Sunday, December 28, 2008

Closing the Chapter

I failed to mention that I received two incredible Christmas gifts. The first gift was the one that made me squeal with delight and disbelief. My husband surprised me with tickets to see Alabama play at the Sugar Bowl this week!
I know there are many women who would think this is a self-serving husband gift, but in my case it was TRULY appreciated. (My hubby is actually a Georgia fan.) And if a couple of days away with the man I love was not wonderful enough, two of very best friends from college will also be there with their husbands. I cannot wait!

The gift that made me cry was from my in-laws. A 400 page hardcover book of my blog courtesy of my father-in-law. I cannot tell you how time consuming it is to deal with the volume of posts and pictures I have. The last 3 1/2 years are captured in thousands of pages. Even with all of the companies and software, converting to book is still a largely manual process. I priced the project out several months ago and a designer wanted to charge me $4000 to do it. I have had it lingering on my To Do list for years. To have someone preserve these memories for me was truly a thoughtful, priceless gift! My guilt over the fact that I have never scrapbooked (traditionally) a single page for my children is alleviated by seeing something in print that I can place on a shelf and one day hand over to them.

With that goal in mind, I feel the need to post a few more Christmas memories before I close this chapter and move on to New Year's celebrations.
A couple of days before Christmas we took the children on their first horse and carriage ride. They liked the ride and waved at all the passersby as if they were on a parade float...when they were not holding their noses from the smell.
P, holding his favorite Christmas gift. No, not the dinosaur taht dominated my waking thoughts weeks ago...but the 'wo-bot.'R, with Nana, wearing his football uniform. Doesn't he look intimidating? No tackling the great-grandmother, son. He really loves that helmet. Yesterday I caught him riding his bike wearing it rather than his traditional bicycle helmet.

K wearing one of the FOUR outfits she wore Christmas day. We have avoided the fashionista phase for the last 4.5 years...but I think it is coming. For the last couple of days she has paid close attention to my outfits--complimenting shirts, necklaces--even asking if my shoes were new!
And here is our cousin, Scott, sacked out after his very early morning drive to make it here before the children woke up Christmas morning. It was a grand Christmas. My hubby returns to work tomorrow. The ham is almost gone. The toys all have new homes. The garbage has been collected and this week the decorations will be put away...but I pray the reminders God gave me this year of the truth of "God with us" will not be seasonal. I pray it will set up residence in my soul and I may enjoy the peace, joy and awe it brings year round.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hello

MamaBear said...

$4000! That's crazy! When you're ready to do the next project let me know. I design blurb books for blog clients for a few HUNDRED.

I could totally relate to your feelings on not scrapbooking. Until this past summer Julia didn't have any of her pictures in an album either.

Here's the link to a post I did about my design business:
http://thisfamilyof4.blogspot.com/2008/09/book-smart.html

Have fun at the game! :)

Traci said...

Hey there- I want to tell you I just love your blog and you've made me cry a few times remembering when my children were that small (they are 12, 9, & 8 now). Can you tell me what company your father-in-law used to make the book? I want to have that done in the next year as well. Thanks so much. tracikeel@comcast.net

Jennifer said...

MB- That's terrific that you have done this as a business. I am glad to know as the last time my FIL did a month's worth I had lots of questions from others about how to get it done.
I could not believe the guy quoted me thousands...but it was something about the 1000+ posts and all the work involved in manually tweaking all the pictures. That's why I wound up not using him. Even memories have a price. LOL
I will ask my FIL what he used and post it here, but it will likely be later today. I know in the past he used vivio.com for the formatting and lulu.com did the actual publishing.

Tonya Ingram said...

I am just now getting a chance to catch up on reading your blog and am laughing and crying at the same time. I first ran across your cousin Scott's blog and am totally amazed at his story so far... and he's only 18. Can you imagine what God has in store for him!!! Then we got to the "Letting Go" blog and I showed Caleb that R & P had the same Superman & Batman pajamas as him and his brother, and he was elated. THEN, we saw the "Closing the Chapter" blog which shows P has the same 'wobat' as Caleb and he said "Mama, can we go see them?" lol. I said maybe one day we'll get the chance. OMG... congrats on the tickets to see Alabama play in the Sugar Bowl and that gift from your in-laws... indescribable!!!

Shan said...

I love reading your post, don't often comment. I guess I'm a lurker. I will also be at the sugar bowl with my husband and 3 girls. roll tide! Thanks for the bible verses for teenage girls my niece could really use these right now....

Distybug said...

I'm going to the Sugar Bowl too!! I'm an Alabama Alumna and my husband's a huge fan. We try to always go to the bowl game if nothing else. ROLL TIDE!

Jennifer said...

For all you folks going, please say Hi if you see us. You may not recognize me without children. :-)

Amy Beth @ Ministry So Fabulous! said...

I want to see the book the next time I'm in town!

Jennifer said...

FYI: He used blog2print.com then lulu.com to print.

sam said...

I have a friend with four littles who wants to start intentionally blogging as a journal for her kids. Do you know what company your FIL used to make the books? She is very interested in doing that.