Christmas 2017

Christmas Eve started out with snow around noon!  Yikes! I was a nervous wreck...kids weren't coming until 4 or so, as Amber had to work until 3.  I didn't want the kids to drive in the storm but they each said "it's Michigan...not a problem".

..and to add to the bad weather, my poor son came down with the flu!  He had a fever and stomach issues and was so sick.  I felt so bad as we've never not been together for Christmas!  He did manage to smoke the brisket we were having for dinner!  And it was delicious!

We love to have appetizers for our dinner and along with Darrin's smoked brisket it was delicious.

We always do the 'family Christmas pictures' first then we eat...I'm doing them out of order!  HA

Minus my sick son....sniff, sniff

My babies are growing up!!!  Where did those grands go!!

Nick got a pizza box with 'dough'!

Amber got a lot of travel items for her trip to Europe with Auntie during spring break!

My SIL got a new quillow from me!

I made it extra long for him!

My last post was about the Christmas gift I made for my son and daughter......

because Darrin had the flu and didn't come, my daughter got to open her book and box of memorabilia alone.  This was her looking through the her box of memorabilia... 

 AND the book

we both shed tears but I think she was happy with her book!  My son opened his Christmas Day...I know he was surprised that I kept so many of his 'papers'.  Both kids said "where did you  keep all these at?"  

And Kris (DIL) and Dawn got me an InstaPot!!!  And lots of essentials to go along with it!!!  I even got 3 cookbooks for recipes to make!  I am so excited but I need to see if I can stash it  in the car and take to Florida!  We pack every inch of the car so I am going to have to be very creative in my packing!  Stay tuned!  

Missed Darrin but it was a wonderful, fun filled afternoon/evening...we even played two different games that Nick suggested I get.  Every year I like to buy some game for us to play.  We even got grandpa to be the reader for The Game of Things..the other game we got was Exploding Kittens.  Both were fun to play...hope the kids play this winter!  But they might wait until grandma gets back in the spring!  HA  Which, as you are reading this, we'll be in the car heading south!!  Florida here we come!

Surprise Christmas Project

This is the big project I've worked on and off through the summer and fall....A family tree book of my children's fathers family for their Christmas present!   The past month I have uploaded 277 pictures.... I've researched both Jerome's (kids father) mother and father's sides of his family.  Thank goodness for Family Tree software and Ancestry.com!
 What a journey/task this was...but also so interesting.  Dawn and Darrin are each getting a book and the pages are identical.  I also have some memorabilia I've saved that I put in some nice cases for each of them.  I've saved report cards, wedding invitations, birth announcements, notes from my daughter...even my son's letter from the Marines releasing him from service because he broke vertebra in his back.  I know he will be shocked I kept that!  I have a letter my daughter wrote me in '84 when she went off to college!  So sweet!

Each book is organized starting with their dad's info/birth/schooling/etc.  Pages/sections are uploaded with pictures of his younger days, followed by our wedding, being a father, a hairdresser and then printouts of each side of his family tree starting with his father's side then his mother's side.

My daughter's front album cover

My son's front cover

Each page is on scrapbook paper that I decorated with little items purchased.  I had to make sure I purchased two of everything - remember each book is identical!  Talk about a production line!!!  But I am good at organization!  HA

Younger days

I found newspaper  clippings and his yearbook pics - he won a beard contest in 1960 when he was in college and won a shaver!  

Hairdresser days!

Being a father - I had 3 pages of pictures of Jerome with the  kids and I

Another page of being a dad

Some of my son's pages

Some of my daughter's pages

Just an example of one of the family tree info

This was quite a journey for me as well.  Looking back on Jerome's life, our life and the kids gave me time to reflect on life itself.  Jerome passed away in 2000 but he is still part of the kids life.  He and I remained friends after our divorce and I know that is what contributed to our kids being the great adults/parent/aunt they are today. We've always respected each other and we'll never forget "J".....

That Time Of Year!

Yep...this is always my busiest time of the  year and I am thankful for my girls!  They give me the sanity I need.    Holidays, entertaining (which I love to do!), shopping, last minute projects and thinking about what to take with me to Florida keeps me stressed!  We leave on the 27th so I will be thinking about that in another week or so!  We don't pack our clothes until the 26th.  Doesn't take long and the car is all packed by mid to  late afternoon.  Bob and I are efficient and organized but that's what causes stress!  HA

Thanksgiving was at my son's house and as usual our DIL, Kris (no pics of her!  dang!), outdid herself with decorations and a fantastic turkey dinner!  Kris is a great cook so we knew we'd eat well and that we did!  I made two lemon pies to take....Kris' mom likes lemon pie as does my son, so this way we each had some to take home.

Kris' mom carving and Amber trying to get out of  the line of camera fire!  HA

AJ snuggling up with Bob!  Kids have two cats but AJ loves grandpa!

Thanksgiving weekend we had a nice weekend visit with Bob's son, wife and grandson from Indiana!  It was a weekend filled with football, more football and additional football games!  HA  Our grandson, Ian, is a little obsessed with football...and I thought Bob was bad.  I couldn't even pry the remote from Ian's hands!  HA

We gave the kids their Christmas gifts since we won't see them for Christmas. Ian received a gift card and I also made this box for him!  He seemed to like it!  (I'm making one for our other grandson, Nick, for Christmas too!).

Not sure if you can read the box below....it says "You can't live on pizza alone, so here is so dough"...

Ian is a great kid!  MAN!  He graduates from Purdue U in May...what a nice young man.  And so much fun to tease!  I told him I had to put over 50+ dots on the bills but he has to take them off!


I didn't get a picture of Bob or Ron....along with Ian they were so busy watching football!  Michigan played on Saturday and then the rest of the weekend there were other college games on.  Still, I had a great time just visiting with MaryJo and bugging the guys!  Kids made it back to Indiana around 6 p.m. on Sunday.  At least they had a safe trip and not a lot of traffic. 

Mary Jo opening some presents.

So here I sit...haven't been reading too many blogs of my 'blog' friends and I apologize for that.  I'm working on a BIG project for Christmas but can't discuss or show on my blog right now.  I did knit some on Sunday while watching the Lions which was nice...not the Lions...knitting was nice!

Preparing for Christmas

I'll be busy today cooking or prepping food for a visit with the kids.  They are driving up from Indiana to spend the weekend!  We are really looking forward to spending time with them.  Of course the guys will be watching the Michigan/Ohio foot ball game! 

I like to have the house decorated for Christmas when the kids visit.  We won't see them at Christmas so this will be our Christmas!  I actually had the tree up this past weekend.  So I'm all done with that part of the holidays! 

Hard part is putting all the extra boxes and 'stuff' back!  I mainly decorate down in our family room and our storage unit is under the stairs.  So I don't really have far to go to put stuff away!

We'll have our house decorated until the evening of  December 25th!  Bob's daughter and hubby come Christmas day for dinner and gifts and when they leave at night I have most of the tree/decorations taken down before they get to their home!  They only live about 20 min. from us.  We pack our clothes the next day (26th) and I finish up laundry so I have to put everything away the day before so the house is back to normal.  I don't want to come home in the spring to Christmas decorations!  We leave on the 27th....grass doesn't grow under my feet!