Smells of Christmas Past

I love this weather, the all day fog with a mist in the air, and of course the somewhat warmer temperature. When I stepped out of the office and into the evening air, the smell brought back a Christmas memory.

There was a Monastery of Poor Clare Nuns in the town we lived in when I was a kid. My Dad helped out doing 'odd jobs', like mending fences, mowing the grass and any other 'odd job' that needed to be done. They were a big part of our lives when I was growing up. Each year at Christmas time they would have a live Nativity that the whole town would come out to see. There were always live animals; donkeys, sheep and even a cow, sometimes even a pig. My brother and I were always a part of it, he was a shepherd and I was an angel. I secretly always wanted to be Mary, but those Nuns must of thought I made a great angel. I loved being a part of that scene every year and as I got older I was allowed to have more shifts! Tonight when I left my office headed to my car, the smell in the air brought that memory back to me. I could see me standing on a bail of hay behind the 'baby Jesus' with my arms in the normal angelic pose, smiling as the people walked by. Later the Monastery's building and land were bought by the government and the Nuns relocated to Brenham, Texas where they now raise miniature horses. I came home and googled them and am going to email to find out if they still do the live Nativity.......if so, I see a trip to Brenham, Texas in my future!

Whew!

So much has been going on that the best way to catch up is to ‘download’:

I had the opportunity to visit NY while on a recent business trip. It was so much fun and I took so many pictures. I uploaded them to my Facebook if you want to see them. The one thing I wanted to do more than anything was walk through Central Park….and I did. :-) I saw the bridge from Home Alone where the pigeon lady scene was shot. :-) I can’t wait to go back sometime in the summer months and enjoy it again, but this time with Keith! I also wanted to see the tree in Rockefeller Center…saw it….it was so awesome. ;-) I saw so much it would take me forever to put it in writing. I had a blast!

We finally got a new tree to put up in our living room. We put our other tree in our office window because it can be seen from the front of the house. The living room tree will be for the gifts! I let the Grandbabies decorate it with the ornaments we have collected over the years. All the ornaments were on the bottom half of the tree so I had to move a few around after they left. Papa took Rylee to the store and let her pick out the star...it's the perfect finish to our tree.

We attended our church Volunteer Banquet last Friday. I love being a volunteer at Peoples Church! I have come out of my box this last year and now work with adults! Ha-ha. I have always worked in kid’s ministry, mainly because I love kids, but also because it was safe! I stepped down from that ministry a few years ago and now I am stepping out into a whole new world (isn’t that a song?) and building relationships with the adults I attend church with. I love it! I purposed to go to the next level with God this year and I can see Him working in and through me! I love it!

I am almost done with my Christmas shopping. I have a few things left to do before we have our family Christmas on Saturday. We are starting a new tradition this year and will spend the whole day together beginning with breakfast. Normally we just get together for dinner and open presents. I want to unwrap presents in our pajamas! Not so sure everyone will be on board with this, but I am going to try! We stopped having a traditional Christmas dinner about 12 years ago and instead we pick a new menu each year. We are doing Mexican this year, it is my favorite.

Brandon and Michele had a chance to get away this past weekend and we kept the girls. I love having them over, it really 'brightens' up our house. Jaedyn woke up with the stomach flu on Friday morning....she was spending this day and night with Brandon’s Mom and did quite a bit of throwing up. I can handle just about anything, but was happy that she had stopped that when I picked them up Saturday morning. (Yay) I spent most of my time changing diapers and trying to coax her into drinking something. It was Sunday night before she said she was hungry. I was sad to see her not feeling good. I really covered our home in prayer and Lysol!

Rylee was in her first Christmas play this past Sunday night. Her church does an annual pre-school play and she played a sheep. I took her to practice on Saturday morning; she was adorable crawling down the aisle saying Baa Baa. Michele, Brandon and Keith went to the performance on Sunday evening and I stayed home with Jaedyn.

This morning Keith woke up with the stomach flu. I know he is miserable. :-( I am praying he will get over it quickly and that I DO NOT get it.

Okay, I think I am caught up! Have a blessed week!

Statements about Me

RULES: There are 100 statements and you bold the ones you have done. Grab it and play for yourself!!

I have done 34 of the 96!

