Merry Christmas from the Soares kids. This is the final result birthed from the horrid photo experience described in the "Smile Dammit" blog. Getting 3 kids to smile at the same time is priceless! 
This nativity scene was a gift from my favorite person in the world. My Grandma Dot. She sent it to me about six years ago and I have never recieved a gift that has touched my heart the way this one has. I couldn't let Christmas pass me by without displaying my treasure. My Grandma Dot and late grandfather got it the year they were married and gave it to me after they had been married over 50 years. They had been married 63 years when Pa Pa died in 2005. Here's the funny thing about it, though, baby Jesus looks like he is about 3 years old. You can't see it well from this picture but he has sort of a pageboy haircut and amazon legs. I can remember seeing this nativity scene year after year in my grandmas house. I am honored to have it in my home for my children to see (and not touch).
One year, my grandma was lettin' loose with a lot of Bailey's Irish Cream (we are not Irish but we all invite Bailey to our Christmas parties) one snowy Christmas Eve and for whatever reason, my grandfather had stayed in Florida that year while Grandma came to Illinois to visit us. After a few card games Grandma started twirling her scarf and singing Feliz Navidad at the top of her lungs.... I can still hear her now "I wanna wish you a Merry Christmas...." I was the designated driver that year and no matter which Christmas Carol was on the radio, to Grandma it was Feliz Navidad. This was also the year that Grandma opened a beautiful jacket and said "this is for show and NOT for blow!" What did she mean by that?
Despite her tipsiness on the holidays, Dorothy Winter is an amazing woman. She can tell a story like no other. I wish I had inherited that from her. All she passed to me were really good guilt trips , interpretive dance moves and recipe for homemade Bailey's Irish Cream. Oh and she gave my daughter her beautiful blue eyes (see below). She is a professional clown with the map of Norway written across her face. Here is the thing about Grandma... She is infectious, She is captivating, she is wise and very sarcastic. She is lonely, she is in pain, she is crazy, she is beautiful and she never gives up on anything. Not even her precious Cubbies. Why am I writing this? Because we all have someone like this in our lives and life is too short to let Christmas go by without putting our heart on our sleave and serving someone who has blessed us. If your grandma is alive, I challenge you to tell her WHY you love her this Christmas. If your grandma isn't alive, pick someone else's and tell them how they have blessed you. I just did!
Same eyes...3 generations later!
Feel free to comment about your grandma!
I look at this picture everyday and thank God for her
Many of you know that one of the cardinal rules that I live by is "It's not good unless it's pretty." Reason being that if it is pretty but it doesn't taste pretty, you don't remember that, you only remember how pretty it was. This is kind of how I skate through life and Thanksgiving was no exception. With three kids and two of them two and under, Mike and I were FRANTICALLY stuffing closets in the hopes that we could scoop clutter off of the floor and make room for our family and their food. My solution? Make the food as pretty as possible and no one looks at anything else. Look at that pie up there not once did anyone mention that it was overdone on the edges and underdone in the middle. Try it and feel free to comment on your success stories...
