A quick Merry Christmas post!

We are about to leave to go to the Columbus Zoo with Daniel, Jaylon and Erin, but I wanted to post quickly before we left!
Hope you all are having a wonderful Christmas!!

Some months ago, I got out Daniel's old Matchbox car carrying case which also contained Daniel's cars. Jaylon fell in love with them and I have bought him many more since! BUT one day he found an old ice cream bucket that I had and commenced to putting all of his cars into it.
THAT is now his "Matchbox Carrying Case". :-) Oh, it is pictured below. Yep, he likes the "bucket-style" carrying case. I've even put his cars neatly back into his dad's old carrying case, but I found him dumping them back into the bucket one day.
Soooooo, the bucket, it is! Why fight it? :-)

Below is Jaylon and Grandpa looking through Jaylon's new book "Only One Woof" by James Herriot.
Jaylon isnt quite patient enough to have an actual story read to him yet but he does love to look at the pictures and, in his own way, comment on them. :-) And, of course, I always have a running commentary going on when I look at books with him. Grandpa does, too. :-)

These are the rolls that I baked for our family get-together which we had a couple of weeks ago. I though they looked so pretty so I just had to take a picture of them! :-)

The sun actually broke through the clouds one morning last week and little Jaylon just had to see what that bright light was! :-) He laid in it and played with one of his little cars.

Oh, and this next picture is of a Christmas Candy Pizza that I made for our family get-together! I got the recipe from Mary at Life In A Small Town. I took one to our ladies Christmas party at church and everyone loved it!! Just click on the link to Mary's blog up there and it will take you to the post that has the recipe! Mary has a fun blog so take some time to look around and get to know her!! :-)

Below, is a picture of my front porch! Well, one half of it, anyway! I think it looks so pretty and Christmasy!! I'm so thankful that we have snow this Christmas!

Becky Kelley - Where's the Line to See Jesus - OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO

Wednesday Hodgepodge!

Once again, here I am, as Wednesday is coming to a close, finishing up my response to Wednesday's Hodgepodge, which is hosted by Joyce at From This Side of the Pond! Good questions this week, Joyce! :-)

If you would like to join in, just click on Joyce's blog and follow the instructions!

1. What does it mean to have the 'holiday spirit'?

The first thing that comes to mind is to have "goodwill toward all men", to truly want the best for all, no matter what has transpired throughout the year and to do something to make life a little better or easier for someone along the way.

2. What sits atop your tree (s)? Why?
At the top of my tree sits a blue,white and silver bow that I bought a few years ago at an after-Christmas clearance sale. I just looooove this bow and I have small ones scattered about on my tree. I've tried several different things through the years, but think I'll be sticking with this bow for a while. :-)

3. When was the last time you gave yourself a pat on the back?

Hmmmm........I have to really think about this one. Andddddd, I honestly can't remember, although I may have an eeeensy, weensy bit this past Saturday after our family get-together was over, which I organize every year. We had a wonderful time!


4. Which of your senses is most sensitive this time of year?

I believe it would be my sense of smell because Christmas brings such a wonderful array of holiday smells! Cinnamon, fresh pine, clean, fresh cold air, wood burning in the fireplace or stove, the smells of cookies baking, turkey roasting, and mulled spices for hot tea!


5. What do you have too much of in your kitchen?
Just stuff. It takes a constant effort to keep the counters cleared and organized, the table, and so on. Ed tends to put all of his stuff on his side of the dining table.....He says, he wants it where he can see it. :-) And I have my own stuff on my side of the table. It's not looking too good at the present time and no, I'm not takin' a picture of it either! :-) Just trust me when I say......I need to get right on it first thing in the morning! :-0

6. What do you do for meals on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day? Big meal? Breakfast tradition? Open the cookie tins and have at it?

Hmmmm.......I'm really having to think about these questions this week. On Christmas Eve we have been known to order pizza because it used to be me, Ed, and Daniel. Now that it is just me and Ed, I think we will definitely be having some Pizza Crossing Pizza. On Christmas Day, we usually go to Erin's (our DIL) aunt and uncle's home where all of her family gather together for dinner and every one carries in for a big meal. They all usually have breakfast together earlier in the morning.

