping along for the rest of the year thinking.. Ok.. Sissy has a birthday in December, not even giving it the slightest thought that being her birthday is on the 4th it may take some preparation in NOVEMBER!!!!! And the fact that she’s on the other side of the world might also be an indication that aforethought is required in this situation… other sissy… same thing only in February…. Which is in fact worse because my birthday also falls in February and therefore is the only thing on my mind for the whole month to be honest!!!! (Not really, it’s on my mind for two months, I start thinking about it in January, but didn’t want to sound totally self absorbed).

So dearest Sissy if you’re reading this and wondering if your jolly, little, Welsh posty will be sporting a package from the States.. Not yet… be patient and wait ‘til a more reasonable time of the month! It’s like being fashionably late… kind of.

Once it hits me that it’s December (around the 8th or so) I will realize that there are lots of things to attend in our social little community here in South GA. There’s Christmas festivities here there and everywhere, a Victorian Christmas, ballet performances, school performances, parades and special late night gatherings down town among all the pretty lights and decorations. It’s fantastical and magical and awesomical and downright freakin’ exhausting!!!!!!!

One gets sucked into every little event and then around the 21st it all just stops… abruptly… without warning. Suddenly the kids are out of school and there’s no more entertainment for them…. What the heck is up with that??? The whole town has had it to the back teeth by this time and we’re ready to take down the tree, stop with the turkey and trimmin’s and just be January already!!!! And so my friends, I am left with an empty feeling, a kind of anticlimactic feeling of underwhelming gloom. Like the true meaning and magic have been left somewhere around the middle of the month and that the actual real day… the Glorious 25th… is a little bit of a let down. It’s been like that since I arrived here in the States and it’s just because I was brought up celebrating in a different way. A way in which Christmas Eve was the beginning of the celebrations, that way Christmas Day was all new and fresh and exciting. Our traditions then proceeded all the way into the New Year, so about the first week of January was when we all got sick to death of it all….. And by my reckoning that’s a good time to get fed up, not on Christmas Day….it’s kinda rude…right???

I‘m going to do a series of posts called the Twelve Days of Christmas, I know, that took a horrendous amount of creativity to come up with that name!!!  I will share with you some of the things I love the most, miss the most and remember the most….I will start tomorrow and you are welcome to join in and share the love if you feel so inclined, just link back to my posts so we can all see who’s playing.

I wish I had a button or some kinda clever little picture to decorate the post but hey ho I don’t… as yet… unless some clever little blog elf is reading and wants to come up with something ridiculously cute for this venture?? Anyone?? Don’t be shy now, just surprise me with something, consider it a Chrissy Pressie!!! Thanks!!!

See y’all tomorrow for the beginning of my festive memoirs…