Milo Sees the Christmas Decorations at the Opryland Hotel

Holly Cow: Christmas was so much fun...All about a Milo Holiday

Woopie! Christmas is Cool!

Milo, Kelly and Paul all had colds so they rested in the morning then came to the Grandparents house for our first Christmas where he is walking, talking, and can better understand what the holiday and presents are all about. Well almost. One thing I had not thought about is that he had to play with each toy after it was opened. With that, Present opening took all day.

First it is about routine. At Grans' house you have to first turn on the fan when you come in the den. Lets get the order right here of what is important. Of course he had no idea of what was in store for the day.

Milo made Grand and Granddaddy a beautiful reindeer and hand print for our present.
It is wonderful.

Ellen gave him a very big and adorable Elmo Stocking that Kelly wrote his name on. Ellen also gave him 3 cute little animal ornaments for the tree. Next was an airplane with a propeller that turned on a container full of star candy. Fortunately he thought the candy was just a pretty decoration. We did not tell him they were totally delectable sugar goodies.

He got a play phone that is recordable. We spent the day off and on recording fun things to say. This phone rings when you close the lid...Pretty cool. This was followed by a little Sesame Street speak and say I can keep in my purse for him on our shopping trips. That finished his stocking!

What is better on Christmas day than an Oriole Cookie and a toy from your stocking!
What would a stocking be without a a box of Oriole cookies.
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HIS MOST FAVORITE PRESENT WAS HIS TOY YO GABBA COMPUTER!
Just like Gran's computer, well almost.

FIRST, Get it out of the box. Woooooooooo! I really like this!

Mom's turn to play with me and my computer. Then some alone time with this gadget.
He got a small keyboard with a Karaoke microphone. Really nifty, that Kelly took home with them. Good thing, it would have driven Lew nuts!

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Yes, Everyone got presents other than Milo. But that sure seemed inconsequential. Lew and Judy got a complete new entertainment center with one of those 40 inch HD screens, a new cabinet, and all updated component parts including a Blue Ray player (He got lots of Blue Ray movies, fun). Lew is one happy camper. It was a total surprise that we installed about a week before Christmas while he was out of town.

Kelly and Paul got new winter coats, new floors in their basement and breezeway, some other treasures, and their biggest surprise present, a Wii player. Judy got may lovely gifts from family and friends who have been dropping in for weeks prior to Christmas day and Kelly and I each got a beautiful bird plaque from Lewis. We will hang mine on the patio... to satisfy my bird obsession around the yard.

Susan and hubby sent Paul and Kelly a generous gift of Christmas Cash, always a favorite. She got each of us an adorable key ring with unique figures. I hung mine and Lew's on our Christmas tree. Now every year we will get them out and remember this very special holiday thinking of how special friends and family are.

Holiday Fun with Milo

Christmas Eve Lunch

On Christmas Eve, Kelly, Paul, and Milo picked up the Honey Backed Christmas ham and brought it over. We all sat down to enjoy some. Our friend Jeff was here to celebrate and work some more on our new TV and entertainment center. (Lew's big Christmas present). Jeff hooked up a vintage audio tape deck Kelly got at the thrift store. We looked for one new, no luck. We would have never been able to figure out all these components with our Jeff's expert help.

Milo ate at the table with us. The honey baked ham did not interest him. He was much more taken with the Macaroni and cheese casserole and the the roll just out of the oven. I tried to sell him some homemade split pea soup Lew and I made for lunch. We encounter a little projectile spiting of green peas...an interesting technique.

Did you notice he had three spoons. He keep collecting them for everyone at the table--well, maybe that was collecting from Gran. He loves to help his daddy clear the table and load the dishwasher. That was fun to watch.

Lewis Modeling a hat that Leigh Made me for Christmas

He is a wild and Crazy Guy

More Nutcracker Fun

More playing with the Nutcrackers who love to talk to each other. Oops, an arm came off. He tried to put it back on then just ignored it was on he floor. A little glue after Christmas will fix this little guy right up.

What will Christmas Ribbon do?

Last week Kelly and Milo came to help with gift wrapping. Milo was a swell Santa's helper. He thought it would be great to sort out the ribbon on the cartons... that is to mix them all up.

It only took me about 10 minutes to untangle them. Well worth it. He had so much fun experimenting to see what the bright colored ribbons would do.

