This And That From the Holidays

Jack says enough holiday stuff. He is ready for things to go back to normal. Bless his heart, he is an old man and moves slowly. I feel bad for him if he has to go out in the snow before it is shoveled. Here he is all snug as a bug on his living room bed.

Some snow decoration pics…three versions of the polar bear

And from Christmas Day. It was a good day and our friends from the Rio came over and they had a good time. Sharing Christmas with those around you sure does make for a great holiday. They brought reindeer antlers and wanted us all to wear them. I had to laugh at son as he wore his in a very unique way.

Dinner was simple and was so great. Mama sent it and we had Ham, sweet potato casserole and green bean casserole and the guys brought tamales. And of course, I made pumpkin pie that day.

And just some fun pics from the day.

Here is the guys opening their presents.

And son and leroy sparring with the antlers. Son was cracking up.

And me and Leroy.  My arm was not long enough. LOL

I was so blessed by Christmas and here are just a few things I got and it was so sweet as they were centered on my healing or on giving me something to look at to help distract me from pain, etc. Mama sent us the dinner for Christmas and the family sent us a dinner box for new years so we are set.

When mama saw the angel necklace a friend sent me with the healing crystal in it, she found this bear crystal necklace and it is a little longer than the angel one. Each bear is a different crystal stone.

And she gave me this butterfly to go with the hummingbird and moon crystal hanging mobile things she bought me when she was here. You can’t see it but it is glittery.

And one of my most favorite gifts a dear friend sent me is this oriental box. I keep all my treasures in there like my red heart and my crooked cross.

And I asked Jack did he want to do Christmas over and got one of his  “you gotta be kidding me”  looks. lol

and even when I walked in front of him and asked again, I got the “am not listening to you” look. lol

Is The Morning After Christmas And All Through The House

Is the morning after Christmas, when all through the house

Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.

Everyone was nestled all snug in their beds,

While memories of Christmas day danced in their heads.

Remnants of Christmas were scattered on the floor

while icy winds and snow were just outside the door

Jack was snuggled under his covers and his snores filled the air

While son was in his bed sleeping without even a care

I lay here in my bed with a smile on my face

Thanksgiving filled my heart for our new home …our new place

Christmas Day has come and is now out of sight

And the whole house is still filled with such glorious delight

The best gifts of Christmas didn’t come in a box wrapped in gold

It came in the memories of family both the young and the old

In the love and caring that abound throughout the land

Of people coming together in love,  joining together hand in hand

 My reason for the season still abounds with us here

Making life and those in it so very very dear

So, as you open your eyes on this wonderful “morning after” day

Let the songs of love and peace on earth still continue to play

As I roll over and snuggle under my covers without a care

I have one last wish that I would like to share

As I find myself drifting back off into that beautiful deep sleep

dreaming of a better world and realistic resolutions to keep

My wish is that we hold on to this peace, love and goodwill

and think of the less fortunate whose dreams no one came to fill

And open our hearts to the true meaning of this season

And if you are going to fight, make sure it’s for a good reason

And so as I drift off into sleep

I wish you a very happy new year  and send a bushel of love for you to keep.

Love from our house to yours

My Reason For the Season

Wishing everyone a glorious love filled Christmas. Take the time to enjoy family and just be with them.  Time spent with loved ones is the best part of the day.

This is my reason for the season.

Under The Stars

It is dark here now and I was standing and looking out the sliding glass doors. I put on my coat and stepped outside for just a minute and stood there. All was quiet and the stars were twinkling and I started thinking about the first Christmas. The more I thought it was as if everything receded and I was standing in a field.

Take the time and step outside and.stand there alone and stare at the stars and then envision yourself standing in a field….just you and the sheep you are watching. And just imagine that while you are standing there, from the sky you hear singing and you look up and see angels in all their glory singing and telling you a great message…a message about Jesus. Would you believe them?  I thought long and hard and wondered how I would react during those times, especially when people were so skeptical already.

And as you continue to stare at those stars and envision the angels in the sky, allow yourself to hear the singing and the message you are being told. And then imagine you decided you need to go see this for yourself. And so you head out.

Meanwhile, in another land in different places are three wise men. Pretend you are one of them who wants to see this which you knew was going to happen and so you set off on your camel to travel a long ways.  Oh my what faith these people had. I can not visualize any of us packing up and traveling by the path of a star to find a baby that was supposed to save the world. And yet they did.

