I think my time of creating Christmas ornaments are done for now at least. Technically, I’m not done, I’m just not doing them by myself anymore. This year my nephew decided to accompany me on this conquest.
Decorative String (optional as many packs of ornaments come with them)
Baby Wipes
Full of creativity (and energy!)
For my birthday, I got a huge box that was full of two large bags of Christmas ornaments. I had plans to do gnomes and gingerbread men this year, but I couldn’t find an even number of both characters, so I looked for reindeer and they were so cute on the site, and I knew everybody would enjoy them just as much and once my nephew saw the ornaments, h immediately wanted in on everything that had to do with them.
Honestly, it was amazing to see how much excitement he had for these gnomes, because I feared he wouldn’t like them, but I was very wrong with that assumption.
He comes over for a slumber party every Friday (unless his mom or dad have other plans with him) and he looks for the massive box they’re stored in and arranges one from each baggy on the opposite side of my little table. We have five gnomes in a different ensemble while one reindeer head or face, and it doesn’t matter how many times I tell Nolan they don’t have to be Rudolph, because it’ll go in one ear and out the other, so there are many Rudolph on his side.
I’ve done some kind of ornament since 2014. I worked on them with my nana first and she was fine with using paint to decorate anything, including glitter (although there were years, she tried to cut me off!) but even after she moved up north, I still used acrylic paint for everything. I never thought to use markers before. My little nephew literally grabbed my box of markers and went to town on his stack, and I was speechless!
After I recovered from this epiphany, the ideas didn’t stop coming to neither one of us. Since he is in kindergarten now, he has learned how to stay in the lines, but for these ornaments he is able to scribble or use a LOT of black on his characters. He is definitely a fun of darker colors mixed in with some neon here and there. And since he loves these coloring so much, he usually has the sides of his hands smeared with fresh markings. He wears them like they are his tattoos or something!
We actually have one gnome we call the “Pawpaw Gnome” because I told Nolan he reminded me of my dad/his papaw. This one has a full and long bread with deer antlers poking out of his hood. I tend to go with my favorite colors that actually look great on my dad. I know dad enjoys the fact that he has a gnome dedicated to him, even though he no longer wears his bread/hair long anymore.
My second favorite is the girl gnome or has a feminine touch as it has pig tails in a bow standing out of the hood. The hat itself has medium and small size circles throughout and I like to add shadows on them to make them pop out a little more. This is the only gnome I’ll use a bright pink shade because it reminds me of the girly aspect.
I liked this one so much that I kept it back for myself as a little gift. The color scheme is made up of the Frozen films and TheSnowQueen by Hans Christian Andersen, I used on this year’s reading journal. I never had the perfect moment to publish what I was doing in the journal at the beginning of 2023, but I wanted to give you an idea of how everything turned out inside my journal. So, this gnome has my main colors: pink and green for Princess Anna and light blue and purple for Queen Elsa. Unfortunately, I didn’t refer to any other characters in my journal, but I added a bright orange to mimic Olaf’s carrot nose for the gnome’s pigtails and gave her brown boots to represent Kristoff and Sven.
I’m hoping by the time this post goes out, Nolan and I are finished with them and have been sent to their owners. If not, I hope you enjoy reading about my nephew and I’s new tradition. I think it will be probably three more years before my niece Kimber will join us. It’ll be interesting to see if Nolan wants to continue doing them with me once that time comes, but I’m focusing on the “now” rather than the future.
What kind of holiday craft(s) were you working on this holiday season? For those who include young kids, how do you help convince them to continue the traditions you’ve built with them?
It has been a while since I’ve done anything with my blog. The hiatus will break with this review as the 1st of December will be a wrap up of last year’s Christmas posts, so be on the lookout for that!
This month I wanted to participate in the reading challenge called “Nonfiction November”. It is ran by a person named Olive or “abookolive” on YouTube. She challenges everyone to read at least one nonfiction book, especially if you don’t normally read them in the first place. Every year she does this and comes up with various prompts that can be delivered in many different ways. For this 2023, the four words were: Capitol, Fraud, Web and Display. I had figured out a list before the month started, but I quickly switched everything around because I didn’t want to force myself to complete the challenge, so at the time this post goes live, I’d finished two nonfiction books.
