A wonderful Christmas this was...this was a wonderful Christmas. All of my children home in the Frozen Tundra...with their children. It just doesn't get any better than that. Right? I suppose.


Happy, NC fan and Beautiful left today. Bittersweet. I will miss them terribly, but will see them again in 4 months. But not at Christmas anymore. I'm sad that I will not see Beautiful open a Christmas gift. Or share Christmas memories as I do with Z-man, Flower, Bright Eyes and New York. I understand the whole waking-up-in-our-own-home-on-Christmas-morning tradition thing. I understand wanting to have that special time with the children. I do. But that doesn't make it any easier. Not when I know I am the Oma who misses it. I am sad today. Poor, poor pitiful me. Pathetic and pitiful.


So...my babies are beautiful...and their babies are more beautiful! And I can prove it. Take a look:
So, there you have it. A wonderful Christmas it was...it was a wonderful Christmas.

Now Arizona here we come! It better be sunny...that's all I have to say!

The Dedication and the Blustery Day

What a wonderful day this was! Well, except it was 24 degrees when we left for church and 16 when we came home. Oh yeah, and the 35 MPH winds.

Having ALL of my children, my sister and my parents in church with me this morning... dedicating Beautiful...it just didn't seem all that significant. I LOVE baby dedications. Especially when the baby being dedicated is family. Awesome.

"Do you promise to raise up your child in service to Jesus Christ?"

"We do."

"Do you promise to pray for your child and teach your child about the saving grace of
Jesus Christ?"

"We do."

The prayer...and Happy asked ME if I would sing. I did. I did not cry and ruin it. The Holy Spirit was a very present help in my time of...well, there was no real "trouble", but I sure didn't think I could sing for my baby AND her baby. But with the help of God...it was a "Masterpiece".

Then the charge to the family..."Do you promise to pray for this child and these parents? To be a present Godly influence in the lives of this family?"

"We do."

Random pics:

Again...MERRY CHRISTMAS!

They're here!

After a 3 hour fog delay in Fort Wayne, Indiana, Happy, NC Fan and Beautiful have finally arrived and our family Christmas is now complete! Oh how I missed them, and oh how overwhelmed I was when they finally walked through that door! How touching to see Chief FINALLY get to hold his Happy's baby girl. He was thrilled. There will be many more pictures of this wonderful week...but for now...

What a beautiful smile! She looks JUST LIKE HER DADDY!

Flower wants to play!

New York hugs her best bud Z-Man.

And Bright Eyes gets to hold Flower!

Bright Eyes, Rachigga and New York, respectively.

All in all it was a fun-filled, packed-with-family-and-food day! Don't these guys look happy together? Hmmmm...

Have a WONDERFUL Christmas!

"Ohhh...

...the weather outside is frightful..." ANOTHER post about snow?? (Snow...snow...snow...snow...SNOW...it won't be long until we'll all be there with snow... "Vermont should be beautiful this time of year, all that snow.") Ahhh... White Christmas!

And it is sure to be one this year! I am just so excited that my Mom and Dad are here, that on Saturday my little family will be complete with the arrival of Happy, NC fan and Beautiful, and Christmas this year will be full of warm fuzzies, hot chocolate and turkey. I love Christmas.

Don't you?

Baby it's COLD outside!

To coin a phrase from an old '60's song...Baby it's cold outside!! As often is the case here in the frozen tundra in December! It's cold and snowy and cloudy (at least until this afternoon...then it's clear) and crisp...and it SMELLS like winter has arrived. My love for the winter here has often caused a wrinkled nose or a disbelieving raised eyebrow from time to time. Still...don't hate! :~)

I do love the snowy weather. At least through January. I do like it to come and go, as with summer (I do not like the heat!); but, Old Man Winter likes to take his sweet time going back to where he hails...WAY up north! SO...complaining about the weather is like worrying to me. Wasted energy. Nothing I can do about winter. I choose to live here. I like it here.

The cold invigorates me. I sleep better in the cold. I love the hustle and bustle that winter brings. The hot chocolate, hot-hot coffee, great soups and stews...I love to cook in the winter. And the movies. Yeah, that's right...it's major movie time! Curl up on my recliner, in my freshly cleaned house that has homemade orange-cinnamon-clove potpourri simmering on the stove; and watch a glorious old movie. I LOVE those days! I am very sentimental. The movies need to be old...Christmas classics, of course, are the best. Still, it depends on what mood I am at that moment.

Today, it's soup, salad and bread for lunch with a friend...and maybe an old movie with Chief later. Anyone up for a little White Christmas?