It won't be long now. Christmas can't be far away. Today is
Thursday, December 23, 2010. This is a special day here for us at the company. We have our annual Christmas luncheon and then we enter our Christmas time off. While we have a skeleton crew working on some big projects next week, most of us will leave today and not be expected back until January 3, 2011. One more time: Is this a great country, or what? I suppose I will be deciding soon that major question that comes up each time I am away for a few days, "To blog or not to blog, that is the question." I probably will some, if not most days, but if you happen to wake up one morning and my blog is not laying on the front porch of your email house, then you will know that I am either running late, or I may not be blogging that day. Okay. You might as well know the truth. I am usually up pretty early even when I am on vacation. It's not an old age deal because I've been doing that since I was fairly young. Oh yeah, I forgot. My wife says that I've been older much longer than most other people. Maybe my song should be: 'I was old before old was cool' Please don't notify Barbara Mandrell that I am parodying her song. At any rate, it will be a work in progress.
I did get to see mom and dad for a brief visit yesterday along with my sister Frances when they came to see my brother in the rehab center. I am always blessed to be able to be with them. I still plan a trip over to their place one day while I am off. It's always great to sit on their back porch and watch the birds in their yard, while sipping some brewed up Community. She told our grandson Jimmy Jr. the other day about how some of those birds were very distressed to find the bird bath frozen up one morning. That didn't keep them from pecking away on the ice and she said it looked so funny. It was like watching a cartoon. Those are some of the sights I always look forward to seeing when I go back to our home place. Christmas to me does have a huge remembrance component. Just writing about it now conjures up many gatherings where we enjoyed to the fullest the essence of family and fellowship. I won't name names because that would only bring on the tears, but suffice it to say, Christmas holds a special place in all our hearts. I can't tell you how that might work if I didn't know the Jesus of First Christmas fame. I know folks in general can enjoy special memories too. But, infused in my memory is a sense of hope that comes from knowing Him, as well as knowing that one day we'll all be together again. That's pretty neat no matter how you look at it. Know what I mean, Vern?
Lord willing we will have something new this Christmas at our family gathering. Our little bundle of Madelyn Joy is eleven months and just on the verge of being totally engaged in this, her first Christmas. That always makes it special, not only for her, but for the rest of us as well. I can remember like it was yesterday that special Christmas when we all showed up at my wife's folks with Maddy's mommy along for her very first Christmas. She was only about eight months old but she was also the first girl born into their family since my wife. That's right. Eight grandsons and no granddaughters! It turned out to be quite a funny day. We had not had to deal with girl stuff for over twenty years and then there she was sitting in the middle of a sea of pent up desire, surrounded by dolls, tea sets, and girlie stuff of every kind. That was then and now is now. We look forward to seeing her excited about all the hoopla along with the rest of her family, including Alex, and Bray Bray, Lexie, Amanda, Alesha, Jimmy Jr., Kyleigh, Stefani, Brittany, her parents Tiffany and J.C., her grandparents Chris and Sherrie, Uncle Rodney and Aunt Mitzi, and Uncle Jimmy Sr., and lastly, Great Grand Poppy and Great Grand MiMi. Lord willing. That's exactly how we must look at it because we can plan and prepare but we never know what might happen as we greet each day. It will be another chapter and hopefully later on in life, our offspring will, like their Poppy, stand and look out the window and enjoy thinking about family Christmases past. Making memories is a good work but there's much to be done both Friday and Saturday, but we can hardly wait. May God bless one and all!
Amen. .....More later.
I did get to see mom and dad for a brief visit yesterday along with my sister Frances when they came to see my brother in the rehab center. I am always blessed to be able to be with them. I still plan a trip over to their place one day while I am off. It's always great to sit on their back porch and watch the birds in their yard, while sipping some brewed up Community. She told our grandson Jimmy Jr. the other day about how some of those birds were very distressed to find the bird bath frozen up one morning. That didn't keep them from pecking away on the ice and she said it looked so funny. It was like watching a cartoon. Those are some of the sights I always look forward to seeing when I go back to our home place. Christmas to me does have a huge remembrance component. Just writing about it now conjures up many gatherings where we enjoyed to the fullest the essence of family and fellowship. I won't name names because that would only bring on the tears, but suffice it to say, Christmas holds a special place in all our hearts. I can't tell you how that might work if I didn't know the Jesus of First Christmas fame. I know folks in general can enjoy special memories too. But, infused in my memory is a sense of hope that comes from knowing Him, as well as knowing that one day we'll all be together again. That's pretty neat no matter how you look at it. Know what I mean, Vern?
Lord willing we will have something new this Christmas at our family gathering. Our little bundle of Madelyn Joy is eleven months and just on the verge of being totally engaged in this, her first Christmas. That always makes it special, not only for her, but for the rest of us as well. I can remember like it was yesterday that special Christmas when we all showed up at my wife's folks with Maddy's mommy along for her very first Christmas. She was only about eight months old but she was also the first girl born into their family since my wife. That's right. Eight grandsons and no granddaughters! It turned out to be quite a funny day. We had not had to deal with girl stuff for over twenty years and then there she was sitting in the middle of a sea of pent up desire, surrounded by dolls, tea sets, and girlie stuff of every kind. That was then and now is now. We look forward to seeing her excited about all the hoopla along with the rest of her family, including Alex, and Bray Bray, Lexie, Amanda, Alesha, Jimmy Jr., Kyleigh, Stefani, Brittany, her parents Tiffany and J.C., her grandparents Chris and Sherrie, Uncle Rodney and Aunt Mitzi, and Uncle Jimmy Sr., and lastly, Great Grand Poppy and Great Grand MiMi. Lord willing. That's exactly how we must look at it because we can plan and prepare but we never know what might happen as we greet each day. It will be another chapter and hopefully later on in life, our offspring will, like their Poppy, stand and look out the window and enjoy thinking about family Christmases past. Making memories is a good work but there's much to be done both Friday and Saturday, but we can hardly wait. May God bless one and all! Amen. .....More later.
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