Seven-year-old Helen lives in darkness and silence. She doesn’t see, she can’t hear, she doesn’t speak. One day, a young woman arrives at that prison of silence ― Anne Sullivan. She is determined to open the door of Helen’s dark world. It’s not easy to teach little Helen. Helpless, knocked out of the rut, she became a little wilderness. But a miracle happens. Helena learns ― learns to read, write, live a full life. She attends college, matures and becomes a symbol of inspiring courage for the whole world.
taken by Goodreads.
Originally, I was reading Helen’s actually biography on YouTube, but I remember we had a very edition of Lorena A. Hickok’s The Story of Helen Keller in our taller bookshelf in the kids’ playroom. I vaguely remember my nana giving me Lorena A. Hickok’s book after my papaw died. I wasn’t up for it in the beginning, mainly because the book was fragile. It came out in 1968, which my mom and I assume nana or the Aunts (my papaw’s aunts that were just referred as “The Aunts” throughout the generations) to my Aunt Laurie as she is deaf. The timelines do make sense if someone gave it to her as this is definitely written for young children in mind by the illustrations and way of speaking about Helen and her teacher Anne Sullivan.
Although she could not put it into words as you or I, her hand grasping The Stranger’s hand asked a question. “Who are you?” And into her eager little palm, the hand came back “T-E-A-C-H-E-R.”
I was never really interested in learning about Helen Keller as a child, mainly because I never saw myself with a disability. I was raised to be like everyone else, but I wasn’t like them. One bad thing about this book is that you don’t get the sense of Helen’s true feelings about how she “saw” herself. It is mentioned that the Kellers and Teacher (Ms. Sullivan) wanted to keep her popularity away from her so she wouldn’t act spoiled.
Helen’s story is amazing, even I can say that. She was always ready to learn new things, and Teacher “showed” her everything in great detail. They communicated by the Manuel Alphabet, which looked to me like Sign Language. Despite the fact I can’t do the ASL, I love watching my Aunt Laurie and her husband Mike and her children talk among themselves. My aunt can read lips as she went to both deaf and public schools. However, I’ve never been around someone who is blind from childhood, so I’m not familiar with the tape of training they do to get on with life. Every story is different, and Helen loved the prospect of meeting other children who were blind, as they could talk through using Braille, but she was basically alone with Teacher as her saving grace.
“I realize that the obstacles in the way of my receiving a college education are very great. But a true soldier does not admit defeat before the battle.”
The thing I wish was talked about more in the book, was more about her life after she stopped going to school. Unfortunately, the author stops talking about Helen’s mother and sister close to the end of the story, so you really don’t see how much of relationship she has with her family once she became an adult, however, you do learn more about Teacher and her life. And before anyone asks, yes, I cried when she dies. I felt for Helen at that time, even though she had another companion by the name of Polly Thomson, doing the lifecare things Anne would do with her.
Honestly, it was a very interesting read for me. I saw a lot of my childhood through Helen. I loved to learn new things, frankly I still do! I don’t believe you really stop learning; I’m always adapting to life. Most recently I have had to accept my own parents are getting older and will need to transfer my lifecare to someone else. I think it’s wonderful the fact I am comfortable with staying in nursing homes, although I see it as like a vacation away, some day it might be my reality. I don’t have my own Teacher or companion yet, so it is a little rocky on that part, but it’s something we will have to deal with in the future.
Have you read Lorena Hickok’s “The Story of Helen Keller” or maybe Helen’s own memoir “The Story of My Life” in the past? What were your thoughts on either book?
I was only away a month, but it felt longer this time. These breaks are liberating as odd as it sounds; blogging has always been my sanctuary and to take a mini hiatus and on top of that, enjoy the time away is somewhat scary.
I will admit though, I have really enjoyed putting together these “Life Lately” posts again. One of the things I’ve unknowingly done in the last four years is keeping private things like anything to do with my family to myself. It’s not really anyone’s business, but for these posts I can kind of let loose and your feedback is so nice and reassuring to the continuation of my blog. So, I thank you for your patience and understanding.
July started off as a pretty good month.
