Is It Naptime Yet

We have a pretty nice mail lady, and mailman for that matter, but this post is mostly about our mail lady.

I’m not sure how long she’s been our mail lady, but I only really remember her from sometime last year. I think before that we hadn’t had much interaction with her because most of our packages were delivered through UPS, and we just never saw her. Last year we began getting a lot of packages from Amazon through the USPS, and we saw her, even if it was just waving thank you as she pulled away in her truck or seeing her as we came or left our house. She also delivered the doll house we got from Conrad, and mentioned to Lilah that she could not open it till Christmas, since it was addressed to Lilah and it said not to open till Christmas.

Ever since last year we wave to her each time we see her and if she happens to be at the mailbox the girls go over to get our mail from her. They were wary of her the first few times, but now they seem to be a little more comfortable with her, though still wary if I just watch from the driveway.

(The mailbox is in our connecting duplex’s yard, so if it were just one house, it would be in our yard.)

She’s a very nice woman but she has an always busy or needs to be moving type personality. We see her dancing and singing to her i-tunes and when we’ve spoken it’s always been very quick.

Today we got another package and instead of just leaving it on the door and waving goodbye as I got it and she pulled away, she waited at the doorstep and also gave us our mail.

I had been taking a nap so she had rang the doorbell and knocked by the time I got there. She said, “Why so slow, slowpoke?” I replied I was taking a nap and she apologized for waking me and asked if the girls were sleeping too. I replied it was just me and the younger one as Lilah emerged and she commented on her being so quiet for me and then she was gone as quickly as she had appeared.

I really like our mail lady and her little quirkiness. With living in an apartment you got minimum interaction with the mailman and now with living right by the mailbox and receiving packages we see them on average once a week and they know who we are.  Our mailman also directly gave me a package and our mail the other day when I was out doing lights on Monday.

I wonder what it’s like to remember people and their addresses.  I wonder if they first know me by my address or by the name on the package. I wonder if seeing my girls ever brightens their day. In fact I know it brightened the mailman’s day on Monday. He handed me a package and Lilah asked what it was as I handed it to her. I told her it was a Christmas present for Daddy and she immediately replied, “Lets go wrap it right now.” Our mailman chuckled and replied how cute it was that she knew exactly what to do with it.

I wonder if I’m allowed to give gifts to our mail people, and I plan on trying to give them some of the truffles I make to show thanks for being such nice mail people.  I think interacting with them as given me teaching experiences with the girls on friendliness and being polite to those who serve us.

Yesterday the girls and I made pictures to decorate our front window. I cut out some snowflakes, Christmas trees and stars and they colored them.

Then last night we finally got to decorate the tree.

Lilah had been dying to decorate the tree since Jon put it up on Sunday and we finally got to it last night.
(Monday night we fixed the tree and it  got a little late to decorate so we just watched Shrek the Halls on TV.)

We had fun and Lilah loved decorating. Eden loved playing in the stockings.

Believe me when I say we don’t have enough ornaments to have 8 this close together.

It was Eden’s turn to put on the angel. Her mouth is full of a marshmallow that was in her hot chocolate, and it was a large one, not the small ones.

Since we only set up 2/3rds of the tree we had extra lights and I put some in our front window today. Lilah said I was the best at making Christmas fun.

Also, here are some pictures from us making a gingerbread house with Carolyn on Saturday so Jon could study.  She graciously let us give her company all afternoon, and into the evening,  at the house she’s watching since we had to wait 1 hour for the walls to dry and then another 2 hours to let the roof set. The girls played and watched Dora while we talked and took naps  waiting to decorate the house.

Eden eating candy.

Giving a big smile after eating candy.

Lilah eating candy too.

The girls also want to eat it right away, but I’m making them wait till after Christmas.

Besides putting up lights today I went over to my in-laws house to help with an Internet problem and give them their Christmas present a little early.

We gave them speakers to use with their computer. Poor mom as only been able to view our videos, but not hear the music if it’s a picture video, or more importantly hear what it being said, like in Lilah’s instructional video on how to make a sandwich. It seemed strange to buy the speakers now but not give them till Christmas, when they could use and enjoy them now.

I set up the speakers while there, which was a miracle in and of it’s self because I never touch the computer, but Jon said it was easy, and it was. After getting set up the girls wanted to show grandma all the interesting videos on my site and I mean all the interesting videos. We watched several before I said we needed to go. Lilah gave narration though all of them and distracted grandma from what was on the screen, though I’m sure it was no distraction for her.

It’s hard to think of gifts to give my in-laws, hence why shopping for Dara and Jason is usually our gift to them at Christmas. Most of what they need would not be considered gifts, like help shopping or organizing,  but they don’t need the usual trinkets or things and honestly I wouldn’t want to give them trinkets or things because they’re trying to downsize and get rid of things and giving fluff gifts would just be a burden on them. We want to give them something they can use and need, which means it’s not always the conventional gift.

Even though we gave them a physical gift, I still plan on shopping for Dara and Jason’s gifts this season. I like helping and giving service since it’s harder for mom to get out since she has so many other things to do and people to take care of. (She takes care of my aging FIL and helps my BIL Rawlin who has Parkinson’s not to mention herself in there.)

I admit it’s hard to think of gifts for most people, but I’m so happy that my in-laws take our tokens of service as gifts from us.

I hope we all can give gifts of service and accept service that is given towards us this Holiday season.

Really what is more useful than someone giving of themself, rather than giving of their wallet, especially at this turbulant time.

I put up the outside Christmas lights today and the fuses on two strands blew out, so I had to replace them. It took me a little bit to figure out why the lights worked and then would not work when I was messing with a light bulb but I figured it out and we have almost all working lights. A few light bulbs shorted for some reason when I took off the plastic hook thing that I was using to hold them up, it rubbed the wire or something so we now have four unlit lights on a  brand new string of lights, that I bought last year on clearance. I’m pretty proud of myself, except the whole blowing through two fuses thing, but I’m also pretty proud that I figured out the problem and fixed it all by myself.

We’re suppose to decorate the tree tonight, but I think we’ll be fixing it because a vital plastic piece that holds some branches in place broke, so the branches now just hang there because they are attached because of the pre-strung lights on the tree. I wanted to buy a new tree on sale at JoAnn’s, but Jon wouldn’t let me because we had a tree at home, but now it’s broken and we’ll make it work this year, but guess who’s going clearance shopping after Christmas for a new tree?

Anyways, we’re getting in the Christmas spirit and I’m loving it.