Oh what fun it is.....

Since we have been empty nesters, the Superhero and I have had fun taking our own pictures and putting them on Christmas cards.  Our children are scattered around the country and we knew we would never be able to get pictures of us all together.  

We try to think of a different place to take them each year and this year decided to take them in front of a roaring fire with our mantle decorated.....

We tried standing......

 Nope!  Odd angle, not to mention you can't even see the mantle....

Sitting on the floor......Nope!  Uncomfortable and we look strained.

I get the bright idea of getting our little Rubbermaid stools to sit on and those weren't too bad until I realized that we had the old, ragged sticker still on the front of one! 

Awkward....... 

Awkward and we are getting very frustrated!

The Superhero thinks he's funny and takes a picture while I'm getting up to check the camera. I knew I shouldn't have given him the remote!  And by the way, the ONLY picture he really smiled in.....because he was amused! 

Right before we had to call a marriage counselor in to help, we got one that wasn't too bad, even though the roaring fire was nowhere to be seen!

So to all our friends, near and far, 
Merry Christmas and may Jesus be close to your hearts this season! 

Almost Christmas?

Fourteen days until Christmas???  This has been the longest/shortest year in my memory.  The tree above is not my Christmas tree because I'm not putting a tree up this year!  Yep, that's right.....it was the most freeing decision.  People said to me.....oh, it's so relaxing to sit and look at the tree......I say, no when I look at the tree I think.....man I have to take all this stuff down in a few weeks!  

I decorated the mantle and my dining room table and put out a few other Christmas decorations, but I was just not up to tackling a tree this year.  

Also, we will not have any little children here this year.  

Then there is gift buying.  I'm not one of those who has it all done in June and can enjoy the season with no stress.  Truth is, I'm just not a good gift giver.  I like to give gifts, but I have no idea what to give!  Kind of like cooking.......if someone would give me a menu at the beginning of the week, I would gladly cook.  But if I have to think of what to cook OR buy, then it's a major chore.

However!  As much as I don't like buying gifts, I love sending cards and have so enjoyed these last few years sending cards to many of my blog friends.  Even though I haven't posted much or read many blogs in these last few months, I would love to send you a Christmas card, so if you want one.....email me your address!  

In looking through boxes that were packed from mama's apartment, I've come across her suitcase (yes, she kept her ornaments in a large suitcase) with ornaments.  She was so good about labeling her ornaments with who gave them and what year. Most of the ornaments had been divided among us all when we cleaned out mama's apartment.  

This was mama's Nativity set.  Every year, she had it on her coffee table and would let all the children play with it and she would explain the story of Christ's birth as they played.  

One year in the 80's, during my ceramic making phase, I made angels for mama's tree.  Plain angels for her children and their spouses and angels with stars on their heads for the grandchildren.  Below are a few of them so you can get the idea.  Of course, when I left that particular phase, our family didn't stop having babies.....so their are many grandchildren and great grandchildren with no angel ornaments. 

We will all miss mama this year as we gather to celebrate Christmas, but know she is celebrating with the Reason for the season!

Stay tuned for our Christmas card picture taking adventure!

A little of this and a little of that....Thanksgiving thrown in

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I'm so impressed when I see your blogs, but I often wonder how you learned certain things.....like the cute little paragraph breaks (and I'm not sure that is even what they're called!)  See above.....my only version....I'm being very vulnerable here folks, so be kind!

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Wow, I can hardly believe Thanksgiving has come and gone and it is the beginning of December!

Happy Thanksgiving from the one that got away!  

This lucky turkey was caught on the Superhero's deer camera a few years ago.  I love that he/she was looking right into the camera as if to say.....not me buddy!

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This is how my eyes are feeling these days!  Two eye doctors later, I have severe dry eyes with a few other things thrown in for fun....I need cataract surgery, but not until I can get the dry eye not quite so dry.  I'm on a strict regimen of drops, humidifier, etc.  I'm determined!  Of course, I return to the doctor tomorrow and my eyes aren't feeling a lot better so we will see.....no pun intended!

We are still a no go for the surgery!  Sigh.....

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Thanksgiving day was celebrated at my nephew's home this year.  There were just a scant 67 of us in attendance and that wasn't all of our family.  

I am thinking we may start a new business.......for those in need of a large crowd for any event our family could be rented for a fee.  Because when we are in attendance, a big crowd is assured!  Hey, I wonder if I could get on Shark Tank with that idea???

Seriously, we had a wonderful day with beautiful weather.  Cool enough for sweaters and a fire in the fire pit, but not so cold as to be miserable.

