Real Friends...

I'm having some tender thoughts about friendship today.

This last weekend Claude and I completed our trip to New York state to visit very dear friends from our time living in Maryland. We were to have visited them the weekend of January 7th - 10th. However, Claude got very sick on our way home from Las Vegas and could not travel on the 7th. I got his sickness on Sunday, January 9th and was happy we were home to be sick. I was able to change our flights to Albany, New York to this past weekend and we made the trip then.

The reason for this trip was a very good one. When we lived in Maryland, Claude was the bishop of our ward (congregation) at Church. One of his counselors was Keith Soressi. They became very good friends through this service. Keith's wife, Jan, was my visiting teacher and was also the Relief Society president while Claude was bishop. Keith and I taught seminary together. As a result of these opportunities to serve together our friendship grew.

We retired and moved from Maryland to Kentucky. Not long after Keith to a position in Boulder, Colorado and they moved from Maryland to Colorado. On their drive to Colorado over Thanksgiving time, they stopped and spent a couple of nights with us. It was just great having their family (they had 3 kids and a dog at that time).

Later Claude and I drove through Colorado our our way to Utah. We stopped in Boulder and spent the night with the Soressi's then. Again, it was just like old times in Maryland.

Keith eventually took a position in Albany, New York and their family moved to New York.

We received an eMail from Keith suggesting that we needed a vacation in a place that was really cold and covered with snow. He hinted at a new calling for him and he really wanted Claude's moral support. We guessed that he was hinting at being called as the bishop of their ward in Albany. We were right!! Then we made plans to be there on the weekend he would be sustained as the new bishop of the Albany 1st Ward.

It was a delightful weekend catching up on our families and work and health and movies and trips and on, and on, and on. We attended Church with them on Sunday and truly enjoyed their ward and the people in it. Keith told them two weeks earlier when he was sustained about his friend whose counselor he had been in Maryland and how much he appreciated him and the training he received while serving with Claude. He assured the congregation that if he didn't do something right "It was Claude's fault." All through Church people would come to introduce themselves. When they found out it was Claude, they always said, "Oh, you are the one we can blame!!"

We have had this happen with other friends over the  years where you get to be together after a long time and we pick up right where we left off. It is always so nice to share friendship with these wonderful people.

Today, Claude had business in Georgetown, so I put on my jeans and tagged along. He dropped me off at the nursing home to visit my mom. She was in her bed in her room. She was in a happy mood today and smiled often. I matched her tops and bottoms in her closet and chatted away with her. She held my hand and we talked when I finished. Then I read to her from the Ensign. The CNA's came in to take her for her bath during my visit. They decided to bath someone else so I could visit with her a bit longer. When Kandy came back to get mom for her shower, I asked her how she was doing. She paused in her work day and shared with me the trials of her life. It is amazing how much they are each dealing with and they come and still remain loving and caring with my mom. What treasures these good people are in my life.

Kandy has a cousin that used to work at the nursing home. Her name is Loretta. She cared for my mom when she worked there. I remember her carefully putting knee-high stocking on my mom when they were going to have a special program, just so she would look extra special.

Kandy shared with me that Loretta actually came to the nursing home last week  just to visit my mom. She doesn't work there, her mother has stage 4 cancer all over her body, but she took time to come to the nursing home to visit my mom. Kandy said she and Loretta sat in mom's room for 40 minutes and just talked to her and each other. Kandy said, "I don't know if Mrs. Lawrence understood or not." I told Kandy that I am positive the visits brighten her day even if she doesn't understand who or what is happening a lot anymore.

I left thinking about these two dear ladies who cared for previously and are still caring for and about my mom. They are such dear friends to my mother and consequently to me.

My mom was assigned two of the sisters nearer her age to visit her in the nursing home when she first when in there 4 1/2 years ago. They have long since been assigned other visiting teaching routes. But each of these dear ladies comes as often as they can to visit my mom. They are each older and it isn't easy for them to get around. But they still come to visit mom. They are truly dear friends to my mom and consequently to me.

At the ending of this day, I'm reflecting back on these friends in my life and so many others it is too numerous to mention here. I truly believe a friend is a person that just cares, truly cares about you. And I want to remember these friends that have entered and touched my life in such a positive way. May I be that kind of friend to others as well.

Puzzlement...

Every year we make a puzzle at Christmas. My mother was a puzzle makin' kind of lady. There were three of us girls and we would sit with my mom and work on a puzzle after Christmas dinner each year.

