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Friday Favorites: Christmas Edition

Christmas time is here
Happiness and cheer
Fun for all that children call
Their favorite time of year.
Speaking of Favorite…

Favorite # ONE

Making Memories

On Monday Lydia and Rory came to Glammy’s house with Aunt Amanda for baking and candy making.

Lydia had the opportunity to practice her egg cracking and decorating skills.Also

in contrast to our divinity ventures of the past, Amanda and I managed to pull this one off on our first attempt.  Batch # 1 was a success and no redo was necessary.

~

Favorite # TWO

Ugly Sweaters and Suits

Christmas Eve Merriment is typically held at Mama’s house.

This year there was an ugly Christmas sweater contest honoring the ugly, uglier, and ugliest outfits.Although he protested that his jacket didn’t qualify as an ugly Christmas sweater, it was unanimous that LB should win.

~

Favorite # THREE

A roomful of wrapping paper and some of my favorite people.

I

LOVE

Having My kids all to MYSELF

and watching them open presents.

Afterward we took a walk to Mema’s house for MY

Favorite # FOUR

The Christmas Morning

Gift Exchange

Instead of our usual massive gift exchange, my extended family decided to draw names.  Each person was randomly delegated as Secret Santa to one other, using this app drawnames.com – a Secret Santa generator!

On Christmas morning, the secret Santa revealed himself/herself to the person whose name had been drawn.  Beginning with the eldest recipient, we took turns opening our gifts and taking time to share what we received.It was a great idea and all the credit goes to Amanda for directing the event!

~

Favorite # FIVE

The

Holiday Treasure Hunt

it was an unexpected Christmas surprise and you can read about it here! 

I hope you will!

And if you were there, please feel free to comment and add any details that I may have neglected to include.

Thank you for taking time out of your day to stop by my blog.

Holiday Treasure Hunt

Just last week I came across this photo that was taken last year on Christmas morning.

LB and I were posing for a selfie.

Stuart and Grandpa are in the background [in the kitchen].  Stuart is likely doing the dishes, and Grandpa is probably bringing his breakfast dish to place in the sink.

Who knew that it would be our last Christmas here with Grandpa?

This year on Christmas morning I thought about him not being with us for the first time.  I miss him and his quiet and gentle spirit.  It is comforting to know that he is with Jesus now.

Recently Mama received  a gift from Grandpa.  On Christmas morning she chose to share this with us.  I would describe this as a selfless, magnanimous, and gracious gift on her part, but the manner in which she presented it could only be described as an adventure.

She stood from her chair and handed over a piece of paper containing a clue

and the Christmas Morning Treasure Hunt was on!

Clue #1

led us to Mama’s blue and white porcelain collection in her entertainment center.

Hidden inside of a little blue and white pitcher was

Clue #2

which led us to a kitchen drawer.

Under the silverware tray was

Clue #3

which directed us to a clock in which was found our next clue…

Clue #4

leading us to a decorative birdhouse.  Inside was found

Clue #5

which was challenging

however we found this one was marking the page for the song Silent Night in the hymnal resting on the piano.

Our next clue turned out to be a private joke between Mama, Kyle, and Clay.  Apparently Kyle has often been guilty of repositioning one of Mama’s knickknacks

Clue #6

Clue #6 led us to an acrylic letter “M” on a table in the living room.

The “M” was commonly turned upside down becoming a “W”

Clue #7

led us right back to the room where we began, bringing an end to our treasure hunt.  on an end table, under Mama’s cell phone was her treasure: a stack of Benjamins…

enough for each of us to have two which she proceeded to pass out

She explained that Grandpa had left it for her and she thought it only fitting to share with us on Christmas Day.

Although there are MANY happy thoughts and memories that I have of this Christmas season, this was a particular event from Christmas morning that I hope to always remember!

Thank you for taking time out of your day to stop by my blog.

Thirty-five Years of Ornaments

When I finally opened Facebook on Sunday, I found that I had missed a Facebook message from a sweet friend.  “Hope you are having a great weekend” she wrote.  Instead of replying like a normal person would:

“Thank you, I hope you are too!”

I explained what my weekend had consisted of and added a couple pictures of what I did on Saturday and Sunday.  When I started thinking about this I realized I had stayed too busy and should have been more sociable or spent some time outside with LB (it was a beautiful weekend).

Nevertheless, I did get a lot accomplished.

One such accomplishment included

Decorating a Christmas Tree

I have two Christmas trees this year.

One is purple and decorated with a matching collection of red, white, and green glass balls.  It is Elvis’ favorite.

