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Tuesday, December 31, 2013

Goodbye 2013, Happy New Year and Merry Christmas, just in case

I started a blog about Christmas and never finished it...so I'm going to post very quickly a Farewell to 2013.  Just let me start by saying that it is Dec 31st and we haven't had Christmas with our kids and grand kids yet.  

You read that correctly.  We were very blessed in 2013, but it's gone out with a bang...or perhaps crash would be a better word.  On Thanksgiving we were in an automobile accident which was a pain in the neck - literally.  I've had whiplash from the side impact to the passenger side of our car.  The vehicle has been repaired and my neck is slowly improving. But I've had a VERY non-productive December.

And I've guess you heard about the flu in Texas....yes, it's even getting people who took the shot.  But we're surviving that also.

Fortunately, I had already decorated for Christmas and done most of my shopping before Thanksgiving Day.  So in spite of everything, we are still ready for Christmas - and will hopefully unwrap gifts tomorrow!  

Below are a few pics from around our house.  I know everyone else probably put the tree out to the curb or in storage already - but my house if fully decorating waiting for the arrival of children, grandchildren and Christmas gifts to be unwrapped.












A modified quote from Alexander seems appropriate, "Some days months are like that, even in Australia"

I hope everyone reading this has a blessed and wonderful year in 2014. 

Happy New Year!

And if there are other people like me that haven't finished celebrating Christmas yet, for one reason or another, Merry Christmas!

Much love and laughter,

Laura


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Saturday, December 7, 2013

Ice Ice Baby

This pretty much sums up the last few days at our house in North Texas.  If a picture is worth a thousand words - here's 10,000 words for you!  We've been home since Thursday night and are hopeful for thawing tomorrow so the roads are clear for getting to work on Monday.

Thankfully our power has stayed on and our pantry and refrigerator were fully stocked on Wednesday when the temperature was in the 70s!  We have friends from back home who got iced in with us, so it's been a house party for the last 24 hours. Plus Oklahoma won the football game this afternoon which provided much jubilation. (Boomer Sooner!) We had already planned a dinner party with the neighbors tonight, so if they can slip and slide across the street to our house, it should be a fun evening inside where it's toasty warm.

The ice is beautiful, but bad for the trees, there will be a lot of damage. And of course, lots of people have been in auto accidents - not us - we had our accident LAST week on Thanksgiving Day when the weather was perfect.














So that's what happens when you get freezing rain.  I'm ready for a warm up.  I'll be sitting by fire as much as possible until then.


Much love and laughter,

Laura


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Wednesday, November 27, 2013

The Mess Before Christmas

I hope everyone has plans for a thankful family gathering tomorrow. I am fortunate that the holiday gathering is not at my house because my house is a mess. I've been too busy this week to look (only off work Thursday and Friday), but I'm sure bloggers all over the Internet are showing beautiful pictures of gorgeous Christmas decor in their homes.  Pictures of lights twinkling, fires burning and cookies baking.  I'm good for two of the three.

I've got a fire burning and a cat relaxing in my chair.  
Where am I? 
I'm trying to get the house decorated for Christmas. 



I cooking food to take to our family Thanksgiving gathering, including these yummy chocolate chip cookies.  They are my specialty.  We are trying not to eat them all before we leave home. (I'll share my recipe soon)




The twinkling lights?  Well....we're working on that. If you know me, you know I believe in keeping it real....so here's our reality this week.  Christmas decorations are piled everywhere,




In every room


throughout the house,


it's the mess before Christmas.


And if you are like me and decorate a little bit in each room, you know exactly what I'm talking about.


So someday soon I'll show you those twinkling lights and beautiful decorated trees, but this is what it looks like this week.

As I was unpacking decorations I found a letter I left on the counter for "Santa" last year in December. (why did I keep this? maybe I was planning to use it again?)  




I found this pretty amusing because my SuperDave continues to be my Super Man, he had me hire someone to clean my house next week. So I don't need to send this letter to Santa again this year.

When our halls are decked and this mess before Christmas has turned into a beautifully decorated Christmas home, when I have collapsed into a glitter covered heap in that chair now occupied by a cat, I won't need to work up the energy to clean the whole house.  Merry Christmas to me!  I'll be sitting in that chair reading Christmas novels and blogs about Christmas.  I'll be entertaining friends, singing along to Christmas carols and making merry. 

"And it was always said of him, that he knew how to keep Christmas well, if any man alive possessed the knowledge.  May that be truly said of us, and all of us!  And so, as Tiny Tim observed, God Bless Us, Every One!"  
- Charles Dickens

With a thankful, happy heart,

Laura


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