Christmas Eve Gathering

Every Christmas Eve we have a gathering of family members at my home. We have food to eat and gifts to open. My daughter wore a Santa hat. Mom was the one who always wore a Santa hat at Christmas. She loved having all the family together. It has been twelve years since her passing and I still miss her greatly. My Dad is sitting in the foreground in the photo and my sister, Janet, from Writing in the Blackberry Patch, is shown to the left.

Since our family has grown so much (and not our pocket books), we decided a couple of years ago to just bring a gift for a male or female (whichever one you are), and we would then choose from the gifts. This year, we decided to draw names instead. These are my three granddaughters, my grandson and his wife, and my oldest daughter, Tania.

There were eighteen of us this year. Everyone came at different times, and we had to wait for the last ones to show up before we could open gifts. There was also an "almost" family member with us this year for the first time......one of my nephew's fiance. She got to meet a lot of her "to be" in-laws. The last ones to arrive, shown here is Charley and his fiance, Jennifer.

My granddaughters loved passing out the gifts. I think everyone was pleased with their gifts, especially since everyone had a gift list written with their name when we drew names at our Thanksgiving gathering. It was fun finding out who had whose name. My daughters and their families, as well as John and myself, also opened the gifts that we had gotten each other.

My other sister, Connie, and her husband, Steve, who don't have

children of their own, always seem to enjoy watching our grandchildren open their gifts.

As you can see, my photos are very candid. I like to catch what's happening instead of getting a posed photo.

I think everyone had a good time, but all had to leave in the rain.

You've met some of my family......I'd love to meet yours.

Christmas Cards

I love to get Christmas cards.


Most of the cards that I get are from my friends at church. We have "mail boxes" at church that we put the cards in. There is one box for each letter of the alphabet and we go through the box having the first letter of our last name.


A few cards are received in the mail. Some of these are from friends whom I have not seen for years, but they always send me a card for Christmas. Those are special friends.......the ones you will always remember and hold a special place in your heart.


One special friend who now lives in South Carolina, was the first friend that I made when I was first married and lived in Cleveland, Ohio. I also received a card from a very new friend who lives in Oklahoma.....Denise, of Samaritan Women. That card was a blessing to me. I like making new friends.

Some of the cards that I receive are ones that are hand delivered or placed in my mail box that is by the road.

I display all the cards that I receive on the inside of my front door. As you can see, it is usually completely covered.

I usually distribute a little over 100 cards each year. Of course most of them are hand delivered, only a few are mailed. To me, Christmas cards are one way we let our friends know that we still remember them and that we wish the best for them.

What about you? Do you send and receive Christmas cards?

Birthday Sunday

Birthdays in our family are usually celebrated on Sundays. I will cook their favorite food and have a birthday cake for the one who had a birthday during the week and everyone will come for dinner. This Sunday was my birthday Sunday, since my birthday was on Wednesday. Instead of cooking my favorite meal, I cooked spaghetti for my grandchildren, two of which I don't see very often. I didn't have a cake but one of my daughters brought cake and ice cream. (really good)

My girls always get me a gift. I will share with you below:


This one is from Tania. You will need to click on the picture to enlarge and see the detail. She knows I love birds. The cardinal on the bird feeder on the left is a Christmas tree ornament. I love the cardinal sitting on the pine cone. In the middle is an owl pin. And, the gift bag matches so well with the tree and cardinals. I was very pleased with this gift.




This one is from Terri. She, too knows I love birds. These little birds are so cute. I love them. And she packed them in such a pretty bag also.


I had a really good day yesterday even if I was miserable with a bad sinus cold. I just love my girls and my grandchildren.

Aren't those gifts so cute!

GETTING OLD!

Well, ladies, today I turned 61.

It's an ol' dreary rainy day and that's about how I feel.........old and dreary.

My oldest granddaughter called from school this morning and said "Happy Birthday, MaMa. I gotta go, the two minute warning bell just rang, I'll call you later."

My dear hubby didn't even know it was my birthday until he asked who called and I told him.

Both my daughters emailed me from their jobs and said "Happy Birthday".

I think most of us will agree that we like to be remembered by our family and friends, and shown that we mean something to them.

You know, I was just thinking while I was composing this post and feeling all down and depressed. I wonder how Jesus feels when His people don't have more than just maybe a casual thought about what Christmas really means. It is a day set aside to acknowledge His birth and the purpose of His birth. Christmas has become just a "holiday" for most people to celebrate in any way they please, except the right way. More attention is placed on Santa Claus than Jesus. We, as Christians, should focus on the true meaning of this special "holiday". We show our love to others by our giving, but let's not forget to show our children and loved ones what Jesus gave for us.

