New Year's Eve Thankful Thursday

What a great year 2009 has been and the Lord has blessed me and my family in so many ways.  I count as the greatest blessing good health to enjoy spending time with my family.   Going regularly to the gym, eating lots of fruits and vegetables has made a big difference.  The older we get and our body wears out, exercise is the best medicine.  I heard Kim, one of my Zumba instructors say, "Let's move and dance today while we can."

                                              

At 53, I'm thankful I'm able to get on the floor and play with my grandkids.  I have to say that playing with the grandkids is one way to get a good night's rest.  On my last visit, I noticed how tired I was at the end of the day, ready to go to bed around 9:30 pm.  You can get quite a work out around them.

More 2009 time on the floor.  It's been so much fun spending time with Taite and he melts my heart when he says, "Nana, I'm so happy you are here."  Taite who just turned 3 sure knows how to make a grandmother feel special. 

Just look at this beautiful boy, I'm so glad he's in my life.  Caleb turned 5 this past August.

By the shore of the Pamlico River in Washington, NC., Taite looks in wonder at the stumps poking out of the sand.

My grand kids got me an ornament this Christmas that says: "Who needs Santa when you have grandparents."  So sweet.  Caleb is eager to please and he let me take his picture after the church service modeling the Newsboy cap I made for him.  Taite on the other hand seemed to say: "I'm not doing what she wants me to do."  It's ok, his other sweet moments make up for his 3 year old attitude...LOL..

November delivered a great blessing.  Kevin came to visit and spent a total of 45 days with us.  I love this picture Andrea took of us during our stay at Big Mill Bed and Breakfast.

Kevin serves in the military and having him with us was an answer to prayer.  I'm thankful for God's faithfulness as he watches over him while he is away from us.

This is Andrea singing during the worship service at West End Baptist Church, were Travis, her husband is the Senior Pastor. I'm also thankful for her husband who preaches at this church and spreads the Gospel week after week. It's always so special to hear her sing and Travis preach to honor their Lord and Savior. This picture shows the baby she's expecting....to be born in March 2010....More blessings on the way this coming New Year.

Many times this year, my husband Cliff has spent time in the kitchen cooking for me or the family.  I really appreciate him taking the initiative to cook when I'm tired at the end of the day.  I'm thankful for the many other ways he shows he cares.  He's always thinking how he can be a blessing to others.  One of the special things he has started doing for me before heading out to work during the cold mornings is to heat my old van with a space heater.  He cares about the little things, that was makes him so special.

Looking forward to 2010....

The Season of Magic

Enjoyed a wonderful Christmas in the company of Andrea, Travis, Caleb and Taite.  The weather in Williamston was wet, gray and cloudy but our spirits rejoiced and the magic surrounded us in so many ways.

This picture shows Andrea's living room and part of her dining room.  The picture was taken with my new Kodak which has the Panoramic feature.

Her Frazier tree was smaller than in past years, but still smelled wonderful.

Eventhough Caleb woke up sick with a fever, this did not keep him from opening his gifts.

Taite loves his Batcave and loved sharing one of his Batmans with me.

Caleb and Taite got to open one more gift the day after Christmas because they got a duplicate of the Batcave.  My gift to Taite was exchanged for the Dragon's Imaginext set.  It's just priceless to see them open gifts.

They can't wait....to see what is inside.

The day after Christmas was also a day for projects.  Cliff put together a shelve in the future nursery/studio room.  Andrea is in need of storage.

Spent a lot of time on the floor.  Taite loves his Fisher Price Geo Trax set.

Moments of rest like this helped me recover....

Some of my Favorite Christmas Decorations this Year

This is an exquisite ornament, I'm sure to treasure for years to come.  The tag attached reads: I am an angel feather sent from up above to serve as a reminder of His most gracious love.  I'm from your guardian angel that God assigned to you, it fell out in her struggles as she protected you.  Each time you almost stumble, each time you nearly fall thank God and all His angels for answering your call.  I love this.  This ornament was give to me by Shelia.  Thank you Shelia, this is powerful.

A cleverly designed Rudolph decoration made by Shelia.  That soap bar it contains will never be used.

Cute Gingerbread Softie so sweet to look at.  Debbie picked this one for me and all the co-workers at the Library.

I picked this one....at a store.  He stood out and begged me to come home.

I'm the proud owner of this AnnaLee ornament.  He sports a straw hat and the softest beard.  This is the only ornament that was not given to me this year.  He is just special.  It was given to me by Cliff's mom years ago.

My Tiny Frazier Fir Tree

For the past few years, I have been setting up an artificial Christmas tree.  I'm not sure what it is, but a real tree just adds so much to the Christmas spirit and  they smell wonderful. So this year, I decided I would set up a real one.  Home Depot had trees from 5ft on up.  I purchased my tiny small Frazier Fir for under $20.00.

I love the star shape LED lights, I purchased last year after Christmas.  They look neat on my mantle and add a cool glow to the decorations.

These ornaments are very old.  It's such a joy to bring them out and remember Christmases of long ago.  The Santa Tongue depressor ornament was made by me on December 1999.  The snowman plastic spoon ornaments was made by Kevin many years ago during a program at the Mint Hill Library.  Andrea also made one.  These are so special to me.

Tongue Depressor Snowman Ornament also made on December 1999

My Christmas Decorations

Decorating my home for Christmas is not quite the same without my daughter. It's a lot more fun when someone helps put up the ornaments, lights etc...She was such a great help. My son is not at all into decorating; I did get Cliff to put some lights outside on the palms, icicle lights on the porch and today he even helped me put some greenery on the porch, at the door and we decorated the mailbox.

This is the second year I've done an artificial skinny tree. These trees do take lots less space, there is just not as much surface to hang ornaments. Carla, my cat has even ignored the tree this year. She used to get under the tree. She's not doing that anymore; I guess she is getting older too. The process of decorating the tree was done during the week. I have not decided what do do with the mantle....which should take lots less time to do.

Angel Ornament
Gingerbread Ornament
Snowman

It's Beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Today was an incredible beautiful day - temperatures reached almost 70. Most people would say it doesn't feel like Christmas due to this warm trend. We joined our Lifegroup (small group from church) to help at this year's Hope Junction Christmas party. The Angel Tree gifts were neatly organized in rows by numbers/codes. At the end of the program which included a Christmas cantata, drama, refreshments the children would receive their gifts. Seeing all the children's happy faces was neat - and it did look like Christmas.