THANKFUL FOR MY HANDYMAN

I kept waking up this morning and I thought it was still early because my arm was cold when it was out from under the covers. We turn the heat down at night, but then before time to get up our nice thermostat tells the furnace to come on so we can rise to a nice warm house. Well, that didn't happen today!! It was pretty chilly out from under those covers --- 60 degrees in the hall. I passed on my morning shower ---the warm water would have been fine, but then getting out while wet would not have been so nice!! Handyman came out and lit the fireplace so we weren't completely without heat and I went upstairs to the bonus room and turned on the heat pump that we have mainly for cooling the room. After breakfast in the dining room (which is close to the fireplace) handyman put on warm clothes and crawled under the house to check on the furnace.
It turned out to be the fan (again) that blows the exhaust from the furnace to the outside. We've had some trouble with this before, but handyman had cleaned and oiled it and kept it working. After he figured out the problem he went to a shop here in town to purchase one, but they didn't have the correct part. They told him where he might find it on Monday. Well, it's gonna be cold this weekend, so he went back under the house and worked on the fan some more and got it working. Ahhh-it's so nice to hear the furnace running again. But now he's looking for the replacement online. We're going to go ahead and replace the part since that's the third time he's had to help it along. I don't think we want to keep having the same problem over and over again. But, we're thankful that we had the gas logs and heat pump to keep us warm while the problem was being corrected and even more thankful to have a live-in handyman who can fix just about anything!!

GOOD DEALS

A few months back, handyman and I received a gift card from Discovercard. It was for $10.00 off any purchase at Red Lobster, as long as we charged it on our Discovercard. Not a bad deal at all since we don't carry over balances from one period to another so we never pay them any interest.
We don't normally go out to eat on Friday night because the restaurants in our town are filled to overflowing most weekend nights. But on Friday, the schools had been out due to snow and they were predicting more snow that night so we took the chance that maybe more people would stay home. It turned out to be a good time to go out. When we got to the restaurant there wasn't even a line.
I'm not a huge lover of fish, so I stick to the "fried" menu!! I ordered the popcorn shrimp with baked potato with butter and sour cream and a salad. Handyman ordered Walt's shrimp, which is the larger variety of shrimp, along with the baked potato and a salad. When they brought out the salads we noticed that they were a little skimpy compared with most salads around town, but that was okay since we didn't fill up quite so much on them. It left more room for our entrees. The shrimp was delicious! I ended up not being able to finish all of mine. There's not much you can do to ruin a baked potato so they were delicious too. And the cheddar biscuits are always superb!!

So, thank you Discovercard for giving us $10.00 towards our meal. It was great!!

CHRISTMAS AT THE CABIN

No, we didn't spend Christmas at the cabin. We didn't even do a drive-by. Fortunately one of our neighbors was there and took these fantastic pictures and emailed them to us!
If I had been there, I really would have been regretting the fact that we didn't put a fireplace in it. It would have been sooooo cozy!!

I love this picture because it really shows up where the lake is in the summer. Right now the lake is down and we only have a creek, but the snow stuck to the bare ground.

Here is another view that shows the boat. Handyman is planning on bringing it home pretty soon so he can do some work on it and have it ready to go this spring.

Happy New Year Glitter Pictures

CELEBRATING CHRISTMAS WITH FAMILY

Christmas Day was quiet at the house but we enjoyed the view out the bonus room window.
It was our first white Christmas in about 17 years.
I had forgotten to take pictures of the upstairs tree, so here are a few snapshots of some old ornaments. This one includes a "Peace On Earth" that my mother cross stitched while they were living in Georgia, a wooden angel that's been around a while, a red bell that is older than I am and a wooden angel that Kate painted for me last year.

