Our Family Christmas 2009

Christmas Eve was a wonderful day.  We picked up Rile' and Hunter from Vanessa's.  They were so excited to start their time with us.  Rile' was so excited, she couldn't take a nap...which she regretted later, because by the end of the night, she was one tired girl!  Rile', Auntie Boo and Nana made no-bake cookies.  The plan was to have Hunter help too, but he wasn't very interested.  Although, he stayed pretty close to us doing his own thing.

After we were done in the kitchen, I got the crock pots going and the rolls in the oven.  The kids stayed busy playing from one end of the house to the other.

Lamar and Rile' started a fire in the fireplace....although we ended up with a house full of smoke  because the damper wasn't QUITE open all the way.  The kids thought it was pretty funny when all us adults started fanning pillows up in the air to try to get the smoke out of the house.  That made it a little better :-).

Once Andy and Kelly came from Portland, we ate our Christmas table full of yummy food.  Mmmmm...it was all so good.

Then, for the finale'...opening the presents!   There's just something about little kids getting so excited with every little gift.  We were laughing at Hunter, because after all the presents were opened, I gathered all his clothes and put them in one bag.  He found the bag, and started to take everything out again...all with the same excitement.  Throughout the evening, he got out the same pair of jeans about five times with a big smile and a "ooooh" every time.

So, from our home to yours, Merry Christmas!

Christmas, The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Christmas...the most wonderful time of the year!  Sometimes,  though, the "leading up to Christmas" can be very stressful.  Maybe that's why the Emergency Rooms this time of year are always full.  We can put so much pressure on ourselves.  Why do we do that?  We tried harder this year to not let that happen.   Although, Lamar has had a rough time of it.  On top of all the extra stuff that comes with being a mailman during Christmas (he had a record 120 packages to deliver on Monday...a record for his route!),  his shoulders are killing him.  30 years of carrying the mail, starting with 15 years on a walking route,  I'm afraid has taken it's toll.  So, he's at the start of figuring out exactly what he needs to do or not do to give him some relief.  Doctor appointments, physical therapy appointments and special exercises at home have begun.  Something, he wishes he did NOT have to deal with. 

The Christmas programs, and most parties have come and gone with all the excitement that goes along with them.  The rush of finding that perfect gift is past.  The hours in front of the stove are pretty much done too. 

 Now...it's time to REMEMBER why we celebrate this season.  As I'm sitting here looking at our Christmas tree, so bare after all the presents have been unwrapped, I feel  a peace.  Peace knowing that we have a God that loves us so much that He gave us a gift.  His Son...here to this complicated and stressful world, to save us.  Peace knowing that this same God wants us to be close to Him, to have a relationship with Him, to love Him back.  He is our peace and strength when we just can't do it on our own. 

As we all do our own traditional things today, I hope you have a chance to just sit down, look at your Christmas tree and feel that peace too!

Waiting....Not One Of My Strong Points

I'm really looking forward to getting our computer back in tip-top shape.  It's amazing how much I depend on the thing!  Boy, things really change over the years, don't they!?  I have been so limited in what I can do on Brittany's laptop.  Not having all my photo albums handy is the pits!  I feel restricted.  I feel trapped!   Waiting has never been very popular with me.  There is so much to wait for in my life.  Why is that?  Maybe God is trying to teach me something!  Hmmm.

We are looking foward to Christmas and all that it brings.  Hoping to have a baby granddaughter by then, too.  We thought that was going to happen, but now she has decided she wants to WAIT and stay in that warm, cozy place a little while longer.  So, in the meantime,

I'll keep on lovin' up those adorable grandkids that we have already and patiently keep waiting for her beautiful arrival.    :-)

Catching Up

Well,  the last time I tried to change my blog face, I got a trojan/virus, so I'm a little hesitant to try again.  Plus, there's the fact that I'm not working on my own computer until it gets fixed!  Uggh.  The frustrating part...we were supposedly "protected" and the site I went to was the actual site that you see here in the background.  So, it's not like I went anywhere where I may have been in dangerous territory or anything.   And, beware, this trojan disguises itself as an anti virus program...pretty much making it so you can't do anything unless you pay for their stuff.  It's called Anti Virus Pro.  DON'T GO THERE!

