And so it begins.....

The end of one year and the birth of another. What does 2009 hold for us???? No one knows, I can only pray that it brings health and happiness to all. Peace and contentment with what we cannot change and a deeper understanding of all that God has in store for us.

2008 was a good year for the most part for the George family, Wayne started a new job, and moved us across country. We left old friends and made many new friends. We have learned what it means to be truly on our own....no family down the street to babysit, or eat Sunday dinner with. While that in itself can be somewhat sad, we have made some wonderful new friends and have truly been blessed with an abundance of new relationships, both for Carson and for Wayne and I.

This was the year of trials and tribulations as well, but we are so much richer because what we have endured. God has seen us though some heartaches, that I would not want anyone to bear. We have learned to be optimistic, and see the silver lining in situations that seemed too deep to get through.

Carson started Kindergarten and is thriving in the structured school environment. Wayne is loving the commuter lifestyle and looks forward to his "me" time everyday on the train to and from work. I rejoined the workforce and am really enjoying teaching....so much so that I will be teaching full time starting Monday for an Autism class until the middle of April.

Today, we say goodbye to 2008, and I know that 2009 will bring many changes for all of us. I am praying that it brings peace and happiness, and a fullness of God that was previously unknown to you.

Today we packed up all the loot that Santa left for us in Texas, and started shipping it across country. Carson is now bored...at least he tells me that...He is also ready to sleep in his own bed, and see Petey, the dog, who by the way has spent the last week and a half at a doggie resort, and is at this moment getting his nails done. We have had a tremendous time here in Texas, and while I miss everyone, friends and family alike, but it will be good to get home on Friday.

Christmas Fun!

While here in Texas, we elected to not bring our DSLR with us. For one just carrying it on the plane tends to be a real hassle, and also the lcd screen is broken...so never sure if I got "the" shot or not. My Dad recently purchased his first a Nikon D 60 so we commandeered his and used it for Christmas morning pictures.

The house was packed with the whole family...my sister Holly her hubby Mike, boys Zach and Will and the three of us were staying with my parents. We had a houseful! Sister Wendy her hubby Richard, kids Hayden, Hunter, and Hannah all live local as does my brother Brad, his wife Paige and the youngest of the group 21 month old Peyton.

We gathered on Christmas Eve for a wonderful Prime Rib feast provide by my sister Holly's family, and cooked to perfection by my mother. Not much was left of the beast when everyone was done. After dinner, preparations were made for Santa to visit... we left the cookies and milk in the kitchen and Carrots were also provided for the reindeer. Carson was quick to head to bed, and get ready for Santa to come in the night. Then the real work began..... We had to assemble a couple of things and run get the batteries that we forgot AGAIN! Fortunately TRU was still open.

Christmas morning arrives and the boy waited as long as he could to open....His dad decided to shower first.....don't know what he was thinking....you can't make a 6 year old wait!!!! Finally he started opening and was surprised by all that Santa brought him...so much so that he never even saw the Nintendo DS system Santa also left....

Santa couldn't find room under the tree for the Speed Racer race track that he left..so he had to put it in the kitchen....and after everything else was opened he found it. That is the neatest toy I have ever seen and has been played with constantly.My Brother, Brad and his family arrive after a while and we got to enjoy watching him with the first Christmas he really got into.

Merry Christmas!!!!

Merry Christmas Everyone... Enjoy the time spent with Friends and Family....Santa managed to find us back in Texas... so no worries there... we were blessed beyond measure as usual, and it was a total blast watching the little ones tear into their packages. Will post more with pictures later

Merry Christmas!

I am a bit disturbed that everywhere you look, whether it be on television or a store people are wishing one another Happy Holidays instead of the standard Merry Christmas. I still feel saddened that Christ is no longer the CENTER of the Christmas holiday. Whether you hold to the belief that Christ's birth was on Christmas day, or the actual time was somewhat later in the spring as many Biblical scholars believe. The date December 25th, doesn't have to be reduced to the day that Santa comes....(Our family is big into Santa...with several small children who look forward to Santa), but we really need to focus on the real reason for Christmas.

I remember seeing, many years ago a Christmas card or something along those sorts showing Santa bowing down to worship at the feet of the Christ Child in the manger, that has really stuck with me over the years, and definitely exemplifies the true meaning of Christmas.

While Santa is dominate in many of our homes.... heck I still believe in the magic of Christmas....makes it so special....I really hope that we can take a moment and focus of the birth of our saviour this Christmas Eve...and remember that without Christ...we truly have nothing.