Milo is getting ready for Madi Gras with our collection of beads

Milo's Santa Photo for 2009

Kelly and Paul took Milo to the Mall yesterday to have his photo with Santa.
Santa looks pretty excited about seeing this cute little one.

Is this cute or what!

Toni brought me back a beautiful Lama wool hat from her Peru trip 2 years ago.
Here is Milo in this hat. Cute or What!
Taken in Kelly and Paul's back yard next to their really big tree.

Time for Christmas: Milo loves the Nutcrackers

Kelly and Seth have been getting down the Christmas storage boxes from the attic over the last week. In the Den Seth put up the 3 foot tall live Cedar tree. Kelly picked out one that is soft and that Milo can touch without it being prickly. So many trees have needle sharp branches. We will decorate the tree today when Kelly and Milo come over.

Many of the storage boxes have Nutcrackers in them. I have been collecting them for the last 35 years. Not sure how many of them we have..many, many. We will only get out a few this year.

As Milo and I unpacked the boxes he was fascinated with these lovely Christmas icons. We made them into puppets, moving the levers and letting them talking to each other. What fun!

This post is a copy from my Art Blog: I take a little cactus character around with me to visit fun places

Cactus Mundi had an evening outing last night. We went to my daughter's Art Opening. She is Kelly Kerrigan and has a show for the month of December at the gallery at the Belcourt Theatre, an art film venue in Nashville. You can visit her blog and see each of the 24 acrylic on canvas paintings.
http://kellykerrigan.blogspot.com/

Here is Cactus Mundi who jumped right up on one of the paintings to look over the crowd.

Kelly had a great time at the celebration.

Of course Milo and the whole family was there. Milo became a wild Wild banshee after about 40 minutes. So Gran and Granddaddy came to the rescue. Paul scoped him up so we could whisk him off to our house. After he was scurried off Kelly could enjoy the lime light and then she and Paul could go out to dinner afterwards with their friends. We had a great time too partying with Milo at our house.

Milo thought it was very cool to sit on my scooter and honk the horn. Not sure this was a crowd pleaser so I turned the motor off. Worked well till he learned to turn the key back on! It was sure time to get him out of this venue.

My stamping buddy and long time friend Toni came for the fun.


Jeff, over 18 years ago he was a high school student of mine, now a life long friend. He is the one who took most of the photos.

Jackie on the right another Judy long-time teacher friend could not stay away from the funky art.


Kate who made it a real party.



It is amazing to me that several of my students from years long past are now my good friends. Tammy came in from California to visit her family but found time to drop by Kelly's show and see me for a short visit. Another one who was my student from over 15 years ago. Teaching is a wonderful profession. You leave behind the amazing legacy.


Seth made the hour plus drive in. He was so much help to Kelly helping her get her studio together and made this show happen. Thank you Seth!

Below are some details from the show.
Following is Kelly's Bio explaining why she is so passionate about her subject matter for the paintings:

I am Kelly Kerrigan, a 35-year-old Nashville artist. For the last 6 years I have been creating hand made lamps out of vintage ladies undergarments. My Tramp Lamps have been a great Internet success with over 500 unique lamps made for customers all over the world including many celebrities such as Aerosmith, Robert Zemeckis, and Imogen Heap.

My home studio in south Nashville is a great space for all my artistic creations that include lamp making, toy-morphing/assemblage art, as well as painting. The space also provides plenty of romp room for my son, Milo Sparks. I started painting at Austin Peay State University where I majored in Theater and Art. I have worked as a scenic painter for several local stage production companies. I spend all my time now painting, making lamps, morphing toys, and being a parent to Milo along with my partner, writer and graphic designer, Paul Kerrigan.

This collection of new paintings at The Belcourt Theater is filled with animals dressed as icons from film, music and fable. The personification of wildlife and house pets seems to be something we read about and enjoy when we are children, but as we grow up, stories and books focus more on real people and real life human situations. For me, subject matter can be just as intense and emotionally engaging if we put animals in our shoes, literally. Who is to say they do not go through similar emotional events in their own lives? I hope that I can embrace the narratives that are generally restricted to childhood stories and bring the audience of my work back to a time when animals were the heroes. Making an audience laugh is the main goal of all my creative endeavors. I am available for all kinds of custom artwork. Please visit www.TrampLamps.com to find out more.