Because I have a bit of a 'compulsive' side to my nature, I steer clear of making puzzles except for this one time each year. This year Andie found our puzzle at a consignment sale.

After Christmas dinner we cleared the dining room table and pulled out the puzzle. Michael came to join Andie and me. I pulled the Lindt Truffles from their hiding place (special candy with properties guaranteed to add enjoyment to the puzzlin' process).

Then Michael looked at the picture on the box and groaned. He was anticipating a picture of something. This puzzle was a picture of something but it was a picture of all colors of yarn. Not a beautiful scene from nature. To top it off this lovely puzzle was not cut in your normal 'inny-outy' pieces. They were funny shapes and did not fit square together. It was also giganorous. It was too big to fit on the neat new puzzle making board Andie bought. Andie and I would press on with the moments we had to work.

Needless to say, when the Marx family left December 26th, the outline of the puzzle was all we really had completed. There was some organizing of some colors and a few clusters put together of those colors. But there was a lot left to do.

I left the puzzle on the table and did some on it on New Year's Eve and at times before our trip. When we got back from our trip I spent that Saturday finishing the puzzle. It still resides on the dining room table. I haven't the heart to tear it apart yet. But I have taken this picture to always remember it in it's finished state.  Enjoy!!

Laugh-a-Day...

On New Year's Day an edition of the Georgetown News-Graphic was published. They asked 'leading citizens' about their thoughts on the new year. Evidently they asked Claude. His response..."I'm going to make Mrs. Christensen laugh once every day."

I got a chuckle out of just reading it on New Year's Day so he was one for one on that day.

Everyday I have laughed at least once (really more than that) about something Claude has said. During our trip to Las Vegas there was one particularly funny moment that I would like to remember. I hope it doesn't lose the humor in the telling but I'll always remember the laugh we shared when I re-read this little story.

We stayed at the Tropicana in a new tower of the hotel. Everything was new and I'm sure they were just working some of the kinks out. We were on the 18th floor. I wanted to be able to see the lights. We did have a great view of the lights. Not of the Las Vegas Boulevard but of McCarron Airport. But it was a beautiful room and a gorgeous view none-the-less. Sunset hitting mountains is always a great view.

The little item they had to correct in our room was the electric power in the bathroom. The second night it was out. We had power in the bedroom and hallway but none in the bathroom. In the morning we awoke and still no power there. We had ample light for showering when we opened the windows and turned on the hallway light. We used the blow dryer and curling iron in the bedroom. I called the front desk after we were dressed and told them they might want to address that during the day while we were gone. Within minutes it was fixed. They must have tripped a breaker switch or something. We had a call back to our room before we could even leave asking if the fix worked.

The same thing would happen the next morning as well and they quickly resolved the problem.

The funny was the first time it happened. I went into the bathroom to take my shower and wondered about getting hot water. I mentioned it to Claude and he said they were totally different systems and my hot water should be there. Then he went on to explain that it was like the systems in your body. Like the endocrine system and the digestive system. By then I was in stitches laughing. It was like have a grown up Hayden explaining how these things work to me. Claude heard me laughing and he started to laugh.

He was one for one in the laugh department that day for sure. He has managed to get his laugh out of me every day. I might be an easy mark in that department though.

What Happens In Vegas...May Go Home With You...

Claude and I placed a bid on 3 days and 2 nights in Las Vegas at the Republican Picnic in October 2010. Our bid was the winning bid. We were able to add an additional night at our own expense. We submitted two possible dates for us to make our trip and the January date was the one that was given to us. Sooooo...we were off to Las Vegas for a few days of rest and fun.

Now, you may ask yourself, what does a very good Mormon girl find to do in Las Vegas? Let me tell you. In 2004 I asked myself the same thing when I joined Claude for 4 days there as he did presentations for his last assignment with the Peace Corp before retiring. I spent a great deal of time researching the Internet for possibilities. I found tons of fun things to do that don't require liquor, cigarettes or gambling. We had a wonderful trip. So bidding on this fundraiser item was an easy thing for us to do.

We left Monday, January 3rd from Cincinnati. Our pilot told us during our flight that Las Vegas was experiencing snow. Hmmm...we were fortunately aware it would be colder than summer in Vegas and had packed accordingly.

This time we did not rent a car. Our entire visit was on the strip (Las Vegas Blvd.). We booked transportation from the airport to the Tropicana and back to the airport with Grey Line. Our hotel was closest to the airport so it was a quick trip going and coming.