We had finally planned our trip up north for later in the month. I was thoroughly excited because I was bummed, we weren’t able to go back in April, but my niece wasn’t in the best shape–sleep wise–to make the four-hour trip. Nolan can be easily entertained by the construction on the road. We saw a lot of tractors and cranes. I particularly enjoy the cranes the most. I’ve always been mesmerized by them. Recently, we had a bad storm and one of the trees in our backyard fell over on top of our back deck. It’s the place I tend to hang out the most and the cats can come and go freely, and we needed workers to help get it out, and they brought out two different cranes, and my parents took video of them taking a large section of the tree over the house. I had the interesting spot because I could watch my mom basically hold her breath and see the shadows on the floor as they were lifting it from the back to the front yard. It was CRAZY!
Nolan also entertained Kimber in the first hour or so, as they were sitting next to each other in the car. My mom sat in the back with them, but she thought it would be easier to sit in the middle of the kids, as my sister was driving and isn’t as confident at trying to do little things for me, like feed me my McDonalds meal. We no longer have a McD’s in my hometown, and I practically go berserk because I miss their fries so much! It’s one fast food meal that doesn’t exactly heat up great in the microwave or air fryer, so I have to wait until we travel to indulge on a plan cheeseburger and French fries… I get one on the way up and as we drive home. It’s one of the best things about traveling for me.
Anyways, both of the kids did fairly well on the drive. Kimber was a bit bored within the last 20 minutes, but she was so good though! Nolan was a little sad as his iPad died on him halfway, but he had Mimi, the construction, and occasionally heard “Legends Never Die” song from the DetectivePikachu movie.
I spent the majority of the time counting yellow cars and, on the way, home I was busying myself by looking for hawks. On my mom’s side, we are obsessed with three birds: robins, cardinals and hawks. They each mean something different for us, and I do enjoy looking for them on road trips.
I was very happy to be out of the car and visit with family. We didn’t have everybody like normally, but it was still a fun gathering. The kids enjoyed the toys that my Aunt Laurie and nana had bought them. Unfortunately, for her Kimber though, they have hardwood floors all throughout the house, which is great for wheelchairs, but not so much with Kimber, she was just trying to walk, and we didn’t want to let her crawl all over the house because that’s even more dangerous. A walker was bought, so she could get around easily.
It was a little odd being in a brand-new house as my aunt and uncle moved last year, but they have a wonderful place and Nolan really enjoyed their backyard as it was fenced in and he could swim in the kiddie pool, play with his new Nerf gun (that broke within 20 minutes of using it) without having neighbors watching him. Not that their other place had weird neighbors, I just mean it was spacious and private for everyone. My mom and sister brought our Kimber’s pack-n-play outside on their deck and she could see everything, and you could tell she enjoyed being around everybody.
One of my favorite photos of our trip was the one of my nana holding her great-granddaughter, Kimber. I think I was the only one who realized there were four generations of her line present. I found it very special. Nana had already met her the month before, but it was the fact she remembered her, especially the necklaces. She was very interested in her Life Alert button, and seemed attached to the little silver urn necklace, she had told Kimber that was Papaw Miller’s. We refer my papaw as “Papaw Miller” I wasn’t on that decision to call him that, but I love it nevertheless.
This visit was interesting because I was actually able to have real ice cream again. I’ve been living off of vegan ice cream by SoDelicious since last November. I’ve tried four flavors, but my absolute favorite is their Cookies n Creme. It is dark chocolate with Oreo-like cookies crushed up, and it is made up of cashew milk. It is so, so good! I was told not to eat a lot of the fruits and vegetables at the start of the trip, because I tend to have a bad reaction afterwards, but I decided I was going to let loose a bit and I had a small Oreo blizzard (thank you Uncle David!) with a slice of ice cream cake after supper. I kept telling myself I was going to regret it in the end, but thankfully, nothing happened.
Now, let’s discuss August.
This month were slightly mind-blowing for us, as it meant my little nephew was going to start Kindergarten. I remember when he was a baby and his parents were trying to figure out what age he could start school, and I sat there thinking “oh, that’s so far away.” yet here I am trying to still fully grasp the fact he can go to school…
I actually had a similar realization while we were up north. My youngest cousin is in his early twenties, and he looks and acts like an adult, so seeing both perspectives was somewhat intimidating to me. They also have some similarities as they enjoy video games, being around family, love books and Pokémon.
