Christmas 2017

Christmas Eve we went to Christmas Mass at St. Michael’s Church in Auburn.  St. Patrick’s, the church Jana and I normally attend, did not have a Christmas Eve Mass.  They only had a Midnight Mass and one at noon on Christmas Day.  Kevin, Renea and Stephanie also attended Mass at St. Michael’s with us.  This church is the one the Derdowski family attends, and they invited us to go with them.  It is a big beautiful church.  The service was great.  They had a children’s choir perform before Mass and during Mass. 

Ryan stayed with Renea’s dad while we went to Mass.

Afterward we came back to Kevin and Renea’s for food which consisted of appetizers and desserts. After eating Jana and I came home and had our Christmas.  The Derdowski’s stayed and exchanged gifts and played games.  Jana and I each received a gift from the “D” family.  Jennifer made us a beautiful Christmas decoration.  When Jana and I got home we opened our presents to each other.  We both bought a few things such as treats and toys for Penny and Mattie.  Mattie got all excited and couldn’t decide what to play with first.  I think right now her favorite is a “wreath” that I bought her.  Penny, being a typical cat, just watched.  Jana and I were like a couple of kids opening our presents.  We knew some of the things we bought each other, but there were quite a few surprises also.

Christmas morning Jana came over to my house for breakfast.  She usually eats her breakfast at her camper.  Anyway, I made cinnamon rolls which tasted great.  That was a real treat for us.  We just about finished eating and Kevin and Stephanie came over to carry our presents for them to their house.  (we were going to drive over to take the presents)  They had to make four trips.  I think they were kind of anxious to have Christmas.  Meanwhile, Renea went to the nursing home to bring her mom home for the day.

We had a great time.  Everyone liked their presents.  We took turns opening them.  Kevin and Ryan took pictures, but I don’t have a copy of them yet.  Renea received a couple of presents that made her cry.  Stephanie had a “firefighter” plaque made for her which made both Renea and Jana cry.  When Jana and I were in Holmes County last summer we went to the Smucker’s store.  I bought Ryan and Stephanie each a PB&J gift box.  Since they are always pantry shopping at their mom’s I thought this might feed them for a couple of days.  They got a big kick out of the fact that Grandma bought them something like that. 

Kevin had said he wanted gifts for fishing, hunting, his bees, etc.  So, Jana and I got together all these joke ornaments, wrapped each one separately along with a note for each one.  It was so funny.  I also gave him a nice gift.  Anyway, if the pictures turned out pretty good I will post at least some of them with an explanation.

Jana and I baked about a thousand cookies (or so it seemed) and we gave everyone, including the “D” family containers of cookies.  Ryan and Stephanie were excited to get them also.  Anyway, we had so many we gave Stephanie a tray of them to take to the firehouse.  I sent a container of them with Kevin for Brian and his family when he went to Ohio this past week.

After opening all our presents Renea’s mom and dad took a nap, Ryan went home to take a nap and feed his dogs, Stephanie went home to shower and take a nap, Kevin and Renea were cooking, Jana and I came home so I could make dressing and we could feed the “girls.”  We returned about 3:30 that afternoon, Stephanie and Ryan came back and we had Christmas dinner.  After dinner Renea took her mom back to the nursing home, Ryan and Stephanie left, Jana and I left for home.  Kevin and Renea went to Ricky and Lenora’s later that evening. 

I had talked to Brian that morning.  Received a text from Tracy, Bradley and Brianna.  Steven was working and/or sleeping so I didn’t hear from him.  Brandon was home for the holidays, so I didn’t hear from Samantha until later in the week.  Seems everyone liked their presents in Ohio also. 

This is it until next year.  Hope everyone has a Blessed and Happy New Year.

Cookies - A Christmas Miracle

It’s been a busy and interesting week.  I will start with some karma.  Remember when I told you about Jana falling at the rest area?  And, I laughed.  Well, this week it was my turn to fall.  The deck steps were wet and I was in a hurry as usual.  My feet went out from under me and down I went.  Luckily I landed on my butt on the middle step.  I twisted my knee and have had a little trouble walking the past few days.  I will admit that Jana didn’t laugh, but only because I landed in a sitting position which wasn’t nearly as funny as her landing with her feet in the air.  Anyway, I am okay except my knee is still giving me some problems.

Last night Jana and I went to a Christmas concert given by the Maneuver Center of Excellence Band from Fort Benning.  They were awesome.  We went with Kevin and Renea; and Bruce, Jennifer and Bethany.  It was wonderful.  Jana and I knew the words to all but one song.  Of course, we weren’t invited to sing, but we did anyway.  Everyone was singing.  There was a few songs that they invited the audience to sing along.  At one point all the children in the audience were called onto the stage.  The General’s wife read T’was The Night Before Christmas with accompany music.  She did a great job.  Of course Santa stopped by for a visit.  He and his helpers came into the audience and gave out candy canes to all the children, both young and old.  We thoroughly enjoyed the evening. 