The second one is in the front room.  It is in this unnamed room that I have a traditional (not purple) Christmas tree which is adorned with the ornaments I’ve collected over the past 30+ years.

I have a little bit of everything.

LB agrees.  He expressed his thoughts with the comment “that’s quite a mixed bag you’ve got there”.

I thought it would be a good idea to capture a few photos of these special ornaments to add to my collection of memories here in this little blog.

My collection includes the original treasures created years ago by Stephanie, Amanda, and Richard:

I’ve always loved Richard’s muddy snowman

There are ornaments from my first-born baby’s first Christmas

A couple of cutie pie ornaments

A turkey ornament that was presented to me with the note…

To Ma From a Turkey.

These ornaments from Mema and Grandpa Reid.  A closer look reveals Mema’s handwriting.

I have this gifted ornament that ‘reminded someone of me’

And a few from that period of time when I obsessed with Victorian.

This beautiful star ornament is from Mama to remember our first Christmas without Daddy

And this little tiny Lydia handprint.

Truly a diverse assortment, each representing a special time.  And each a reminder of how quickly time flies!

~

The tree is finally decorated!

It may not be Pinterest worthy, but I like it.

And although I didn’t visit much with friends or family this past weekend, spent a lot of time thinking about them.

~

Thank you for taking time out of your day to stop by my blog.

Friday Favorites

It has been a busy week!

Richard, Emily, and the baby girls came to Jacksonville Saturday to spend the weekend and share in our annual Sunday before Thanksgiving Dinner.

A Saturday night slumber party commenced.  Lydia and Rory slept in Glammy’s room.  And they managed to get [maybe] six hours of sleep.  They were being OH So quiet Sunday morning; I thought they were getting some much needed sleep.

But when I sat up in bed I saw two little sets of bright eyes, wide awake and ready to PLAY

Favorite # ONE

Lively Little Girls

I assumed I would wake up and tiptoe out of the bedroom leaving them to have sweet dreams, but they were quick to jump up.  As I made my stop into the kitchen to make coffee they headed to the “Barbie room”.  It wasn’t long before they quickly returned to ask “Glammy won’t you come play Barbies?”

Well YES!

And we played various things throughout the day.  There was one “game” I particularly enjoyed

Favorite # TWO

Playing Sous-Chef

This little one assisted several times in the kitchen, she aided in egg cracking for breakfast, she [nearly] single-handedly prepared a corn casserole, and arranged the appetizer platter.

And because pumpkin pie and pecan bars were not acceptable choices for dessert that evening, she made chocolate pudding.

When all was finished she asked “what can we do next?”

We can do dinner!

Table setting courtesy of Emily

Favorite # THREE

Sunday before Thanksgiving Dinner

I love the almost traditional Thanksgiving dinner with turkey and all the sides.

And nobody can carve a turkey like LB!

Favorite # FOUR

Leftovers on Monday

it was back to work as usual – I took leftovers for lunch

and LB enjoyed leftovers for dinner.I didn’t take a picture of my lunch as it was much less impressive.

Tuesday

was typical with the exception of an impromptu taco dinner party with Stephanie and Amanda.

Wednesday

was an exceptional day which included very light traffic, very light work, and a visit to the theater later that evening to see

Favorite # FIVE

Wicked

seated right behind the orchestraIt was an exciting way to begin our Thanksgiving holiday vacation!

~

 

Thank you for taking time out of your day to stop by my blog.

Thank You for Your Service

Veterans Day

is observed annually on November 11.

It is a day set aside to honor our military veterans who have served in the U.S. Armed Forces.

Unlike Memorial Day, which honors those who died while in service, Veterans Day honors all military veterans, including those still with us.  Veterans Day encourages us to value our veterans for their service and sacrifice.  It is a reminder to all of us to stop and reflect on the value of peace in our country and in our lives.

I can’t help but think about my Grandpa today.  As I’ve mentioned quite a few times in earlier posts, my Grandpa was in the Army and served in WWII.

Grandpa didn’t lose his life while in service, but he returned home and enjoyed a long life that allowed him to raise children and later develop relationships with grandchildren, great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren.

It hasn’t been a month since he left us to be with Jesus.  At his funeral service there was an American flag draped over his casket, as is customary for a deceased veteran who has served honorably in the military.

It was at his service that I first experienced the

Folding of the American flag

I can’t explain why, but it touched my heart

Typically, the American flag is given to the next-of-kin, as a keepsake after its use during a funeral service.  And in this case, it was presented to Grandpa’s only surviving child, my Aunt Debbie.