The Tropicana has completed a huge new building and some extensive remodeling. They are also in the process of adding to their pool area and changing some of the old rooms that were motel rooms. So we had a very nice room on the 18th floor. This picture is of the Paradise Tower over the casino. We were actually in the Island Tower which you reach via a sky bridge walk over the pool and garden area. The pool & garden area is under construction while the pool is closed for winter. It appears they are adding more meeting space, knocking out the old motel style rooms from many years ago and increasing the pool/garden area. What there was of the previous pool area was gorgeous. It should be truly grand when they have it completed.

We were also able to go just to the end of the front desk and book the 3 shows we had pre-determined we wanted to see. We were able to book tickets to each of these shows and got excellent seats and good discounts.

Dinner Monday night was at the Rain Forest Cafe in the MGM Grand. It is a really fun restaurant. The food was very good. And the atmosphere was something that made us wish our grandmonsters were there to enjoy as well. There were several enormous fish tanks with brightly colored fish. In the center was a big tree trunk with the bar around it. The tables were all around under the tree. There were animals in and hanging from the tree. The walls were covered with plants and animals. Every 22 minutes a pretend thunderstorm occurred with simulated lightning. Also, periodically the animals along the walls would make noises, elephants blaring, leopards and cheetahs growling, gorillas thumping their chests. Over our table a night sky was painted on the ceiling complete withh stars and clouds and a planet. The stars twinkled and were set so it looked like shooting stars were going across the sky. It was quite enjoyable.

At the entrance was a gorilla on a bench. I asked Claude if he would humor me and sit with the gorilla for a picture as we exited. I have several pictures of Claude on benches on our trips and it just seemed to me that at some point that might make a cute collage. He agreed.

The Venetian was our destiny. It turned out to be about a two mile walk. We did locate a food court that sold Orange Julius. Claude LOVES Orange Julius. Mental note was made to come back the next day.

Further down Las Vegas Boulevard we found the Hawaiian Village. This is just a courtyard with lots of stands to purchase interesting junk. The food court behind seemed to be closed for the season. I did find a stand selling pashmina's and made my mental note to come back there the next day.

Eventually we made it to the Venetian. Claude was sure it didn't exist as we seemed to be walking f.o.r.e.v.e.r. But we did get there and found the Phantom Theater.

This beautiful theater was built especially for the Phantom of the Opera. We had seats on the 3rd row. The staging was covered with drapery over all the elements. There was a huge chandelier on the stage and three other chandeliers were strung out over the audience seating. No pictures were allowed of even the interior of the theater.  The house lights went down, the drapery over the theater staging was lifted and the play began. Behind that drapery along the side walls was layers of balcony seating with dummies posed in costume as though they were in the Opera House watching the opera. Either side of the stage had an elegant box seat. These were used by the actors at various points in the play. This was an excellent production. There is no intermission. The show runs for 90 minutes. The actors have great resumes in the Play Bill. Eventually that chandelier on the stage and the three over the audience swung around until they nested in each other and formed a huge chandelier in the center of the theater. At one point the Phantom was hanging from that chandelier. We were very happy we chose this as one of the shows to attend.

We chose to travel back to the other end of the Strip via the Monorail. This is a lot like the Metro in Washington, DC. It was fun to watch Claude go into Metro rider mode. He just walked down the platform and picked the place for us to stand as he always did in DC. When you ride the Metro in DC as much as he did, you know where on the platform to be at whatever hour to get the best seat, even factoring in tourist season, etc. I just found it fun to watch him do that on the Monorail. We got off the Monorail at the MGM Grand stop and entered the MGM Grand. We found a great ice cream shop and had a nice scoop of dessert to end our evening. Then across the street to the Tropicana for a good nights sleep.

Tuesday, we slept in. Although, there is a 3 hour time difference between Sadieville and Las Vegas. I'm not sure we were ever really sure what time zone we were in. The night before we purchased a muffin and juice for each of us for breakfast. We enjoyed a nice breakfast, I read some in my book and then we were ready to be out of our room for a bit.

We decided to hike back to the Orange Julius place. It was time for lunch so Claude purchased us lunch from the Wienerschnitzel place. Actually he ordered him an Italian sausage sandwich with a large chili fries and we shared the chili fries. Claude totally enjoyed his Orange Julius.