I am truly thankful that God sent His Son to die for my sins. I am so thankful that His Holy Spirit drew me to Him and caused me to realize that I needed to be saved. I received Jesus into my life over 32 years ago and He is still with me. Praise His Name!

I feel better now.

CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS

I'm back, but I haven't been anywhere. Just busy and not very inspired. I thought I'd try to get back into posting with some of my decorations. I don't do a whole lot for Christmas. This is the first time I've put up a tree in years. I just don't have room.

The tree is just a little 4 ft. white tree that came with lights already on it. I bought a few bulbs and thiink I will add some more. The tree is sitting on a table between my two recliners.

As you probably already know, I like to make flower arrangements. I made a new one for Christmas this year that I will leave out all winter. It sits on my coffee table.









The one on my dining table is one I made last year.






On my counter top I have a little village that I really can't take a picture of since there is a mirror behind it. I did manage to take a picture of the ceramic tree that sits in the middle of the village. Someone also gave me the ceramic tree. I really like it and display it every year.







A few years ago, my youngest daughter, Terri, made a wreath for me. I hang it on the back door. (Everyone enters through our back door.)








Also on the back porch, by the door, I display a little wooden tree with lights that someone gave me.










On the outside back porch, is a little nativity scene. You may notice that I do not display the wise men, as the wise men did not visit Jesus at the stable. They did not show up right when Jesus was born. When they got there, he was in a house with Mary. (Matthew 2:11) The Bible also does not indicate that there were three wise men, only three gifts. So, that is why I don't display the wise men in my nativity scene.

Just inside my back door, I display a few things. I really like the bird house that Terri also got for me a couple of years ago. I also display it all winter.









The snowman that I hang on the door knob in my living room was also a gift. That is the door that I display all of my Christmas cards that I receive. I will post it when it is covered. So far, I only have one.







The only lights that I have outside are wrapped around the lamp post.






There you have it. Now, I'm looking forward to seeing your decorations.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

Just want to wish you all a very happy and blessed Thanksgiving with your families. I won't be posting for awhile, as I will be very busy. Tomorrow morning is my doctor appointment which I am not looking forward to. I have not lost weight and my diabetes is not under control. My doctor is not going to be very happy with me.

After the doctor appointment, I must get ready for Thanksgiving day. We will be having 15 and possibly 18 family members for dinner. Can you believe they are all going to have to fit in my little single wide mobile home! Well, it seems like our place has always been the gathering place since my Mom passed away twelve years ago. I know I have been guilty of complaining, when I should be more thankful for my family and God's provision.

We had a special Thanksgiving service at church tonight. Our pastor talked about how we, as Christians, are not as thankful as we should be. It was a very good message and hit home with me.

Blessings to you all, my friends.

A NICE DAY TRIP

It was a very, very COLD November day. But a very nice day for a road trip.

My very nice nephew, Andrew, invited me to go on a day trip with him (in his nice new car), his brother, Davey and mom, my sister, Janet of Writing in the Blackberry Patch to Cabela's in Wheeling, WV.

I love road trips, especially on unfamiliar routes, leading to new places. We took the nice scenic route along the Ohio River instead of traveling the interstate.

It was nice to see places I'd never seen before. We drove through a lot of nice little towns.

Janet noticed a sign along the road in the town of Paden City for Marble King gift shop. So, we turned back to to check it out. It was such a nice little gift shop with oodles and oodles of marbles and other gift items.

Back on the road, we finally made it to our destination, after stopping at Bob Evans for a very nice lunch.

Cabela's is a very nice place to visit, even if you are not in the market for any hunting, fishing, or outdoors merchandise. It is a tourist attraction with lots and lots of very nice wildlife displays and a walk in fish aquarium. Also, there is a nice little general store and restaurant inside. And, a tourist spot would not be a tourist spot without souvenirs. I purchased a couple of tee shirts. One of my favorite pieces of clothing is the tee shirt. I wear tee shirts every day.

After a nice tour of Cabela's, we headed for the car to start our trip back home. Did I mention it was a cold day? Now it was even colder. We walked at a very fast pace back to the comfort of Andrew's nice car. (Wish I'd gotten a pic of Andrew and his car.)

Along the way back, we drove through a MacDonald's, believe it or not, for an ice cream cone. Of course I had to have a coffee also.