Merry, Merry Christmas everyone! Take extra time this season to remember the joy that the birth of our Saviour brought to us so many years ago. We are celebrating in Texas with family and friends...this is the first time in Carson's life that he hasn't been in his own home on Christmas morning....so it looks to be very fun...filled with family....presents...food....and chaos.

Happy Anniversary

Babe, Just wanted to say Happy Anniversary. I love you, thanks for the past 11 years. We have had good times and bad times, we have lauged and we have cried and we have Carson which has made it even all the better.

Love, Wayne

Packing for the Trip!

Just a silly picture..If any of you all have small children, I know you can relate. We purchased some new luggage for the trip to Texas this weekend. Wayne actually already had a decent suitcase, but I was lacking, as was Carson. So Saturday Wayne bought a bright PINK, three piece set. Carson has already determined that the smaller of the two suitcases was going to be his. He brought that sucker upstairs and told me he was going to pack for our trip. He was very proud of himself, and mentioned several times that he has everything he needs for Texas.

This is what I saw when I opened it up...... we have his pillow, Nim's Island video, stuffed dinosaur, cowboy hat.....

a couple of other dinosaurs, toy airplane, and ONE cowboy boot....I moved some things around and found his John Deere Tractor that Papa gave him before we moved. No clothes....no other shoes than the single cowboy boot. He specifically told me that he had it all ....everything he needed for our trip. If I could "only" pack so well!It warms my heart that he thinks that these are what he needs for our trip...after all a boys gotta have his toys....right?...But I will have to pack some real clothes for him while he is asleep so he wont go naked...oh, and the other cowboy boot too!

Santa Train...AKA The Polar Express...

Yesterday afternoon we bundled up and headed to the downtown train station to catch the Santa Train. Every Christmas the Virginia Railway Express runs the trains on a special Saturday schedule. The reason for this is three fold. It is used as a teaching medium for children on railroad safety, to collect new toys to give to the Marines for Toys for Tots, and perhaps the most important is that Santa, Mrs Claus, and some of the North Pole helpers are there to see the kids. Our train was scheduled to depart at 3:30 p.m. We left the house a little early and had to wait in line for about 45 minutes to board the train.

The train station is a wonderful old building three stories tall with the track running on the top level. Underneath, are these real cool arches that support the tracks above...

Patiently waiting in line for the train to arrive....The train is coming!

First words out of Carson's mouth was that this couldn't be the Polar Express, because it wasn't black.

Carson waited to hand the Marine his toy.

We finally board and make our way to our seats. The trains are double deckers, but Santa was too fat to climb steps, so everyone had to sit on the lower level.

We get seated and the train leaves and heads north up past Quantico. We traveled though some beautiful countryside.... and parallelled the Potomac river for a while as well.The guest of honor makes his appearance and takes several minutes with each child.Mrs Claus was along for the ride, and visited with each child as well.The Conductor came through too! At this point Carson asked when they were serving the Hot Chocolate. If you have seen the Polar Express, you know that the Conductor punches the tickets....Carson was bummed that he didn't get his ticket punched. I guess being a six year old, everything should be like it is in the movies.... and he totally expected us to get to the North Pole, but he did tell me that he was glad that we didn't slide out on the ice.After all the excitement of seeing Santa, and the rest of the helpers, Carson settled in and colored for a while, and then being the curious child he is, he had to check out the restrooms.

While it was not THE Polar Express, it was fun! We had fun with each other, started a new family tradition, and were able to help out Toys for Tots.

Bake Sale Cupcakes!

I finally managed to finish the last of the items for the bake sale at Carson's school last night at 1 am. I made 48 Christmas light cupcakes...I think they really turned out cute. I improvised on the actual directions and used a half of a marshmallow on the side under the foil before icing to make the shape. I managed to sell all of them, plus the three plates of Christmas cookie we made as well. All in all a huge success!!!

Hopefully now things will start to slow down a bit... Today was the School Choir Concert, the Gift Giving Shoppe, Pancake Breakfast and the Bake sale. This was my PTA committee's big event for the semester... and I can say with great relief...that it is all done....NOW we are just waiting until 3 p.m. to board the VRE annual Santa Train and Toys for Tots. I am definitely making Wayne take me out to supper tonight.... I am beat.. at least I can relax on the train.

