Friday evening Richard and I went down to the luminary walk at the Community Market. It started at 6PM with a group of singers and musicians at the little shelter in front of the pepsi building. After we listened for a while we walked the trail which was lit with luminaries. There were a lot of people out and everyone seemed to be having a good time. After the walk we stopped to listen to the singers again and talk to some friends we ran into. Then we went into the pepsi building to have refreshments and a senior citizen chorus was performing. There were 9 ladies singing and a leader who was playing the keyboard. He could really play and sometimes would sing along with them. They were simply wonderful.......they could really sing! Then on Sunday we had our Christmas program at church. The kids dressed as animals were so cute and when they sang "Away in a Manger", I could actually hear them way back in the church. During practice they sang so softly that we couldn't hear them on the front row. I heard many comments on how good the program was and how sweet the kids were. Tonight we went to Bonner to hear the Christmas concert. Those kids could really sing. There were several solo parts and a chorus of about 60 kids. It was such a relaxing time amid the hustle and bustle of Christmas and it made me stop and think.....Christmas isn't about the presents but about the Presence......of God. Merry Christmas, all.

Christmas and the aftermath

I always look forward to Christmas and all the excitement of the children and grandchildren coming by for a while to snack and open gifts or to just be there to talk and take photos, all the stuff that everybody does on Christmas. We decided a few years back that instead of doing the sit down Christmas dinner, we would do soup and sandwiches and dessert because most all of the folks who come by have already eaten somewhere else or are going to be eating a little later with someone. So, this year we had oyster stew, vegetable-beef soup, tossed salad, country ham, regular ham, turkey, cheeses, lettuce and tomato, several kinds of bread, coconut cake and pie, pecan pound cake, pineapple upside down cake, cheese ball, and several other edibles. Enough to feed a small army. We had the Keister Whitts, the Bob Whitts, the Dosses, the Adams's, Richard and Ashley, Ava and Amanda, Cindy, Rebecca, Tommy, me and a lil later.....Dave, Cindy's friend. Kerri didn't show up for Christmas day although we looked for her and Chad, and Tami and her crew came on Sat. after Christmas. I think what we do best as a family is eat. Whenever any of us get together, we always eat! Tami was coming to get Kaitlyn yesterday...Jan. 1, and she called from the car to see what she could bri ng to eat. I'd already planned our traditional New Year's Day supper, so she stopped and got chicken at KFC for the kids and the rest of us, which by now included 5 Dosses and Mr. Vincent, ate greens, peas and hog jowl. So we gathered together and ate! Pretty good, if I must say. Oh, well.....that's what I was thinking on this first evening in over two weeks when I can just sit and be by myself. I love the getting together and the kids being here, but it's also nice to relax and kick back and do what I want to do while I wait for the snow. Good night, all!

Let It Snow!

I was on the computer Wed. night checking my mail when the phone rang. It was Rachel....really excited, "G'ma, it's snowing!" I went and looked out the window and between me and the street light it looked like a small blizzard. It really was snowing! Well, I kept tabs on it all the rest of the night. Nap, get up and look out the window; nap some more, check the snow again. Why is it that it's so hard to sleep when snow is falling? And this is not a "senior" thing. I've always been like that. I remember once when Bobby was a baby and it snowed every Wed. and every Sat. for a month and I didn't get any sleep! Seems I was either up at the window checking on the snow or out on the sidewalk shovelling it. We walked to church thru drifts up to my thighs. Fara would come sliding down the hill behind our house to help me get everybody to church. That was the "good ole days". Now, I don't like to get out in that cold, wet stuff, but I DO love to see it fall and pile up. Well, it seems like I'm gonna get out in it today for a while as I have to make a grocery store run. I'm out of potatoes and I really want some potato soup. Also, I'm gonna pick up Emily so she can play with Rachel for a while. So, I'll see all yall in a few days when it snows again, or ices or sleets or whatever "they" are calling for.