Christmas Spirit

All the family is home tonight after spending Christmas day with us.  It's quiet now at the Pines. I'll get ready soon for bed, not a "long winter's nap" but enough to give me energy to face work tomorrow. We  had a wonderful day with the kids and Grandkiddos.  We opened presents with gusto and laughter and many thanks to everyone.  I only have to return one gift.  Whew!  So as this Christmas day has turned to night I'm thankful for my family and the love we share.  I miss our son Craig and his family out west but talked and laughed with him and watched a video of their day.  I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas...as always I'll share some pics.  I'm going to share a couple of old photos from the Spirit of Christmas past...my past anyway!

One of my favorite photos of my sister and I in matching jammies!  I remember the day it was taken and I remember that Mom made these for us.  I'm the one on the right, Midge on the left...love between us!

I don't remember this photo being taken. I found it recently and what was surprising to me was the fact I hadn't noticed my brother Greg on the floor by the couch.  A photo bomb in it's day?! Ha!  Now for the Spirit of Christmas present:

A quiet Christmas Eve dinner for Jack and I. Our tradition is to have a breakfast for dinner meal. Last night it was french toast.  Yum!

This morning the gifts were piled high, ready for family.

The ham today was the main dish.  Thanks Jordan! (He always gets a Honey Baked Ham for the dinner...great gift!)

Phil and Rae and Lexi...such a sweet little family! The girls and I took a nice after dinner walk.  They are growing up so fast! I'm glad they still like to spend time with us!

We played a game after dinner.  The big plastic wrapped ball is full of silly and fun things but you have to throw dice, get a double, then put on oven mitts and try and unroll the plastic wrap. Everyone loved it and we had a lot of laughs and a promise to do it again next year.

Here's a couple of wild and crazy guys..Phil and Jordan...and big candy bars.

Arnie was not forgotten...Santa left a small gift.

A gift he promptly ripped up to get those squeaky things out! Along with the stuffing...but he had fun!

Merry Christmas 2018...the Spirit of Christmas yet to come hopefully will find us all together again, older, wiser, happy and healthy...Merry Christmas everyone!

It's Back!

What's back? My camera! It's back from the camera hospital in New Jersey and working like new.  I feel like I got an old friend back again.  So here's some quick pics before retiring to bed.  I don't know about you but tomorrow is Christmas Eve and hopefully you're all ready for the big day.  I have to work tomorrow so I've been busy getting it all done...whew! I still took a minute to capture a few moments in time:

A light coating of snow on a festive barn.

My neighbors have the "real" barn I secretly...well, maybe not so secret now...covet.

Our Grandson Anthony is playing JV ball. We went to the game and was happy to cheer them on to victory!

A little action shot!

Go get 'em AJ!  Now for a final note... some Christmas cheer on the Pines:

Don't stand still around here or you'll get decorated

Have a seat by the driveway...I doubt any buses will be passing by though!

This old trailer could use a wreath...hmmmm

This sign says it all...hope he finds everyone this season...Merry Christmas!

Celebrate!

It seems like I've been AWOL from blogging.  Like everyone, we're busy getting ready to celebrate Christmas. One of our traditions is going to Chicago and gather with family. All my siblings made it this year traveling from places near and as far away as Panama. We'll head back home tomorrow with wonderful memories and hope in our hearts to all come back next year.  As always I take pictures. My camera is still in the hospital so my phone filled in nicely.

Thankfully no illness kept anyone away...Mom looking lovely!

My neice Katie had her dining room ready. We had almost 50 attend!

Food galore 

Sweets too!

Nothing sweeter than twins!

Serious discussion?

Brother Jim hanging out with Jack

Brother Rick and my lovely sister in-law Jan.

I was there too! We'll, blogging from my phone isn't easy so I'll finish this tomorrow. I'll end with my buddy Arnie.

Happy Holidays!

Hello December

I feel like I've been in a blog fog.  Not much to write about and to top it off I broke my camera, bought a new one, hated the new one and took it back, sent the broken camera to a camera hospital someplace in New Jersey, and I feel lost without it!  Anyway, God invented phone cameras for a reason and I'm resorting to using mine.  Here's a photo op of what's what at the Pines.
Our little Hallmark town had it's first ever tree lighting ceremony in our downtown area. 

 Pretty!

 Winner, winner, almost chicken dinner in our front yard.  She belongs to our neighbors and somehow found her way to the Pines.  Arnie had her spotted but I made sure he let her get on home.

 This really weird thing happened on Sunday.  I think it's called "sun".  Blue skies, sunshine, and temps in the mid 60's.  I'm sure Prozac sales went down for Ohioans on this day.

 I was so stunned I had to take a picture of my shadow. 

 Arnie was wondering where the water from the sky went.

 Good morning sun!

Super green backyard.  I noticed some white stuff tonight however.  We'll see how long the green lasts.

 Saturday we found a new little store to frequent. It's been around for a few years but changed owners and I like it!  It's a bulk food store with a deli and you can eat at the cute retro tables. Plus they feature local artists and sell the paintings.

 Jack helped me find some good chocolate for candy making.

 When you walk in the door this cozy corner is just calling you to sit for a spell!

That's about it for now.  Hope all is well in your neck of the woods.  December is rushing on and I'm feeling a bit behind in my shopping.  I know I'll get it done and hopefully this blog fog will lift and I'll have something a bit more exciting to write about.  Ok, who am I fooling..this is as good as it gets! Hello December!

Happy Birthday Jackie!

When it's my birthday..or my siblings birthdays..my Mom always calls and says: "Today is just like the day you were born."  She then goes on and describes the weather on the day we were born and any other details that we can chuckle over together!  Well, I'm here to say that today was NOT like the day our oldest son, Jack, was born.  ( I still call him Jackie..sorry sweetie!) Today was beautiful. 50 degrees and sunny.  Such a change from the past weeks weather.  We've had snow already:

Thankfully it's melted.

We had an  ice storm when my sister and Mom were driving in last week.  I'm glad everyone made it here and then home again safely.  So we welcomed the warmer and sometimes sunshine of this past weekend.  On the day Jackie was born it was a cold, snowy mess in Chicago on November 25, 1975.  Just a little note: Jackie was suppose to be born at the end of January, 1976.  He weighed in at 2lbs! He was truly a miracle baby 43 years ago to be born at that weight.  Today I went to his home for a lovely dinner and celebration and drove in the nice sunshine.  My hubby stayed home with a terrible cold.  He's been sick all weekend which is a very rare thing in his life!  My kids were stunned that he was actually ill.  Phil even commented that it must be the one in a millennial time frame for Dad to be sick!  Anyway, those who came for the birthday bash included the usual suspects:

Jackie's kiddos...Cameron was here too but missed being in this pic.

Dogs galore...except Arnie stayed home with Jack.  Here's Kip and Driana's new puppy. ( I can't remember his name!)  Those two played all day!

The birthday boy with his favorite Granddog, Happy.  After dinner we wanted to see Jackie's bday gift to himself...a guitar!  He plays drums but decided to learn how to play guitar.  His brother Phil came over with his guitar for a little jam session.

Phil trying out the new guitar.

This is Jackie's usual musical instrument along with a keyboard that his wife plays.

Little instruction from brother to brother.  The basement holds extra sleeping space for kids when they come home from college or visiting...but these bunkbeds reminded me of when these two guys were little! Ha!

My Granddaughter, Driana can play too.  The other fella in this pic is my daughter-in-law's nephew.  It was a fun music time.  I was glad I didn't get called out today and miss this!  Happy Birthday Jackie!  You are a wonderful son!  Love you!