A rare family visit. Remembering some summer fun...and cuteness!

   It has been approximately 7 years since my oldest nephew and his wife flew out from California to see our family.  Their older daughter, now 7, was only a few months old at the time.  They had a second daughter who will turn 2 this September, so there were four of them flying this time.  They were lucky that both girls didn't really mind the flights.
      My oldest brother (grandpa to these two girls) hosted a Gleason-Leohr family picnic while they were here, and they also celebrated with my sister-in-law's family as well during their 2 week stay.
    This trip was full of 'firsts' for the two girls.  I can't believe it, but they had NEVER seen FIREWORKS before!  They also went to Lake Michigan for the first time as well.  Of course, it was the younger niece's first plane trip as well, and although they had a layover in Denver, both girls seemed to enjoy the trip, like an adventure.
    When I found out that we had not only one, but TWO baby girls to be born in 2012, I was immediately spurred to create baby girl albums.  I gave both mothers their albums during this visit and the family picnic.  I am also creating copies for all us aunts and grandmothers as well.

 Skylar, granddaughter of my brother Robert.

 Walking off (not) into the sunset... Jordan's girlfriend Marci, Skylar, and Robert.

Robert's daughter Jennifer with her daughter Skylar, the first grandniece born in 2012.  Skylar is a VERY girly-girl, & her nursery was done in a baby animal theme, so her album is made of not only the pink & green, feminine items as on the cover, but also contains several animal prints.

     I created Gleason Girl albums for the ladies of our family as well. Aunt Pat's is seen above. Rather than concentrating on the two youngest girls, I included bits of each of us in order of age.  If I did not have a newborn photo, I used the photo at the youngest age available.  I included a more current photo of them when available, & included wedding photos of myself & adult niece Sarah.

     Aunt Pat ended up crying TWICE, first when I gave her the ORIGINAL (& only copy?) of her brother's (my Uncle's) senior album, seen below.  She wasn't expecting either of these gifts, and I think she really appreciates them!

     My cousin Marvie (Marvin Jr.) was one of many relatives on this side of the family, who I have not seen in several years, so that was a special treat.  There were also a lot of new family members who I had NEVER met!  Needless to say, I took LOTS of photos & am trying to share them with as many as possible.

Gleason Christmas 2014 at Sarah's home

     My niece Sarah hosted the Gleason Christmas this year, in the old farm house home of herself, husband Paul, and his son Ryan.  Brandon is now living down state with his dad, but always comes to his mom's home for Christmas.  This year, her oldest son Alex moved back down to North Carolina, and now he is currently planning to move in with his girlfriend Amie.  Sarah was blessed with them driving here for several days over Christmas, returning to North Carolina after celebrating Christmas with the Gleasons.

This is the NON spicy meat...

This is the majority of her Christmas village, with a few pieces in the living room, and the rest in the school library.

    Wesley has been exchanging gifts with Brandon for the past few years, as they are the only non-adult children/grandchildren who regularly attend this gathering.  We followed Sarah's exchange gift guidelines of gifts being purchased from second-hand stores, yard sales, etc.

(Nearly) vintage STAR WARS puzzles from
Aunt Deb; these were Justin & Jordan's when they were little!

My FATHER'S hatchet...

     For the 2nd time this Christmas season, I broke down in tears in response to seeing Wesley's gift.  He had asked for a hatchet, after reading the book of that name at school.  A young boy became lost, with only a hatchet to help him to survive.  When Wesley opened his gift from Brandon, I realized that it may have been one of my father's, and when they said yes, I was already in tears.  It is very rusty, and needed to have the handle reinforced, but that doesn't matter....it belonged to my late father.  The fact that it is rusty only reinforces that fact, as he had several tools which were rusty, damaged, repaired and repaired again.   The attitude of those who grew up during or after the great depression:  that idea of repairing rather than replacing an item..... using, re-using, and using them up. 

Six Christmas celebrations and counting.

