Merry Christmas to All!!

Here it is Christmas Eve and we are getting ready to go to church. We have been shopping today and we went to see a little movie, Astro Boy. It was a good family movie and the three of us enjoyed it. Avery and her mommy and daddy were going to visit a place that has lots of lights and exhibits tonight, but it looks as though the weather is not cooperating.

For all of you that wondered if I would get everything ready. Yes, another year of waiting until the last minute and there are still plenty of things in the stores. I love the hustle and bustle and most of my friends think I'm crazy to wait, but I guess that's just how I roll.

I am boiling some eggs for deviled eggs tomorrow. They can cool while we are at church. We are having Christmas dinner at Avery's tomorrow. Ham will be the main entree and I'll let you know afterwards what the menu is all about.

I pray all of you are having a great Christmas and find the peace of the Lord in all you do!!

It's getting closer to Christmas and I still haven't started my shopping. I don't know why I have the need to share that with you, but I just did. I think this picture taken in winter is so pretty. I love snow pictures. I have one in my office and it always makes me think of coming in out of the weather and getting all cozy and looking out the window at the white wonderfulness.

I just got back from church a little while ago. I sure needed to go. This has been a very challenging time and I needed the beautiful praise music and the message. Our lesson was on the angel coming to Mary to tell her she would give birth to the LORD. Something that really touched my heart was when the angel told her she would be giving birth and she said, "How will this be,"Mary asked the angel, "since I am a virgin?" The angel answered, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God............For nothing is impossible with God." Luke 1:34. This was a day that I needed to be reminded that absolutely nothing is impossible with God.

There have been so many things to pray about both with my friends and personally. I know He supplies all our needs, but sometimes things get overwhelming and I just have to be reminded of His power. This Christmas will be very different for many many people. I believe it will be a huge test for us, but hopefully it will get us to focus more on the reason we celebrate this holiday or holy day in the first place.

I have two more days of work this week and then Monday I will work from home. Then I will start my vacation. I need a break and I am so thankful for those days off. We had our Christmas party at work this afternoon and for Dirty Santa I got a $25. gasoline card. Very practical and appreciated. We had great food and lots of laughs.

I'm watching a sweet Christmas movie on Lifetime. I have recently discovered Lifetime. I would hear women at work talking about it, but I had never gotten into it. I love sappy feel good movies. I think enough all day long and I just need a break sometimes. Reading autopsies and medical charts all day is not exactly a mood lifter. I will be watching more Lifetime over my little break. Sounds like fun to me.

This probably sounds like lots of rambling, but it's just whats on my mind. Nite Nite.

My sweet friend, Stevie Wren, from A Little Birdie Told Me So, tagged me and I will try and answer the questions to the best of my ability. Now for the first one:

Seven Things You May or May Not Know About Me.
1. I was adopted as a baby.
2. I used to be a counselor and taught people about getting a job.
3. I would rather read than eat...and I love to eat!
4. I broke my arm twice when I was eight years old.
5. My husband is thirteen years my junior. No, I'm not a cougar :)
6. I have on sparkly silver nail polish.
7. I kissed Enos from "Dukes of Hazzard" at an autograph signing and he blushed. I did ask his permission first:)

For the second task it's a list of questions that I'm supposed to answer with one word.

Where is your cell phone? nightstand
Your hair...spikey
Your mother...gentle
Your father...jolly
Your favorite food...seafood
Your dream last night...forgot
Your favorite drink...sweet-tea
Your dream/goal...lots
What room are you in...greatroom
Your hobby....blogging
Your fear.....dunno
Where do you want to be in 6 years....home
Where were you last night...here
Something you aren't....petite
Muffins....pumpkin
Wish List item.....Garmin
Where did you grow up.....Indiana
Last thing you did....dinner
What are you wearing...jammies
Your tv.....off
Your pets.....many
Friends.....many
Your life...full
Your mood...hopeful
Missing someone...mom
Vehicle....Volvo
Something you're not wearing....shoes
Your favorite store....bookstore
Your favorite color....purple
When was the last time you laughed..tonight
Last time you cried....yesterday
Your best friend...kooky
One place I go over and over....work
Facebook....sorta
Favorite Place to eat....lots
That was fun and thanks, Stevie. I will now tag YOU if you are reading this. I love to learn more about my friends.

