Wrapping up 2011.

It's hard to believe 2011 is gone and it's 2012. There were so many ups and downs in 2011 with deaths, pneumonia, broken foot, selling our house, buying a new one, so many different events period so I hope 2012 is a much brighter year.

The last 2 weeks of December were so very busy. I had to power shop since I hadn't done a lick of shopping prior. I just wasn't in the mood to shop by the time I got off work. I think my one New Year's resolution will be to finish my shopping in November for 2012. For 2011 my resolution was to get my Christmas letters and cards out more than a couple of days before Christmas. I did it, well okay to be honest it was only a 2 days earlier than the last 2 years but at least it was earlier and I managed to finish my shopping by the 22nd. Thank goodness.

The Monday night before Christmas we went out driving around to look at Christmas lights. Some areas were very bright and merry and others not so much. We did go back to the house called Kaleidoscope that reminded me of a Dr Seuss house to see the lights and was very disappointed. All the owner did was put a different colored light inside at different windows so it would shine through. No decorations outside. 

Then we found The Gullo House of lights.

One of his many displays was to honor each branch of the service.

Just great I left my camera on the kitchen counter so all I had was my cell phone to capture some pictures. Brillant!

The lights were spectacular. My pictures don't do the light displays justice. But this is all I have.
Can't imagine how long it took to put up all those lights or how long it would take to take them all down.






The only place to park was along the roadside so you could walk through the wonderland of lights on the property but David wasn't sure how safe our car would be. So David would stop just long enough for me to try and capture some of the lights.   None of the other lights decorations came close to wowing us like these did.

Every year on Christmas Eve we go to my Mom and Joe's to open presents but before we could leave we always had to pull out the 1 gallon plastic milk jugs, about 30-40 of them, fill them with sand and place votive candles in them, then one of our neighbors would light them at dusk at our previous home. It was an annual tradition on our cul-de-sac along with gathering in one of our neighbors driveways to share some hot cider, egg nog and a snack.

 I never did get a good picture of of the jugs all lit for one reason or the other but the new Glenway Dr. homeowner, Leilani did. I'm sharing the picture she took here.  Isn't it pretty?   At night it's really pretty but during the day it looks a little weird with all those milk jugs along the curb. 

No special traditions on our street at the new house.

Some Christmas Eve photos



Mom and Joe watching Pam open her Gift
And David is giving Little Lola the yorkie some attention

 Christmas morning arrived, we opened gifts and had some quiet family time before we started the turkey, ham, dressing, and the broccoli rice and cheese casserole and before the rest of the family arrives other tasty morsels. Just prior to everyone’s arrival David started a fire in the wood burning fire place but not without incident. He turned the gas on low but the logs didn’t ignite so he turns up the gas. Big mistake obviously!   Pam and I heard David yell and then silence. When the logs ignited the flames shot out into the den and up toward the ceiling... Holy Crap! Thank God the flames only burned the hair off his  left arm. It could have been so much worse. 
At 1:30 my Mom and Joe; David's sister Glenda with her 2 boys; David's brother Gary, wife Lynn, their 3 kids and Lynn's dad arrived hungry and ready to eat. Small problem the food wasn’t quite ready. Glenda pitched in and helped me finish. She did have alterative motives for helping.  Like EAT. What a feast we had. I was so busy I didn’t have time to even try to snap any pictures of all the tasty food. After dinner the kids were ready to open presents which can almost be boring since they all wanted cash but they were happy little campers. It was a long but a very Merry day to spend with the family!   

A few pictures from the day.

David is showing off his new Aggie Christmas Stocking
And so is Pam along with openings her next present.

I'm showing off a new shirt.
Dexter says he's had enough already ;o)
Then there's my niece with her new dark hair color.

My sister in law Lynn posed
Lynn and her youngest and my neice Kendall
My sister in law Glenda with her 2 sons - Kevin & Phillip

My daughter Pam and her cousing Kevin
My mom Ev
Lynn, her daughter Kendal, her dad Barna and her daughter Shelby

I always wanted to put garland and ribbons on the stairway banister but the home on Glenway didn’t have much of a banister to work with and when I tried it didn’t look right. Now the banister at our new home is plenty long enough for garland and ribbons. It may not be as pretty as some but I’ll work on it again next year. 

Now have you ever heard the story of how the tradition of the angel being on the top of the tree started? No, well let me give you a brief recap. Santa’s angel had been bugging Santa all day about where to put the Christmas tree.. The interruptions were getting to be rather annoying. Santa and the elves were busy making toys for all the good little boys and girls. Finally Santa couldn’t take it. So when the Angel came in asking once again where to put the Christmas tree. Santa had had it and told the angel to put it where the sun .... well you get the idea.  The wine bottle with lights was a gift from my friend Linda in Dallas. She makes such nice gifts and is crafty. 

One Angel did end up on the top of my tree but my second Angel ended up on top a wine bottle in the corner on my kitchen counter. Can you imagine the story I could come up with……..Probably starts with me drinking on my porch...

Pam and I managed to go to lunch with my mom after Christmas was over. Pam wasn't  in the mood to be in the pictures so she snapped this picture mom and me.

Well that's it for now. Maybe I'll get caught up and not always feel like I'm a day late with my news.




Sooooooo
Until next blog....“To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that’s all”  ~Oscar Wilde~