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?

Lullabies...

Count Your Blessings (Instead of Sheep)

Irving Berlin

When I'm worried and I can't sleep I count my blessings instead of sheep

And I fall asleep counting my blessings

When my bankroll is getting small I think of when I had none at all

And I fall asleep counting my blessings

I think about a nursery and I picture curly heads

And one by one I count them as they slumber in their beds

If you're worried and you can't sleep

Just count your blessings instead of sheep

And you'll fall asleep counting your blessings

Oh the joy of singing a lullaby again! The softness...the quietness...the feeling of peace. A precious little baby snuggled on my shoulder in the tender glow of the faintest of light so as not to disturb her slumber. Beautiful baby...here on out to be known as Beautiful. Because she is. Because the word fits her, like Flower fits her. You know what I mean.



Counting my blessings is only ONE of the many things I have been doing since November 2, 2007 at 4:01 p.m. Counting...crying...sighing...wondering...staring in amazement...my emotions are different this time around. I am singing lullabies I sang to Happy as my baby daughter, and now I sing them to Beautiful as my baby granddaughter. Oh how I love her. Oh how I miss her. How I miss them both.


She is beautiful...just take a look...and sing a lullaby.

Baby Mine

(From Dumbo)

Baby mine, don't you cry
Baby mine, dry your eyes
Rest your head close to my heart
Never to part, baby of mine
Little one when you play
Don't you mind what you say
Let those eyes sparkle and shine
Never a tear, baby of mine

If they knew sweet little you

They'd end up loving you too

All those same people who scold you

What they'd give just for

The right to hold you

From your head to your toes

You're not much, goodness knows

But you're so precious to me

Cute as can be, baby of mine.

How much we love our precious Beautiful...we hope you will see why!