Merry Christmas

To all my friends and family who might actually be reading this, I wish you a Merry Christmas and a New Year full of God's blessings. We spent last weekend visiting our daughter's family for a combination Christmas/baptism "event". We arrived late on

Saturday and immediately "did" Christmas. The grandkids are so adorable, and I just reveled in watching their excitement at what was coming next. Their parents were just as excited when they opened their gift from our other daughter - a handmade reversible fleece blanket - one side is the Buffalo Bills, the other side is the Pittsburgh Steelers. Everyone was pleased with the (Pittsburgh) Zoo family membership from us, something we've done for a few years now. Even though it's not something the kids can touch, our daughter reminds them whenever they go to the zoo that it's because Grandma & Grandpa gave them the membership. One of these days maybe WE will get to go with them!



On Sunday, our little Sweet Pea was baptised. I got to hold her for quite a bit of the church service; can you say "Grandma Heaven"? The other two were in a cute little Christmas program. They were standing on the altar steps singing. At first Ladybug didn't want to go up, but one of her little friends came and got her (kind of ), so up she went. They were adorable, of course! Immediately following the service, all three of the kiddos were in the live Nativity being held outside. There was even a petting zoo set up around the manger scene, complete with sheep, goats and a couple of llamas! Our kids were a kitty cat (Superman), an angel (Ladybug) and Baby Jesus (Sweet Pea). We celebrated Sweet Pea's baptism afterwards at Ceci's Pizza with family and a few friends - nice.



Meanwhile, back at home (Western New York), it was, well, snowing... a lot, as in everything was closing for Monday already!! So, on Monday morning we went to Superman's Preschool Christmas program and then headed for home. It was dry roads and sunny skies when we left Washington, PA... somewhere around Meadville I noticed that it was pretty snowy... a short while later we were in the middle of extremely heavy snowfall doing about 40 mph on the interstate! There were cars going off the road all over the place, and I would usually be a basketcase, but God was there with us and He kept me calm (probably so I wouldn't bother hubby while he was driving!). Erie was awful, with more cars off the road and lots and lots of heavy snow. After stopping for a late lunch at Bob Evans, we braved the interstate again. When we got to the PA/NY line, the snow stopped and the road was absolutely dry, bare pavement!! God is good!

Oh Christmas Tree

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree... wherefore art thou Oh Christmas Tree?? My hubby and I like to put our tree up practically before the turkey is cleared away from the Thanksgiving table. So, what happened this year? It's pretty bad when you have to schedule an appointment to put the tree up, don't you think? I won't bore you with all the details, but suffice it to say that we have not had a free evening together when we could put the tree up. Finally my Honey was able to put the tree up and get the lights on it on Saturday. Is it decorated yet? Well..... it does look beautiful with just the lights :) Here it is Sunday (almost Monday) and we're about to embark on another hectic week. I don't hold out much hope for decorating unless we both have insomnia and decide to decorate at 3:00 in the morning! Stranger things have happened, I guess.

In other news, our church's Christmas musical was this weekend, and hubby and I were in it. We were part of the "faux" choir - that would be the unmiked people in the background who move their lips like they're singing (we were really singing) but usually don't get heard. Our big scene was after the opening carols. We stepped forward and sang a really, really bad rendition (on purpose, honest) of Joy To The World. The audience actually applauded (I called it "pity applause"). Then we were done until the last scene, where we joined the "real" singers for the finale - "Joy". It was a lot of fun, and I wish we would do more of that kind of thing. Who knows?

Knock, Knock

Knock, knock.

Who's there?

Stupid.

Stupid who?

Stupid me, I actually clicked on something I KNEW was dangerous to my computer and I got a nasty virus from it. (And yes, stupid is an appropriate word for this situation!!)

Yeah, I really did. It seems that "timing is everything" as my hubby says. I thought one of my daughters had posted a video of me online, which they did not, however, I received a message from a Facebook relative saying he'd seen me in a video. Well, I fell for that hook, line and sinker. I wanted to know exactly what was online, and, yes, I clicked on a link that I had been warned about. So, why do I even mention this? In hopes that someone, somewhere will learn
from my mistake. Apparently this virus is called "koobface" and it is a very malicious thing. It has infected my home computer, but I'm still able to use my laptop, thank goodness. I'm not sure if my hubby will be able to fix it or not, but if anyone can, he can.

In other news, our Women's Ministry held their annual Christmas Celebration this morning. It was absolutely delightful. There was caroling, a drama, really good food, and our Pastor's wife spoke. All in all it was a very nice morning.

