It Was Wonderful...

...but it sure is good to be home! Lots of good food was eaten, lots of catching up was done and lots of kisses and hugs were given to five giggly little girls and four sweet baby boys!  The girls have discovered the fun of having lots of cousins close to their age. Much laughing and playing was done. It will be another year before the boys are big enough to have fun together and our other grand nephew is almost 13 years old so he spent time listening to his dad and uncles swap stories.

It was very nostalgic to have all of us together at my brother-in-law's house. We used to get together there every Christmas Eve when our kids were little and then we all gathered Christmas morning at my husband's parents home. It felt a little empty to all of us this year with my father-in-law gone . The last Christmas we were all together was in 2011 for his memorial.

Vegging at home today after yesterday's 12 hour car trip and may do the same tomorrow! Very doubtful that I'll be staying up to see the new year in-it will be 2014 somewhere over the Atlantic by my bedtime and that's good enough for me!

Checking In

We've had a wonderful holiday so far-spent Christmas with our youngest grandson and his parents along with our daughter-in-law's family. Today we'll have Christmas with the other side of the family including all ten (five boys and five girls) of my mom-in-law's great grandchildren. (Four of which are our grands!) Four of the boys are under two! This is the first time we have all been together in 2 years-looking forward to lots of love and laughter!

A Milestone

Our daughter graduated from the University of North Texas today. We're so very proud of her and of all the hard work she has done. There have been times when it was really hard, but she never gave up her dream of getting a degree. We couldn't be happier for her!

Shake, Rattle and Roll

When I got up this morning, my hubs asked me if I remembered him coming in and talking to me about midnight. (He's a nightowl, I'm not, so he was still up watching TV.) Of course I didn't remember anything about it. He said he felt the house shake and wasn't sure what was going on. This morning he got on the internet and saw that we had a 3.6 earthquake a few minutes after midnight! We aren't living in an earthquake prone area here in North Texas, but lately we have been having slight tremors. Sure hope this isn't going to become a trend!

We are still iced in-can't even get down to the end of the road to the mailbox. Well, actually the hubs slipped and slid down there in the truck and almost couldn't get back. Looks like our temperatures may actually get up to freezing today. We've had a little light snow and some fog this morning-church was cancelled, but we weren't about to try to get out anyway. We've been eating comfort food and drinking lots of tea, hot cider and cocoa and watching movies and football. I thought I'd take the time to get the house cleaned up and decorated for Christmas, but I've been a real slug. It's hard for me to get going when it's so dark and grey. Sure hope we see some sun and have a little thaw before I go into complete hibernation!

December 7, 1941

 I remember talking to my dad about Pearl Harbor and how he felt that day. He had already joined the Army Air Corps earlier in the year, thinking that sooner or later we would be involved in the war. He said their commanding officer came in and told them that we would be at war and they would soon be shipping out. Both he and my mom talked about hearing the news that day-the sick feeling, the anger, the fear and determination in their hearts as they listened to Roosevelt ask for a declaration of war from Congress. I hope that this day will continue to be marked for a long time; but as we lose our greatest generation, the day will come when there will be no one left who was alive that day. I wonder will we remember?

The Ice Storm Cometh

Winter is well and truly here. We woke up to this scene this morning. It's lovely, but it's really not snow-it's ice pellets and sleet. We went to our daughter's yesterday to keep the grands while she went to her very last class before finals (yay!) and got home just as the rain turned to ice. North Texas is famous (or infamous) for it's ice storms and we have a nasty one today, though it's not as bad here as other places. Our trees and power lines are not iced over as they are in nearby areas, but our roads are treacherous this morning. We had good warning and stocked up our pantry, so we are set to stay home for a few days.

It is 22F right now but with the wind it feels like 12F.  We're supposed to have a low of 9 tonight and a high of 20 tomorrow, so things won't be melting off any time soon. Fortunately the schools are closed due to dangerous road conditions and our son in law is working from home today so no worries there.

I've got a pot of beans on the stove with a ham bone ready to go in later so we'll have bean soup tonight. I made chili and cornbread last night so we are set with warm, hearty food. Planning to clean house and get out the Christmas decorations so I guess I'd better get at it! Stay warm and safe wherever you are!

This and That

photo credit: Porch Sitting Union of America

Well, back to normal or something like it today! We just had the last of the turkey and gravy in soup for lunch and I can see the inside of my refrigerator again now that the Thanksgiving leftovers are gone!

This is our last Monday evening to stay late at our daughter's and keep the grands until their dad gets home. Her class has been at 6:30 and he doesn't usually get home until 8. As much as we've enjoyed keeping them, we'll enjoy being able to stay home more and get some things done around our place. First on my list after the holidays are over will be the extra room upstairs. It has been our place to put things we didn't know what to do with and it's got to be cleaned out so I can have a sewing room. I've got several projects in mind for the coming year and I can't wait to get started on them!

I got most of my Christmas shopping done online this weekend and hope to get the decorations and tree up this week. I'm hoping to get some baking done too. We don't do a big Christmas anymore, but we do enjoy spending it with the family.

Have a great week!