New Year's Day

I love family traditions. It's hardwired into my personality. One of my favorite family traditions is our New Year's Day meal. This tradition stems from my Dad's side of the family. Although my Dad has spent most of his life in the south, he is originally from Pennsylvania. While the Shea's are Irish, my dad's family also has German heritage. It is from that German contingent (aka Pennsylvania Dutch), that we get our traditional New Year's meal. Pennsylvania Dutch/German heritage dictates that pork and sauerkraut be included in the New Year's Day dinner. We also eat mashed potatoes, dumplings, warm spiced applesauce, and some token black-eyed peas with our meal. I'm getting hungry just thinking about it!

I became curious as to why that's the traditional meal and what the food symbolizes. Pork is the traditional meat because the New Year is a time to look forward and a hog can not look back. According to my sources, a German/Pennsylvania Dutchman would not eat chicken on New Year's Day because it scratches backwards. Sauerkraut is eaten because it represents wealth. I'm not all into the superstition, but I do love the meal!

This year, my Aunt Jami and Uncle David joined us for the meal. Jon missed out on it because he was at home cleaning the house for his Rose Bowl Party, but he got to enjoy some leftovers. We had a great time eating and visiting. Shea even likes the meal! I really dislike sauerkraut by itself, but a bite of it mixed with pork, mashed potatoes, and a dumpling is heavenly!

Christmas in Huntsville - Part II

We spent some of our time in Huntsville at Michael's house. His family had a bad cold while we were there, so they stayed away from Grandmama and Grandpapa because they didn't want to get them sick. We're sick all the time anyway, so we just went over to their house so the girls could play together.

Bess, Shea, and EmmaSweet Bess!

Sweet Nash!
Uncle John with Nash

Shea's about to open her present from the Shea's.

Emma is so sweet to Nash, and he loves her too!

Time to relax on the couch.

Emma is driving Shea around in the new Jeep.
It has a real radio that works. How cool is that?

Pretty girls!

Emma taught Shea how to climb a tree.
Emma and Bess got the climbing gene from their Daddy!
It didn't come as naturally for Shea.

Christmas Afternoon

We went over to my parents' house for lunch on Christmas Day. We feasted on ham, sweet potato casserole, asperagus casserole, deviled eggs, green beans, rolls, and some jello concoction. As usual, Momma cooked way too much food, but boy was it good! :) I think that my favorite part of holidays is sharing meals with my family. We have a great time eating together and talking. We even enjoy and occasional discussion. :) I do really love my family! Michael and his family didn't get to come to Memphis for Christmas because Sara was due Jan. 10 (I think), and they weren't going to risk travelling at that point in her pregnancy. We missed them, but we still had a great time with the rest of my family.

Papa with Nash

After eating lunch, we finally got around to opening gifts. Nini had to help Shea open some of the toys. See that princess couch in the background? Shea insisted on bringing it to Nini and Papa's house, and we decided to let her b/c it was Christmas day. She has LoVeD sitting and laying on that tacky couch. :)

Here's me opening up some presents from my parents. I'm very excited about the new dishes!

Patrick is sporting his new toboggan from Santa Claus.

Papa had a good time throwing wadded up wrapping paper at Shea and Nini. Who needs presents when you can have so much fun with wrapping paper.

I'm reading Shea one of the books Uncle Patrick bought for her.

Nash and Nini

Uncle Patrick with Nash

Sweet big sister!

I love these two soooo much!

Shea Family Thanksgiving

This Thanksgiving Day was the first in a long time in which all of my immediate family celebrated together. It was also the first Thanksgivingthat Jon and I have spent in Memphis during our 6.5 years of marriage. We had a fabulous time hanging out with my family.

Emma and Bess came over on Tuesday to play with Shea.

Papa with Nash after dinner Wednesday night.

Some Rock Band on Wednesday night.

Papa reading to his granddaughters while Sara sings. :)

With my blessing, Jon played football Thursday morning while I cooked and watched the kids. (I would've played too if I hadn't broken my toe.) After an eventful morning, this is what Jon, Shea, Nash, and Leia did during the afternoon on Thanksgiving Day.

My family has some obsession with Rock Band.

They all love it. It's complete chaos when we get it out.

Nash wants them to stop playing the music at "Nini volume." He was trying to sleep.

Uncle Patrick came to say goodbye to the girls, and this is what happened. :)

Me with my baby brother.

After all the fun with her cousins Thanksgiving weekend, here's Shea on the way home from Nini and Papa's house on Sunday afternoon.

This weekend, Shea spent the night at her cousins' house in Alabama. (Jon and I stayed at my grandparents.) She had a fabulous time with Emma and Bess and didn't miss us one bit! When we got back to Memphis, Shea refused to get out of the car. I thought she'd be happy to be home after 3.5 hours in the car. As she buckled herself back into her carseat, she screamed, "Want Bess! Don't want home! Want Bess! Want Emma!" After a few minutes of letting her throw her fit, I had to pry her out of the car and carry her in the house. I've never seen someone so disappointed to be home!




Now I'm going to quote a story that my sister-in-law told me about the girls:
Sunday night Emma said "I miss Shea", Bess said "me too". Emma did a long contemplative pause and then said "Shea's a little rough, *giggle*", Bess said "yeah". Michael and I fell on the floor. They are all so adorable.

Grandpapa's Birthday

This past weekend, we went to Huntsville, Alabama to celebrate my Grandpapa's 75th birthday. I wanted to share a few things about my Grandpapa. Interesting fact #1 is that Grandpapa's birthday is July 26th, and his twin brother's birthday is July 27th! Ever met twins with different birthdays? My Grandpapa is a mechanical engineer and worked out at Redstone Arsenal for many years. He is absolutely brilliant! In fact, Grandpapa built the tractor that he used to dig the basement under my grandparents old house. He was always working on something in his shop, and he still does what he can. For many years now, Grandpapa has had Parkinson's Disease, among some other health problems. He thus can't do many of the things he used to enjoy.

When I was in high school, I visited Grandpapa at the arsenal. Parkinson's had started taking it's toll, but he was still able to work. He explained to me a little bit of what he was working on, and he took me on a mini-tour showing me where they tested this and that. I'm not mechanically inclinded, so I didn't understand much of what he was saying, but I enjoyed listening to him. He clearly enjoyed showing me around and chatting to me about his job.

I still love to visit Grandpapa and Grandmama. They normally cook us a big breakfast with bacon, ham, eggs, grits, and biscuits. During breakfast, Grandpapa will holler something like, "Queenie, can you bring me some more bacon." While giving him the bacon, Grandmama will reply, "Jimmy, you don't need any more bacon," and she'll complain about what he eats. Grandpapa will cheerfully ignore her and go on eating whatever he wants. Afterward, we'll sit on the porch and watch the hummingbirds feed. Grandmama and I will giggle about Grandpapa's battle with the squirrels over the bird feeder. (He greases the post with Crisco so the squirrels can't climb up to eat the birdseed.) Then, more people will wake up or arrive, and chaos ensues. While their house is normally chaotic when all the family visits, there's still something about being around them that makes me feel calm and relaxed inside.