Friday's Flight

One more Christmas to go to on Saturday. Behm's family (cousins, aunts & uncles) always has Christmas together. It really is their family reunion, but at Christmas. We have Chinese Christmas, soups, desserts & catching up on the past year. Each family rotates hosting it & this year is our turn. I bought napkins last year on clearance & have some things I bought at garage sales earlier this year to use as centerpieces. I'm off to Wichita to buy groceries & one more gift for Chinese Christmas (I used one for myself earlier this week). Really just an excuse to see if I can find any bargains now!

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve at Mama & Daddy's. We had our traditional lasagna dinner, opened presents, & visited. We missed the Coloradoans, but they were all in our hearts! Santa came on the old fire truck. I don't know who was more anxious to see him, me or Sandi!

The Reason for the Season

"FOR UNTO YOU IS BORN THIS DAY...A SAVIOR, WHICH IS CHRIST THE LORD."

Remember the reason for the season!

Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas and sending love to all!

A Christmas Story

On Sandi's first Christmas we were living in a duplex with her great-great aunts. Her great grandmother had a stroke a few weeks before & her uncle & 2 cousins were staying with the aunts while their mothers were at the hospital. As became a pattern for me, I went overboard on presents for her. She had lots of presents under the tree from us & more still to come from Santa. These 3 little boys (they were 6, 7, & 8) taught me a lesson that year.

They hadn't seen their parents in weeks, weren't at home in their usual routines, no presents under any trees for them & not sure if Santa would find them that year, but these 3 came bearing gifts for Sandi.

Each one of them had wrapped a few dimes, nickels & pennies in small bits of wrapping paper & wrote their names on the inside and gave them to her for Christmas. They were so proud!! Those 3 presents meant more to me than any of the other presents under the tree. I don't even remember what any of the other presents were.

Every year after that until they were grown, these 3 received a present from us and they always will have a special place in my heart because of their unselfishness that first Christmas.

Christmas on Sunday

Sunday we had Christmas at Behm's Mother's house. She had every room decorated. The kids played, the older ones visited, lots of love everywhere. His family has always made me feel like I have been part of the family forever. This family is really camera shy! Well, some of them are anyway!

Calling Santa

Not many people know this, but we have a direct connection to Santa Claus. This phone goes directly to the North Pole so anyone who uses it gets to tell Santa what they want for Christmas! I've already made several calls to the jolly old man myself!

Early Christmas Presents

2 weeks ago Mama had a mammogram. They called her back that afternoon & needed her to come back in for another one because there were some places that needed to be looked at closer. She had another mammogram the next day & had a biopsy done on Thursday. The results came back today & they were benign! We all got an early Christmas present! Tears of joy instead of sadness were shed today & prayers of thanks were said.

The same day Daddy called about the mammogram, my uncle Jack had problems with his heart & things have been scary for them as well. He's now home & doing better!

Also on that day, my cousin Danny had a heart attack & was sent by Careflite to Harris Hospital. Things were touch and go for a while with him, but he had a pacemaker put in & he is now home & recovering!

Lots of prayers have been answered in the past 2 weeks! All will continue to be on my prayer list.

Things look a lot brighter tonight than this time last week!

Time

Coming home from work yesterday "Time Is On My Side" by the Rolling Stones came on the radio. Time is definitely not on my side today! I have to buy gifts for Behm's family for tomorrow, make 4 loaves of bread, go to a 50th wedding anniversary party this afternoon, wrap everything, cook dessert & that's just the pressing things I can think of right now. Oh well, had to take time to blog...maybe I'll only make 2 loaves of bread!! The DJ on the radio really picked an inappropriate song for this time of year. Maybe in my next life, I won't be such a procrastinator!

Happy Bread

Tuesday the roads were bad so I stayed home & baked "Happy Bread". The indentions on this loaf looks like it is smiling. I guess it knows it will be adding a few pounds to the recipient!

More Santas

These Santas are very happy! They make me smile when I see them.

Everybody knows Santa likes to dance to a jukebox with a drink in his hand! Don't know if this is before or after he's made his rounds!

Santa & his Coca-Cola!

Olympic torch runner Santa, climbing the chimney Santa, & the one on the left is actually climbing out of the chimney. He really looks like he's using the bathroom. All those cookies & milk got to him I guess! Hope it's not in your chimney!!

Edit* He's on the right! Still don't know my left from my right. Didn't have my wedding rings on when I did this post!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SAGE!!!

Today is my oldest grandson's 9th birthday! We waited all night & into the early morning hours for his arrival. He was worth the wait!! Hope you have a HAPPY BIRTHDAY SAGE!!! Love you!!

Santa Claus

I'm a collector of many things. Santas were my first collection. I wasn't going to put them out this year because I was being lazy. Sage needed a prop for a report he was doing for school & I got my Santas out looking for one. With each one I unwrapped old memories of where and when I got them. I had missed them! So up they went...not back in the closet for another year but out where I could enjoy them for a few days!

A mantle full of Santas of all sizes, shapes & colors!

Wooden Santas on a shelf!

These were bought the first year we went to South Padre!

Hard plastic Santas. One on broken skis & the 2 that are alike were in stockings from Santa on the fire truck at J'boro when the girls were little.