I would like to say that I am proud of Jana.  I know I have complained in the past about how she turns on the television when she gets out of bed and doesn’t turn it off until she goes to bed.  This year she has been spending time in her camper.  She sleeps there, and eats breakfast there.  So, if she turns on her television it is in her camper.  I had directv installed for her before she arrived.  Anyway, when she is here at the house (she comes over between 9 and 10 o’clock) she does not turn on the television.  Like I said I am proud of her.  Thank you, Jana.

Then there is Mattie.  I am also proud of her.  Jana has been working with her to come and stay when she gets ready to take her outside.  She used to just run around in circles all excited.  Now she will come when Jana tells her to, and she will stay so Jana can hook the leash on her harness.  This is definitely progress.  Other than that Mattie and Penny still chase each other around the house.

Thursday Jana and I baked cookies.  I cannot remember the last time I baked cookies, and the last time Jana baked cookies was several years ago with David.  Anyway, we decided to give this a try.  Of course, we didn’t bake from scratch.  We aren’t that adventurous.  We baked the toll house chocolate chip.  Then we baked Pillsbury peanut butter cookies and sugar cookies.  They were definitely good.  Kevin came over and saw us doing this and was shocked.  Naturally, he had to sample each kind.  Then he told Renea.  She called me said she heard that a miracle had happened at our house and could she come over and see the cookies.  I sent some home with her.  Jana and I plan on baking more this week.  Not the best looking, but they sure did taste good!  We plan to get a little fancier and decorate the next batch.

The temperature has been below normal here in Alabama lately, and the birds are emptying the feeders as quickly as I can fill them.  I am sitting here at my window and can see that they are empty again.  Guess I will have to brave the cold and go back outside.

Yesterday we finally received the Mass schedule for Christmas.  Looks like we will be spending extra time at church because Christmas is on Monday.  I suggested to Jana that we go to Mass on Sunday and that would count for both days.  However, it doesn’t work that way.  So we will go twice.  The one thing that surprised me was they are having the children’s Mass on Sunday morning at 11:30 a.m. and it doesn’t count for Christmas.  Looks like they will be going several times also.

Christmas Trees

Okay, this is the last blog in this series.  Since I have so many ornaments I now have a “big” tree and three small ones.

This is my new tree topper that I bought at the Christmas Made in the South craft show.  I didn't unravel the ribbon because I didn't want it to hide the ornaments.  I like it this way just fine.

This is my "big" tree that I have had for a couple of years.  I had to take this picture with my phone because my photo program does not allow me to crop the way I want.  This way I could get the tree and very little furniture.

The following are my three small trees.

This one is a little blurry because it sits on top of one of my shelves and I don't want to climb up on anything to get a good picture.  This will have to do.

This is Jana's tree.  You have seen this in part in the picture of the quilt.

The stockings were hung on the railing with care  These three are mine and Penny's.  She has the one on the left and right.  She has two because she is such a good girl????

These two are Mattie and Jana's.  Mattie's is on the left.  Jana only bought Mattie one stocking.

That's it for the decorations.  Aren't you glad.  There would be more but I didn't get them done.  I just ran out of time :)

Outside Decorations

Jana bought this to hang on the front of her camper, but there is no place to hang it so we decided to hang it on the front of my house.  It worked out really well. She bought this in Holmes County this summer.

I bought this lamppost several years ago at the Christmas Made in the South craft show here in Alabama.  It is actually for indoors, but I like it better outside.  I just don't plug it into any electric outlet.

I bought this in Holmes County this summer because I thought it was cute.

I will start with a long shot of the front of my house, then continue with pictures of individual decorations.

I bought this snowman at the Christmas Made in the South craft show this year.  You really can't see the top of the "A" because of the bow.  When I bought it the bow was on the hat.  However, the glue hasn't worked because of the wind and rain.  So I put it around the neck.

Here I am with the cute again.  I found this in one of those catalogs that are sent to my house.

These are wreaths I bought locally.  Jana bought the garland.

Pictures

Woke up to snow on the grass this morning.  Of course, it was gone as soon as the sun came out.  But, that’s okay.  I enjoyed it for a short time anyway.  I know north of us they received a lot more.

This blog is going to be a few pictures of my decorations.  That is mostly what Jana and I have been doing the past week.  I even have my Christmas cards addressed and ready to mail.  Only because Jana threatened me.  She has had hers ready for several weeks now. 

I am going to divide this into three blogs.  I got carried away with the pictures.  😊  These are miscellaneous inside.

I bought a really cute cookie jar.  Not because I use a cookie jar, but because of what it says.  You can't read the first line.  It actually says I KNOCKED DOWN THE CHRISTMAS TREE.  Penny hasn't done that, but our cat Rodney did.  There is still time for Penny to do the same.

I also bought a “cute” quilt to hang this year.  I had a pretty one, but I have decided to go cute with some of my decorations.

These are mugs I have started collecting.  The Christmas ones are in front.

The following is just some of the miscellaneous decorations I have on some of my shelves.

 

A couple of wall decorations.

My "woodlands" Christmas calendar.