December at the Almaguers

I loaded up these pictures but couldn't remember in what sequence this blog loads up picture. They came out all out of sequence. This was a great December so far, and I took many photographs that I was happy how they came out. Dora and a Christmas Tree. Black and white photos convey more emotion that the color photos. The warmth of the white lights bring across those old feelings of being a child on Christmas, feeling that anticipation of Christmas morning.

Grandma and grandchild. Grandma's joy of giving will always be more rewarding than the joy of receiving. Christmas is a holiday that helps us a grandparents brighten up the lives of our grandchildren.

In the corner of our house sits this doll in a basket on top of a wig box, in front of an old walking cane. All bathed in an cool afternoon sun light.

Grandma reading "The night before Christmas" to a grandchild who for the first time in her life understand Santa Claus and chimneys. We bought this book for Carlos when he was little, only he was too old to believe in Santa by the time we bought the book.

Caroline finds an Christmas orb on the Christmas tree.

So many places to explore, so many things to touch.

Christian.

The best things about Christmas are the Christmas hugs.

The happiness of a grandchild in the arms of grandma.

The days before Christmas became fewer and fewer. Some toys were under the Christmas tree already, not as gifts but for the grandchildren to play with. They played Christmas music and that music brought huge smiles to all of us.

It is so easy to be silly when you are young and dont' worry about what others think.

But with all the lights, TV commercials, toys, Christmas trees, etc., this month is still for family first. The best memories are not from the expensive present or the big dinners, but from the quiet moments with family.

Start of December and ending '08

Lily was over a couple of weeks ago. Isabelle dressed her up as a cheerleader. She loves those boots.

The cold weather finally got here. We turned on the fireplace and enjoyed some time together. That coffee sure tasted good. We had to add another stocking to the fire place. Caroline is the news grand child and this will be her first Christmas.

Lily and Isabelle decorated this end table. Bell is Isabelle's and Cinderella is Lily's. We bought the music dolls for them last January and put them away. We gave them to the girls the day they came to decorate the Christmas tree with Elfida.

We tried to get Izma to stay by the Christmas tree and she kept wanting to run off. Finally I told Elfida to stay in the picture and we got this nice photo.

Elfida got up and Izma just stayed there. I had taken the camera off the tripod and hurried to get it back on. I took this one and Izma stayed there waiting for me to take more pictures. She is a smart dog. We had her outside for two years. Last month we decided to make her an indoor dog. She had done great and now sleeps on her pillow downstairs. She figure if she didn't poop or pee inside she wouldn't have to sleep outside. Now she lets us know when she needs to go out and she lets us know when she has to come back in. She takes care of business quick.

Thanksgiving Day and after

The night before Thanksgiving Elfida gave the turkey a good hot bath in the kitchen sink. Carlos had come home, so we watched a movie with him at home. Elfida had made steaks for dinner. Carlos ate three! He called from some where near West to make sure dinner was ready when he got home cause he was hungry.

The next morning he came down for breakfast with a hand print on his right shoulder. He said it was from sleeping on top of his hand. It went away after about a half hour.

See how well defined the hand print is?

That afternoon Maiko made last minute preparation on the cooked turkey. We had Maikos family, Dora and Sam and Carlos over for the feast. Oh, the food was soo good. We ate and talked and ate. We then went into the movie room to watch the Cowboys play. They won again. Elfida and Maiko were very happy.

Cause grandma spoils her, Isabelle got to get a turkey leg. She and Lily had to eat in the little kids table.

Isabelle went and got dressed all by herself. We have bought them different outfits that they can play dress up with. Those are Isabelle's boots and Isabelle's cheerleader outfit. Lily is in constant trouble because she loves to talk back and then ignores her parent when they try to make her do something. I had a talk with her Friday night, so far she has been behaving. I don't know how long it will last.

We ate too much! Maiko and Carlos vegging out after eating. As long as they are not too close they can sit quietly. Once they get close they go back to being little kids and start wrestling.

As soon as they were both on the sofa they were wrestling and laughing like little kids. They didn't notice me tying their shoe laces together! That was funny.

I had connected all the video game machines to the LCD projector. Carlos and Maiko played bomber man. Carlos bought the game station in Japan so they could play all the vintage Nintendo games. Later that night Maiko showed Isabelle, Lily and Isabelle's cousin Gabi, how to play the game.

The following night I got the girls to stay over. We ate ice cream, candy, cookies, pie, popcorn, and lots of other junk food. Lily fell asleep while going from one seat to the couch while we watched "A Smokey Mountain Christmas. Isabelle watched the whole movie with us. Carlos had gone out, like a good son, he had spent the last two night with us. He even went shopping with us on Friday.

Elfida's flowers

Elfida bought some pots with plants that were flowering. I don't know the name of the plants. She planted them in the ground on our front yard and they kept flowering and flowering. Every morning she would cut some flowers and take them to work. She would also put some on a vase to decorate the dinning room table.

The flowers attract different insects. All looking for the sweetness of the nectar in the flower. This wasp was so green it looked like it was made out of glass.

Fluorescent spots, so bright they looked light lights. This butterfly visited the flowers for as long as I sat there and took pictures. Not shy at all.

Even a yellow jacket came to feed and was in a good mood. She let me get some close ups without trying to attack me. Twenty years ago, when I was still surveying, I got stung by this yellow jackets too many times. The most painful one was on by bottom lip, but the one on my eyelid was pretty close to that same pain.

The day was overcast. I switch to taking the photos using the flash. It really brought out the colors.

Now this guy and his kind have given me some pretty nasty blister too. He was the only one of his kind at the flowers. He stayed to himself and the other insects stayed away too.

Now this fellow was also by himself. Two years ago I spent the Spring and Summer fighting his relatives. They had built a nest between the wall under the balcony. Some days there would be hundreds of them. I was told that the only way to get rid of them was to remove the honey and the queen bee. What worked was putting screen wire all under the balcony so they couldn't get back into the wall. So far they have stayed away.

Some days I walk by and the butterflies lift off the flower in a huge cloud. They float around until I have walked far enough away. They return slowly back on to the flowers.

It seems that the more flowers Elfida cuts from the plants, the more they bloom. This late in the year and they keep growing. We had that one night when the temperature dropped into the 30 and I thought the cold would kill them. They are still here, still blooming, some yellow, some white and some with a tint of purple.

Duchess Isabelle

Isabelle was a Duchess for the 1st Grade Class. He grandma took her to get her hair done with Barbra, their hair dresser. We had bought the dress for her a few months ago and she hadn't needed it for any special occasion until this day.

Her tio Carlos drove in from Ft. Worth for the event. He got home and promptly laid down on the couch. Foxy was visiting and went to lay down with him.

The photos are out of sequence. Here is grandma with Isabelle and Lily. Obviously, Lily doesn't think the occasion is that special.

There she is with her Duchess hair style. She was very serious about her role as Duchess. The dress looked great on Isabelle and her hair, well, grandma was very proud.

The school was packed. Wall to wall parents and grandparents. All the kids looked great. I had to call work and let them know I was running late.

Lily was being herself. She talked, argued and fought with her Uncle Carlos. She got in trouble for talking back to her parents, too. She stays in trouble. Later on their mom dropped them off at our house and they got to spend the night with grandma. I left for work and in the morning stopped at the Michoacana and picked up some barbacoa for breakfast. Carlos actually got up early and ate breakfast with us. Maiko also dropped by after work to eat breakfast. He beat me to the house since I had to stop and pick up the barbacoa.