I guess Sandi really started me on cowboy Santas! She gave this to me in 1994.

I still believe in Santa!!

Mama & Daddy's Christmas Decorations

This is Mama & Daddy's Christmas tree. It's so pretty all decked out in ornaments & lights!

Daddy made this Nativity scene several years ago. He put a lot of love in it.

This Santa & his sleigh is my favorite decoration of theirs. It belonged to Grandma Kinney & has been at Mama's house for as long as I can remember.

This is only a small portion of their Christmas decorations. Every corner is filled with Christmas & love!

Birthday Cake

We celebrated Sage's birthday last night at Mama & Daddy's. He will be 9 on Tuesday! Unexpected guests came by & added to the party. Mike & Gayla were going back home from Stephenville & dropped the trailer off at J'boro because they didn't have any lights on it. We all sang Happy Birthday & enjoyed the evening. Wish our Coloradoans could have been here!

Christmas Tree

We bought a new tree this year. Pre-lit!! After the last 2 years of fighting lights, I gave up. I'm not sure I like it yet, but it's growing on me.

The cowboy hat topping the tree was my Grandpa Kinney's. Most of the cowboy ornaments were bought at auctions or garage sales.

Oh yeah, the pre-lit tree looks great when it is lit. The lights have been on 1 time since I put it up Thanksgiving weekend. I'm afraid the lights will burn out & I'll have to buy a new one!! Why was it important to have a pre-lit tree, if you don't ever turn the lights on? Great logic, huh?

Cowboy Christmas

Behm & I bought this on our honeymoon. It started my quest for cowboy ornaments for our tree.

Blah!!

These have been my best friends for the past few days, along with lots of quilts & a pillow. I'm like the old commercial, I have that achy, sneezy, coughing, sore throat, fevers, chills. I feel some better today, I'm blogging!

Nativity Scene

I made this Nativity scene in 1971 as an art project in high school. Every year it gets more precious to me.

I have tried duplicating it, but none of them turn out the way this one did. Maybe it's all the extra dust that's accumulated on them.

Nails

For the first time in my life, I have long nails! I don't know why, but they seem to have decided to grow. I really need a manicure because I've never had nails and do not know how to take care of them.

When I was growing up, my aunt Doe Doe had long fingernails. We used to pretend our nails were really long & hold our hands away from our head & pretend to be scratching our head. Needs a visual!

Doe Doe also painted my fingernails a pretty light blue color when I was in the 2nd grade. When I went back to school, the teacher made me scrape the polish off! She was not my favorite teacher for a number of other reasons I won't go into. In the past when I did polish my nails, I've always had that image in my mind and thought I was being a bad girl. Maybe after 50 years I'm over it & will paint my nails again. I might even paint them light blue!!

Thank You!

Everybody is back home. Safe & sound! Thank you Lord!

It was a good week. Tears when everyone left, as usual. Thanks for visiting & thank you Mama & Daddy for housing and feeding everyone!

I love you all very much!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

Today before all the stuffing (of my face), I want to give thanks to God for all the wonderful people He has touched my life with. Without them my life would not be as blessed as it is.

Wishing you all a very Happy Thanksgiving and I love you all very much!

Busy Weekend

Have been running round in circles. Friday, Mama, Daddy & I went to Ft. Worth to grandparents day. Really good program. Pager took us on a tour of his school & at the end we had a treasure - 100 Grand candy bars.

Yesterday, went to Wichita, mailed ebay packages, & got groceries. Cleaned house (threw all the junk in our walk in closet) because company's coming. Colorado crew arrived last night!!

Today, we're going to Mama's to see our kids & grandkids!! After that, we will pick up oldest granddaughter! I love Thanksgiving week!

Maybe lots of pictures later!

Jail

These are pictures of the old jail on the top floor of the courthouse. When a new jail was built several years ago, this left the upstairs empty. We use one of the cells for storage of our old court records. It is kind of spooky up there. Last week when the wind was blowing, I had to go up there and get a file. When I stepped off the elevator a loud thump, thump, thump greeted me. I had to convince myself it was just the wind...or was it???

More Courthouse Pictures

This is in the restroom of the break room (which used to be the sheriff's office). They would drop paper into this, which went to the boiler below it & helped to heat the courthouse. We still use the boiler (when they finally decide to light it), but this is no longer used.

Note the last line: Do not deposit waste of explosive nature. Even in the early 40's they had warning labels on things!

Jack County Courthouse

This has been my home away from home for over 25 years. I have worked in different offices in the courthouse since I was 18 years old.

The pictures below are some of the prettier parts of the courthouse.

Birds and Cats

I have never seen any birds by these nests, but I bet they are big! I wish I had some binoculars so I could see if there might be something sitting in them.

I wouldn't make a good bird. I'm scared of flying, heights and I'm not that crazy about eating insects or raw animals.

In my next life, I want to come back as a pampered house cat. Lay around all day, sleep and eat. Oh wait, that's what I do on Sundays. Maybe I'm already in my next life!

Wind Chill

The wind has been blowing hard for 2 days here. The chill cuts right through your clothes! I'm ready for summer anytime now.