Sometimes, later in the day, on Christmas Day, Ed and I drive around to each of my siblings' homes and visit with them and partake of their leftover goodies and enjoy a warm time of visiting and seeing what everyone got for Christmas and so on. I like it when we do this and I think my brothers and sisters do, too. :-)


7. What is the best thing about winter? It isn't sweatin' hot, humid, and muggy to the point that you just don't want to go outside or do anything. There aren't bees, flies and bugs to contend with. AND there is all kinds of time for just staying inside, cozying up in bed or by the fire, reading, relaxing, watching a movie, because there is nothing that needs to be done outside, the days are short and the nights are long. Plenty of time for sleeping! :-)

8. Insert your own random thought here:

Welllllll......Daniel and Erin are going to be off work starting this Friday through the Monday after Christmas! Sooooo, that means I won't have the boy during that time either. Now, I'm sure I will just have to go and get him at least a couple of days during this time, seeing as how I love him sooooo much! :-)

BUT, I have to admit that I am looking forward to having some time to myself. I don't know if I'll get much accomplished, but I won't be setting the alarm. I WILL be going to the library to find a good book or two to read. Oh, and I'm definitely doing some baking next week!

Miscellaneous Pictures!

I was shopping in Lancaster a couple of weeks ago and when pulling into Meijer's parking lot, I spotted this kind of confusing signage! :-)
I mean, they really had to tell people not to take a right turn into the building? Okayyyyyy......:-)

I was at home with Jaylon one day and noticed that I hadn't heard or seen him for a bit and when I went looking for him, this is where I found him.....just looking so grown-up and serious. :-) He had gotten up there all by himself, though I know not how. :-)

These next few pictures are of MY room, which used to be Daniel's bedroom before his dad built a new one for him. What I didn't take a picture of is all of Jaylon's toys which are stacked not-so-neatly in the other corner. I'm havin' to fight to keep this MY room and I'll give you two guesses as to who I'm havin' this tug-of-war with! :-)
The reason I took these pictures is because I just got it cleaned and rearranged the way I have been wanting it. Pretty pleased with the results. :-)

Wednesday's Hodgepodge!

Happy Wednesday, everyone! I'm posting my Wednesday Hodgepodge kind of late but I was determined to participate this week! :-)

It's a bit late to join in this week, but you are most welcome to do so next Wednesday! Just go over to Joyce's blog, read the instructions and join in!!

1. Have you ever been on a real sleigh ride? How about the warm weather version - a carriage ride?
Oh yes! I took a carriage ride through Central Park in NYC with my New York girlfriends.....I have a picture somewhere. The one memory I have of our excursion was that our driver was not very courteous and did not want to answer any questions that we might have. But other than that, it was fun.
And, for my birthday one year, my friend Becky took me to One Nation for dinner, which WAS a wonderful restaurant at the top of the Nationwide building in Columbus but it is no longer there...*sigh*.... and then we took a carriage ride through Victorian Village. It was so freezing cold!!! And it was snowing just enough to make it absolutely beautiful BUT did I mention that it.was.so.cold?!?!?

2. What's your policy on 'chain mail'...you know, the emails you receive that are often some sort of poem/blessing/good wish that ask you to send it on to 10 or 12 friends? Do you delete without opening, read and trash, read and trash and then worry you won't be blessed/lucky/protected? Do you delete the sender from your contacts or just go ahead and send the love onward?
If I have alot of email and not alot of time, I just go through and delete most of the fwd's, unless one looks really interesting or if it is from Daniel....the son.....:-).....then I read it/them.
If I am at the library where I can really go through them quickly, I will look at most of them.
If I see one that is REALLY good, i.e. funny, interesting, encouraging...I will forward it to just a very select few who I am sure will like it or appreciate it.
Oh, and the ones about being blessed/lucky/protected? In the words of Tigger....ppsshaawww.....DELETED! :-)

3. Who is your favorite character in any of the Christmas movies and why?
I looooove Elf. He is just so sincere, honest and child-like.