Inauguration Day Planning - Anticipated Long Lines - Millions of People

Reading through the local news of my favorite Washington DC radio website, WTOP I came across this very interesting posting http://www.wtop.com/?nid=780&sid=1544907 concerning the upcoming Inauguration Day and planning for the masses of people who plan on attending. After reading this I have a recommendation to all who plan on attending - STAY HOME. I can only imagine how lengthy the lines will be...lol

Inauguration week is going to be a very interesting week around here starting on Saturday January 17th 2009 the weekend prior to inauguration that is when people will start arriving into this area. There is a Sunday January 18th welcome event, then you have to remember that Monday the 19th is a Federal Holiday - Martin Luther Kings Birthday so a lot of people have it off - there will be service events planned Then Tuesday the 20th is Inauguration Day. Here are another couple of links you might find interesting. http://www.wtop.com/nid=780&sid=1526353

This next link is an awesome website that gives a lot of history about the inauguration as well as other pertinent information.

http://inaugural.senate.gov/index.cfm

Finally I have to work on MLK's Birthday and on Inauguration Day, I am looking forward to riding both the VRE and the Metro on those days - I'd rather do that than try to make the trip by vehicle.

Cookies!

One of Carson and mine favorite traditions is baking Christmas Cookies. Carson and I usually spend several hours doing this, and we really aren't too concerned with how they actually look because they are just for us. This year however, I made 10 dozen sugar cookies for the Christmas bake sale at Carson's school on Saturday.
I baked all the cookies ahead of time and started icing them while Carson was still at school....after all I wanted them to be pretty for the sale. I did save several for Carson to decorate and he did an outstanding job. Now all I have to do is make those cute Christmas Light cupcakes on Friday and I am finished.

Santa!!!

You know what they say about the best laid plans...they can change in an instant. We had planned for weeks to head to D.C. to Tyson's Corner to see "THE" Santa...but I had heard that the line to see Santa was HOURS long. So instead we went to the local mall and saw the "REAL" Santa. Carson took one look at Santa and told me that this one was the Real Santa. He definitely looks the part. He is the kindest Santa... and so patient.


We stood in line for about 45 minutes....Carson hopped right up and started immediately telling Santa what he wanted for Christmas. I heard him make a special point of asking Santa to remember that he would be in Texas, and would he still come there? He proceeds to spend several minutes telling him about flying on an airplane and wanting a drum. Surprise to us...because for weeks all he has said he wanted was a Speed Racer race and stunt track thing. I hunted all over for that and finally found one, and shipped it to Texas. So I have explained that sometimes Santa doesn't bring everything we ask for, he likes to surprise us with special thinks he picks out, so be ready for some cool surprises.

Santa, listening intently....

Santa, explaining...that he will find Carson in Texas.

Isn't Santa Awesome!

The Cheesy Smile....

I love this one too!

My favorite Santa picture from last year. WOW what happened to that baby face???

Let's Have a Parade!

Tonight was the annual Fredericksburg Christmas Parade. We have made it annual event to go to the Christmas Parade every year. In Amarillo, there was the Electric Light Parade held every year, and we were told that the parade here in town was a really good parade. We planned on meeting some friends and they even staked out our spot earlier in the day with our chairs, so all we had to do was show up and enjoy the show. We arrived early, we were warned that this really packs in the crowds...so we bundled up in as many layers as possible, and hit the bricks. No sooner do we get there and it starts to snow. This is the first snow of the season, and it really set the atmosphere for the evening.

The parade route was in downtown Fredericksburg, which in and of itself is an amazing place. The actual downtown dates back to before the Civil War, and many of the buildings are still in use today. There is something quite unique, being surrounded by all the history of this town.

There were marching bands, horses, floats, beauty queens, dance teams, classic cars, more marching bands, more dance teams, and more floats. I figured that for a town this size the parade would be about 45 minutes long. At an hour, I asked my friend how long it would be... she told me that in years past it is at least 2 hours long. Tonight's parade was 2 hours before the BIG GUY showed up. LONG parade....but the best parade we have ever seen.

Looking up the parade route before the start.

There was the Marine Corp Band

Fire Trucks...
Floats.....
Kiddos all bundled up....Catching snowflakes.....The three of us....I was Freezing!
You can really see the snowflakes here....
Just a cheesy grin.....I LOVE red noses in the winter.....FINALLY.... we see Santa....Carson waving to the guest of Honor....
Santa.....arrived on his sleigh pulled by Clydesdales instead of reindeer.

We get home and there is a dusting of snow on everything.... of course Carson had to play in it. He even tried to make a snow angel.I am STILL cold. I don't think I will warm up until I get in the bed. But it was all worth it.... this was a phenomenal parade in our new town. A tradition we look to continue here.