Today is a sad anniversary for me. My beloved mother died 31 years ago today. It is always a difficult day for me, but I know she is in heaven and much better off than I am. She was such a kind fun-loving person. I was so blessed that she adopted me and gave me so much love. I miss her so much. People say that time heals the wounds, but there is not a day that passes that I don't think about and long to see my precious mother. She would be crazy about Avery and I know someday we'll all be together.

Our Christmas party at work is tomorrow and I look forward to getting away from numbers and year end reports for a couple of hours. Next Tuesday will be my first day off for the holiday and I really can't wait. Mark and I plan on taking Avery to some movies and doing some book shopping. She's currently reading Kingdom Keepers and will be starting on the Percy Jackson series when I bring some home to her. I hope to do some fun art projects with her and visit some friends.

I need to stop and run around to visit your blogs. Don't let the Bed Bugs Bite!

Here's a picture of Avery last Christmas in front of their tree. I love this picture and have it on my desktop at work. I'm trying to get more in the mood for the holiday. I love celebrating the birthday of our Savior, it's just that I let myself get caught up in the secular part of the holiday and that's when I start remembering how different my life is now. I have a wonderful blogging friend that continues to help me through reading her blog. We have had similarities in our life's journey.

Brenda's daddy died of a heart attack when she was 10 years old. My daddy died when I was 11 from cancer. We both have previously had very different lives, with really nice homes and all that goes with it. We now have physical challenges that limit our activities and we find ourselves praising the Lord through our pain. We both are very blessed that we have lots of love and special memories of when budgets weren't so tight.

She has a great blog helping her readers look at things with a thankful heart. She's a loving mother and grandmother and I want to highly recommend her blog, Coffee, Tea, Books and Me.
I always imagine her home smelling great from delicious baked goods cooling on the counter. Drop over and meet Brenda. I believe you'll find a friend too.

This picture of 'Bringing in the Christmas Tree' is so touching to me. I remember days of years ago when we would go out and look for a Christmas tree in Indiana. The weather was so different from the South and I miss it sometimes. My mother used to always say that she and my Daddy never fussed until it was time to trim the tree. We don't have our tree up yet, do you?

Some highlights from Thanksgiving

I thought I'd share some pictures from Thanksgiving. We went to my daughter's house along with her in-laws. I was so proud of Jolie cooking such a great meal. Her mother-in-law brought some side dishes and I brought deviled eggs, green beans casserole, and creamed corn from a recipe from one of my blog friends, Carmen. She got it from a restaurant in California and there were raves about it. My daughter's father-in-law even said for his wife to get the recipe. That made me feel great that he enjoyed it that much. It's certainly not a low cal dish, but yummy and great for special occasions. I will share the recipe if anyone is interested.

The above picture is Avery and her cousin, Danielle. She's 4 years older and Avery thinks she's so neat. I can remember being that age and thinking my cousin that's 5 years older was wonderful in every way. What's neat is that I still feel that way! It was such an age difference then, but now at our age it doesn't matter at all.

Here's my daughter and her husband Thursday evening getting ready for the big dinner. I will list the menu because I enjoy reading what other people have at their meals. It's kind of like Hee Haw with grandpa listing the food. Here goes: Turkey, Stuffing, Ham, Mashed Potatoes, gravy, macaroni and cheese, green bean casserole, creamed corn, rolls, deviled eggs, Pumpkin pie, chocolate chip cake, and Avery made Peanut Butter Cups. They were a lot like Reese's cups and she did a super job. They were in the little papers and everyone seemed to enjoy them. You know Nana just had to test one.

Here's a picture of some of the food. I believe we will do a repeat Christmas. We had the meal later in the day and my daughter was so much calmer. She had time to work on everything and not feel so stressed. After the meal we played a word game Quiddler. It was our first time to play it and it was pretty fun.

Last night we decorated a 12 foot tree for our Love Lights a Tree for donor families and recipients. I enjoyed helping as much as I could. I can't climb ladders, but I can put hooks on pretty silver, green and blue balls. Thursday we will have the lighting ceremony and we are excited about it.

I can't wait to jump around and visit my blog friends. I need to decorate my blog for Christmas. I got some bad news today that one of my friends has just been diagnosed with uterine cancer.She's devastated, but believes God will be with her on this journey. She's 68 and her name is Martha. Please say a prayer for her. We believe prayers are heard and that the Lord is still on the throne.

If you haven't heard Merry Christmas yet....I just want to say, "We say Merry Christmas!"