How was I to know when I left Danville on Oct. 31 in my trusty lil Toyota that I would never drive it again. It was a gift to me from Bobby when he got another car and it was a good car for a long time. It had never let me down before and was always ready and willing to go whenever I was.

Well, it has been a month officially and I never knew how much I depended on it. I have to get a ride to church, to the grocery store, or borrow a car to do anything I have to do.

Every body at church is "helping" me get a car, but right now I just don't have the funds for a car. 'Cause Christmas is acoming and so's the rent and utility bill. One guy hollered across the parking lot Sunday and asked "What kind of car are you looking for"? "Cheap" was my reply!

What did folks do back in the good ole days when the family might or might not have a car? In my family, we walked to Krogers and Piggly Wiggly, cause they were both down town and all we had to do was go down the railroad tracks and get to Main St. bridge and walk "over town". After mama did her shopping and grocery buying, we got a cab and when we got home the cab driver took the groceries in for her and put them on the kitchen table. She thanked him, but I don't remember her tipping him and if she'd tried, he wouldn't have taken it.

Daddy had a car, but I don't remember him taking us downtown and dropping us off. On the other hand, if he had to go to the barber shop or to buy overalls to work in, he walked to town, too. The car was used for "trips". To Bedford to see his folks and to Lynchburg to see Mama's folks. In the summer it was used to go to the country to see the Mills' and play in the creek. It was definitely not used like automobiles are now.

Well, I hope to get something to drive someday....in the meantime, when you check your caller ID, it might be me looking for a ride.

I just had an interesting evening. A Mary Kay party hosted by Cindy to help out a girl she works with who is a Mary Kay representative. Three adult females and three younger females cleaned our faces, moisturized, night-creamed and prepared for "the makeover". The rep. figured out, with the help of color slides, our skin tones and gave us our number. Then we put on foundation, powder, eye-shadow, and lip stick. We all looked so PRETTY!!

Sara applied hers with care and informed us that she'd never done this before and that it was a lot of work. Leanna worked carefully on her make-up, and Emily did a real good job and looked real pretty when she got done. I didn't much like the colors she picked for me.....too pale, I thought.

Then, it was time for refreshments. Cindy had made chicken salad, to be put on rolls, Christmas pin wheels, chocolate cake, salsa and chips and we heated up some dip that Emily made yesterday. It was all very yummy, and the ones who didn't come missed a treat!

Wednesday night we had play practice at church and we got out about 9 or there-abouts. I was driving by myself in Richard's Buick (which he had kindly let me use).

After I crossed Union St. Bridge and turned to go up to the traffic light, I noticed that the traffic light was not working and I thought to myself that I'd call and report it when I got home.

When I got through the intersection I noticed that it was really dark heading up towards Henry hill and the "wee bump". The further I drove the darker it got. It was like driving through a nightmare. The only lights I could see on Henry St. were the lights of cars on Riverside Dr.

I finally made it to the parking lot and the first thing I noticed was that Wrenn Yeatts was completely dark. Generally when our power goes out, they still have lights. My house was sooo dark. After I parked and turned off the car lights, it was really dark. I fumbled around and finally got my door open, just as I remembered that I had left Christmas decorations all over the floor. Well, I had to feel my way through that pitch black room, through the door to the other room and feel around for the stair railing.I kept thinking to myself, "If I can make it up to the living room, I know where Tommy's flashlight is.

I had told Douglas before I left church that I was going home and put on my bathrobe and fix me some hot chocolate and some soup, because I didn't eat supper before I went to practice.

I got the flash light and went to phone Ron to see what was going on with the power. On the way to the phone I saw that the clock was stopped at 7:25. Of course, I couldn't use my cordless phone, so I had to go back to the basement where a regular phone was.

After finding out that Ron didn't know the whys of the blackout, I decided to light some candles. After a while I had a cozy living room, so I went to fix my food. I lit the stove with a lighter and put some water in a coffee pot. Then I remembered that I didn't have a can opener except the electric one, so I eneded up eating cold ham on rolls. Just as I relaxed and prepared to enjoy the evening.........the lights came on! The were off for 3 hours due to a transformer malfunction.

BUT, today I was telling Douglas about my "adventure" and it dawned on me. I could have had soup! I had Campbells and it has a pop top!!!

A couple of weeks ago, Anna's G'ma Gaynelle bought me a new bundt pan so I could make 2 cakes at the time. It was setting on my kitchen table when Cindy dropped by to borrow.....guess what?....a bundt pan!

I showed her the new pan and told her to take it and try it out. Brittany stopped what she was doing and said,"No, Damma Maxine, that's yo pan. T T brung it to you." I told her it was OK for Cindy to use it cause TT wouldn't care. But she wasn't to be put off that easily. "But it's yo pan, Damma Maxine". Cindy offered to take the other pan, but I told her to go ahead and take the new one, so she put it on the dining room table with her purse while she went to the bathroom.

I was still in the kitchen when all of a sudden Brittany came creeping in with the pan clutched to her body, whispering, "I dot it Damma maxine, I dot it." She really didn't want Cindy to use it.

Christmas was a mostly a good day. I got everything wrapped by 8PM on Christmas Eve, thanks to help from a grandson.So on Christmas morning all I had to do were some last minute things like making soup, carving ham and turkey,washing lettuce,making tea, just things like that.

At noon I was all finished and waiting for the influx of kin. At 1PM Cindy and Dave showed up and we waited a while longer and then decided we could go ahead and eat in a nice quiet, relaxed atmosphere. So we did. Cleaned up what we messed up and waited some more. Finally, Bobby and Teresa and Rachel came, then Ron and the kids. I was expecting Tommy and Rebecca at 12 noon, but they didn't get here until closer to 3PM. Linda and Jackie and their kids finally came and everybody that wanted food, ate.

Kerri and Chad showed up later in the evening with Kerri's Christmas present from Chad. It was the cutest little Yorkie pup I have ever seen. His name is Toby and he's a doll baby. I want one sooooooooo badly. I really think you could litter box train one that small.

I received a big TV from Tami...also a stand......but that's another story. Last I heard it was stuck out in Illinois in a snow storm. Also a DVD player and some dvds, a digital camera, new clothes, books, lots of good stuff. Now, if only I had a cell phone, I would be on a level with my grandkids.LOL!

This year I made gifts for my kids and bigger grandkids. I think I'll start in Febuary and make all my gifts for next year. I hope they all liked them, but even if they didn't, they pretended to and I guess that's what counts! Happy New Year!!!