Then, I allowed myself to see…a stable with this star shining brightly over it and I actually felt myself tremble with the thought. I felt like a voyeur by then as I watched in my mind’s eye a story I had heard many many many times. I could see the stable and the baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and Mary beside the baby and Joseph standing nearby. And I could see the awe and amazement on the shepherd and the wise men. And I actually felt my legs go weak and sat down right there as I continued my mental and spiritual journey.

I think it says so much that God used something as small and fragile and dependent as a tiny baby to send us a savior. It is a demonstration to me of our weakness and dependence on Him. And as I sat on the back step in the cold with the stars twinkling around me and seeing almost like looking in a snowglobe the reason for this holiday, I found tears in my eyes for it was so beautiful.

Our hearts and our faith are what keep us going in life. And faith is believing in what you can’t see but I believe we can see it….if we just take the time to open our hearts and our minds. And so, on this note…I bid you all a Merry Christmas and prayers that yours is a wonderful and joyous time and a time of peace.

thehandmaid.wordpress.com

Video Clips From Our Tour of The Christmas Lights

I took some short video clips that really show the beauty of the lights. I love how the snow and lights make everything look beautiful. The sound you hear in the video is the four wheel drive of the jeep as the roads were really bad.   Some clips are only ten seconds long as we went from house to house and some are longer.

Our Traditional Touring the Christmas Lights

Son and I have a Christmas tradition. A couple of days before Christmas, we ride around town and view all the Christmas lights everyone puts out. We call it the “Touring the Christmas Lights” and we enjoy it so much. Last nite, we had to go in the jeep as the snow is so deep here and the roads are still not good. We love that people in this town really love to decorate.

Ok, first on the tour is our house. Notice, no snow on the Christmas balls yet. It had just started.

Across the street

Around the corner.

And on into town.

We got a lot more pictures but then I switched to video clips so am going to upload them to my youtube account and then post. Isn’t it amazing how the lights and snow can make everything so beautiful.

Sleep And Lots More Snow

I finally went back to sleep and slept without waking up with anymore nightmares. I think I may have gotten a child last night looking at lights and taking pictures cause I had to open the window to look as we were in the jeep and they have tinted windows.

Am laying here waiting on the smell of the coffee to let me know it is being made. I did go peek outside the front and back doors and we have gotten a lot of snow and it is still snowing a steady snow. It looks so pretty but poor son….all his work is covered back up. The good thing is that son did shovel all that snow earlier so will make this time easier.  Again we have no steps and again the poor bear is buried under snow.

I looked out the back door and saw that the birds are back and eating out of the feeders and eating on top of the snow.

And then I noticed that poor Jack’s potty place is again covered up in snow.

Yesterday, son had it looking like this:

This snow has been just a nice steady snow and still coming down hard.

When I opened the side door to the patio, I saw we again were rubbing the snow with the door.

And out front. If you look on top of the balls on the tree, you can see a lot of snow on top showing that it was a pretty steady down snow…not a lot of blowing so has been nicer than the blizzard was. LOL

And more front yard. Poor bear is buried again. Son will have to dig him out.

We got a lot of snow and are still getting it so can’t tell you how much total yet. But it is so pretty to watch as it is just coming down steady. Poor Jack will be burrowing deep in his covers as he will not want to be going out in it until son gets it shoveled again. He is an old man doggie and the snow hurts him now.

We did go out and look at lights last night and I got a video and got a bunch of pictures of the Christmas lights. I will put them on in a bit. I think I caught cold from going out as we had to go in the jeep and I had to roll the window down to take pictures and woke up with congestion and achy. Don’t need that right now.

Last nite, we had surprise visitors after our light trip. The guys from the rio stopped by and brought eggnog to share with us and I brought out the homemade cookies and we sat and talked for a couple of hours too. It was really nice.

Eleven Hints For Life

These are not my words but I loved them when I read them. Thought they were good with the holiday season on and reminders that life does not always work perfectly.

“Eleven Hints for Life”

1. It hurts to love someone and not be loved in return.
But what is more painful is to love someone and never
find the courage to let that person know how you feel.

2. A sad thing in life is when you meet someone who
means a lot to you, only to find out in the end that it was
never meant to be and you just have to let go.