I posted this on my socials because honestly, I just needed to get things out of my head. I wanted to express my love for my nephew, but I also wanted things out loud. I mean, the kid is five after all.
“This week is a very bittersweet, as it is the week my little nephew begins kindergarten.
Even though I didn’t give birth to him, knowing he’s about to make friends, learn something new, makes me highly emotional.
My job as an auntie isn’t over. I have plenty of things to teach the little goofball. However, he will know a little of math. I find it absolutely hilarious that I was the one who did this, but math wasn’t my least favorite subject in school. It didn’t matter the grade/level, it all sucked!
As he continues to grow up, he’ll have sport events, birthday parties, etc and I will probably have to take a back seat on things. I hope he doesn’t get bullied or become the bully; he is such a caring dude and thinks of others (when he wants to of course!) as he makes sure every house or zoo, he creates has a ramp by the door.
Despite this sadness, I do feel honored to watch him blossom. These little toes represent his baby days. A wonderful but learning experience for this auntie. I hope he understands how much I love his goofy soul and enjoys this next adventure.”
Now that I have that out and about, I can finally tell you about something else has happened recently. I actually posted this immediately after the Nolan post, but in my defense, it was National Cat Day and I had to say something about our cats.
I have been keeping a secret from you. We have a new kitten to our neighborhood.
Back in late June, we had this itty-bitty kitten appear in our backyard. After discovering a family of skunks living underneath dad’s old shed and a group of raccoons destroying mom’s corn, this little thing was a sight to behold.
We recently looked back at our “memories” on Facebook to see how old our cats were, and we’ve figured out that from Bootsie to Stormy and Bear-Bear are about 9-12 years old, but Fifi, Nelson, and Oscar are probably eight to seven years old. So, we haven’t been around an actual kitten in years, so my mom and I were floored with this nice surprise. We adopted it into our clowder, (dad likes her too!) and she basically gets along with everyone, except for two of them. There’s no need to worry about them as they are perfectly fine with the skunks and raccoons.
We are in agreement with the fact it is a girl. She has no balls, as mom continues to check on a daily basis. We named her Chatterbox or Chatter for short; she likes to talk like Fifi and Nelson, so I thought it would be perfect for her.
She was hesitant to approach us in the beginning; she has enjoyed being held in the past month or so, but getting used to my wheelchair and I, was a bit much. When she finally learned to climb up onto the deck, she was able to hang out with us, and I finally have her trust after a few failed attempts.
I thought her arrival was significant as I am still grieving over the loss of my cat Stormy, and I thought our pride were feeling the loss just as much–none of our cats have sat on top of the rails to our deck. They will balance on the lower part, but I have yet to see them go on top like they used to, like Stormy. The big cats will not sit on the top, but apparently Chatter enjoys it. She about gave me a freaking heart attack, and I almost cried when she just settled in the middle of the coral, like it wasn’t a big deal at all. This little baby is still testing her limits with herself and us, as right now her favorite spot to sleep is on top of hot tub, and my parents are mad about it, technically, she has two others who join her from time to time, hoping they don’t get chased off in the end.
All right, that is it. I am officially done with this post. I apologize for how lengthy it became, but honestly it feels great to get everything out in the open now. If you’re still here after all that, leave me a heart emoji in the comments. 💜
I don’t know about you, but my family has never been into games.
The one thing I wished my family did more of was play games. We had a couple of years where we did in fact play Just Dance and Taboo, but they didn’t end quite well, which is probably why we never kept at it afterwards!
Now that I have Nolan and Kimber, I would like to bring in some old school games that I certainly enjoyed as a child. Nolan is very infatuated with technology and understands what a PlayStation and XBOX are–thanks in part to his daddy! However, as I’ve found out recently, he has a knack for Hungry Hungry Hippoes, so I may be right in my thinking that introducing some of these games I will be talking about in this post, will be something he might enjoy too!
Unfortunately, Kimber isn’t old enough to actually play with us, but I’m hoping watching the two of us would give her something to look forward to in the future. So, here were some of the games that I thought could be really good contenders for the three of us and maybe possibly your family too to play during the holidays.
Connect 4
Last September, while my sister was in the hospital, Nolan and I spent a good amount of time together and on Nickleodeon, they had some advertisements for the newest creation of the Connect 4 franchise; we were intrigued, Nolan especially, but I’ve always been more into the original setup, so I wasn’t too interested in this version.