Then we hiked on down to the Hawaiian Village so I could check out the pashminas. I purchased two.

We also re-visited the M&M Store. This is a 4-story business with lots of fun things made with the M&M logo. They have a wall with all colors of M&M's. You can even pick your own decorations to have printed on the M&M's and have it done right there. It's a fun stop. Claude noted a poster that he was sure Hayden would enjoy with his new found love of Star Wars.

Back to the Tropicana to get a quick nap before our Tuesday evening show. I covered up Claude with one of my pashminas while he was trying to nap. When he woke up he said it was the nicest thing I had done for him all day. It's the little things!!!

Dinner would be at the MGM Grand. Claude wanted to try a buffet. I have to say this was our worst meal of the trip and probably the most expensive. Thus goeth the lesson.

Our show that evening was a Cirque du Soliel performance entitled KA. It was at the MGM Grand. We have seen two other Cirque du Soliel live performances and totally enjoyed all of them. This one was absolutely amazing as well.

The KA Theater is a massive 9-story affair. During the show, in the pit that is 51 feet below the staging area, there are 195 carpenters, riggers and lighting technicians and crew members performing a carefully choreographed performance of their own. Above them are 7 stages that appear as if from no where. The main stage of these seven is 80,000 pounds, 50-feet long and moves from the bottom of the 51 foot pit to above the pit and can rotate 360 degrees and tils past 90 degrees. It is just amazing to watch. This stage has all kinds of features in it to aid in the performances. At various points it is a sandy beach with animals coming out of the sand, a snowy mountain the characters have to scale, and on and on. The rest of the theater made me think of a stylized 'Waterworld' building. The actors move all over these runs. As with other Cirque du Soliel performances, it is nice to have someone else with you who might see something you would want to see and can catch your attention from what you are watching so you see it. There is just so much going on it is hard to follow it all.

A really cute part was a finger play done by have a lamp between two characters sitting on the edge of the stage. They have the big stage perpendicular to the edge of the stage where they actors are sitting with the lamp. Then they can do the shadow hand puppet thing with all kinds of animal characters.

We again were glad we picked this as one of our shows to see.

Back to the Tropicana for another good nights rest.

Wednesday, January 5th would be our last full day as tourists in Las Vegas. We slept in a bit and then chose to cross the highway and walk south on Las Vegas Boulevard this day. This would let us visit the Excalibur, Luxor and Mandalay Bay. We found a Krispy Kreme and had a donut for breakfast. There is an escalator system that stays inside and travels between these three hotels. We used it to get from one hotel to the other and then roam the inside of each hotel.

Claude really wanted to see the Shark Reef at Mandalay Bay so we determined to go there first. Once again we had to walk to the very far end of Mandalay Bay to get to the Shark Reef. These buildings are ENORMOUS. But the walk was worth it and we did enjoy the Shark Reef. Here are a few of my favorite things from that visit.

This Jellyfish tank was soooo fascinating. These lovely creatures just float through that water. They are really a beautiful shade of pink. The tank is round making it hard to get a picture with out a glare. I just found it very relaxing to watch them float along.

One of the exhibit areas is called 'Ship Wreck'. You walk into a room that looks like the wooden interior of a very old ship. There are benches in the center to sit and observe the window to all the tanks that surround the room. There is also a window on the top and one on the bottom of this interior setting. The tank has several kinds of sharks, lots of fun fish and a large blue-shelled turtle. The picture above was a shark swimming over some coral with a lot of bright blue teeny tiny fish floating under them. The picture below is of a sword shark taken through the window that was overhead. Then I'll include a picture of the blue-shelled turtle. It was great for my turtle-lovin' heart to see this guy!!

We saw many other fish and animals from pirahna to a giant octopus to lizards. It was worth the walk. And we definitely earned lunch.

We knew there was a Quiznos back at the Excalibur. We don't have one of these close to us in Sadieville so we decided to head back to Excalibur for lunch. The trip back we would do on a tram that is outside between these three hotels.

I wanted a picture of two of the Luxor. Here are three. If you look closely to the right of the Obelisk you will see a helicopter.

Back to the Tropicana for that afternoon nap before dinner and  show time.