Actually there are only 96 because # 11, 54, 64 and 65 are missing!

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity.
7. Been to Disneyland
8. Climbed a mountain.
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept in an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitchhiked
23. Taken a sick day when you're not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse (solar)person
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in .
34.Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo's David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten caviar.
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating (only fish)
88. Had chicken pox
89. Saved someones life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a lawsuit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Read an entire book in one day

I've Been Tagged

I've been tagged by Deleassa & Christy to write 6 random things about myself. I just blogged this same sort of thing a few weeks ago, but I am sure I can dig up some additional things!


Here are the rules:

1) Link to the person who tagged you. DeLeassa Penland & Christy Chandler (sorry don't know how to make them a link, but they are both are under the blogs I read)
2) Post the rules on your blog (copy and paste 1-6).
3) Write 6 random things about yourself.
4) Tag 6 people at the end of your post and link to them.
5) Let each person know they have been tagged and leave a comment on their blog.
6) Let the tagger know when your entry is up.

*********************

• I met my husband Keith in Sallisaw, OK and it was love at first sight!
• I have lived in Alaska twice, Kodiak and Ketchikan....a total of 6 years.
• I am a mother of 3 (Heather, Michele & Matt) and a step-mother to 1 (Josh)....with a total of 7 grandchildren
• I love country music, but don't listen to it often enough.....my new favorite group is Sugarland
• I didn't get my drivers license until I was 19
• I was in a car accident when I was pregnant with Michele...we were ejected from the car into on coming traffic...50 plus stitches in my face later and lots of asphalt burns I walked away...and 6 months later Michele was born! Thank you Jesus!

Okay, I tag Brandi, Laura and Janet. The rest of my blogger friends have already been tagged!

Ladies Night

Wow...what a great time we had last night at our Ladies Connect. We decorated for the holidays, laid out a huge spread of food, and played a lot of games. The whole idea behind these events is to connect woman of our church, I believe this happened. We played some really fun games that had them working together to complete them and even had a few teams singing Jingle Bells with balloon antlers on! There were many of our community groups represented and the ladies each took a few minutes to plug their group. We ended the evening with a fun game that had them passing a Christmas ornament left and right and in the end the person with the ornament won the centerpiece on their table. All the centerpieces were made by one of the ladies in our church, I had the vision, she had the talent! As the ladies left they each received a package of 'snowman soup', it was a hit! I I even enjoyed being the emcee, not normally my cup of tea! This evening was a huge success because I know connections were made!

I really enjoyed pulling this together and had a great team of ladies that were a BIG (HUGE) help! Thank you!

I will try to post some pictures soon, we had several ladies taking photos and even a video camera.

Things you may not know about me....

I have been married to Keith, my lover and best friend, for 24 years.

As an adult I have lived in 4 states, three of them twice. Why, you ask, because Keith was in the Coast Guard for 20 years.

Our daughter and son are both married and have 2 children each….that keeps us here for sure.

We attend the best church in OKC, Peoples Church, and that is the another reason we are still here.

I am the oldest daughter of 5 children, 2 brothers, 2 sisters. The oldest is 50 and the youngest is 39.

I am a military brat. My Dad retired from the Navy when I was 12 and we settled in Corpus Christi. He passed away in 2003.

3 of my siblings went on to be in the military, 2 in the Coast Guard and 1 in the Navy.

We are all married and between us we have 17 children and 9 grandchildren. Wow….I’ve never added that up before!

I quit smoking 12 years ago.

I love to eat a banana split from Braums. Chocolate cookie dough ice cream with marshmallow crème and hot fudge, whipped topping, nuts and several cherries. I can eat the whole thing!

My favorite food is Mexican.

My favorite movie is Rogers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella with Leslie Ann Warren. I watched it for the first time when I was 6.

I love to drink coffee and enjoy a chocolate mint latte from Starbucks every now and then.

Okay, maybe more often than that, but it’s because they are so yummy!

I love to get a pedicure.

Recently I received a gift certificate from Keith to have a facial and now that is my new addiction. They are more relaxing to me than a full body massage.

Thanksgiving and Christmas are my favorite holidays………but Spring is my favorite season.

I have 3 tattoos, each has a special meaning.

My ears are pierced but I never wear earrings.

I have a miniature Dachshund named Molly.