THE SHADDOX BOYS

Jacob and Elijah Shaddox are brothers. Jacob is 21 years old and just moved into an apartment with his girlfriend. He graduated from a technical college with an Associate's degree in Computer Maintenance. He works for a school district as a computer technician. Elijah is almost 18 years old. He is hearing impaired, has Tourette Syndrome, OCD and ADHD. He is a junior in high school. Elijah lives with his mom Mary and her wife, his stepmom. Mary has a bachelor's in deaf education and a masters in special education, and is an educational diagnostician. Life is always changing and this blog has chronicled many of these changes and will continue to do so!






Friday, November 27, 2015

Decorating the Christmas Tree!

Jacob, Elijah and I spent the day decorating for Christmas! Jacob helped me get all of the boxes and the Christmas tree out of the attic. He then got the box of ornaments that we keep in his room. Grandma Linda made him this box back when he was a baby to keep all of his ornaments in. After Elijah was born, we started keeping his ornaments in there also! These are the ornaments that either my mom or another relative has given them. Some of them are the ornaments they have made over the years. Both boys like hanging their ornaments, along with the other ornaments we have collected over the years. Whenever we travel, I look for ornaments. We now have a "Blue Bell" ice cream ornament from Brenham and an ornament from the birthplace of Texas; Washington on the Brazos!

One of my favorite ornaments is one I made when I was in the Girl Scouts in 1976. It is a ceramic gingerbread woman! I painted it and it was put in a kiln (I think that is what it is called) and finished, so it has held up nicely over the years. I also have some ornaments that my mom actually made when she first got married. I have ornaments from Fredricksburg, Texas and Gulf Shores, Alabama. I have ornaments that friends have sent me. I have a group of 10 women I have corresponded with for about 18 years and we do an ornament exchange each year. I love finding these ornaments.

The three of us had a really nice time decorating the tree. It was nice to see that both boys enjoyed it and didn't consider it a burden. They enjoyed finding the ornaments they had made in school. I told both of them that when they are married and have their own families, they will get to have some of these ornaments, and that they will begin their own new memories!