Wednesday, December 31, 2014

Christmas Low Down

 
I totally intended to make my last post of 2014 "A Year In Review", but as luck would have it, I left my life planner at home this morning. So, instead of a year in review, I'm going to give you the low down on Christmas this year. It has been one of the best I can remember in a long time, except for being slack in picture taking. I got some pictures Christmas morning with my regular camera and that was it.

Let me back up just a bit. I normally do everything at the last minute when it comes to Christmas. Shopping, baking, decorating...you name it. This year, however, I planned it just right. I started shopping around Thanksgiving. The week after, my decorations were up. And then it was time to start baking. I like to give homemade gifts and for the past few years, it has been food. This year I made chocolate chip oatmeal cookies, crack bark (OMG, you almost need to enter a 12-step program after eating this deliciousness), cinnamon rolls and pimento cheese. And it was all GOOD! I even pre-made my usual casseroles and brown rice that I would be taking to Mama's on Christmas Eve and to Cliff's sister's on Christmas Day. I had so much time on my hands that I even made some crocheted scarves for gifts.

Jason came home a week ahead of Whitney so that he and Cliff could duck and squirrel hunt. Jason needed a vacation because he starts nursing school full time, next week. He is working towards a career as a nurse practitioner. Emily, Lidia and Sawyer arrived on Tuesday. Whitney arrived on Christmas Eve morning. I was a happy mama. All my children and grandchildren were home for the holidays. Christmas Eve night, we all loaded up and headed to Mama's. All of my siblings and their children and grandchildren were there. It's been a year or so since we've all been there at the same time. It was very nice. The food, as always, was abundant and delicious. True to her word, Mama cooked her famous collard greens. I was a happy child.

Christmas morning started the same as usual. Santa Claus had delivered and was ooohed and aaahed over. The rest of the gifts were opened and everyone was happy and appreciative. Do you remember a couple of years ago that I really wanted to go on a Woman's Bike Tour? I never went because I started training for some running races, in particular a half-marathon. Well, 4 half-marathons under my belt now and no plans for a full anytime soon, I now have time to train for one of those tours. And, it's a good thing because that's just what Cliff gave me for Christmas this year. I am so excited! Woman's Tours and the Teton Valley.....here I come. After training, of course. In light of this new development, my posts this year will most likely be heavy on my training and progress. OMG, I can't wait. I'm pure giddy!

Monday, Cliff and I decided to do something a little differently. We roasted oysters.... just the kids and us....oh and Cliff's mama came over, too. This may be a new tradition. Time will tell.

Sadly, Emily and Matt had to go home yesterday for work. I'll see them and Lidia and Sawyer again this weekend. But even more sadly, Whitney and Jason had to go back home to Colorado, today. I won't get to see them for awhile. A total BUMMER!

This was such a great Christmas....one I'll remember for a long time. I just hope it's enough to hold me over until all my children and grandchildren are here with us again. As 2014 quickly comes to an end, so does the busyness we experienced this year. I hope 2015 brings us as many blessings, if not more. I'm certainly thankful for each and everyone of them. I look forward to a year full of exercising and continued good health, new adventures and I can't wait to tell you about some exciting family news. But not just yet, you'll just have to wait a while longer.

Until then......

Happy New Year,
Laurie


Tuesday, December 23, 2014

The Perfect Gift



Christmas 2014
 
I remember as a child the anticipation I felt waiting for Christmas and Santa. I didn't worry about shopping for that perfect gift for anyone. The beginning of the Christmas season was not marked with sales and shopping at the mall. Nope....for me it was the night that a Charlie Brown Christmas came on TV.  From then until Christmas Eve, I marveled in the lights and sounds and smells of the season. As children, we were wrapped in the knowledge of our Savior's birth. I had such warm feelings in my heart.  Today, I believe that feeling to be the love of Christ and the feeling of goodwill.