Wednesday nights selection would be Blue Man Group at the Venetian. This time we chose to go to the Flamingo for dinner at Jimmy Buffet's Margaretaville. Now we knew it was a long walk so this night we decided to use the Monorail to get to the Flamingo. Dinner at Jimmy Buffets was excellent. The interior is decorated like a dock. I really liked the simplified fishing boats, 4 in a row, that were used for tables. The nose of the boats faced where Claude and I were sitting and two people could sit at the nose of each boat. The inside of each boat had a table with seating more people. This was just clever to me. There was even a small plane hanging from the ceiling and a lighthouse light on corner that kept flashing. Great atmosphere and excellent coconut shrimp.

We walked from the Flamingo down the next block (these are long blocks) to the Venetian. Blue Man Group was as much fun as when we saw it in 2004. They have changed a few things but it was just great fun again. I highly recommend this group to anyone to see. You need to be able to tolerate loud drum noise and strob lighting.

After this show we treated ourselves to gelato for dessert. Then back to the Monorail and the Tropicana.

Thursday we were in the lobby by 9am to meet our bus back to McCarron Airport. Claude was not feeling well. This would just get worse as the day wore one. We ate what would have been an early lunch at Ruby's Diner but we were trying to get back to Eastern Standard Time and realisitically knew it would probably be our only meal of the day. This turned out to be the right choice.

Our plane ended up leaving an hour late from McCarron. Our pilot was at the airport in Salt Lake City and having a hard time getting out because of the weather. Our plane was at McCarron. They were kind enough to not board us until just before the pilot arrived. We boarded and the pilot did his flight check. We were offered an early beverage while we waited. By now my poor hubby was really coughing bad. It was a really wierd cough that was very dry and you could tell it wasn't going to get better in the future.

We had one stop in our flight that day. It necessitated a change of planes in Memphis. The layover to make that change was one hour. Our one hour delay in Las Vegas meant we would have to hoof it pretty fast to try and make that connection. My hope was the connection plane would be just across the concourse from our Las Vegas plane. That was not to be either.

We got to Memphis and the flight attendant told the passengers at least 3 times as we taxied to the terminal that only those who had to make a connection before 7pm should exit the plane first. Our connection was at 6:55pm. At the terminal she stated this need again. Believe it or not...EVERYONE on the front half of our flight had a connection before 7pm. Well...at least they all left the plane before we were able to get off the plane. I quickly checked the board and found our connecting flight was on the A concourse. We were at the end of the B concourse. I looked at my poor hubby who could hardly breath at this point and said, "I think we have to run." He nodded agreement and we were off.

We ran down concourse B. He was struggling to keep up. We were at the center and looking for the A concourse. Found it. Headed down to it and then half way down it to find our flight. As we got nearer I ran ahead of him and waved at the attendant that we were for that flight. She was very relieved to see us coming. She quickly checked our boarding passes and let us into a staircase. Oh no...this was not a good omen. Our plane was on the tarmac and we needed to walk in the below freezing air to the middle plane of the group where it has snowed previously. I grabbed Claude's hand and we headed to our plane.

By the time we got in our seats, Claude was starting to run a fever. You could see it in his eyes and hear it in that awful, dry cough. The fever got worse as we flew from Memphis to Cincinnati. By the time we got to Cincinnati Claude was very hot to the touch.

Sure enough we had to get off the plane and walk across the tarmac to the terminal in Cincinnati where it was even colder and there had also been some snow. I got Claude's hand again and we headed out. By the time we got to the terminal he was shivering uncontrollably. I was very worried.

We found the shuttle underground from concourse B to baggage claim. With the delay we were pretty sure our luggage might not make the change of planes. Since we were supposed to fly out the next day to Albany, we really needed the contents of that bag. We had talked about staying until the next plane came into Cincinnati to get our luggage if it wasn't there. Amazingly, when we got to baggage claim after everyone else, there was one red suitcase on that turnstile with our name on it. A quick prayer of gratitude passed quietly from my lips.

Our car was in long-term parking. I went outside leaving Claude in the warm building to wait for the shuttle. I called him out when it arrived. So we quickly got him in the shuttle and the driver took us right to our car. It was then just a matter of getting the Jeep warm and doing the hour drive to Sadieville.

We got home and I told Claude to just get ready for bed and I would check on possibilities of changing our travel to Albany the next day after we saw what a good nights rest would do for him. I found my strong cough syrup from my December bout with bronchitis to give him some of it. I do not share my prescription drugs with anyone, ever, but there was a real need here for something and I felt it was the right thing to do. As I put the suitcase in bedroom, I could hear Claude rumbling around in the kitchen. When he got to the bedroom he had a HUGE yucky bowl with him. It was actually my largest bread making mixing bowl. I knew then we were in for a tough night. Bless his heart.