Okay, that's about it for now. Have a blessed day!

Thankful

I am thankful - for a lot of things. Over the past few days I was blessed to have my family here for the holiday. There was this fruit centerpiece thing that I found in a cookbook at my daughter's house. Something compelled me to want to make this thing even though there would be plenty of other food for Thanksgiving. I learned that my girls think I am capable of doing something that I wasn't really sure about myself. As I was constructing what I felt would be a monstrosity, my girls both assured me that it was looking fine. Their words were precious to me. I was also in "Grandma Heaven" as it were. We ate, we visited, we ate, we played games, we ate... you get the picture. Somehow, having the little ones around gives a whole new perspective to things. I can never get enough cuddle time with my grandkids, so I took advantage of every opportunity (except when they went to Bounce Magic - it's just too noisy!!). Our final activity with the kids for this whirlwind weekend was making a gingerbread house. You know, the kind you buy prebaked with the candies from, oh, 2 years ago (maybe). We added some fruity loopy cereal to the candy assortment just because we could. Grandpa "constructed" the house and the kids did the decorating with the help of Aunt Holly. I am really proud of myself because, as a Mom, I always wanted everything to be perfect and would instruct my children in the placement of the candies, etc. - whereas, now that I'm a Grandma, I've learned to let go of the "just-so" complex, and we all really enjoyed the decorating. Did it look like the picture on the box? Well.....

I Almost Forgot!

I almost forgot to tell you about my fabulous weekend - my Mom, niece, and I went to Shea's to see the Rockettes Christmas Spectacular, and it was... spectacular, I mean. We were in the balcony - really, really in the balcony (read: "nosebleed heaven") - but that just gave us an awesome view of the goings-on on the stage. The music was great, the costumes were colorful, and the precision of the Rockettes was amazing - spectacular, even! I was very happy to see that the last scene was a Living Nativity, so even though the whole show revolved around Santa, he gave up his spot in the limelight for the real Star of the show. I highly recommend this show.

Thanksgiving is Coming, Thanksgiving is Coming!!

Oh my goodness, did you realize that Thanksgiving is this Thursday??? I mean, did you take your turkey out of the freezer?? I remembered about half an hour ago (something to be thankful for!) so my beautiful 22 lb. turkey is now residing in the refrigerator instead of the freezer. Actually I didn't remember; my wonderful husband did.

Our Thanksgiving starts out with the parades, of course. When I was little I didn't understand how my Mom could miss the parades (she was in the kitchen cooking already) - I loved them. Now, I still enjoy a good parade, but I guess with maturity comes a bit of "if-you've-seen-one-parade-you've-seen-them-all-itis". Besides, somebody's got to get cooking!

Here's a great cooking tip - use one of those Reynolds cooking bags for the turkey. They really work; the turkey is moist, and best of all it is done way quicker. The first year I used one, I had to call everyone to come early because the bird was done, done, done!! Now I wouldn't cook one with using a bag.

After the big feast, we settle down to dessert and some serious business - the Black Friday ads!! Yes, I do sometimes get up at 4:30 to be at a store by 5:00 - (Did you know there is such a thing as 4:30 in the morning??) - but only if necessary to get that must-have bargain. Oh yes, Black Friday is a unique day, and I'm glad it's only once a year (whew).

This year we are blessed to be having my parents and both of our daughters and their families joining us for the big celebration. It will be nice to have everyone together. As I was contemplating where to put all of my 11 guests (if you include the baby), a friend stopped to ask me what my plans were. After sharing, I asked about her plans - she and her 6 siblings and all of their families are getting together at a fire hall. All 90 of them! They are cooking 2 22lb turkeys, 4 turkey breasts, and 35 lbs. of potatoes!! I'm happy with my 11 guests...

Happy Thanksgiving

I Did It - Finally!

I did it - I finally finished something! If you are not a procrastinator, you don't understand, you CAN'T understand, how thrilling it is for me to be able to say that I have finished something. My friend, Linn, has been quilting for a few years now and has dragged me along through the basics. I did a small potholder size sailboat as a beginning piece, and put together a table runner which was something called a "flip and fold" (which does not require binding on the edges). I just completed a Thanksgiving table runner with a binding and everything. What makes me even happier is that I found out this morning that my daughter, son-in-law and grandchildren will be coming for Thanksgiving after all. So, this will be one full house - woohoo!!