Archive for the ‘Christmas’ Category
It’s been way too long since we were able to drive our car rather then the van, but as of today, we can! Those of you who know about this will want to hear about the hassle with the DMV I have dealt with this past few months. It seems our tax dollars, which are used to pay those idiots at the DMV, are being wasted. I will elaborate:
We bought the car on August 4th, 2008, but due to an accident I had back in 2004 when I did not have insurance, I was unable to register the car until I paid the damage judgment against me. This started a search for the person I owed the money to. Ironically, the DMV nor the court systems could help me find him, and any old contact information I had was long outdated.
After nearly 3 months of trying to find him, I suddenly remembered where he had worked, and thought to call there to see if they had current contact information. Fortunately, he still worked there and he eventually contacted me back. Problem was, he wanted all the money up front before he would release the judgement. I worked it out through family and friends to be able to pay him the full amount, but informed him if he wanted his money he needed to meet me at the court house in La Crosse and sign the satisfaction of judgement. He was more than willing to do that. This is where the fun began!
I received the satisfaction of judgment on November 13th and called the DMV the following Monday. The yahoo that answered the phone told me that he sees the judgment is satisfied and that I now need to file SR-22 insurance and pay a $110 reinstatement fee. This really frustrated me because when I called the DMV back in October to find out what I needed to do, that person said nothing about insurance or a fee, nor did the notice the DMV sent me when I tried to register the vehicle. If I had known about the SR-22 requirement back in October, I would have done it. Turns out it only added about $25 to our policy – not bad.
Then today I called the DMV to make sure the SR-22 filing was on record, and was told it was, BUT, the satisfaction of judgement was not. I flew off the handle – yelling at this poor woman, Mary, who quickly calmed me down and told me what I needed to do. I scanned and emailed the satisfaction to her, and she immediately called me back to get the payment of only a $50 fee. The $110 the other yahoo mentioned included the $60 to reinstate my license, which I didn’t need to do today. She then transferred me to someone in the registration department who expedited the filing of the satisfaction, and told me we could get temporary plates so we could use the vehicle. FINALLY, someone at the DMV who knows what they are doing.
To make this long story short, now that you’ve waded through the whole thing, Laura made a trip with the van to River Falls to get our temporary plates and we can now drive our more fuel efficient vehicle again. So, for those wondering, we will be back home for Christmas, though we will once again spend Christmas Day here at home as a family.
Yes, it’s Christmas. As Shane has said we have had a lovely quiet family Christmas, just the three of us. The 2 1/2 hours of travel it would have taken to be with family on Christmas Eve would have just been to hard with Shane having to work yesterday as well. While we both missed seeing family, having this morning with Allyssa in our home to open her presents made it extremely special to us.
Of course this day has taken it’s toll on Allyssa. Playing with her new presents has tired her out as you can see here. But look how angelic she looks while she sleeps. (Okay, all children look like little angels while they sleep, but to me she is the most precious little angel.)
I have to agree with Shane in that this is the best Christmas, I’ve ever had. While it may have been lean in material things it had the things that matter most, loved ones and joy. Thank you Shane for the wonderful words, and thank you for being you. It may have taken us a while to find each other, but I’ve never doubted that your my Mr. Right.
Allyssa is crawling. She’s been doing it since early December. And strangely enough, I don’t recall seeing her crawl backwards first. Of course that could be to the month we spend in the hotel, were we didn’t let her down on their floor. We kept her up on the king sized bed or in her walker, or in her pack ‘n play. I just had no way of knowing what kind of chemicals they may have used on their floors or how clean they actually were.
She is growing so much even if she’s remaining on the petite side of things. On the 19th when she had her second flu shot, she was 16 lb 3-4 oz and 26 3/4 in. She enjoys drinking from a glass, but still has problems figuring out a sippy cup. She also has liked everything she’s been given to eat, from beans to spaghetti (yes we pureed it for her). She loves ice cream and Red Vines licorice. She is also a big fan of potatoes, any way she can get them.
A few days ago, we felt the rough edges of her first tooth cutting thru. For the most part it hasn’t bothered her too much, or at least not yet.
We look forward to seeing family for a late Christmas when we are next in the Holmen area. It looks like it’s going to be the first weekend in January, but while we couldn’t be with them in person, they were in our thoughts on this beautiful first Christmas with our daughter.
Yes, I know, it’s been a while again since our last update, and here it is Christmas evening and you are all wondering just how Christmas went for the Lambert Family here in our new home in Prescott, Wisconsin. So I felt it was time for an update for everyone. Christmas, Allyssa’s first, though a bit lean with all of the expenses of a big move, was, to date, the most enjoyable one of my life. Why? Quite simply it was my first as a daddy. I’ve played Santa for Christmas many times for my nieces and nephews, and always delighted in the joy on their face as they opened gifts. But this was the first year I got to see that excitement in the eyes of my own daughter. Nothing compares to that, nothing.
This year we decided to spend both Christmas Eve and Christmas day at home, just the three of us, as a family. Yes, we missed seeing everyone today but we felt it was important for the three of us, in our new home, on our first Christmas as a family, to spend some time together. We’ll get together with the rest of the family in the next couple of weeks. I know some family members are a bit upset with us, but with the new job so far away from home it was just too hard to travel this year.
But before I get going on that subject, take a look at our beautiful Christmas tree. As many of you know, I worked a couple of seasons on a Christmas tree farm, and became very familiar with the different types of trees. This is the first year I have have a real Christmas tree in our home and I wanted it to be a perfect tree. I only stopped at two places before finding this beautiful 7′ tall white pine with no holes or bare spots. Even after standing in the corner for the last two weeks it’s still nearly perfect. And I was able to convince Laura to allow me to only place white lights on the tree, but I had to give up any gold ornaments that I wanted. Compromises may have been made, but I am still happy with the end result.
And let’s not forget Laura, her first Christmas as a mommy. I can only hope it’s everything she could have wanted. There will be a lot more of them, but this first one is always the most memorable. Thank you Laura for being a wonderful partner, and for helping me bring the joy of Christmas to our beautiful daughter. Obviously, I couldn’t have done any of this without you.
Merry Christmas to all, and here’s hoping everyone a wonderful New Year! (Perhaps we will post more next year, but don’t bet the Christmas Fund on it!)