The bad part is...we didn't make it to Albany the next day.

The good part is...when I check SouthWest Airlines, they were offering a one time free change of flight to those flying to Albany the next day because of severe snow storms coming that would clog the airports. Sooo...we didn't have to pay extra to change our travel to another weekend.

Claude had a good nights sleep. I got up the next morning and spoke with our friends in Albany and explained our situation and set up our travel there for a later date. Then took advantage of the on-line offer for a free change of flight.

The end result of this saga is that by Saturday I was beginning to cough. It was a bit different cough than Claude but it felt like it might get worse. I took meds and headed to bed Saturday night. I went to Church on Sunday, taught my gospel doctrine class, played the piano for Relief Society, attended choir practice and then headed home to my hubby again. We had salads for lunch. I curled up on the loveseat to rest. My tummy started aching. I headed to the bathroom and hurled and knew I was in trouble now as well. And I thought I was doing sooooo well Sunday morning.

Monday we both headed to our doctor. He stuck the Q-Tip up my nostrils and processed the thing to determine I now had Influenza A. Claude did not have to have the test because our doctor was sure we had the same thing. We headed to the pharmacy and got our matching inhaler prescriptions filled. The doctor also gave Claude a prescription of the same heavy-duty cough syrup I used with my brochitis and I felt I did the right thing by giving him that when we got home from Las Vegas that first night.

We are on the mend but we have learned..."What happens in Vegas does NOT always stay in Vegas." Flu germs love to travel!!!

Getting to & Enjoying New Year's Eve...

Wednesday, December 29th was my dental cleaning. Now, isn't that exciting!!!

Papa was under the weather. He's been that way a lot this winter. So I hurried to his apartment after my dental appointment and picked up a DVD of country music to play for the residents at the nursing home in lieu of our singing. Glen, the chaplain for the nursing home, helped me get it set up. Everyone really enjoyed the music. Miss Cannon kept telling me, "Mr. Lawrence told me to come down and watch this today." She even called the administrator for the nursing home over and asked her to turn her wheel chair a bit so she could see better. Then she assured her that Papa told her she needed to come down and watch to this DVD. The administrator turned around and we shared a grin over it. After the DVD was finished, Miss Cannon said, "I really like that country music."

Thursday, December 30th Claude and I went to the Bodley-Bullock House in Lexington for a wedding reception. This is a historic residence. Inside the entry and over the huge front door there is a section of the wall that is uncovered so you can see the brick work over it. At one point there was a window there and one of the owners filled it in. The spiral staircase in the entry is just gorgeous.

Friday, December 31st was time to enjoy our traditional New Year's Eve activity. Claude fixed tacos and wings. We hauled our food and snack to the basement. I set up my crochet station. Then Claude started our movie marathon. We watched all of the Lord of the Rings series back to back. We start at 6pm and finish at 3am. Great fun. Good food. It's just a great way to welcome a new year.

Now we were officially ready to begin 2011!!!

Swearing In...

Monday, December 27th was the day to have the swearing in ceremony for the new Sadieville City Commission and Mayor. We all gathered at City Hall. Rand Marshall, the City Attorney, brought the proper Oath of Office papers. Elizabeth, our Georgetown News-Graphic reporter, was on hand to take pictures and write an article for the paper. Cindy Foster, our City Clerk, had coffee and sodas out and some snack foods. Cindy and Claude had paperwork for each of our new commissioners. Everything was ready.

These are pictures of our wonderful morning.

Dominic Whelan, Judy Sinclair, Claude Christensen, Brian Eads & Jamie Donovan

Explanation...

It would seem I filled my limit in the freebie picture department with my Blog. I had my Christmas blog entry almost done when I met this limit. It was very late at night. I determined to follow Scarlett O'Hara's example..."I can't think about this tonight, I'll think about this tomorrow." (Read that with your best Southern accent.)

The next day I tried again and read all the little print to figure out how to purchase more memory for my pictures to be stored in. I followed the steps and it wouldn't take my credit card. Very frustrating. Especially when I used my card right after that and it worked just fine.

Anyway, it wouldn't work and I had things to do besides fight this process. We were taking a trip to Las Vegas followed immediately by a trip to Albany, New York.

When we returned home, I tried again and finally got the software to take the silly card. It take 24 hours for them to process the request. Tonight it finally made it through that process. I've posted the Christmas blog...now on to my New Year!!