Our wonderful hosts.....my nephew Michael and his wife Jennie

Sister Debbie and a couple of nieces

Various pictures.....

Brother Tommy, sister Cathy and niece Amy

Sister in law Lois with my Daughter in law, Arwen

We are from the south, so we have a little bit of redneck...Brother Michael on left, nephew Andy in middle and my son David on right...

Niece and nephew, Kayla and Chris

Nephew Joshua and sort of nephew Keaton

Me with my Superhero

Games

Refreshments

The sisters

Attempting to gather everyone in one room for prayer

The food!

We missed many who couldn't be with us this year, but never far from our thoughts.

Now on to Christmas!  Yikes!

Throw back Thursday.....

Of the jobs I had in my working years, there is one that stands out......so much so that I worked there three times.  Every time I left for a "better" job, meaning more money, I was ever so glad when they called and asked me to return.  I did......every time.  

JASP was a program was for first time law offenders (sometimes second and third) and was an alternative to the court system.  One of the programs we offered was a parenting group and an educational group for the young offenders.  We had a very capable counselor who ran the parent group and another counselor and I ran the kids group.  The local newspaper did an article about our program and there we are in the clipping above with our group of kids doing our best to teach them to stay out of trouble!  At the time, I had a fifteen year old and an eight year old at home and often when I talked to parents, I actually knew what they were going through...... and I'd better leave that one alone!

I happened to find this clipping and not long after ran into my former co-worker in a local restaurant and had a good time reminiscing about days long past!  She still looks just like she did in that photo!

One of the funny stories, and there were many, was of the parents group.  The counselor running that group was a young guy with a great sense of humor.  One night when the parents were whining discussing the fact that their children hadn't suddenly become angels, he said to them.......It took you fifteen years to mess them up and you expect me to fix them overnight???  That got their attention! 

Many of those young people went on and became law abiding, productive citizens.  A few didn't and we would see their names again......sometimes several times.   

But that newspaper article......that was my fifteen minutes of fame.  

It was the last actual outside the home job I would have.  Three months after I married the Superhero, I "retired" to stay home to help raise two more boys!  That was nineteen years ago.....my, how time flies!  Thanks for the memories!

Snapshots......

Please don't pass out if you happen to check in here.......since my last post was August 31, I thought I would try and muster up a post or maybe a few and maybe more often.  Today a few snapshots of life from the last few months.

It's been a very different year and I'm going back to August for a few minutes.

Two friends and I have birthdays close together and we always try to get together for a joint celebration.  Literally some years, it is the ONLY time we see each other......even though we all live in the same town. This year we had a wonderful overnight trip to the beach, compliments of Sharon on your left.  

We had a great time together.......see you next year girls!  

But with the sunshine there comes rain and we had another death.

This beautiful, intelligent, sweet young woman who was like a daughter to my sister and part of our family for many years, died suddenly and we will always miss her.  

There were the constant flow of birthdays that come with a big family.  

Our dear friends departed for Uganda to spend six months as missionaries with the goal of being full time.  This picture is from their Farewell for Now Party.

Thanks, Mark and Laura for all you do in service for the Lord.  Man do I miss you!  

September went by in such a blur........at the end of the month, we had a family reunion.  Now not nearly all of us were able to be in town, but here are a very few of the first cousins.  My daddy was one of ten children, so you can let your imagination run wild with how many of us cousins there are.....unfortunately many live too far away and couldn't make the trip.

It was strange not having mama and something of a shock to realize with the exception of two aunts, we are the oldest generation in our family.  



After the reunion, we had a sisters/friend get a way

The beach was absolutely breathtaking and we had a great time of refreshment and bonding except for that one part where someone told me my hair was scraggly!  Thanks to our sweet nephew and niece for making this happen!

We proceeded to speed through the month of October.  We had a few more birthdays.

Then the Superhero and I loaded up MIL and our dogs and headed down to spend a few days with the little grandchildren, oh, and their parents of course.  

Back home just in time to celebrate our 19th anniversary!  The Superhero didn't want to take this picture......said it was cheesy......but, oh, well......it's not like he reads my blog and I love this picture!

I have to say these years have really gone by so quickly and not to be cheesy all mushy, they've been wonderful!  

Now it is just a little more than a week until Thanksgiving and already the Christmas decorations are everywhere.  I like celebrating my holidays one at the time so my Christmas decorating will have to wait until December.  

As Thanksgiving nears, I have to say with all the trials and troubles and sadness that has been part of this year, there have also been blessings and I am thankful for many things!  

Whew!  I either have to blog more often or quit!