Almost Over

Here it is December 29th, 7 A.M. and we as a family still have not had Christmas. Oh, Estella and I have had a couple of Christmas celebrations already, just not with the whole family. We all, 23 of us, get together only once a year sometime around Christmas to celebrate. This year, and probably in the years to come, we will be at the Holiday Inn Holidome where they will furnish our dinner, traditional style, and a room big enough to get everyone in at the same time. We will all be there except for son-in-law Dan who has to be with the Wichita State women's basketball team, he is the trainer and oversees their aches, pains and wraps. We have elected to be in Salina mainly because, it is more centrally located than going to any kids house and it is less trouble letting someone else cook and clean for us. Plus, it affords a place where the grand kids can play and swim and we can visit more easily.

The last two Christmas time's brought celebrating in very uncomfortable situations. First two years ago, just before we got together, two days before to be exact, for our first celebration at the Holidome in Salina, Estella was diagnosed with Cancer, so she was in the hospital. Thankfully and praise the Lord, she has gone through radiation and chemo and has been cancer free for a year and a half. We owe it all to the good Lord and prayer from many friends and many people we don't even know.

Then last Christmas, we were planning to be in Salina again and I ended up in the hospital from August 27th until December 23rd in Topeka. But that did not stop us as everyone came to Topeka where we were living at the Thornton Place Retirement Home and they set us up with a great place to have our gathering and we ordered a large amount of pizza. Not traditional Christmas, but it didn't matter it was wonderful being together with everyone.

We are now home as of last February 28th and both are getting along very well. One seems to be so much better off when it comes to healing when one can be in his/her own surroundings.

So, as the title suggests, it is almost over, but that is not the whole story here.

We had a half family celebration at Thanksgiving, which does not happen often, as Monica and Gwen's family was here and took care of everything for us, it was wonderful. One thing I need to say here though, Monica you must find your own recipe to your pie crust, that cherry pie was not like you usually fix at all. Note, she threw it away it was so bad. I might add, Monica brought most of the food with here and also had a wedding to be in on the Friday after Thanksgiving, so she did a lot of pre-planning to pull it all off. The dinner was wonderful and we all ate way to much.

Then, on Christmas day we went to friends home in Salina and had a non traditional dinner and wonderful time with friends playing cards, visiting and laughing. The women traded gifts and we all went home happy and once again, very full.

Next, we went to daughter Amy's on the day after Christmas where she fixed the traditional Christmas dinner and I might add did a wonder job, especially the pecan pie she made her daddy, I even got to bring a little home. We spent the afternoon with Amy and family and really enjoyed being with them. Again, we came home very full and very happy.

So, you see, we get to have still another celebration of the birth of Jesus and good times with family. We are so blessed!!!! To all that might read this rambling, I hope you had just as good a time around the holidays as we did and we wish you all the very best of the New Year and caution you to celebrate in moderation. We will do the usual party hardy, get crazy style we are a custom to, and at the stroke of midnight I will turn to my lovely wife and say, "honey turn over you are snoring and I can't sleep". Of course I don't snore, or at least I never hear it. Thank the Lord for Estella being such a sound sleeper.

And to all have a good day and a very healthy and prosperous New Year!

Pet Peeve

Is it just me or does no one know when their lights are on bright at night? Lately I have noticed that there are a lot of cars driving in town and on the highways that are using their bright lights. In the olden days if you encountered a car with bright lights you would flash yours a couple times and in common courtesy the other driver would dim his/her lights. Not anymore!!! Or maybe these new lights are just so bright and my eyes are so old I just think they are on bright. Or maybe everyone is so involved in their cell phones they are clueless if they are driving on bright or not. Speaking of lights, what is with these real bright blue lights anyway? I don't like them either as they bother me even more. Maybe I should convert to those real bright lights and join in the program of being clueless to my driving habits. No, I refuse, I don't need another thing to be clueless about in my life, I have enough already.

Thanksgiving, Fun But Tiring

Well. thanksgiving is over!!! We had 14 for dinner on Thursday. In our little house it was crowded, but we managed very well. Daughter Monica brought the turkey and mashed potatoes with her and then cooked the rest on Thursday morning. Daughter Gwen and her family came bringing the bread and deserts. It was all very good, all we had to prepare was the ham and buy the salad.

Monica and family came on Wednesday and went home on Saturday. We got to keep the 2 boys, ages 7 and 2, on Wednesday night and again on Friday night. That was the tiring part. It is evident why children come to you when you are young. I don't know how grandparents that take on raising their grandchildren do it. I don't think there is any way we would be strong enough mentally and physically to do it.

Holidays are such a grand time of food, family, food, friends, food and good times. Oh yes did I mention the food? We have enough leftovers to get us by for a few days, but it is always just as good the second and third and fourth time around. We so enjoyed the kids, and when Gwen's family came there were 4 more. Luckily, only one is of the younger age, so he, Matthew and Logan, played downstairs most of the time. If I just had a small fraction of all the energy that was in our house for Thanksgiving I would be much more healthy.

We will get together with all the family for Christmas on January 3rd. There will be 22 of us at that time, so we will gather at the Holidome where there is more room and more for all the kids to do.

We praise the Lord for such good children and grand kids, it is truly a blessing like no other.