Let's Review Christmas...

This Christmas I finally did something I've wanted to do since we moved to Kentucky and had a wonderful family room in the basement. That is to have a small tree that the kids can decorate however they want. I found a cute little 4 foot tree at the dollar store. I also purchased a Santa tree topper and two strings of colored lights. Claude helped me set it up in the basement. When Hayden and Bailey arrived, they had their own tree to decorate.

Hayden even decorated the Santa tree topper. The kids tree was a success.

Hayden and Bailey each received a Christmas Eve gift from their mom and dad and a shared gift. They each received new pajamas to wear on Christmas Eve and the shared gift was a book "Charlie Brown's Christmas".

Cookies had to be decorated Christmas Eve as well so that plates could be prepared for Santa and the reindeer. We used the stencils and sprinkles again this year to decorate Christmas symbols on the tops of the cookies.

Hayden and Bailey took egg nog and cookies out for Santa and carrots out for the reindeer. We had snow from the week before on the ground and it was cold enough through the week that snow had not melted. So it was a little chilly on the Mini's making sure Santa and the reindeer would have a treat.

Hayden helped me ice a cake for dinner the next day. 

Then it was off to bed for a good nights rest before Christmas Day. During the night we would have snow and on Christmas morning when I opened the door to let Papa and Tiny in there was snow coming down. We were having a real 'white Christmas' in Sadieville, Kentucky.

I realized after all was said and done I forgot to take my picture on the stairs of who was here for Christmas. I've done this for years. I'm not sure why I forgot but the fact is, there is no picture this year of everyone on the stairs.

We told Papa the kids would be up about 7am. I knew he would arrive before that. I awoke at 6am and stepped out into the living room to be sure all was ready for us to start Christmas morning. I found my Christmas present sitting in the middle of the living room with a bright red bow on it.

A bit of history is in order here...this summer we found that the rocking chair that was my mother's parents, then my mothers and then mine was in very bad condition. It was rotten on the rocker pieces and the legs. Claude brought it inside, took it apart, and assessed the possibilities of fixing it. He knew it had great sentimental value to me. He wrestled with all kinds of possibilities of fixing it and keeping as much of it as possible. I finally told him it was okay to throw it out. I knew it was a worldly possession and it was okay to dispose of it. Claude purchased me a new rocking chair, white in color, to place on the patio. That was my wonderful gift this Christmas.

The other funny Claude tells me about was Michael laughing at him on Christmas Eve as he made the bow to go on the top. The chair is from Cracker Barrel and they provide a red ribbon and show you how to put it on the chair. Claude carefully did this just like he was told and Michael got a great deal of joy at watching his father-in-law create this bow and place it just so on this white rocker for his honey.

I went back to my bedroom and got ready for Christmas day. Then I went to check on whether Papa had arrived. Sure enough he was in the driveway waiting to be sure we were up so he didn't wake anyone. I motioned him to come in and he brought Tiny inside. She does hate the snow.

It wasn't long before Hayden figured out there was someone in the living room. His instructions the night before were to go to his parents bedroom first thing in the morning. Finding us in the living room made him hesitate in the hallway. I assured him it was okay if he came in and sat with Papa, Tiny and me.

Hayden ran in and cuddled up in my arms. Then he looked up and said, "Where are my cousins?" Bless his little heart. For all the last years that he can remember, we have had Christmas at our home and at least some of his cousins have been here. They always arrived during the night after he went to bed on Christmas Eve. We never thought to explain they weren't coming this year.

Eventually everyone awoke and we all gathered in the living room. Hayden and Bailey started us out with emptying their stockings and opening a present from Santa to them.

Hayden got a Star Wars habitat to raise a frog from a tadpole. I'm not sure what Bailey got. She is still at the point where it takes forever for her to open presents. She opens one and plays with it for a while before remembering there is another present to open. All the rest of us finished presents and much later Miss Bailey finally finished opening her last present.

After the stockings, it was time to begin the present opening. We decided to start with a special gift. Hayden made a series of pictures from the Star Wars movies. He did these just for Claude. They have been watching Star Wars together when he visits and Claude has helped explain which character is which. After he made them, Andie helped him find a box to put them in. When the Marx's arrived on Christmas Eve, Hayden had carefully carried that box in and put it under the tree. It was the first real present under the tree. So Claude opened the gift made by little hands with lots of love as the first gift opened on Christmas Day.