4. Share a favorite quote.
"How far you go in life depends on your being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving, and tolerant of the weak and strong. Because some day in life you will have been all of these." ~ George Washington Carver


5. What's your favorite holiday scent?
It would have to be cinnamon or a blend of cinnamon and another scent!

6. Does the Christmas season stress you out? In what way?
No, because we do not do alot of gift-giving, so there is not alot of shopping to do or gift-wrapping and all. Now, there are parties and banquets and our annual family get-together but these are spaced far enough apart that they are not stressful, so all is well. :-)
I only have one small tree that I put up in the house and just a few other very simple decorations, so that is fairly easy.
AND Ed and I put the outside decorations up in record time last week! I used to think the wreaths had to be PERFECT and the pine swags and the bows, but discovered......when I was so down with my back and hips for a few years.....that they didn't have to be.
I learned to give those puppies a quick fluff and pat and on the windows they went and looked just fine! :-)
Being down physically really helps you to learn what is really important and what really matters and that things don't have to be perfect AND life will still on! Imagine! :-)

7. What's the best thing about your life right now?
Being me. I mean, I am comfortable in my own skin at 59....finally. I like being a mature, older woman. I've learned so much through the years. I feel calmer and more stable than I've ever been. I've learned to trust the Lord in every situation because He's been so faithful through the years in helping me through trials that I thought I might never survive.
I've learned what love isn't. And that is a good thing. :-) Love isn't romance and candlelight and a box of candy.
No, it is being awakened by your wife, who just had major surgery, every two hours to tell you that she has to go to the bathroom. You (being my precious husband, Ed) gently say...."Turn on the light and give me a minute to get awake,k?". And you proceed to do all that it took just for me to get out of bed and to the bathroom, just to have to get me all settled back into bed again just to have to do it all over again in a couple of hours and never once....not once....did you complain. You just loved me through my recovery......twice.
Oh, and before the surgeries.....well, you just loved me through the pain and frustrations that I felt while learning to live life on a much smaller scale because of my physical limitations.
So, in a nutshell? The best thing in my life right now is being me and being able to be me with the best husband that the Lord could have ever given me!

8. Insert your own random thought here.
This being a grandmother is more wonderful than I could ever put into words. The following quotes shed some light on this most wonderful of relationships, that of you, as a grandparent, helping to raise and loving YOUR child's child.

"Nobody can do for little children what grandparents do. Grandparents sort of sprinkle stardust over the lives of little children." ~ Alex Haley

"Perfect love sometimes does not come until the first grandchild." ~ Welsh Proverb

"What children need most are the essentials that grandparents provide in abundance. They give unconditional love, kindness, patience, humor, comfort, lessons in life. And, most importantly, cookies." ~ Rudolph Giuliani

"Our grandchildren accept us for ourselves, without rebuke or effort to change us, as no one in our entire lives has ever done, not our parents, siblings, spouses, friends - and hardly ever our own grown children." ~ Ruth Goode

"It is as grandmothers that our mothers come into the fullness of their grace." ~Christopher Morley

I am so far behind.....

....that I'll never get caught up! With my blogging, that is. :-) I'm doing pretty good with everything else, thankfully!

Gosh, so much has happened that I haven't blogged about. Where do I begin?!?!

Okayyyy....for starters.......Ohio State whooped up on Michigan! Yayyyyyy!!! AND, I am not totally sure about this, but I have a friend who got married on the same day as the game?.....the 27th of November....and she scheduled her wedding for 5:30pm. I didn't get the opportunity to ask her, but I had some people ask me why she had her wedding so late in the day, seeing as how the next day WAS Sunday and all and I said I thought it was because of THE GAME being at noon that day. Seriously. Her pastor who is my former pastor is a serious Michigan fan......*grin*......I'm just saying......

AND, our town's annual Christmas parade was moved to the Saturday AFTER Thanksgiving weekend! Hello!! It has always been the Saturday of Thanksgiving weekend because people have friends and family in visiting for the holiday and going to the parade is a tradition for many families.