3. The best kind of friend is the kind you can sit on a
porch swing with, never say a word, and then walk away feeling like it was the best conversation you’ve ever had.

4. It’s true that we don’t know what we’ve got until we lose it, but it’s also true that we don’t know what we’ve been missing until it arrives.

5. It takes only a minute to get a crush on someone, an
hour to like someone, and a day to love someone-but it
takes a lifetime to forget someone.

6. Don’t go for looks, they can deceive. Don’t go for wealth, even that fades away. Go for someone who makes you smile because it takes only a smile to make a dark day seem bright.

7. Dream what you want to dream, go where you want to go, be what you want to be. Because you have only one life and one chance to do all the things you want to do.

8. Always put yourself in the other’s shoes. If you feel that it hurts you, it probably hurts the person too.

9. A careless word may kindle strife. A cruel word may wreck a life. A timely word may level stress. But a loving word may heal and bless.

10. The happiest of people don’t necessarily have the best of everything they just make the most of everything that comes along their way.

11. Love begins with a smile, grows with a kiss, ends with
a tear. When you were born, you were crying and everyone around you was smiling. Live your life so that when you die, you’re the one smiling and everyone around you is crying.

- Unknown

 

As we grow up, we learn that even the one person that wasn’t supposed to ever let us down, probably will. You’ll have your heart broken and you’ll break others’ hearts. You’ll fight with your best friend or maybe even fall in love with them, and you’ll cry because time is flying by. So take too many pictures, laugh too much, forgive freely, and love like you’ve never been hurt. Life comes with no guarantees, no time outs, no second chances. you just have to live life to the fullest, tell someone what they mean to you and tell someone off, speak out, dance in the pouring rain, hold someone’s hand, comfort a friend, fall asleep watching the sun come up, stay up late, be a flirt, and smile until your face hurts. Don’t be afraid to take chances or fall in love and most of all, live in the moment because every second you spend angry or upset is a second of happiness you can never get back.

- Unknown

 

 

No Matter Where You Live

No matter where you live, someone will go to bed hungry tonight and will go to bed hungry Christmas Eve. No matter where you live, someone is homeless and the shocking statistic to me is that about a third of the homeless population is our veterans.  Our men mostly and women who have fought for our freedom…homeless.

For these people, the hourglass has all run to the bottom…but we can be the one that turns it over for them.

No matter where you live, there are children who are having no Christmas, going to bed hungry nightly and will wake up Christmas Day just like any other day for them and feeling like no one cares, while we are ripping through gift paper and eating big Christmas dinners. That is a stark contrast to me.

I imagine you are sitting here reading this thinking…oh great, she is going to tell us we should not have any Christmas. No, I am not. What is going through my mind is the appreciation I feel for all that I have been blessed with and a realization that we easily have become a greedy nation.  I think we have lost the true meaning of giving.

“To truly give, you have to give up something. It may be money. It may be time. It may be a possession. It may mean doing something you would never dream of normally doing. It is not always easy. I always tell them that giving away a toy that they never play with and no longer care about is not full and true giving because there is no sacrifice. It is too easy.“  Shane Bridges

I had never thought of the true meaning of “giving” until my sons exemplified to me what it was and then I realized how giving up something I really valued was the ultimate giving…whether it was in time, money, or possessions.

I watched my boys one year, give up half of their Christmas to help give three little boys a Christmas while their Mom was in treatment. I cried watching my young sons give so generously. They could have cleaned out what they no longer wanted but instead, they gave up half of the new they were getting for Christmas to kids who had none. They gave up half of what they had dreamed of and wanted so badly for months….to make other children happy. I was and still am so proud of my boys.

My piece of bread only belongs to me when I know that everyone else has a share, and that no one starves while I eat.  ~Leo Tolstoy

That is when we started sharing our home with others.  And thus the birth of the share your holidays with others was born for us. And son and I still share with others on holidays because we are  giving of our hearts and our love and sharing that with others. And you know what, the love is shared back. We are not just the givers….we are also the recipients. Having others share our holiday helps make our holiday even brighter because the more people with you on a holiday, the merrier it is.

Maybe my sons and I have been lucky in that we have never been rich and always struggled to make it, for it made us more aware of those around us that did not have or those that were alone. No matter where you are, there are elderly, poor, children and just plain adults…who will go to bed hungry. But, not only that…will go to bed feeling as if no one cares.