~

After attending the service and later seeing the photos LB took, I was compelled to do a little research on the flag folding.

“Traditional flag etiquette recommends that before an American flag is stored or presented, its handlers should twice fold it in half lengthwise; then (from the end opposite the blue field) make a triangular fold, continuing to fold it in triangles until the other end is reached. This makes a triangular “pillow” of the flag with only the blue starred field showing on the outside, and it takes thirteen folds to produce: two lengthwise folds and eleven triangular ones.” (source)

Fold-us-flag-animated.gif

I thought there may be meaning behind the way the flag is folded.  While there is no official flag-folding ceremony script (offering the meaning to each of the folds), there are scripts which could be used.

As an example, one ceremony script includes this:

“The third fold is made in honor and remembrance of the veteran departing our ranks who gave a portion of [his] life for the defense of our country to attain a peace throughout the world.” (source)

Very appropriate for today as an homage to all Veterans who have given “a portion of life for the defense of our country to attain a peace throughout the world”.

Thank you.

~

And thank you for taking time out of your day to stop by my blog.

Once upon a time there was a little boy

…who called me Ma

His little hands stole my heart, and his little feet ran away with it.

My sweet baby boy.And although he is no longer a baby, he is still the baby of the family.

Richard

came into the world 30 years ago today.  At the time we had been blessed with little girls, so to have a baby boy join the circle was an exciting event.

Those little girls weren’t completely excited about that event Although they changed their tune when they discovered it was fun to dress him up like a princess with a purseThey soon learned that they love him dearlyToday they are inseparable.

~

Richard had no interest in playing the part of the princess, but instead preferred to play the part of Batman

And still likes to play the part of Batman.

~

He had a handful of special friends as a little boy

Who continued to be friends through the years, and remain good friends to this day.

After he became part of the High School Ministry at First Baptist Jacksonville, Rich had the opportunity to participate in a few mission trips, including a trip Nicaragua to help minister to a small community and church there.  As the years passed his focus continued to be spiritual.

 After graduating from high school he earned a degree from Liberty University.  He then began working on a Master of Divinity from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, while he served as a Collegiate Missionary at Campus Church UNF Today he is living in South Carolina, managing a Maple Street Biscuit Company or two.

~

He is married to a beautiful young lady; His own Mama, couldn’t have chosen a more perfect mate for him. And now he has babies of his own.

Happy Birthday to My Baby!

I’ll Love You Forever.

I’ll Like You For Always.

As Long As I’m Living…

My Baby You’ll Be.

~

Thank you for taking time out of your day to stop by my blog.

Friday Favorites

The first full week of November began with a challenge from my November 1st  Birthday Girl

Stephanie

She sent me a pin on Pinterest which was a link to the current birthday cake of her dreams.

This qualifies as one of my Friday Favorites!

 🎂

Favorite # ONE

The Birthday Cake Challenge

I’m always up for a baking challenge and I’d likely be more successful if I’d follow the recipe.

The Frosted Animal Cookie Cake with four layers of cake, three layers of filling, and white chocolate buttercream frosting topped with pink ganache (pause to catch breath) took me three evenings to complete.

For the most part, I followed this recipe from lifeloveandsugar.com, however in order to finish quickly, I used a box white cake mix:I think she likes it!

Bonus information: 1,088 calories in 1 slice of a 14 serving cake

😱

Favorite # TWO

A

Birthday Dinner

with three of my favorite ladies

The family was scattered on Stephanie’s birthday and we weren’t able to gather together to celebrate.  In an attempt to make her day special, I had Mama, Stephanie, and Amanda come to my house for dinner.

We had something I never imagined I would include in my blog

🍟

Favorite # THREE

Poutine

It sounds weird and it is weird, but it was Stephanie’s request.

The meaning of the word poutine is from a Québécois slang word meaning “mess”.

It is fries with gravy and cheese curds and MUST be eaten with a fork.

THIS RECIPE is a good one!

~

Favorite # FOUR

Face-Time

While we were together, Emily and the baby girls face timed Stephanie to wish her a happy birthday.

We all enjoyed a teeny little visit together.

It is essential to stay in touch with family!

Moments after I left for work today, LB received the news that his Dad passed away early this morning.

For the past few years LB has made regular visits with his Dad, typically on Friday afternoons.  Although this is a heartbreaking time for him, LB is happy for making time to visit and maintain a close relationship with his Dad.

We have attended church with him on Father’s Day a few times and it was on one of those occasions that I snapped this photo

Favorite # FIVE

A picture is worth a  thousand words but the memories are priceless!

~

Thank you for taking time out of your day to stop by my blog.

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