I have many, many memories of playing this game in school. While I was in elementary, I took speech and every Friday we had a popcorn party, where we sat on the floor, ate popcorn, and played a different game (thus how this post came about!) each week. Connect 4 is a very easy game to understand as you have the structure itself and two different colored coins or chips, the objective is to not only block the other player, but you also have to connect four spots in a row in order to win.
Connect 4 is a lot like Bingo and Tic-Tac-Toe as you can go in many directions: diagonally, side to side, and up and down. As long as you win “fairly” then anyone at any age can be a master at the game itself.
Jenga
When I was in elementary school, I took Speech, and I would be in there for maybe 20-25 minutes a day and I specifically remember Fridays being the best day of the entire week because it was our party day. Our teacher was so sweet, and she would make popcorn for each class, and we’d play different games, but it was a ruse because we still had to do our lessons in between turns. She was a smart and sneaky like that! Anyways, I tried to rack my brain trying to figure out which ones we played, and I really hope that I can teach my nephew someday soon.
Jenga is very unique, it is made up of rectangle sticks and requires you to really think about the overall design, whenever it is your turn, you pick a stick from the very bottom of the build or a little higher. For most people, you rarely went from the bottom as you need good bones for everything to stay up and if you take one from that section and it turns out it was helping from breaking down the whole thing, you lose. My nephew has always enjoyed stacking things up and blocks in general, so toddlers would really love playing something like this because they’re always doing things with their toys.
Screamo
For this game, I learned it at the nursing home back in October. If these ladies ranging in age early 70’s to mid-80’s can play, anybody can do it. My nephew is four and he just loves playing this game anytime he comes over. It is usually the first thing he wants to do! What he doesn’t know is that he’s learning a bit of math too!
It is fairly simple once you figure out the steps. You have a paper with the numbers 1-12, two dice, and 12 chips or coins as my nephew prefers to call them. The main goal is to roll both of your dice and say it lands on a four and seven, this equals out to be seven but you’ve already covered up your seven with a previous play, so you have three options, that is if these other numbers are not already gone, you can lay down two coins on your four and three or exchange them with a five and two or six and one, which is even better because it is better to remove the number one as you can’t get a natural one with two dice.
UNO
I like a lot of card games, but my ultimate favorite–even if I’m not the best at it!–is UNO.
I have never been able to figure out how long I’ve loved UNO, but it had to come after middle school though. It doesn’t show up in my earlier memories and this kind of makes sense because I do remember playing an awful lot from 2005-2009 with my family and friends at slumber parties (do you remember those?!) and again, it is pretty easy to follow, but there are a few symbols that can be somewhat tricky, like the reverse and skip cards. These can be really annoying if you are playing with a large group of people and nobody really knows who is next in line, so to make things easier on yourself and the newcomers, I’d pick those guys out before you start the game entirely.
There is an episode of The Golden Girls where Dorothy is playing Gin Rummy with her mother Sophia, and she always loses the game and Sophia basically drives her completely insane after every round so she gives up and decides no more. By the end of the episode, you learn why Sophia chooses to play it with her daughter and they end up playing a round during the last few seconds of the show. I guess I’m the same way with UNO. I love playing it with my family the most, it’s where I have the most memories, and it doesn’t matter on the age because my nana was in her late 70’s when we taught her so it’s not all that difficult once you know what each card means while the game continues.
In a way, I am like Sophia because I like the talk and watching everyone’s facial expressions as they arrange their cards and it’s one game that being an observer can have its advantages… As much as I’d like to win a round or two, I am fine with seeing someone get excited instead. This is what I hope to teach Nolan the most; it’s okay to allow someone to win but you never, ever tell them afterwards, because then they’ll think you forfeited the game and they’ll want a rematch and that attitude doesn’t make good challenges, especially if they lose against you.
What are your favorite games to play during the holidays? Which one do you hope to teach your child or family member someday?
Last year, I was scrolling through Facebook and this meme had popped up from a library, stating mainly to those who are adults, that it is okay to enjoy reading YA (young adult) books. I took this to heart because I have heard of my favorite booktubers feeling uneasy about checking out books in this genre, and to see this slip all throughout my social media has influenced my own journey branching out from other genres that I feel weird reading like children’s literature. I wasn’t a lover of reading (of any kind) when I was little, so now I’m diving deep into classics I had pushed aside in the past.