On the road again, it was beginning to get dusky and there was such a nice colorful sunset, which I was unsuccessful in getting a photo of.

Posted below are just some of the photos that I did get while on my very nice day trip.

Thank you, Andrew.


"Did you hear something?"

"Oh, those fleas!"

"Back off. He's mine."















"Say uncle."















"Grrrrr."












"Gobble, gobble, gobble."














"Wait up."








"What are you starring at?"










"My tee shirt!"









Now, wasn't that nice?

Without going back, can you guess how many times the word "nice" appears in this post?

IT'S HERE ALREADY!

The first snow accumulation and it's cold outside.
I miss the fall colors and fall weather.
Snow has covered the fallen leaves.
The bird feeders have been filled.
I love to watch the birds.

My fall decorations have a touch of show. They normally hang around until after Thanksgiving. First time for snow before Thanksgiving in a long time.












The chairs on the patio around the fish pond will have to be put away for the winter.







Have you gotten your first snow for the year yet?

I'VE BEEN TAGGED

I've been tagged by Janet at Writing in the Blackberry Patch.

Here are the rules of this meme:

1. Link to the person who tagged you.
2. Post the rules on your blog.
3. Write six random things about yourself.
4. Tag six people at the end of your post and link to them.
5. Let each person know they’ve been tagged and leave a comment on their blog
6. Let the tagger know when your entry is posted.

So here are my six very random things about me:

#1 My middle name is Jean.
#2 I have had a losing battle with being overweight most of my life.
#3 I love reading inspirational romance novels.
#4 I was "born again" on August 29, 1976.
#5 I don't like housework.
#6 As a child, I was the "black sheep" in the family.

Now it's my turn to tag 6 other people. Here's my list:

1. Sharon at Sitting Sunny in the South.
2. Shanda at Front Porches-Sweet Tea and Old Aprons.
3. Linda at This and That.
4. Lori Jean at Happy Bird's Crafting Haven.
5. Kathy at Life Goes On.
6. Denise at Samaritan Women.

ANGELS

Hebrews 1:14 speaks of angels....Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation? Psalm 91:11 speaks of angels....For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. Those are a couple of my favorite verses in the Bible regarding angels. Isn't it just great how God loves us so much that he sent His only begotten Son to die for our sins, (John 3:16) and gives us angels to watch over us! Among my collections, is a large collection of angels. Also, one of my favorite crafts, especially for the Christmas seasons, is angels. I have made several different kinds of angel crafts over the years. This week I have created a new angel ornament. I don't know what I will do with them, I just enjoy making them. Some of them may hang on my new Christmas tree and some may be given to friends and family. I hope you like them.

These are the pieces before being put together: The halo is a gold pipe cleaner, the dress and arms is white felt, the wing is white and gold lace which I gather in the center, the head is wooden with a hole all the way through in which I place craft thread for hanging and a small piece of dowel rod to hold it in place, I use some gold trim and lace on the bottom of the dress and golden beads around the neck





This is a finished product. I forgot to put the hair in the first photo. I use different colors of doll hair.
















Here, I am holding one to show the size.

EXCITING NEWS!!

IT'S A GIRL!!

We just found out today that our great grandbaby is a girl! Everyone is so excited. Now plans can be made on what theme to decorate the nursery. Now we can buy baby girl things. As a matter of fact, Sierra is right this minute at a baby and maternity consignment shop. Oh, I wish I was there too. My daughter is with her. This is her first grandbaby and I know she is excited about it. But, it is my first great grandbaby and I think I'm more excited. Sierra gets so excited. She just bubbles over all the time. She tickles me sometimes. Oh, we are all just going to enjoy this special exciting time of expecting.

Aren't you excited for me?

ROCK COLLECTION

I'd like to share with you pics of a few of our rocks that we have collected over the years as we have traveled to different State parks. When we find an interesting or unusual rock, we like to bring it home and place it around our fish pond.


This one is not from one of our trips, but is a lump of coal that I wanted to include in my collection.











This is a very unusual one that my husband found while he was walking on the hill above my doctor's office while I was seeing the doctor.










I don't remember where this one came from. We thought it might have been a rock used by the Indians in grinding. It has the thumb like indentation in it.









This one is really strange. It is a rock that has lots of little circle formations in it. The back side is just like a normal rock.











Another strange rock.













Look at the holes in this one.














This one is similar to the one above but with smaller holes.








Don't you think these are unusual rocks?

