Reflections and Looking Ahead

Well hello everybody!   I didn’t mean to take such a long break but it seemed like December just flew by and then I got the crud and have been pretty much “out of it”.    

We had our annual family Christmas at the lake and my sister and I did not even put up a tree.   Her family was going on a cruise the day after Christmas and she had a full schedule all of December, plus a new grandbaby due any day now, so we couldn’t find the time to go decorate at the lake from Thanksgiving to Christmas….the kids didn’t mind because they still got lots of presents and there was a lot of food for the adults, so everyone was happy, happy, happy!

My daughter made this cute appetizer from Pinterest….strawberries, banana, grapes and miniature marshmallows….they were so good!

The kids always do a little craft

My sweet little grandson Cade’s Christmas tree!

I love that my “babies” love each other and love being together

My DIL Jennifer and new bride Stephanie (married my nephew last summer) wanted to get in on the photo fun

Oh, and my best friend also named Judy (what a coincidence!) came by Christmas Day afternoon to show me her new car tag….we even buy cars alike!    See that bald spot where my car is parked?    We’re planning on doing some major landscaping this year…removing two trees, new sod and landscape….can’t wait!

I did the least amount of Christmas decorating this year than ever before.    I usually put my stuff out the weekend after Thanksgiving but we bought tickets to Atlanta to see our beloved Auburn Tigers play in the Georgia Dome and that fell on the weekend I put out my decorations…then we had our big family party at the lake and the time just got away from me.

 

 

After our win over Missouri….now it’s on to Pasadena playing for the National Championship!  

My husband takes off most of the month of December and let me just say….he can never retire!   Now don’t get me wrong…I love my husband but with him being at home during the day it just really messes up my schedule.      If I start to vacuum, he says he can’t hear the television, if I want to change the sheets on the bed or even MAKE the bed, he says he might lay back down….you get the idea.    But he does chop wood for our fireplace and keeps a nice, warm fire going all day and night….pick your battles, right ladies?!

We took my mom out to eat with us and my daughter’s family on New Year’s Eve.    Then after we got home, I got a text from my daughter around 10:00 saying that her husband had eaten Taylor’s leftovers from Outback and Taylor was upset so they were coming into town to Krispy Kreme for donuts and did we want them to bring us some?      Of course, we said yes, so here they all came in their PJ’s and two boxes of donuts from KK.    They stayed until around 11:30 and went home to crash…..my husband and I started watching a Twilight Zone marathon and finally zonked out around 1:00….we’re party people, I tell ya!

I learned a long time ago not to make any New Year’s resolutions because I don’t like to put that kind of pressure on myself if I don’t keep them, although some things I’d like to strive for would be to eat better and exercise more, reading a daily devotion or Bible study, make time to be a better friend, and be a better blogger than I have been in the last year or so.    December marked my 7th year blogging and I’ve noticed that for the last 2-3 years I’ve not put as much time on my blog as I did in the beginning.     In my defense, I will say that family will ALWAYS come first, and since I am my 93 year old mother’s full time caregiver, that takes precedence over my blog any day.    Plus I think my husband has felt “left out” from time to time and again, the blog is never more important than he is.     Family and friendship comes before the blog, always.

Guess I’ll wrap up this rambling post but before I go I wanted to show you my Christmas gift to myself.    I’ve been looking for a pair of chairs to go on each side of the sideboard in my den.    I had found 2 I liked at Pier 1 but just wouldn’t go ahead and buy them….however, I had a coupon that expired on 12/31 so I went in, looked at them again, and decided to go ahead and buy them.    That little ol’ coupon saved me $80 so I couldn’t pass that up.     I really do love them and they look much better in person than here.    I put that little zebra pillow there to judge what size accent pillow I need so it will not stay….I may have to end up making them if I can’t find any I like.   

I’m almost tempted to leave them turned around so you can see how pretty the backside is!    They are a pretty aqua color which is the accent color in the den, sunroom and our bedroom.  

Here it is on the Pier 1 web page:

 

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Here’s to making 2014 a year to be happy and healthy!