Some years ago, I wrote a newsletter for our Sunday school class. And as I sat here this morning, looking at my Christmas tree, I remembered a short article I wrote for one of those newsletters pondering the same thoughts and feelings.

From the Agape News, December 1995:

CHRISTMAS
 
The mere utterance of the word conjures up memories of the sights,
Christmas goodies and turkeys roasting in the oven.
The clatter and clanging of the malls.
The hustling and bustling to buy that perfect gift.
But as good as the memories may be
and as we prepare and anticipate another Christmas season,
ponder these questions for a moment.
What does Christmas and the Christmas spirit really mean to you?
Is it really all of the above?
Or, could it be that the true spirit of Christmas,
the way you feel at Christmastime, good will toward others,
is the way God's Spirit really is?
We hope that as you celebrate this holiday season,
you truly understand the real meaning of Christmas.
And that your homes are full of love for your families
and for the Wonder and Awe of our Lord and Savior's Birth.
 
THE PERFECT GIFT!
 
**********
 
 
I have so many reasons to be happy this Christmas and I will wallow in them all. My children and grandchildren are on the way home to spend Christmas with Cliff and me. I can't wait to wrap my arms around Lidia and Sawyer.
 
Last night, Mama and I were discussing the menu for Christmas Eve. She said that she was thinking about not cooking collards this year, which is her specialty. I nearly went into convulsions! She then told me that she thought better of it and that she would add them to the menu. I exclaimed, "Good, because no collards at Christmas would just be blasphemy"! She giggled and we hung up. Well, I just got a call from her and she said, "I just want you to know that there will be no blasphemy at my house on Christmas Eve, I just finished cooking the collards".  Ha!  She so gets me!
 
Well, wrapping up, I just want to wish you all a Christmas full of peace and joy, love and goodwill. And, I hope that your new year will be filled with abundant blessings.
 
Merry Christmas,
Laurie

 
 

 

Thursday, December 18, 2014

Way Back When.....

....I was still a bun in my mama's oven...... Well, that sounded corny, but I'm leaving it in because my posts are for posterity's sake, remember. HaHa!

Anyway, today is my birthday! And I plan to do just what the heck I want to, which includes going to the grocery store, baking, making beds, laundry...'cause....a woman's work is never done. But I'm seriously enjoying all the Birthday Wishes I'm receiving on Facebook. I don't need presents....nah....but those two words just make my day!

Again, way back when I was still a bun in my mama's oven, this world was a different place. I thought it might be fun to Google the highlights of the year 1959. Yeah, I dated myself. I don't care that you know how old I am. I'm hip like that.

In 1959:

1)   Alaska was admitted as the 49th U.S. state and Hawaii as the 50th.
2)   Ben-Hur was the movie of the year.
3)   Exodus by Leon Uris was the number one best seller.
4)   Two monkeys, Able and Miss Baker are the first living beings to successfully return to Earth from space aboard the flight Juniper AM-18.
5)   CBS made The Wizard of Oz an annual tradition.
6)   Smoke Gets In Your Eyes by the Platters topped the charts.
7)   In the 50's The Korean War took place and the Vietnam War began.
8)   Bonanza was very popular on T.V.
9)   Dwight D. Eisenhower was President.
10) In 1959, a cure-all vaccine for diphtheria, polio, and whooping cough was released.
11) I share my birth year with Simon Cowell, Hugh Laurie, Emma Thompson and Magic Johnson.
12) Mary Ann Mobley from MS was Miss America.
13) Frank Lloyd Wright died that year.
14) Cliff was 4 years old.
15) Daddy was in the Army, stationed in Ft. Ord, California. He had only been there 3 weeks when I was born and it was 6 weeks later before he met me for the first time.
16) I was born at 2:18 a.m., weighed 8 lb. 9 oz., it was cold and rainy. Mama said, "You've gained a few pounds, since then". HaHa! .
17) Mama was living in Spartanburg with Granny and PaPa, since Daddy was away. Spartanburg is listed as my birth city, but I was actually born in a little community called Cowpens in Dr. Crow's clinic. How about that!