This book isn’t part of that list, but it is middle grade, which is targeted for students in junior high or middle school, at least that’s what I believe is the meaning behind it. An example of what is considered middle grade are the Harry Potter books. Of course, they take a darker note after ‘The Goblet of Fire’ but for the most part they are always regarded for pre-teens around the ages of 10-15.
WARNING: there are some spoilers below. So, If you are planning on reading the book in the near future, you might want to skip this post!
I am learning how to be sad and happy at the same time.
Jude never thought she’d be leaving her beloved older brother and father behind, all the way across the ocean in Syria. But when things in her hometown start becoming volatile, Jude and her mother are sent to live in Cincinnati with relatives.
At first, everything in America seems too fast and too loud. The American movies that Jude has always loved haven’t quite prepared her for starting school in the US—and her new label of “Middle Eastern,” an identity she’s never known before. But this life also brings unexpected surprises—there are new friends, a whole new family, and a school musical that Jude might just try out for. Maybe America, too, is a place where Jude can be seen as she really is.
taken from Goodreads.
This was one of the most beautiful books I’ve ever read, and a brilliant read for this month as it is Ramadan in the Muslim communities. As you may know, I love to learn, and a few years ago I was introduced to the holiday event Ramadan and Eid. This was one that I was not familiar with, but I was thrilled to learn what people do to celebrate the month of fasting, praying, and ultimately the renewal of life that comes with it. I’ve learned a lot in the last three years, as I always read at least one book around Ramadan, and this year I chose “Other Words for Home” by Jasmine Warga.
This story of a little girl who spent her early years in Syria, living with her family, going to school, and having the typical childhood, until the start of the violence there breaks every thing she is used to, and it immediately made me remember an old friend of mine, her name was Reem, and she lived in Syria. One of her last tweets was in 2014, and honestly, every time she came on with new updates about her and her outlook on the country as a whole was so heartbreaking for us. I haven’t talked about her much because it hurts to know how close she was to it. I don’t know if she made it out of Syria and I’ve checked her previous accounts on Twitter, but there’s nothing there. I always hope she is somewhere free of the chaos and that’s all I can really do.
For our main character Jude, you are able to see the innocence of this young girl navigating this new world in a way; I liked the way, we as the reader, were able to see the good and bad in Jude’s life. She goes to a school in America with her cousin, who was born here. It was interesting to see the differences between these little girls as they are part of the same blood but has been through different things. For Jude’s cousin Sarah, she wouldn’t be totally comfortable accepting a hijab after starting her period. You get the gist right away that she wasn’t raised like that and isn’t very accepting of Jude to being like that.
and I know I am not back home, but here, in this home.
Despite this, there was one girl that was a great addition to Jude’s life, and her name is Layla. She was born in the United States, but her family is from Lebanon and own a Middle Eastern restaurant that Jude visits to enjoy food and love of her native homeland. Layla is a great insight into what it is like for a child who doesn’t feel like she belongs and feels like she’s punished for it. I believe Sarah and Layla respect two sides of what it’s like being a girl in America. If people don’t understand something, they are afraid of it. I heard this phrase a lot as a teenager, but it really spoke to me while reading about Jude in this book.
A way of getting acclimated to her new school was instantly being in an ESL class. ESL means “English Second Language” and I can remember seeing several students in school growing up, having to be hallways to learn English, because as far as I knew we didn’t have those at the time. Honestly, it wasn’t until high school we were allowed to choose between two languages to learn as an elective, and they were German and Spanish. In Jude’s case, she has three other students in her class, and they were from other parts of the world, and it was sweet to see them learn slang words like “bougie” (which I did not learn about until I was 28!) and phrases such as, “you know?”
There were so many things I truly adored about this book, but I did not enjoy how it ended. I felt like it should have given the reader more of what happens after that final scene, but instead we were left with a cliffhanger ending and it really angered me because I thought it could have continued on a little more, but I’ll get over it.
Have you read “Other Words for Home” by Jasmine Warga yet? If so, what were your thoughts? What was your favorite scene(s) of the whole book?
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