twas the night before christmas.....

....and two boys were in the house.

Santa came!

🎅

Norman the kitty found himself a box that was just the right size.

🐱

Walter got a "ride on" Thomas the Train.

Christmas breakfast...

Egg & sausage casserole,

 Erika's delicious sweet bread.

and lots of coffee.

☕

Walter loves to eat!!

Lucy got a new sewing machine.

No more knotted bobbins.

Patiently waiting their turn.

Gus got a new light sabar.

Archie got new bedding...

and a

"My Pillow.com"

Walter got a Thomas the Train suitcase too.

Harry

who loves to be outside,

got a really nice rope ladder

to put in a tree.

Walter loved his new vacuum.

He vacuumed my carpet for the rest of the day.

After our steak dinner the kids still had some gifts to open.

It was a wonderful, magical day...

from sunup to sundown we celebrated.

Thank you Lord for the blessing of Christmas.

🎄

merry christmas everybody

This year we have seven reasons to celebrate!

Thank you God for all good gifts....

especially Your Son Jesus.

More pictures tomorrow!

Happy tired tonight.

Love to all,

Cathy

🎄

christmas eve eve

It was, of course a warm, sultry day.

Excitement built quickly

as the cousins were coming over for a party.

Jake and Eli passed some time in the yard doing some filming.

Jake going upstairs....

Eli coming downstairs

with a beautiful real smile on his face.

Of course Norman the kitty is here.

He loves the tree the best.

The dessert station....

Amanda's beautiful homemade cookies,

brownies,

and some genuine Lithuanian chocolate.

One of the tables

set with my new Christmas china.

Amanda and Mark had games planned.

We had so much fun with all of these gaily wrapped gifts.

Lots of merry making going on.

Lastly, All of our grand boys on the sofa...

let's see...I think there are six of them.

Notice their grand daddy in the background.

He is cleaning up after the party!

So thankful for this time together.

Christmas is magical!

Merry Christmas!!

(I need to go right now and straighten that picture!!)

thanksgiving at christmas

"Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!"

2 Corinthians 9:15

this is Christmas....

....nothing more,

nothing less!

One scared, exhausted, teenage mother who found favor with God,

not by anything she did or said or was.

One humble, bewildered, young man who stood by his promised wife in spite of all odds.

And 

Immanuel,

God with us....

the Savior of the world.

This is the simple truth of Christmas.

This is what we celebrate.

This is who we are.

photo credit... Jenni Perkins

merry & bright

When you are FINALLY all done with the tree,

and the late afternoon sun is streaming through the french doors,

and the star has a permanent lean,

and to you it couldn't be any more beautiful....

You say quietly to yourself,

Now we can have a merry Christmas.

There's just something about the Christmas tree that is magical.

It glows with a surreal light,

It smells like, well, a Christmas tree.

It's what you put the gifts under,

It's where the grand babies gather

to find their pictures, 

to find their gifts.

It's where our family gathers on Christmas Day 

to share stories of Christmases past,

to laugh,

to open gifts,

to ew & aw,

to share the love of family.

For me putting up the tree is a walk down memory lane.

Every ornament is a remembrance,

of people,

trips,

students I taught,

friends from my time in Atlanta,

David and Amanda when they were growing up,

the grand children when they were little.

Emotions always run high when I open the ornament boxes.

We welcome little Walter around our tree this year.

Isn't it so sweet that he will hear the story of Jesus' birth!

And, I need to get his picture on the tree.

Oh Christmas tree I love you!!

boys on a cruise

Boys on our bed.

These are some of my memories...

Some sweet faces I want to remember always.

That's what my blog is...

A journal of the days of my life.

We often found ourselves at the front of the ship.

On the very top because that's where our cabin was.

Dress up night!

Top bunk boy...

a great place to snuggle in and be rocked to sleep by the ocean.

Granddaddy and Jake.

Eli had gone to get pizza.

We lost count of the number of ice cream cones this boy ate.

Soaking up the sun at the back of the boat.

Snorkeling at Half Moon Cay.

Jake bought a "ship in a bottle" in Nassau.

I love what kids this age buy.

Granddaddy gave them both $20.00 and they quickly bartered it away.

I chose this picture because it captures this boy's spirit.

Eli is a joy...so is Jake.

What a blessing to have been able to cruise with our grandsons.

Thank you Lord for this special gift!

My dream is still to take all seven of our grandkids for our 

50th wedding anniversary in a couple of years.

We might take their parents along too.

🚢 ☀🌟

happy birthday lucy!

Lucy turned twelve yesterday

and what a party it was!

She requested wings and Grammy's potato salad.

For dessert she choose Atlantic Beach Pie.

Her tastes as well as her body are growing up (too fast.)

We spent some time around the big old farm table last evening

telling our favorite Lucy stories.

There were quite a few.

From tossing a plate in our favorite restaurant in Washington DC when she was just a baby,

to her pumpkin spice nursery in her home in Arlington Heights, Chicago,

to us pulling her arm out of socket at Lou Malnati's pizza place, also in Chicago,

we relished in having lived our lives with her. 

Lucy is a delight...

a precious young lady who loves to sew and cook.

One of her gifts was citrus acid to make scented bath bomb fizzes.

She has plenty of opportunity to help with her new brother Walt.

She loves to eat crab legs with me at the Crab Shack.

I am so glad that God placed her with us to be her family.

Thanking Him today for the gift that is Lucy.

Happy 12th Lu.

I love you to the moon and back 100 times.

amanda & me

I am so very thankful for my daughter.

Here we are on our cruise...

sun dappled.

She makes me happy.

God's gift!

Love her!

This morning at 7am, last's night's 

super moon 

was still shining brightly in the western sky.

God hung it there you know.

He called it the lesser light.

There is nothing like seeing it rise over the ocean.

Aren't the ways of God amazing?

my sentiments exactly...

I finally found it...

that island I've been searching for my whole life long.

The place that literally took my breath away.

That white, silky sand...

that water,

a color I cannot even describe,

so clear I could see to the bottom.

This beach...

as close to perfection as I will ever see!

You can rent one and two story cabanas.

We chose lounge chairs right by the waves.

The pine trees had tiny little pine cones.

We wanted to bring some home for Christmas decorating,

but decided they wouldn't make it through customs.

Amanda and the Elation.

You can see the tender beside.

This black chicken was native to the island.

He was strutting around on the beach

 cock-a-doddle-doing for our enjoyment.

Picture point ~ picture perfect!

Yes....take your grand babies with you when you cruise.

They make it so much fun.

I have a thousand happy memories stored away.

There was even a tiny church on this completely uninhabited little island.

✝

As we skimmed along over the deep blue sea,

I was constantly scanning the sky for pictures in the clouds.

Finally, on the day we left this amazing island, I saw it...

a heart!

Look up into the sky my friends.

You will see His handiwork....

you will know that 

He is God.