 

My oh my, how times have changed. Progress continues and is needed, but sometimes I wish I could go back and experience what it was like to be a teenager and/or an adult during the 50's. I bet I would be wearing poodle skirts and watching American Bandstand with Dick Clark, listening to Chuck Berry or Elvis and doing the twist in my black and white saddle oxfords at the local sock hop. Or, I would be doing my shopping, baking and cleaning in heels and pearls.

Hang Loose,
Laurie





Saturday, December 13, 2014

It's Nearly Over....

2014, that is. It's been a crazy busy year. I've found myself putting things on the backburner and this blog caught the brunt of it. I was even asked the other day if I had quit blogging.

No way!

So.....to avoid making this novel length, I'm going to sort of bullet the last month's or so memorable events with pictures. And it will be picture heavy, I promise.


Remainder of October 2014:
 
Sawyer turned 8! Here he is in his Korean Tae Kwon Do Dobak (uniform)
eating birthday cake in a sombrero at a Mexican restaurant. He's multi-cultural!
 
 
One week after my last half marathon, I'm pretty sure I broke my toe.....so I haven't run since then. Bummer! I'm actually going in the morning. I think it has healed pretty well. Could have been because of the great care I took of it with the cast and all...

 
Lidia was Cat Woman for Halloween and Sawyer was some sort of Action Figure. I couldn't tell you which one, even if you tried to beat it out of me. And from the looks of that thing behind him, he may have to do some....well, you know....action.
 

Lidia's class went on a three day field trip to Seabrook Island near Charleston, SC 
concentrating on environmental education. She's a smart girl!


Lidia and Sawyer's last fishing adventure at the lake. It looks wicked cold, doesn't it.
 

Sawyer has been practicing with his bow and arrow. He's pretty good, too. Bless it, he's still sort of snaggletoothed. I love him!
 

In case you don't know where I've been......Sawyer wanted you to know.
 
 
November 2014:
  
It snowed at the lake on November 1st.
 

It was gorgeous! But only lasted a few hours.
 
 
Sawyer's artwork was chosen as one of twenty from hundreds of students at his school to be displayed in the Chapman Cultural Center. It's of a superhero, of course. He's very talented!
 

Lidia and Sawyer took away some major trophy's from their Tae Kwon Do event. I wouldn't cross them, if I were you!
 

Lidia and Sawyer earned their Green Belt with Blue Stripe. Black belt, here they come!
 

Remember this picture from this post? The cotton popped! Isn't it beautiful? I just love living in the "land of cotton"!
 
 
December 2014:
 
Alas, we are in December. I love December for many reasons......
1) It turns cold.  2) It's my birthday month.  3) It's Christmas, and 4) It's family time.
I'm so excited because all of my children will be home for Christmas this year. And then, there is Ms. Bones. You remember her, don't you? Please don't get the wrong idea....I am not macabre! 
She's just been a part of our family, since I was in x-ray school.
Her outfit changes seasonally. Ha! Here she is.....dressed for the holidays.
Isn't she elegant?
 
 
Unfortunately, we did have some sadness just before Thanksgiving. Cliff's step-father passed away. The family, though sad, is celebrating his life and memories. And we know he is in a better place.
 
Speaking of Thanksgiving, Mama spent it with us at the lake. I really wanted her to just rest and take it easy. Y'all, the woman wouldn't sit still. She has helped me cook, washed every dish in the house, swept and taken out the trash. I had to make her go sit down and rest. Hope I'm that active in my 70's.
 
And finally, Lidia was baptized the Sunday after Thanksgiving. We are so proud of her and her decision to follow Jesus. She is so sweet. I can't wait to see how the Lord will use her. She was a little nervous that morning. On the way to church, she asked us if the water in the Baptistry will be warm. We assured her that it is heated and she said, "Alright then, I'm good to go". I love her!
 
 
Merry Christmas,
Laurie