Happy, safe, New Year to everyone!

Raise your hand if…you have de-Christmased your house.  Sadly, I have, but in my defense, my husband has today off from work and I can’t get the tree outside without his help, so, out it went.  I’ll miss that heavenly scent, for sure. I still have the Nativity set up, though; can’t quite put that away yet. 

I am guilty of not quieting myself down and focusing on what this season is all about, so maybe seeing the manger will help me do so. 

I am truly envious of those of you who are able to center yourselves, remove yourselves from the everyday noise and chatter, and go inward to connect with God.  It is something that I have begun craving more and more lately.  Perhaps it’s my age, perhaps it’s the times we’re in…whatever it is, I intend to work at it until it’s my reality.

I love reading Mountain Woman’s blog entitled Red Pine Mountain. She is so inspiring and one of her latest posts started me thinking about actually taking action towards a deeper connection to God.  Do I ever have work to do, though. 

I hope that everyone is staying warm and safe.  Onward….

Merry Christmas to everyone.  May your day be filled with family, love, warm memories, laughter, hugs, joy and peace. 

Three days before Christmas and what was I doing? I can tell you what I wasn't doing..I wasn't doing my grocery shopping, wrapping any of the 4,137 gifts and I wasn't baking any of the treats that I wait all year for! No sirree Bob.

Rather than tell you, I'll show you...


My close friend Nina has this wonderfully talented husband, Tom, who likes to build furniture for a hobby. He built me this beautiful bookcase, distressed it, then painted and stained it for me. It came to live here last week after we got the new carpet installed and has been sitting there, empty, all this time. Well....



...it isn't empty anymore!



And that's what I was doing today, three days before Christmas!


Anyone feel like helping me wrap presents?

Hi Ho, Hi Ho…it’s off to finishmyshoppingbeforeChristmasactuallyarrives I go!  Wish me luck…I’m braving not only the elements but the other crazy people like me. 

Raise your hand if…you JUST finished all of your Christmas cards, just this minute!!  Yippee!!  Wanted to get a jump on it you know.  (I know, I know…Christmas is only a few days away…whatever!)

And so we begin our TWO WEEK Christmas vacation from work and school. Thank You God.

T.
G.
I.
F.

Raise your hand if... you ran out of lights for the Christmas tree with only about THREE FEET LEFT TO GO!!! If I didn't have an obsession about getting it "perfect", then I'd leave it til tomorrow...hi ho, hi ho, it's off to the drugstore I go.

Miscellaneous Photos

Snow day today! There's something so special about the first snow day of the winter...and about watching my daughters (not me, thankfully) digging the cars out of the snow.


I got pretty productive a couple of weekends ago and made a batch of blueberry jam and a batch of triple-berry jam. Talk about a sweet-smelling kitchen that day!



I wanted to share a few photos from Thanksgiving with you which I couldn't do before since our computer was hospitalized.

Here's Mom, making and tasting the gravy. It doesn't matter how much of a "grown up" I am, I still need Mom doing her thing close by.








Here's Bob and I, celebrating our 31st Thanksgiving together. Sheesh...that long??






"Ok everyone, group photo!" It's amazing how we all fit into our ridiculously small cozy dining room, isn't it? Our son and his family came later for dessert and we all managed to squeeze in.




And lastly for now, here are the three girls, four if you count the dog, hanging out with each other on this greatly appreciated snow day. Hope you're having a good day wherever you are. :)

Raise your hand if... your brother celebrated his 60th birthday surrounded by family, friends and love this past weekend!

In this photo is the birthday boy, my brother Kenn, who just turned SIXTY! I know, I know...he doesNOT look it, damn him. There's my mom (she'll be 89 in March), me flapping my lips, and my younger sister Karen. This photo helps me remember who I was long before I was a wife or mother...these are my roots. And I'm pretty sure that if I look real closely, I can see my father's loving smile shining down on all four of us. :)


And this photo helps me remember who I am now...Nona to Mackenzie Marie!





I love this one of my mom and my brother, her firstborn.

It was one of those times that you look around at everyone there and realize that the room is filled with love, and life is good.

Allelulia!

Hi there. Just checking in to say hi and that the computer arrived home safely, although it did not arrive home unscathed. The viruses managed to wipe out, among other things, all of my "favorites" that I have been saving over the years! Damn viruses. They did not get my photos or Word documents, though, which I'm very grateful for. I've installed Norton Security 2010 and hopefully, it will do its job!

I hope everyone has a nice Friday tomorrow...peaceful and uneventful, just the way we like them.

Oh by the way, was I supposed to have started shopping yet? Just wonderin'! :)