A Favorite Christmas Memory From My Childhood

I love this story. I know all my brothers and sisters will say "yeah, she's the baby girl, spoiled rotten". And there may be a little truth to that, but just this one time in my life. Yeah, just this one moment.


I was very young. Probably 6. I was losing my two front teeth. It was Christmas time. Mom and Dad had the tree up and gifts were being wrapped and put under the tree daily. There was one big box. And my name was on it. I could NOT stand it. I begged and I begged to open that box every day.


Well, I had this one front tooth that was very loose and Dad needed to pull it, but I was scared and would not let him. He said, "When you let me pull that tooth, you can open the big box." But I just could not go there. Dad and Mom would let me open small gifts early, but not that big one. A couple of nights before Christmas Eve when we normally open our gifts, I was getting ready to take my bath and when I pulled my shirt over my head the tooth fell out. I ran and told Daddy and reminded him that I was supposed to get the big box when I lost that tooth, so he let me open it. It was a small electric stove. It had a little oven. I would toast pecans on it. I loved it. I still have it to this day. It does not work now, but it is still so precious to me.



Now, here is the "spoiled rotten" part. The next day I was looking under the tree and I only had one or two gifts left and everyone else had several. Mom noticed me looking and when gift opening time came, she had wrapped me more gifts - so I would have several to open also along with everyone else. Yeah, you might call that rotten, I call it love.



Gratitude: Thankful for all the Christmas' past - what a load of wonderful memories.

Prayer: Thank you, Lord, for the wonderful Christmas we just shared with J.C. and Please keep Kalyn and BJ safe as they travel here next week for our Christmas time with them. Amen.

Just One Package, Please

I just love my kitty. Abby is so precious. The other night I wrapped a few gifts and put them under the tree. Abby doesn't bother gifts usually, she is too lazy to bother much of anything.
But the next morning John and I were getting ready for work and John says, "Aaaaaby, what do you have?" Well, I came to see and there laid Abby in the middle of the living room floor with a gift sack beside her. It was a small, shiny, silver bag with red tissue paper, just too irrestible. She had not tore it or anything - just pulled it out beside her. We told her that was a no-no and put the gift back under the tree. Then at lunch we came in and Abby was sitting right by the tree by the same gift. I told her "to just go take a nap or get on the bed or something - that she was just tempting herself by sitting there". She looked at me, then at the package and then back at me - she was saying " just that one, can I just have that one package?" She was just soooo cute. No she has not bother it again, just begged.

Gratitude: I can not believe I love a cat, but I do.
Prayer: Please keep Abby healthy and sweet so we can have her many years.

Locked!!

My sweet husband has always gone out on cold mornings and made sure there was no ice on my car and then started my car and let it warm up before I had to go get in it for work. The car would be all nice and warm for me. He always did this for his two kids when they were home also. Yesterday morning was no different, it was 20 something degrees and he did his normal routine, then went to work. A few minutes later I was off to work. The car was running, I knew it would be all warm inside - then, I tried to get in and the door was locked! I couldn't believe it, he had accidentally locked the door when he got out. I felt for my cell phone, and for the first time in months, I had not picked up my cell phone! My house key was locked inside the car. I was going to have to walk to work in 20 degree weather - and if you know me very well, you know I was not wearing a coat! I do not like to wear coats, and just going from house to car, and car to office door - there is just no need. Thank Goodness my office is just 3 1/2 blocks away. So off I go. I get to the office and realize my key to the office is also locked in the car - that is still running back home. My boss had a early morning meeting and was going to be late, so I went across the street and got her husband's key, then went back to work. Now, I called John, "Honey, my car is nice and warm I am sure, but you locked the door and I could not get in it, I had to walk to work." He said, " I didn't lock it". Me, "Okay, but somehow it is locked and is still at home, running". He - "Why didn't you get the spare key and open the door?" Me- "It is locked in the house and my house key is locked in the car!" He- "Why didn't you just call me?" Me - "I forgot my phone in the house." He - "Oh, alright, I will go see about it." He goes home, gets the spare key, unlockes the car, gets in looks around and guess what, the drivers door was the only door that was locked! He had hit it with his elbow when he got out, but all the other doors were unlocked!

Just to show how sweet he is though, he drove my car to the office for me and WALKED back home to get his pickup and go back to work.

What a way to start the day.

Gratitude: Thankful for my husband's constant thoughtfulness.
Prayer: Please help me to be as thoughtful to him and others.

