Christmas 2009

We had a fantastic Christmas this year...I am pretty sure we have one every year, but for some reason this one was 'over the top'. (in my opinion)

Keith and his nephew got the outside decorated on the Friday after Thanksgiving. The weather was in the 70's! Crazy isn't it. They worked all day to get the lights up and it looked great!

I worked on the inside of the house. One of my favorite things to do is get the Nativity out that I inherited from my Dad. This Nativity was handmade by the Nuns at the Monastery of the Poor Clares in Corpus Christi, TX and given to our family in 1972. I treasure it! My Dad was a huge help to them when I was a kid and they LOVED him. They were always a part of our lives and I remember them all fondly. They moved from Corpus to Brennan TX in the 1981 and began raising miniature horses. I hope to be able to visit them sometime this year. The donkey in my nativity lost an ear a long time ago and I hope to be able to replace him. Well, probably not replace him because he is fondly called our 'unidonkey' and the nativity wouldn't be the same without him! But, maybe I can find one that isn't handicapped to add to our scene.

Keith and I purchased a new tree and all new decorations this year. It was so much fun searching for all the right ornaments and all the right colors. I don't think a day went by that I didn't smile when I looked at our 'new' tree. We even bought wrapping paper to 'coordinate' with the ornaments. The one thing I couldn't find this year was a tree topper, so I settled for an old angel that we had. I will have to look next Christmas before they are all picked over.

It started snowing on Christmas Eve and didn't stop until late in the evening. We woke up to a white Christmas, it was wonderful! Keith and I spent Christmas Day together and enjoyed most of the day snuggled up watching movies. I fixed crab cakes and shrimp scampi for our Christmas dinner, it was very good!

Christmas with the kids and grandkids was the day after Christmas at our house. Our tradition is breakfast first and then we open presents. This year we had breakfast burritos and chocolate gravy with biscuits. It was a hit! Presents were passed and opened and EVERYONE was happy! The little kids decorated individual birthday cakes for Jesus--they were adorable. They each got a candle, we sang Happy Birthday (actually Emery and I were the only singers) to Jesus and everyone blew out their candle. It was fun and they all enjoyed eating cake!
Christmas was a blessing again this year. I love this time of year and absolutely love that I have a great family around me to share in it each year! I am BLESSED.

Little-Big Things

Sometimes it’s the little things (that are really big things) that make me smile. I am a morning person, to the extreme! I hit the ground running when the alarm goes off each morning at 5:00. I can get more done in the few hours before I go to work than I can in the evening when I get home. I love to get all the ‘home’ stuff done before I leave for work. You know, bills, balance the checkbook, laundry, empty the dishwasher, plan dinner, straighten up, and any other little things that need my attention, plus shower, dress, eat and fix a lunch. I bounce around in the morning from this thing to the next, but feel good when I walk out the door if ‘it’s’ all done. Occasionally there are things that are left undone and while it doesn’t bug me through out the day, it can make me frown once I get home in the evening. One of the things I love to have done, but sometimes don’t get to is making the bed. Wellllll, on the mornings when I don’t get to it, Keith does it for me. I don’t ask him to, I don’t hint at it, I don’t even mention I’m not going to get to it, he just knows. I love when I walk into the bedroom a few minutes before walking out the door and see this.

The funny thing is I will say out loud “Awww, he made the bed” and it makes me smile.

Love you sweetie…thanks for doing this thing that seems little to you, but is really huge to me!