A DAY OUT WITH THE LADIES

A new experience for me! Our pastor's wife had planned a day trip to the Amish country of Ohio. John and I had visited the Amish country just last October with my sister and one of her sons. I loved it. Of course John didn't care much for it, but I'm glad he went. It is not normal for him to do things like that, but I think he went because he was curious. He found out that it involved browsing lots of crafty shops and that is just not his thing. Since I loved it so much and there was so much more to see than a day could contain, I decided that I would like to go again sometime. When this trip came up at church, I just had to go. This would be a new experience for me since I had never gone anywhere with the church ladies before. We met at the church at 7:00 a.m. There were 16 of us. We traveled in three vans. The trip was about three hours. It didn't seem that long to me because we enjoyed just talking together. When we got there, we parked and divided up in small groups to go where we pleased, eat lunch and then meet again so we could all go to dinner together. My friend and I browsed a lot of shops and made a few purchases. We had lunch at Java Jo's Coffee Shop, where I had a portabella veggie wrap.....DELICIOUS!! We all had dinner at the Der Dutchman Restaurant.....THE BEST! The line at the restaurant was very very long. We were allowed to go straight in. They had tables lined up so that we could all sit together. The food was THE BEST! I had the Amish sampler. I had to take part of it home to finish later. Shortly after dinner, we left for home and arrived back at the church around 10:00 p.m. That was a day that I will always remember. I'm hoping that there are more outings like this planned for the ladies of the church. It is good for the soul to get away for fun and fellowship once in awhile.....at least it was good for me. I had a great day....fellowship was great.....browsing was great......fall scenery was great......weather was great. But, shame on me, I only took one picture.

This is a photo of one of the many

horse and buggys that we saw on the streets.

I really enjoyed seeing these.

Next time, I'll take more pics.

CHRISTMAS CRAFTS

I have been busy making little Christmas crafts. I guess you might say I'm getting into the Christmas mood. I even bought a small 4 ft white tree with lights on it. I haven't had a tree for years. I live in a single wide mobile home and just don't have much room, but decided that I want to try to have one this year. I'm posting a photo of a few of my ornaments that I've finished. They can be used as a tree ornament or they can adorn gifts. I enjoy making crafts. I get my ideas from crafting sites and blogs. I usually just get ideas and make them a little differently. Sometimes, I even have a brain storm and create something of my own. I may be posting more as I create different ones. Hope you enjoy.


These are my little snowmen and gingerbread boys and girls. The yarn angel is holding a golden harp. Aren't they cute? I think they are.

I'll be posting more soon.

DOLLY SODS

Another place we like to visit when in Canaan Valley is Dolly Sods. We just drive to the top, enjoying the scenery and taking pictures. We have never attempted to go on any of the trails. I'm a scaredy cat anyway.....afraid of meeting a bear. The road is a graveled road and in some places it has pot holes that you really have to slow down for. The trip to the top, is around 15 miles and takes a long time to drive because of the road. On this trip, we were in for a little treat when we reached the top. There were three painters set up painting. I thought that was just great.
















I took this photo as soon as I got out of our truck, but got brave and walked on over closer when I saw others doing so. (I'm shy.)

This is a close up of one painter's work.

This is another close up. I liked this one the best.



















This is the last one. They were all really good. I really enjoyed seeing them.



















This sign tells about Bear Rocks Preserve.

We walked up to the rocks, along with another couple who were visiting also. They pointed out the tea berry plant. They said that is where tea berry gum gets it's flavor from.



















This is a photo showing a section of the rocks.



















This is a view I shot from atop the rocks.





















This photo was taken near the top. Aren't the colors pretty!




















Notice that the trees don't have branches on one side. That is due to the wind.





























This is a close up shot showing a one sided tree.

Just look at the red "carpet".

This was taken at an overlook along the road. Another awesome view!

This was taken along the road. I thought the yellow and red looked good mixed in with the evergreens.

This is a sign that is in a camping area a little ways off the road. Notice the "Bear Country" sign.



















This is a sign I snapped on the way back down.

This concludes the posting of our vacation. There was so much more that I wanted to see and do, but you can only do so much in four days.......and those four days did go by so fast. It just doesn't seem right that something you look forward to for so long, passes by so fast. But I am thankful to God that He allowed us the time that we did have. The beauty of the fall season, especially in the mountains, always fills my heart with praise for God. His creation gives us so much to enjoy. And, I agree with what someone said......you just feel closer to God in the mountains.