Let The Beauty Show

I like all kinds of music, today I am talking about religious songs. I am not a good singer. I have 7 brothers and sisters and they can all sing. When God made me, He must have forgot to bless me with one of those beautiful voices. And this is okay. I sorta get through songs in services, but I sometimes let my mind wonder. (I have been trying to make an effort to stop this mind wondering thing!) Sometimes, I feel we need to READ a song and truly take in what it is saying. From time to time I am going to write down one of the songs that is on my mind. Why am I doing this? 1) as I type it I will think on it and 2) it will not hurt anyone reading this to think on it also!

The first song in this "series" is "Let the Beauty of Jesus be Seen" . Let's read & really take it in.

LET THE BEAUTY OF JESUS BE SEEN

Let the beauty of Jesus be seen in me

All His wonderful passion and purity

May His Spirit divine all my being refine,

Let the beauty of Jesus be seen in me.

When your burden is heavy and hard to bear,

When your neighbors refuse all your load to share

When you're feeling so blue, don't know just what to do,

Let the beauty of Jesus be seen in you.

When somebody has been so unkind to you,

Some word spoken that pierces you thru and thru,

Think how He was beguiled, spat upon and reviled,

Let the beauty of Jesus be seen in you.

From the dawn of the morning to close of day,

In example, in deeds and in all you say.

Lay your gifts at His feet, ever strive to keep sweet,

Let the beauty of Jesus be seen in you.

During the holidays, everyone seems to be living up to this song a little more than usual, but I think I need to strive to live up to it a little more each day. When John became a deacon at our church, I had a "DD" calender - "Deacon Duty". Every day we made sure we did something good for someone from church OR from our community. Go visit someone, go to the store for someone, make a phone call to a shut-in or someone sick, etc. If we were on our way to bed and could not think of a "DD" we had done that day - we would write out a card to mail the next morning. It made us feel good. Nothing makes you feel better than doing for someone else. 2009 is right around the corner and the calendar is going back up. We need to remind ourselves to do better. Let's all strive to Let the Beauty Show.

Gratitude: I am thankful for Jesus' examples of beauty beening shown

Prayer: Please help me to show this "beauty" more often

No Doubt

Let me just say - if anyone in our family has ever had a doubt about selling the farm, let me reassure you. Go to the farm and visit Barbara and Londale.

Let Barbara show you around the newly remodeled home - the house is beautiful, the decorating so gorgeous and fun. And the memories are everywhere. Let her show you the stools she has redone with old quilt blocks, the shawdow box with Mom's pink comb, the pictures, the quilts, the canned goods above the cabinets and the list goes on and on - and watch her face, it glows - she is so happy to be there.

As you start to leave, watch Londale pick up his cane and walk you out the door. Listen as he tells you about the deer feeders, the turkey feeders, the squirrels, the 4 wheeler's, the deer, the turkey, etc.

As you get to the car, open your door, turn around for one last goodbye of the night - you see his face looking up at the sky, seeing the stars and commenting on his love of setting in the swing after dark watching the stars, listening to frogs or crickets. A man loving his God and where he is.

No doubts.
No regrets.

I love these two people, I am glad they are there.

Gratitude: Thanks for Barbara and Londale and them being on the farm.
Prayer: Let their Open House be a hugh success this weekend.

She Did Not Mean To Do It

The day after Thanksgiving has always been a fun and exciting day for our family. We go to San Angelo, shop a little, get a Christmas tree, come home and decorate for Christmas. When the kids were still at home I would always wrap them a gift and put under the tree. It was fun. This year John and J.C. and I went to get our tree, we had a great day. We decorated the tree when we got home and it was so pretty. We got in bed late, And at 12:30 a.m. we hear a CRASH. My little darling Abby (our cat) had given into temptation and knocked our tree over. It scared her and she ran and hid under our bed. Well, we cleaned up the water, picked up all the unharmed ornaments, swept up the broken pieces and tied the tree with yarn (the only thing we could find at that time of night), put Abby in the kitchen and went back to bed. The tree looked awful! About 5:30 a.m. I got up to go potty and John said " I am afraid Abby is getting cold in the kitchen, you better let her in here." So, I opened the door and she came straight to our bed, where she always sleeps at the foot of the bed. When I layed back down, she came up and laid on my chest and looked me in the eye - she laid down and went to sleep on my chest until 8:00 the next a.m. She looked up at me and I know she was saying, "I am sorry mommy, I Did Not Mean To Do It". I believed her. She is such an angel.

Gratitude: Abby, and all the happy times she has given to us.

Prayer: Thank you dear Lord for Abby - She has been so special to us. Keep her safe and healthy.