Below is the rocking horse ornament that I paid more than I should have for it and handyman wasn't very happy with me --- so I ALWAYS hang that ornament where he can see it. The cross-stitch angel was one that I cross stitched for Holly in 1984. I made one for Kristy too. I'm not sure if I've given that one to her, or what has happened to it.
This angel was in a set that my dad bought back in the late 1940's. This was on my parent's tree every year while I was growing up.
Kristy and her family arrived on Sunday afternoon. The kids were so excited, but had to wait until Monday morning, when Aunt Holly got here, to open their presents.
Here's a picture of Nate "just hanging around."
We got the girls a new game MOO UNO. They really liked playing it and even got Aunt Holly to play with them.
Paw Paw & I both got to have special time with Kate on our laps. I'm not sure how much longer she's going to fit since she's getting so tall.
Gabriella went to sleep after lunch out a Mariah's on Monday. We passed her around, but she got in a pretty good nap.

Kate wanted to take a picture of her mother ---- it wasn't one of Kristy's better pictures!!
What would a visit at Gam & Paw Paw's be without a "pony" ride on Paw Paw.
I got a good picture of the Stace Family by the tree.
We really enjoyed our Christmas with all the kids! I am so glad that we got to spend time with all of them. They left this morning and we haven't done much since. It's been a lazy afternoon!
I'm not sure when I'll "un"decorate the house but I'm not in any hurry. I'm still enjoying all of the lights!

MERRY CHRISTMAS

HERE WE GO A-CAROLING!

Our Sunday School class has picked a Sunday night close to Christmas each year, ever since I can remember, to go caroling at nursing homes and homes of church members who are elderly shut-ins, have health issues or have lost a family member to death during the year. Our family joined in this activity when our children were in elementary school. It has been a wonderful tradition to have at Christmastime.

We have a few ladies that I can't remember when we didn't have them on our list to carol to. At the beginning, I guess we didn't have quite as many older people in our congregation so we just went to the homes of some of the church leaders. Now the average age of our church membership is a lot older than it was some 25 years ago.
At the beginning a couple of the young ladies in our class would have a marathon candy making event and they provided all of the food that we ate after caroling. Years later, we began having too many carolers to gather in a home so we started meeting at the church and everyone pitched in by bringing finger foods to share. As our children grew up and left our community, the number of participants dropped off. But there were still some of us who loved it so much that we continued every year. Handyman and I decided it was more cozy to have the after carol gathering in a home rather than in the fellowship hall at church so we began a new tradition of hosting this in our home. We really enjoy getting our house decorated and ready for all the guests. We've also bought extra dishes and cups so we don't have to use disposable plates, glasses and cups. Handyman also really gets into the food aspect ---he makes sausage balls, meatballs, country ham and biscuits and has started buying shrimp too. I made a couple of kinds of Christmas cookies this year.
This year was very special for us. Our daughter came back to carol with us, along with our son-in-law and grandchildren. Our 5 year granddaughter, Kate, had a wonderful time. Before we left the house, one of our friends tied jingle bells to Kate's shoe laces and I gave her a jingle bell necklace that had been bought when her mother was just a few years older than her. It was so funny watching her trying to get those bells on the shoes to jingle while she shook the necklace bell. She knew the words to almost ever Christmas carol that we sang. I noticed a lot of people watching her and they were amazed at how well she knew the songs. Our 3 year old granddaughter, Gabby, is very shy and she wasn't real thrilled to be around so many people (there were 37 of us) and she kept pulling her hood over her face so no one could see her. But she didn't whine and fuss. She was very good, but just wanted to be carried so she didn't have to mix with everyone else. We were concerned with how 1 year old, Nate, would do. Back in the day with our kids, we didn't have to worry with car seats. We just loaded the kids up and took off. Nate (and Gabby) had to be strapped in between all of the stops, even if they were only a mile apart. Kate can strap herself in, so she wasn't a problem at all. Nate got tired and sleepy, but he did so well. I was so proud of him. He was a real trooper! We had several other grandchildren join us this year. The kids just make it so much more fun. After about two hours of lots of ins and outs we returned home to enjoy all of the food that we had fixed and the others had brought in.
For me, it was the most fun I had had caroling since we first started caroling with our kids.
I am so thankful that the "Potpourri" class has continued this tradition for all of these years and that our kids and grandkids have all been able to be a part of it.
From "Hark the Herald Angels Sing, Glory to the New Born King" to "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer" to "We Wish You a Merry Christmas," it is wonderful to be a Christian and be able to celebrate the birth of our Saviour, Jesus Christ!! MERRY CHRISTMAS!!