Merry Christmas to all...

We had a wonderful family get together on Christmas Eve.

All my siblings were there, with almost all of our kids, and grand kids. Even my ex and his wife come every year (life is to short to hold grudges).

My mother hosted the party, and seemed to enjoy the clan her and my father produced, coming together again in her home. We never know how many of these gatherings we will get to enjoy...and are thankful whenever we get another one with her.

We had our traditional crazy family gift exchange. This year 13 participants who bring a wrapped package. We draw numbers and take turns either opening a package, or "steal"from someone else who already opened one. One year my nephew brought an Alligator head, we still talk about how that thing was stolen over and over again..who would of guessed!

I had hoped to get to a Christmas Eve service, but our timing just didn't work out. First my 8 year old granddaughter was playing with my grandson at the party, and crashed into the wall, cutting her head. Once she is cleaned up, and the blood washed away to see that it was not as serious as it first appeared, my other granddaughter was carrying a glass plate to the car, and somehow dropped it, cutting her hand. They were still picking the glass out of her hand an hour later. It sure is a good thing her mother ( my daughter) is a nurse!

These will be the crazy memories we will all remember for years to come.

This being said...it is so easy to be so busy with Christmas...to not have a Christ-mas. After all, it is all about Jesus Christ, and the miracle of his birth. As a believer I cannot think of words to express my thankfulness for Jesus, and what he came to earth and did for me...and you.

So, as you enjoy your Christmas day, I hope that the real reason for Christmas doesn't get lost in the festivities of the day....

Dear Blogger friends...

Merry Christmas !

Jan

It is almost that time.. 1 week to go, are you ready?

One week away, how are you doing... are you ready?

• Shopping done?
• Tree Up?
• Christmas Music playing?
  
• Packages wrapped?
• Packages mailed?
  
• Cards mailed?
• Decorations all up?
  
• Any Holiday memories made so far?
• Stayed on budget?
• Made Christmas Cookies?
• Grocery shopping done?
• Cleaned up for company?
• Staying stress free??????

Could you check all of them?

I can't...

Oh well...

I do want to at least achieve the stress free one!

Merry Christmas, and carry on!!!!

Daughter does Jury duty.. read her blog

My youngest daughter Brea is also a blogger... unfortunately not posting enough!

She has just posted the first of a series on a recent Jury Duty trial she was called on for a murder case..

If you want to read about it please go on over and visit her at And the Story Goes... maybe she will start blogging more! She is an excellent writer, and great story teller!

Going to see Santa... Memories

As I shared on the previous post, I had 2 brothers and 1 sister when I was little. I say this, because later...much later ... we got a surprise new sibling, Jill. But that is a story for another day.

We grew up in the Midwest, so you had to bundle up in layers anytime you went out in the cold winter. Mom says she would spend an hour getting everyone's clothes on to go outside.
Out comes all the snow gear; snow overalls, sweaters, winter coats, mittens, hats, scarves.. and finally send the four of us out to play in the snow.

In 10 or 15 minutes one of us would be back in the house... gotta go to the bathroom. So... take it all off, only to put it all back on again.
I am sure we drove her batty.

OK, so this is the one and only picture of the four of us, going to visit Santa.
My brother Ron had recently crashed on his face, and has the sore nose to show for it.

My sister Chris was pretty small and was frightened by Santa. Now that I look again at that Santa's kinda mean, stern and scary face... well, I wonder why we were not all crying!

Yep, looking at the picture now I'm thinking that he was flat out scary for a Santa, no wonder we never went to see him again...

How bout you, how are your memories for visiting the Big Jolly Guy?
Hope they were better then mine!

Remember when you were little and....Todays one little Memory

Oh, I bet there are a lot of stories out there...of Christmas at your house.. I would love to hear them!
I was thinking back, and realized I do have some different memories of different Christmas'. I decided to reminisce a little bit as the big day draws near!

I was a huge sucker for Santa for many years, just plain gullible! When we first moved to Washington, I remember a Christmas Eve we (4 kids) were commanded to walk around the block. Hey, it is dark and cold and we are not that old..but my big brother Dale lead us on our Journey in the Wilderness.... around and around we marched... oh wait, wrong story.

OK, so we trek around the block, and can you believe... Santa came while we were gone? How in the heck did he do that?

When we came back, we found out we had just missed him. I was really bummed out, as I needed to have a talk with him.

I was sure a pony would be delivered and left under the tree, but alas this was not in my cards for a few more years of trekking in the horseless wilderness...



What memory just popped into your head... from when you were young?

Guess What? I have done most of my Christmas Shopping!

You heard me.. almost all of my CHRISTMAS shopping is done! This is an absolute first for me. Of course I suppose I should provide "clear disclosure" and also admit, I have cut back substantially on my shopping this year as well. I am hoping my family follows suit, as I have some commitments :

1. Remember what the Season is really all about.
2. Do not buy anything with credit!
3. And, do we all really need more stuff?

So, who have I shopped for... yes, pretty much the Grandkids.
I did not go overboard. After all, they have more grandparents then most, and plenty of cousins, and Aunts, and Uncles to spare. This means plenty of stuff!

Every year we ( in my family) all say the same thing, stop the shopping madness! And then, as the big day comes closer and closer ... panic sets in, and the very clever marketing of the holiday sales sucks you in.
When it is all over, it is like waking up from a dream and you just want to say...what happened?

So.. I am going to try to make a very conscious effort to stop the madness... and hope my loved ones do the same.
This has been a tough year financially for us, as small business owners.
But hey...maybe someday we will look back and see that maybe we learned something out of this year of stress...

And to the original question you may have ,which is "How did you get that much shopping done so quickly?"
Cyber Monday ! How easy was that, I had Monday off, and didn't even leave my home office to get it done! Plus, it did not take as long as I thought it would either!

Now the tree is going up, and I am going to enjoy my December with Family memories (I hope), more pleasant Christmas music, and less stress.


And..yes I guess I am a bit early for the Christmas templates.
This gives me time to try several fun Christmas themes on my blog during the month. Please bear with me, I am getting into the spirit of the Holidays, my way!
HO, HO HO!