     Yesterday's Christmas celebration with my side of the family means that I have formally celebrated Christmas SIX, yes 6, times so far this month!  Nothing measures up to our quiet but not always calm celebration with our immediate family, but they were all fun in their own ways.
     My niece hosted this year's Gleason Christmas, far out 'into the sticks' as many would say, with 16 of us non-fur-family members in her home.  Good food was only the beginning of the festivities, as she had chosen our white-elephant gift exchange to be of 'resale' items, ie items we found at Goodwill, the Salvation Army, Pawn Shops, yard sales, etc.
     She and I immediately thought this would make our shopping SO EASY this year, but in fact, it made it surprisingly difficult.
     When I asked her for gift suggestions for the gift exchange between our sons (independent of the adult white elephant gifts), she remembered that her son needs black ties for his band concerts now.  So of course, I could not find a solid black tie to save my life, even without following the resale purchase rules.  I guess I waited too long and didn't think of going up town to a typical men's clothing store.  Our local Meijer no longer even sells them (yes, I asked an employee and she said they do not stock them anymore!) and Wal-Mart had none to be found.  Therefore, he received several ties, many of which were quite colorful and tacky, but no solid black ones, along with "New Tree" scented potpourri hangers for his first vehicle.
     I was immediately in tears when I realized that the hatchet that our son received was originally MY FATHER'S (who passed away just 10 months after walking me down the aisle)!  Wesley had put a hatchet on his Christmas wish list, after reading a book named "Hatchet" in class, a story about a young boy who gets lost and the only item he has with him that can help him survive is his trusty hatchet.
     I have SO many wonderful memories to document here, with so many wonderful photos, that I will be sharing them in several posts this week, while preparing to host my sister-in-law and niece for a day of scrapbooking on Friday.
     I hope you all have had a VERY MERRY & SAFE Christmas, with so many precious memories to document in your scrapbooks, altered projects, home decor, etc. and that crafting projects based upon your winter experiences keeps your HEART WARM & MEMORIES SAFELY DOCUMENTED. 
     Gentle Christmas hugs (as well as those for Hannukah, Kwanza and whatever celebrations you may share with your family and friends) and to all warm winter wishes.

Revisiting a favorite project...

Baby Girl/Gleason Girls albums.....

   I was SO excited when I heard that not only one, but TWO baby girls were going to join our family back in 2012!  I have a son and the boys outnumber girls 2 to 1 in our family.  I created multiple copies (so far NINE!) of the baby girl albums, customizing each one to the colors that the parents used in their nurseries, and my favorite colors in my own copy.  They are over a year old now and I am finishing albums to send to each family.  My copy is much larger, including both new girls as well as myself, and an additional version contains Gleason girls from several generations.
  I used a LOT of 3 Birds scrapbooking and paper crafting products, with some generic craft supplies, such as feather and lace added, most of which were purchased at Wal-Mart.
   Below you will find some of my favorite pages, both with and without photos.  



I began 'getting inky" this past year.  The pages in these albums (I'm giving out several versions to the mothers, etc) are personalized to match or at least coordinate with the colors of the girls' nurseries.  Both nieces' rooms contained pink and green, but one had an animal theme, hence some browns, and the other had a Pooh theme, with some yellows.

This photo shows the vellum page that matches the right side, folded over to our left.  That's why the doily page below it looks blurry.  

Photo credit: Jennifer Gould

 

 Some of the pages are much more simple, at least for the time being.  as I add more photos I'm sure I will not be able to stop myself from adding more layers and bling! lol  I also added several products for journaling, decorative items, etc...

I'm off to continue updating other drafts... SCRAP ON!

 

A third Christmas celebration, and Smoke is still blessing us with her presence.

     Saturday December 21st, my oldest brother's birthday, we hosted Gleason Christmas here in our home.  This house seems much smaller when there are 16 family members inside, but it was fun & cozy.  LOTS of great food, an always fun guys & girls gift exchanges, Brandon & Wesley exchanged gifts (Wesley made out BIG time, receiving the bow that has been passed down from Justin & Jorday to Brandon, and now Wesley!), a bit of drama, but lots of love.  Since Annetta provided the meat, I felt obligated to do dessert BIG!  We had a dessert BAR: Lemon Meringue Pie (Leon's fave for his birthday), Cherry Pie (Robert's fave for his birthday on the 10th), Cherry Cheesecakes for all of cheesecake lovers & January birthday of Justin, Wesley, Grandma Ruth & myself; Chocolate Fountain & lots of goodies to dip, ice cream sandwiches with cool whip..... ahhh and lots of color-coordinated candy too (My color scheme this Christmas was jewel tones, specifically Pink, Purple & Teal with Silver).
     On Monday December 23rd we learned that our beloved Smoke, our 11 1/2 year old fur baby has a large tumor in her abdomen, as well as fluid around her lungs.  I had begun creating a post to be published at a later date, expecting to lose her before or on Christmas day.  Through the tears and several attempts to save that post, it never came to be.  Smoke is still with us, still has an appetite etc, and I pray several times a day that she does not suffer, passing away comfortably in her sleep.  It has been 6 1/2 days since we got the terrible news and I keep praying for her.
     On a cheerful note, we were able to have our first Christmas gathering with our friends, the Davis family.  Pork loin dinner, a few gifts for the children, CHOCOLATE and hours of chatting..... the kids had a sleepover here, including HOURS of sledding in the 36 degree, partly sunny weather, and even some fireworks that night.  We also had our neighbor and his nephews over for the dessert bar as well, earlier in the week.
    Today they went sledding in town but gave up after only 15-20 minutes of bitter winds, continuing on to Pizza Hut before Wesley headed home with them this time.  Ahhh, the quiet!  And some MUCH needed playtime for Wesley.
      We all need more social time and I pray that this is a beginning of that... onward and upward.