Tiny even got a gift. Actually, I've given her this same toy each year for the past 3 years. She always loves it.

Hayden got Bailey a unicorn pillow pet. She was so very excited and he was overjoyed at her happiness.

Here are a few pictures of the opening of other presents.

I gave Claude a flying lesson in a Cessna airplane. He really didn't just get a piece of paper.

We had lots of fun opening presents. Then the kids played with them. While they were playing Andie headed back to their bedroom for something. When she came out she said, "Were we supposed to open that box of presents in the closet?" I asked, "What box of presents?" Then I headed to the bedroom to check out this box. It was the box of presents Nissa gave me to bring back from Michigan to give to everyone. When I brought the box back from Michigan, I didn't want to take it downstairs and then bring it back up to put under the tree. So I stashed it in the guest bedroom closet. So, we had another round of opening presents from Michigan.

The kids played with toys and we started to make Christmas phone calls. We shared the silliness of the box of Christmas presents from Michigan with Nissa. Then when we were talking with Jacob I remembered I had Jake's gifts in my craft bag. While Andie talked to him I hurriedly ran to my bedroom, got the envelopes and took them to Claude and the Marx's to be opened. Geez!!! I must be getting old or something. For a bit thereafter, I was asked if I thought of any other presents I should have remembered to bring out. Such silliness.

Andie got a bright pink pig from Nissa. Miss Piggy was Andie's nickname long before there was a Muppets Miss Piggy. Bailey received a barn for her horses to play in. She promptly took Andie's pig and introduced it to the barn. After all, that is where a pig would feel most comfortable, right? Hayden and Bailey got really cute towels from Nissa that were hooded and had places for their hands to go. Bailey used hers to cover up her unicorn pillow pet. It was fun to watch everyone enjoying their gifts.

One of the gifts Hayden and Bailey received was eggs they could clean off and find bones on the inside. We gave each of them a cookie sheet to help with their paleontologist duties. Claude even sat with them to give a helping hand. Hayden did get all the bones out of his dinosaur egg and was able to make a triceratops with the bones.

There was time to visit and catch up a bit.

Claude and I got Hayden and Bailey each a tent. Bailey's was a princess tent and Hayden's was a pirates tent. Michael was good enough to put them up for the kids. It turned out that Hayden's tent had flaps that would hang over the door. Bailey's did not. Bailey really liked going inside and closing the flaps. So I found some lace fabric I had and made her flaps for her tent as well. These pictures are of the tents and the last one is of me inside the tent hand stitching the lace flaps for Bailey's tent door. Bailey is in the tent with me.

After quiet time on Christmas Day, it was time to play in all that good snow outside. Everyone but Claude bundles up in winter gear and headed out into the back yard.

Hayden needed some type of vehicle for his Darth Vader character. Hmmm...what to do. We headed to the toy closet and found that Hayden was perfectly happy with one of the plastic storage tubs. Darth Vader fit inside perfectly and the lid closed to protect him from the snow. Hayden would push that plastic box vehicle down the hill, then up the hill on the empty lot with all of us following him. Bailey would try pushing the wheel barrow.

We were joined by a neighborhood dog. Hayden seemed to enjoy playing with the dog around. Bailey...not so much.

Snow balls were made, tossed and even buried in the Bourbon barrel planters.

Michael enjoyed tussling with the kids in the snow.

Bailey and I shared a moment on the swing on the back porch.

After our romp in the snow, it was time for some hot chocolate, a TV show and some singing of Christmas songs while I played the piano. This was a great treat for me. I love playing the piano while my family sings. How fun that Hayden and Bailey now can sing while I play Christmas music.

Before bedtime, Hayden figured out that my stuffed Santa Claus fit nicely on the rocking horse. Then he proceeded to have Santa ride his 'sleigh' across the family room floor

Sunday morning was time to play with their gift from Papa. He got Hayden and Bailey coloring books that are 3-D. They put on their 3-D glasses and colored away. I got home from Church and found them totally enjoying this unique gift. They let me wear their glasses and look at their artwork. Such fun!!

Before the Marx family would head home, Hayden needed to watch one more Star Wars movie with Pa (Claude). They snuggled in the basement and watch the movie on the big screen. After the movie was over, Andie caught this cute picture of Hayden and Claude.

It was a great Christmas. We got to see all of our kids during the holiday. I was left with a puzzle to complete. But...more about that in another post.