One must be poor to know the luxury of giving!  ~George Eliot

Giving is more than opening your wallet…it is opening your heart and giving of love and caring. When we lived back east, I used to deliver meals on Christmas and Thanksgiving day. And I would stop and visit with each person as I gave them their hot dinner. My reward for this gift was a dinner plate to take home but the biggest reward was seeing people smile who were home alone…shut in because they were sick and could not get out and seeing their smile at having someone come to their door. And as my health has declined, it has made me appreciate those who try now to make my world brighter even more. And I have been blessed with some very special angels who not only have brightened my life but brightened my home with their generousity.

Have you ever worked at a soup kitchen? When we lived on the other side of the mountain, I would volunteer to help. Yes, I was disabled but I would sit and peel potatoes, clean tables and whatever they needed me to do and then I would serve the desert table for them. There were people there who ranged from the homeless to those that were on fixed incomes or struggling that came in to eat. I served on Christmas Day, and loved every minute of it.  I could have sat at home and whined and cried because son was working and I was alone for the holidays…but I didn’t.  And when I came home and son and I ate our dinner late that nite or even the next day, it made me appreciate it all that much more.

Being unwanted, unloved, uncared for, forgotten by everybody, I think that is a much greater hunger, a much greater poverty than the person who has nothing to eat.
Mother Teresa

I have heard people say they were not giving or helping this person or that because they thought they should be out with a job or they didn’t like how they did this or that. And it has always made me sad to hear comments like that. I remember teaching and I had a little girl who came to school literally in rags. I asked my sister, who had a daughter that age, for hand me downs and when that little girl opened that box, the look on her face was as if someone had handed me a box of money. My sister sent the most beautiful clothes for this little girl. She was so thrilled over those dresses and she would hold the skirt and swirl it around as if she were a princess. Some of the teachers said “she will just have them dirty in a couple of months” and my reply was that I didn’t care for the joy she felt right now was worth it. And besides that…why should I punish the child because the parents did not keep her clean?

Charity sees the need, not the cause.  ~German Proverb

Don’t wait to be asked for help. We are capable of looking and seeing when others are in need. I realize I am more of an anticipator than most but we actually are capable of seeing when another is in need…seeing when someone is doing without…seeing if someone is in trouble and needs help (like some of you did for my trip to Colorado Springs to have the heart cath done and you helped us be able to get there and  back.Look beyond the surface…look into the eyes and the hearts of others and then act.

He who gives when he is asked has waited too long.  ~Sunshine Magazine

Son still likes to tease me about ♫♫I see the light♫♫ when Jack sat on the control to my hospital bed and made both ends go up at once when I was sleeping…and I thought God had come to get me. But, the truth is…we all have a duty to spread the light…the light of love and giving. And in doing so, we can either be the one giving the light or the one that is reflecting the light of those giving. Sometimes we are the ones that pave the way and sometimes we are the ones that follow…both help.

There are two ways of spreading light – to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it.  ~Edith Wharton, Vesalius in Zante

Don’t make the mistake of thinking that if you can’t do great things and help a lot of people that you should do nothing. Mother Teresa said if you can’t help a hundred people….then help ONE.  Many people will fail to act…fail to do anything because they think only helping one or two is insignificant but it is not. Just think how many people would be helped if we each helped just one or two.

If you want a love message to be heard, it has got to be sent out. To keep a lamp burning, we have to keep putting oil in it.
Mother Teresa

Life is short and we need to do while we can. Love long and deeply, care about others, give that which we truly value..not what we no longer need and most of all, remember that as you pass through life, that much about you may not be remembered when you are gone but the what you do for others will carry on with them.

I expect to pass through life but once.  If therefore, there be any kindness I can show, or any good thing I can do to any fellow being, let me do it now, and not defer or neglect it, as I shall not pass this way again.  ~William Penn

Hidden Bear With Snow Swimming Lambs

and the patio after son has already cleaned it off twice…and was juststarting to clean again.

and the polar bear and poor lambs from the nativity…they were sitting on blocks too..Son had to go on a hunt for the bear as he was totally covered up with snow. Son dug him out and let him blow up to make sure he was ok. He is still in the snow some.