Well, the Chamber of Commerce put something in the paper about it being moved to the next Saturday so it would put people in the holiday spirit. WHAT? Hello. That is just...well...stupid. There....I said it. I don't usually use that word but why didn't they just say it was moved because of the Ohio State/ Michigan game? People would have had a hissy if they had tried to have it on that Saturday. I mean, no one was going to miss THE game for the Christmas parade.

AND while it was thought for awhile that this would be the last game the two rivals would play against eachother because of changes in the Big Ten.... *sigh*.....why do things have to change?..... they will continue play at the end of the season, so THE rivalry continues! Yayyyy!!!
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Now for some really random stuff! Brace yourself! :-)

I am not sure of just what day or date it was that this happened but we had ourselves a windstorm come through this little valley!
If it wasn't tied down, it probably got blown somewhere and little Jaylon's play center got blown over to the backporch! Amazing! AND we had a yard full of limbs and sticks to pick up and add to the bonfire pile! :-)

And here's Jaylon and "Papa" playing with the mega blocks! They are so much fun to watch and listen to! :-)

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My "New York" girlfriends" and I had our annual lunch date at Old Dutch Restaurant here in town a few weeks ago. It is always so much fun to spend time with them. :-)
I call them my "New York" girlfriends because we four took our inaugral trip to NYC back in 1999 and in 2000 three of us went back again, as Arlene, who is second from the left in the picture, was sick and unable to go.

Oh, did we ever have fun!! We walked for MILES and saw all of the usual touristy sites and saw "Phantom of the Opera". The next year on the second trip we saw "Lion King"!

These are just three of the sweetest and most fun ladies you will ever meet!! :-)

Oh, and if I don't look so great in the picture? I was so sick that day and when I got home, I had to call Erin to come home early and get little Jaylon. I went to bed and thankfully, was feeling much better the next day.

But I just couldn't miss my lunch date with these three wonderful ladies because it is always so difficult to find a time when we can all get together!


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Moving on to the Saturday before Thanksgiving......Ed and I joined his brother and sisters at the church fellowship hall where they attended as children for their annual Thanksgiving dinner and gathering!

It was an absolutely gorgeous day and we had a great time eating, singing and catching up with Ed's family! We always have so much fun with them!

This first picture is of Ed, his four sisters and brother. They have had two brothers pass away and one sister and their oldest sister lives in Alabama and was not able to join us as her husband is not well.


In this next picture, I'm the little short woman in the raspberry sweater! Good grief! LOL Though, I do believe that Leroy's friend, who is standing on the step up and behind me is about my height, too, so I wasn't the only short one there! :-)

We took these pictures on the steps of the church. It is just the prettiest little church ever! I just love it!

Below is a picture of the church cat and kittens! :-) Yes, you read correctly! And the cat is simply beautiful!

The cats actually live across the street from the church but anytime there is church or an activity in the fellowship hall, there are the cats at the door. And yes, we fed them! How could you not? They are so adorable!!! :-)

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Now, you didn't think I would post without sharing a picture or two of the boy, did you? I didn't think so. :-)

Here he is with his little bucket gathering rocks to take down to the creek and toss in! And he's doing the same in the next picture only he's dressed a bit more warmly because it was chilly that day!




In this next picture is the kitty of the house better know as Ellie! She's never met a box she didn't like, IF she can squeeze her fat little body into it, that is!

I had just cleaned out the pantry and had this empty box. Well, I actually never thought she would be able to squeeze her fat self into but as a tease, I put it down in front of the woodburner and called her.

Don't you know that here she came, sauntering in, acting a bit snooty.....she's a cat, remember? She can't act too excited, you know. She DOES have her pride. :-)

Well, she sniffed around the box a little .....it was difficult to be patient while she went through her typical cat antics BUT before longggggg....there she was maneuvering her chubby furry self into that LITTLE box! And she has been sleeping in it ever since! Well, when Jaylon isn't here, that is. :-)

I told Ed that I hoped she doesn't cripple or deform herself in squeezing into that little box! LOL



That's all for now! So glad to be back! But I've had to forego my afternoon nap to post this!! Wait....he's still asleep.....shhhhhhh......I'm going to try and sneak in a little snooze before he wakes up! :-)