Happy New Year!

All is well. It is cold again here in Virginia - in the 20's this morning. Golfer and I had a quiet New Year's Eve - went to an early movie, had some snacks at home and called it a night about 12:05.

Today we're just doing things around the house. I'm working on the file cabinet, cleaning the files out, shredding papers, and getting things ready for 2009. Golfer is sorting and putting away our DVDs (got new ones for Christmas) and updating our movie list.

We hope you all had a great holiday and we wish everyone a wonderful, peaceful 2009!

Stay safe!

I'm Ready for Spring!

Well, here we are. Those of you who know me personally know that by December 26th, I am officially READY FOR SPRING. I love Christmas! I love the decorations, the music, the family and friends gatherings, the cards, the food, the fun and the love. But honestly, by the 26th I. am. done. We have a family joke where everyone bets when I'm taking the tree down. I did well this year. Today is the 28th and I just finished un-decorating it. When Golfer gets home from the golf course, he will take it apart, box it up and get it into the closet. All the other decorations are packed up and ready to go in after the tree.

We had a wonderful time with Bikini and her family here. Boxer and Bloomer were very good and very cute. Boxer reminded us a few times that he is "almost five!" He has changed a lot since we last saw him. He's starting to read, and he's a willing helper if asked to do something. Bloomer is a little curly-headed blond bundle of activity. We would call to her in another room when we could hear her doing something and she'd call back "I can't hear what you talking!". They all had to go back home yesterday, and they made the trip safely and all were glad to be back home. They still had another family Christmas gathering in Georgia to attend last evening.

Nurse J ended up working quite a bit, but we did get to spend time with her. She had Christmas day off and they all came here. She had us all over to her house for lunch on the 26th. Cable Guy was off all week and BeyB has no school for two weeks so they have been spending time together. When we were there for lunch, we got to see some of the projects Nurse J and Cable Guy have been working on - new lights, new mantle, fixing up their house.

It's in the 70's here, warm and balmy for the end of December. I couldn't resist - I took a break from the laundry, cleaning and un-decorating and put the top down on Duke (the Mustang) and went for a short drive.

More later..... Stay safe!

Thanks, Bikini!

Thank you, Bikini, for the new background on my blog!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Hello! and Merry Christmas to you all! I hope you've all had a wonderful day!

Our day has been chock full and very busy and right now everyone is winding down. It's nice to have everyone together. The kids all got along great and shared new toys and have been very, very good. Lots of presents, lots of food, lots and lots of love. It's been a good day.

The following is something I wrote for our church newsletter. It tells of other happy memories and I thought I'd share. Have a wonderful evening!

Childhood Christmas Memories from Ohio

I grew up in the small rural town of Navarre, Ohio. The type of town where children could walk from one end of town to the other and not be afraid. Someone would watch out for us.

In my memory, we always had snow for Christmas. Actually, in my memory, we always had snow from Thanksgiving until Valentine’s Day, but that is another story! The Kiwanis Club always sold Christmas trees at the closed-for-the-Winter ice cream stand. Mom and I did not have a car until I was old enough to take driverrs' training in school, so we would pull my sled up the hill, buy our tree and tie it on and slide it back down the hill. Mom always picked out a tree with little pine cones on it. When we got it inside, the pine cones would pop and crackle as they opened up. That entertained Louie, our orange tabby cat.

On the Sunday before Christmas, Mom and I, and my sister and her family, would all go to Grandma’s for “Sunday Christmas”. My nieces and I were always excited at the prospect of having two Christmases. Mom has always said it’s nice to spread out the good times.

In school we always had a Nativity pageant and heard the wondrous story of baby Jesus coming. We did not worry about being politically correct or religiously biased. We all celebrated together. In Church, we always ended our Christmas service with Santa coming to hand out candy or fruit. He would tell us about Baby Jesus, too. I think it is sad that today’s children can not have this joy of the blending of Christmas. For us it all fit together very well. It was “right”. It was “joy”.

Good Tidings!

Well, it was in the 70's again today in Virginia. The good news on that is that it provided an opportunity to get Duke (the Mustang) washed and cleaned up. Supposed to be quite a bit cooler tomorrow and maybe rain.



The decorating is done, the cards are mailed, the presents are bought and wrapped, and the freezer has several boxes of cookies all ready to enjoy. There will be a little more grocery shopping to do this weekend. We're looking forward to having a full house for Christmas with Bikini's and Nurse J's families with us.

I always get a bit sentimental and occasionally emotional this time of year. (Yes, Bikini and Nurse J - haha, big surprise) But for a smile, here is a Christmas card from around 1953 (I'm estimating). This is me and Scooter.


Enjoy the Season and stay safe!

Nothing Earth-Shattering; Just "Hi!"

It's been a busy week here. And our weather was odd. We had several days in the 60's and 70's and on Thursday we had about four inches of rain and windy conditions. Did not feel very Christmasy at all! But now it's cool again and the sun is out and things are drying.

Nurse J went on a work retreat with fellow employees to Mountain Lake Resort. That is where the movie "Dirty Dancing" was filmed. Haven't gotten any details yet, but she said it was fine.

I've been working on Christmas preparations, grocery shopping, cookie baking and other odds and ends. There's always something that needs doing.

The furry kids are still rearranging the wooden mousies on the Christmas tree. I pulled two out from under the stove yesterday!

Well, like I said, nothing newsy here, just wanted to say hi! Stay safe!

MORE DECORATIONS!

I thought there might be too many pictures in the last post, so I divided them up!

This is "Fat Santa". He was made by Golfer's Dad. Santa is wooden and hand painted.

Another antique glass ornament.

The Singing Snowmen! Followed by Hermione and the Singing Snowmen! That's her "make them stop" look. The Christmas tree with the snowmen is a crocheted one made by my sister.

Have a great week!