Happy New Year!

 

The Day After and the Week After

 We had a wonderful candlelight Christmas Eve carol service and a quiet relaxed Christmas Day. Our son and his family had their own Christmas and we didn't blame them a bit. It has been a crazy, hectic year for them and they needed to stay home and just enjoy the holiday. Our daughter and her family came over to our house. They only live 40 minutes away, so we always have Christmas (and most other holidays) together.

I only got two photos, but the memories of every year stay in our hearts. We always have Mexican food at Christmas. Posole (a pork, red chile and hominy stew) a pot of pinto beans, tamales and flour tortillas,  plus all of the fixings for tacos. We lived in the Santa Fe, NM area when our kids were growing up and this was a tradition we adopted then. (We like turkey at Thanksgiving, but a month later is too soon to do it again!) There were also tons of cookies, breads and candy. I feel like I have a sugar hangover today. 

This will be a busy week for us preparing for my Mother-in-Law's memorial on the 29th. She didn't want a funeral back when she died in August, she wanted us all to get together at some point and remember the good times, so that's what we're doing. My husband has been working hard on a slide show and memory books and we are having a meal catered as there will be 50-60 of us. Getting together with her and each other the week after Christmas has become sort of a tradition for all of us kids since our own kids grew up and had families of their own. When our children were little, we all came to "Mom and Dad Chapman's" for Christmas and it was a crazy but wonderful time. So, we, our children and their families will gather in our hometown one more time for this reunion and celebration of the life of an amazing woman. 11 years ago, we did the same thing on a December 29th to celebrate the life of my Father-in-law. I could never have asked for better in-laws; they were like a second set of parents to me. They were the glue that held us all together and now I don't know that we will ever gather in New Mexico in December again. I'm sure we will continue to meet yearly, but probably closer to home and probably in the summer. We're all getting older now and it's a long, hard trip for some of us.

Anyway, hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and have a Happy New Year!

 Wishing all of you a very Merry Christmas!

Christmas Eve

 8 years ago today, we were singing at our church's Christmas Eve service. They were showing a beautiful video about Jesus' birth and at the end, the narrator said "...and a child is born". Just then, my husband's phone buzzed (it was muted). It was our son telling us that we had a brand new grandson! Happy Birthday, Henry!

Today is a busy day-I'll be doing some last minute baking and then we'll be getting ready to head to church for rehearsal and then singing in our Christmas Eve Candlelight service. It's one of my favorite services and usually very well attended.

We are gradually inching our way back above the freezing mark today. It was down in the single digits here Thursday with wind chills well below zero. A little snow, but dry and powdery so it didn't stay around. After Christmas, we'll be heading to our home town for my Mother-in-law's memorial. We'll all be gathering to remember her wonderful life, share a meal, tell stories and visit. We always spent Christmas at my in-laws' home when our kids were little-all of my husband's siblings and their young children. It was a wonderful time. 

If you're having bad weather today, please stay safe and stay warm! Happy Christmas Eve!

Waaaah!

 How did 10 years go by so fast?

14

 14 years ago today we received a very special early Christmas present. Our second granddaughter Alaina!

4th Sunday of Advent-Love

 

Finally Decorated

 I finally got the tree decorated. In past years, I have put the ornaments on the tree, then messed with them trying to get them evenly spaced, etc., until I drove myself nuts. This year, I just put them on the tree and wherever they landed is where they stayed. You know what? I can't really tell the difference from pictures of the past. Go figure! Here's a picture and a few other things I have put out. 

My mom's rolling pin and my mother-in-law's sifter.

Mid-December Already!?

It's flying by fast. We kept our 15 month old grandson this week. He is a sweetheart, but in constant motion! He went home yesterday, so we are recuperating today. I didn't try to do any getting ready for Christmas while he was here-I wanted to enjoy every minute because he's the last grandbaby and they grow up so fast.

Just look at those curls!

Hoping to get the tree decorated today and maybe run the Hoover around the floors. I'm having to sit with the heating pad on my back quite a bit. He's a chunk to pick up and carry around. I hate to admit it, but I'm getting a little old.

Joy!

 

It's Up!

Our tree is up! Not lit, or decorated but it is fluffed and that may be all that is accomplished today because  now we need to sit down and rest! 10 years ago when we bought it, a 9 foot tree was a lot easier to put together and get ready to decorate. We both agree the next tree we buy will be smaller!

Advent 2