So, since I can't do anything that I need to do on my home computer, that includes not being able to do anything with pictures that have been piling up.  Do you know how agonizing that is when you do soooo much with pictures on your computer!? 

I'm sitting in the living room this  morning, looking at our beautiful Christmas tree that we decorated last night. It always amazes me how beautiful it always ends up being.  But  maybe it's because it is filled with so many beautiful memories of my married life.  We're calling this our family tree and it stands as the center of attention at our house.  We have played with the idea of changing the decorations on it, but we just can't do it.  Like I said, there's just too many sentimental visions that we get whenever our eyes see a particular ornament.

So, we made the deccision to get a second tree and put it up in the family room.  Annnndddd,  it's going to be a real.....live.....tree.  Well, that is until  we chop it down. :-)  Brittany  misses the fragrance of having a real fir tree.  I must admit, it sounds so  nice. We have a few reasons  why we don't have a live tree  anymore,but one of them is,  I believe I'm allergic to something in the live trees.  Because every Christmas, I would get sinus headache after sinus headache.  I guess we'll see how it goes this year.  We plan on decorating it totally different with matching bulbs and flowing ribbons.  I'm kind of excited about it all.  Lamar has to work, so Brittany and I are actually going to go down the road and get one.  Should be interesting and fun.

  We're hoping to get our computer back today all fixed up and virus free.  Then, I'll post some pictures for your viewing pleasure!  Until then, may the reason we celebrate this season override any stress and anxiety that this world puts on you.  And may you ENJOY this beautiful CHRISTMAS season!

Thanksgiving 09

Thanksgiving was at our house this year again.  I wasn't really looking forward to it and to tell you the truth, I had a really bad attitude about it to begin with.  But, as the day grew closer, I really believe that God changed my heart and by the time Thanksgiving Day arrived, I was actually looking forward to it all.

So, we got up early to put the 18 lb. turkey in the oven, made the mashed potatoes, set the table and got the house ready for family to arrive. We even had time to relax.  Everyone else brought another part of the feast and it was deeeelicious! Yum! Yum! Yum!

Lori and her family came.  Their daughter, Stacey was home from college (in Spokane)so it was nice seeing here too.   Dan and his family and my mom all arrived around 3:00.  My brother, Raymond, was hunting somewhere in Oregon and Andy had to work.  Our grandkids celebrated the day with Vanessa's family.  So, there ended up being 12 of us around the table.

After dinner, we cleared the table, put as much as we could in the dishwasher and gathered in the living room for some fun games of Pictionary.  We had never done that before.  Usually, we just sit around and visit.  But, Lori suggested that we play a game or something.  We thought that was a great idea too!  It was a riot.  I'm sorry to say that none of us will ever be artists.  At least not if we were under the same tremendous pressure to draw something remotely lifelike as we were this evening!  :-)

Even mom got in on the action.  It was hilarious and it was good to laugh!

Four Generations

Last Sunday, four generations of us girls headed south to Kelly's baby shower. It was a horrible drive and I almost turned back. The rain was coming down so hard, that the drainage systems on the freeways just couldn't handle all the water. There was water everywhere. When you are driving down the freeway (at 35 mph) in the center lane and you look over to the right lane and see waves splashing up against the cement barrier, you know it's pretty bad! When you get hit with water from splashing cars, but it doesn't go away for a full three seconds and you're totally blind, you know it's pretty bad! But with the calmness that could only come from God Himself, I trudged along, determined to reach our goal. I never felt like we would get hurt. I knew we'd be OK. I can't explain it. I just knew.

The shower was lovely and it was great to meet Kelly's family on her mom's side. She got so many beautiful and fun things!


Kelly made Rile' a special Hannah Montana blanket and Kelly's mom bought her the cutest knit dress to wear when the baby comes. They really went out of their way to make her feel special too!

Raking' It In

Now that most of the leaves are off the trees (sniffle, sniffle), it's time to rake them all into neat little piles, gather them all up and haul them over the bank where they can decompose...and this is only half of it from our one large beautiful Maple. Well worth all the shade it gives us in the summer heat!

Thank you, Brittany for doing this big job!