Sunday Meanderings....

And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby,
keeping watch over their flocks at night.

An angel of the Lord appeared to them,
and the glory of the Lord shone around them,
and they were terrified.

But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid.
I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.

Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.

This will be a sign to you:
You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."

Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel,
praising God and saying,

"Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests."

~~ Luke 2:8-14 ~~

MERRY CHRISTMAS

You know when you go from doing more than 300 posts in a year to about 50, you've slowed down. :)

Hello. How are you?

Everyone in Chelseaville is fine. We've actually had a fairly uneventful year. No real serious emergencies with our diabetics. OK, Andy was hospitalized for a few days with extremely low blood glucose (he was sick with stomach flu and that wreaks havoc on a diabetic) and I've made more runs up to Cameron's school to give him insulin than I can begin to count, but that's life with Type I diabetics in your family and it's actually become rote for us.

Not really, but almost.

And get this. As if my daughter (Krissy) didn't already have her hands full with Andy and Cameron having it, they found out on Thursday that their dog (Cody - a yellow lab) has canine diabetes. Oh my word, if it were funny, I'd type LOL. But it's not. So I won't.

Kris says she has decided to just line 'em up every morning and dose out the insulin shots. LOL (sorry - not funny)

Before we move on to my fascinating photos, I have to mention this. And I have to be very delicate.

You know that my younger daughter Mandy and her hubby Aaron are struggling with infertility and suffered a miscarriage about four months ago. They finally found a real fertility specialist and after a couple of months of this and that (if you've been there you know what I mean), Mandy had exploratory surgery last Thursday. She's recovering from that and because she's a school teacher, she has the next two weeks off so the timing is wonderful for her.

The worst news we could have gotten is that there's nothing wrong. Undiagnosed infertility. Guess what? There was something wrong. And the surgeon fixed it. And he thinks she's free and clear now to get pregnant.

And if you have a moment, a little prayer in that direction would be more appreciated than I can ever tell you. :)

We are beyond excited. You were there when they got married so you know they've been married 3+ years. Mandy will be 30 in May. It's time to get this little family going!

OK, let me share some photos with you.

This is one of my favorite things to see in December. That's Rob hanging the icicle lights on our house. We also put four deer on our lawn. Lighted deer of course. It's all very precious. LOL

Last year we got a heavy snow in mid November and it didn't melt for four months and Rob never got to prune the huge flower bushes in front of our front window and therefore couldn't get a ladder up to the house and we had no lights and I was heartbroken because our house looked dark and a little bereft without house lights.

I love Christmas and the perfect Christmas is snow on the ground that doesn't trap you in your house and lights on the house and deer on the lawn. I've never even considered any other lawn decorations. I like my four sweet little deer.

One died this year. As did half the house lights. When they sit in their boxes for two years, you don't know what you're going to get when you bring them out again. So we bought more icicle lights but bet me I'm buying a deer until AFTER Christmas when I can get him for maybe 70% off. Right? Right.

Does anything in the world look worse than the very beginnings of assembling an artificial Christmas tree? I ask you - look at that!

I'm not allowed to have a real Christmas tree. Rob was a volunteer fireman for too many years - went to way too many Christmas tree fires, including one very sad fatality - and he absolutely refuses to have a real tree in our home. Maybe I'm lucky. I haven't bought one in 33 years now, but I hear they're quite expensive.

I love a real tree and I miss the smell, but I know for sure I never have to worry about a fire in this house because the dog drank all the water out of the tree watering thingie and the lights set it on fire. Or whatever.

A little part of me thinks it would be perfectly fine to have a real tree in this house. But ask me if I like to argue with Rob.

So Rob puts the lights on our very fireproof non-spruce-tree-smelling tree.....

....he puts 1,000 twinkle lights on the tree. This year I wanted white lights. Next year I may go with the colored lights. Who knows. It depends on my mood, and actually I'd rather have the colored lights this year but I'm not brave enough to tell that man, after all that work, "Would you please take all those lights off and put these colored lights on instead?" Oh no, I'm not that brave.

In spite of the fact that he's watching football on TV while he's doing it, putting the lights on the tree ranks right up there with poop-scooping the backyard for Rob.

White light will work fine this year. LOL

But look! If you're a lousy photographer like I am, the lights look like they're colored! I really should get the manual to my digital out someday and look at it. I mean, I've only had this camera for seven years now.

Can you even believe this? Wouldn't you just know these are my grandchildren? SOCK MONKEY HATS!

And no, I did not knit these hats for them. I've tried, Lord knows I've tried, but I just can't knit. I've crocheted for forty years now and somehow I can't seem to make the transition.

Their daycare mom, Nancy, was in Steamboat Springs this summer and she saw these in a shop and because she knows about Cameron and Avery and their sock monkey thing, she couldn't resist buying these for them. The first day Cameron wore his to school (kindergarten) this year, I think Krissy got fifteen notes and phone calls from teachers in the school wanting to know where she got them. Adorable. Absolutely adorable hats and warm too!

Avery is almost as big as this Santa this year. I collect velvet Santas and just set them out in random spots all over the house. She fell in love with this one.

I added some Christmas art to the decorations this year. If you are in any kind of relationship with a five year old, you understand how important it is to display these things. Tacky doesn't count at Christmas! This is Cameron's countdown chain until Christmas. When he arrives at my house every morning, the first thing he does is run to this and he tears off another chain. And then we count how many sleeps until Santa comes.

I have to tell you, Cameron is blessed with the teacher he got for kindergarten. Every single day he comes home completely enthralled and excited about something he learned in school that day.

And you don't even want to know how much of his art I now have on display in my very white-beige-seafoam green, minimalist house. LOL






A NEW YEAR IS UPON US

I've struggled with posting for the past year. You know, I simply woke up one day and thought, "What on earth can I say that I haven't already said?" A person only has so many recipes and cleaning tips and doggie stories to share before it becomes redundant. I think I needed a break.

It doesn't mean I haven't had all of you in my thoughts. I have.

Perhaps this coming new year I will get back into the swing of it all.

In the meantime, never worry about me. I'm fine. If I weren't, one of my daughters or both of them would let you know.

I'm looking forward to 2011. I'm hoping to share the best news of all, the expectation of a new grandbaby. Oh, how I'm praying for that.

Rob and I are doing well and we hope you are too.

And Chelsea wishes you...

A Very Merry Christmas
and a Happy New Year!