They said it's not too late, so here goes...

A few visitors stopped by my blog,and said it's not too late to post Christmas at my house......and at Mama's. If you see green walls, it's at my sweet Mama's. Traditionally, that is where we siblings gather with our families. We ate too much, laughed a lot, and hugged a lot!

I actually had my daughter that lives with me(Lisa),my AL daughter,son-in-law, and the three grandchildren they blessed me with home for Christmas this year. It was wonderful.My daughter has been seriously ill, and is still not well, so it was real "iffy" whether she could come. My only son was in FL with his family and didn't get to come. So here are some pictures. I hate everyone of them with me in them! I'm the one with the royal bue tank-top and two piece black pants set.The fluffy one. I shouldn't even tell ya!ha!

My favorite arrangement this year was on my snack bar.

I used only red lights this year. A nice change.

Lisa,my 3 grandchildren, and "the Cousins" at my Mother's house on Christmas Eve.




Daughter,son-in-law, and my
"Alabama grandchildren".

 

My sister and I flanked by our brothers and their wives.Their wives are like sisters to me.Our dear mother is in the center.

I loved Mama's blue lights on the tree.

Daughter Lisa is brain -injured/autistic and lives with me. You have to catch her unawares to get a good picture,otherwise she is overkill on her smile.......like THIS:

So that's a peek at my happy  bayou Christmas!

Jackie

Back to Normal Just Ain't Interesting!

Well, everything around my place is getting back to normal. My daughter and her family  are back in Alabama. Friends are back to work, and my routine is now back in place. I'm back to that same ole same-o.Back to normal...... peace and quiet. I say QUIET is  sometimes overrated. Sigh......and after all the conversations with my grandchildren,nieces and nephews, all the chuckling over their innocent comments.....normal just ain't interesting at  AWWWWLLLLLLL! (Kimmi..I miss you and yours so much already! )


I waited too late to post family pictures of our Christmas gatherings, so I guess I just won't. 
I'll just focus on the new year 2011.


Most of us look at the year 2010 ,remembering the good and the bad of the year. My brother preached a message titled "Remember" tonight. It was very timely, and food for thought.It ended beautifully with my brother reminding us that with repentence God will remember our sin no more!How beautiful. Then I started remembering some of the promises left to us in the Holy Bible,which subsequently led to this song playing in my head. We seniors should remember when this song was a gospel hit. I think the Happy Goodmans sang it.


Looking for a city, where we'll never die,
There the sainted millions, never say good-by,
There we'll meet our Savior, and our loved ones too,
Come O Holy Spirit, all our hopes renew.

Signs of the times are everywhere.I love the end of one year and the ushering in of another. Milestones remembered and  times for new starts. If you don't really know Jesus like you want to know Him, why not make this the year that you find that place with Him?  We can never get too close to Jesus! My motto this year is going to be "Preparing for Heaven in 2011".Friends, I am looking for that place. I want to go there,don't you?

                                 Jackie                     

To Me,from Me! Ho,Ho,Ho!

Well,ho,ho,ho, and Merry Christmas to me! I bought myself a recliner yesterday. It's my Christmas gift from me,to me! I have needed one for so long.I have lymphedema  ,mostly in both legs. I am supposed to sit with both legs up as much as possible when seated. I could afford one, so I spent $20.00 on a small ottomon instead.

Yesterday, I went to a local chain furniture store to buy my daughter (who lives with me) a new mattress for her main Christmas gift. Her other one was a goner.

While there,the saleslady (a friend of my daughter)told me that she had the recliner chair that I had previously almost bought back in stock. Additionally,it was on sale,at the very low price of $200.00! So I dipped into my emergency fund and bought it right then and there. I am usually not so impulsive, but I need it and loved the sage/taupe color.  So now, I'm sitting in a recliner with my legs way up, and feeling great. Ho,ho,ho!  Compare one of my bad days(mostly) with one of my good days. Good days take a lot of sitting, with elevated legs. I have to wear compression hose every day. You can seee why I am excited about something as mundane as a recliner!!!!!You can also understand why spending time on the computer helps me pass the time.~~~~~Jackie~~~~~~

Blogging Friends ....and I Lost One .......

I think I just figured out something. Today on the blog, I used a text gadget and I wrote about keep Christ in Christmas, and within the hour ,I lost a follower.I only  had 35.Not I am at 34, and  sniff,sniff ....I guess I'll never know, because I didn't get a message from the blogger.Of course, I could be wrong. Could be that I lead a boring life.. and bored them to tears..ha!

I have been getting a lot of emails about keeping the word Christ in Christmas.I'm on board with that. So I added a text gadget to express that. It was just less than an hour and like the Hee Haw song says,"poof..... they were gone".Of course I am a big Santa/jingle bell/deck the halls gal,too! Do any of you lose followers without even a message to you? It makes me sad to lose a follower before I get a chance to be a friend.



flickr/ccphoto by kiwanjia

 Speaking of friends, I have met some awesome blogger buddies! You ladies in MS,TX,MS,and AR are close enough that maybe I will meet you some day. You  can find lasting and great friendships on the internet via forums and blogs!One of my dearest friends lives in Australia. We met on a teacher forum years ago .(Mary Ellen..love you!) She is my daughter's age, and I love her youthful perspective on everything. Another good teacher forum friend I met is Cathy-Dee. She is a Canadian and sends gorgeous pictures of snow to me,along with pictures of her neice and nephew (Whom I have watched grow up in pictures.) I'm glad she does. I am genuinely interested in her family! I have never met either of them physically,but I still count them as good friends.These two ladies helped me stay sane and focused on God when I went through a horrific experience  that rocked my world eight years ago.I owe them a lot!

I am a fairly new blogger, and I have already met people that have laughed with me, cheered me on with my new blogger chatter,and when the chips were down they have prayed for me. Now that's what I'm talkin' 'bout!
What about you? Have you made great friendships by blogging?