CHRISTMAS, 2008

I went to the Christmas Eve service alone this year. Well, not really alone. There were about 1100 others there as well with young children making their noises at all the quietest times in the service, of course. That's part of the beauty of it. Came home and began cooking. Christmas Day was busy, busy, busy.

How did it go? Fantabulous!

Because my house is small, and there would be eight of us here for Christmas supper and gifts, I decorated the 7 1/2 ft. tree on the front porch outside the picture window. That serves the dual purpose of a Christmas tree and outside holiday decoration. How clever is that?

By day:






By night:











If you really want to see the pictures click on each one to enlarge it.

But we had inside decorations as well. Here's where we placed gifts, but these are only mine for the family. Note the round red & white package next to the plant stand; there's a story.


Chillax, Jaz, and Oyster arrived about 6:30 p.m., and the Dagromms just over an hour later, and the laughter began. But first we had the indigestion special: rice (thank you, Jaz), chicken enchiladas and guacamole which I made, tamales compliments of Sam's, salsa, and salad, and tortilla chips. Jaz also made apple empanadas for dessert. Yumola!


We didn't have the usual gift opening frenzy. All the gifts were passed out by Tazzonater and Oyster, then we went around the circle with one person opening one present at a time. It so happened that Oyster was first, and she had apparently been intrigued by the large round red & white package I mentioned earlier. The round box held this blond wig on a head form in a zippered wig case. She and Tazzonater were sitting next to each other. (O is seven yrs. old, and Tazz is eight.) Well, she ripped the paper off, yanked the zipper around---not quite all the way, and shoved the top back, and it snapped back shut. But it was open just enough for the two of them to glimpse a "head", and they both jumped back about a foot with very loud intake of breath, and one of them said, "What is that?" Of course, the rest of us were falling off our chairs laughing because it was so funny. If I'd been trying to scare them it wouldn't have worked. Later Chill told Oyster that was just what she needed to look like her mother. (That may be the best $2.50 I ever spent at an estate sale.)

Perhaps the second biggest surprise was what Mr. & Mrs. Dagromm received from Dagromm Jr. and Tazz--pictures they had made last summer when they visited here.

Dagromm was so moved he commented, "You even look as if you like each other!"

Then we got down to the serious business of playing Apples to Apples, a game which eventually included everybody, and we laughed so hard we probably worked off at least a tenth of the calories we'd consumed (about 300, I'd guess). We feasted again the next night, but a different menu which was equally delicious and played and laughed some more. Wish you could have been here. Chill, Jaz, and Oyster live here so they went home each night; the Dagromms left Saturday.

Today I took down the decorations.


It's oh so quiet now.
It must be because, as you see, PhannyCat is back in the living room.


HAPPY NEW YEAR, Y'ALL!!!!

Let's Wrap It Up!

Just like life, it's so much harder to catch up once you let things slide. But I said I would, and I will. So here it is in a nutshell.

While mowing the grass one day in May there were a couple of gusts of wind, and when I went to the back to mow there, what did I find? My beautiful red maple, age 3, had sheared right down the middle. Chillax came later and helped cut it up and remove it. It broke my heart to see the tree damaged, but I tended its wound and hoped for the best. Guess what? It continued to grow and even continued to provide shade.

June---Even more blah than May.

July--the Dagromms came for the 4th, actually arriving on the third. Dagromm, ever the dutiful son, asked what he could do to help me. I eagerly suggested mowing the lawn. He agreed to do it and did. I stood in the shade of the red maple to take this photo. His quick agreement was due in part to the fact that he and the children wanted to shoot fireworks in the yard on the 4th, and they did. It was a lot of fun. Then he and Mrs. Dagromm went home leaving their offspring with me for a week (the true mowing incentive). We had a few adventures.

No doubt, I have previously mentioned that I am currently the president of our local orchid society. Well, shortly after the children left, one of our board members and she was also the monthly raffle chairman, resigned from the board (via e-mail) and all responsibilities, and brought 74 raffle plants for me to tend. She said she would bring the rest later. I read and re-read the by-laws, and no where did it say this was the responsibility of the president.

On the 23rd we had a quick storm, and this time I heard the "pop" and discovered the red maple was a goner.


August---On the third of the month I drove to Jackson, Mississippi, to pick up Goo who came home for a week. The high points of that trip, aside from seeing her, were I got to see rain in quantity near the state line, and on the way home a dead alligator on the side of the road---the most memorable road kill of my experience. We had a fun week, went "estate sale-ing" with Jaz, watched some outstanding videos, and just relaxed. Taking her to the airport on the eleventh was a downer.

But a couple of days before she left the aforementioned orchid society member brought another 60+ plants to my house for me to tend. Thanks, ever so. Goo labeled her deranged. I contacted several other members of the society, and I managed to farm out most of the plants to foster homes and only wound up with about 30 to take care of myself. The majority of all of these were unloaded at our annual picnic/auction in Oct. In the meantime I conducted the raffle as well as the meetings for Aug., Sept., and Nov. She has now decided she is ready to resume her duties, and I was ready to return all the paraphernalia to her ASAP. (Why did I think working with pre-schoolers was getting too hard for me?)

September---I finally began sewing the display drapes for the orchid society.

October---You've already heard about my fantastic birthday. Jaz and I had another one of our outstanding yard sales. In the meantime I finished sewing the display drapes for the orchid society to use in its displays in various shows. Here they are in my living room.

The finished length is 7 feet. It was a massive sewing project; I did six panels. Each one is 5 feet wide. I learned to use the blind stitch selection on my mother's old Singer. Keep learning!---that's my motto. I still need to make some swags, but I'm in no rush on that chore. I also helped with two out of town shows by making all the plant labels for the shows, and going to Monroe to help take down a display.

During the last half of the month and the first part of Nov. I was sick and waited far too long to go see the doctor. When I finally did I wound up with a shot, a Rx for an antibiotic, and two kinds of decongestants. I will eventually get all this crud out of my system.

November---Well, obviously the big moment here was Thanksgiving. Chillax, Jaz, and Oyster were here. Jaz did the turkey, pie, and bread, and I did the other stuff. We ate very well and watched A Christmas Story, one of the funniest movies ever, after our meal. It was a really good day though Chill was feeling a little down (another upper respiratory story). He did, however, help me get down some of the Christmas decorations from the attic. I have really good sons, you know. (My daughters are o.k. too; they're just so far away.)

Anyway, are we caught up now? If I've left out anything you need to know about, tell me, and I'll do whatever I can to rectify the situation. The pets seem to be o.k.; they're just aging like this writer. And if you've read this far, please, post a comment. Sometimes this feels like speaking to the wind.