In keeping with Holy Crapper's Tantelizing Tuesday's...Here's Whip It Up Wednesday...

I'd like to introduce to you, one hot little number.

One I'd do in a nan-o-second...


Mark Harmon!

The meet...

Well...

We set out early that Saturday morning...the meeting time and place had been arranged.

My truck, loaded with all the "extra" christmas decorations I had "collected" over the years. Ladies, let me just say one thing....

If you haven't used it in 12 months, it's ready for disposal, for sure. Most of these things I had purchased over the years, or they had been given to me and I just didn't have the need for them, so, instead of giving it away, I had stored it...F.O.R.E.V.E.R.

We arrived at the meeting place, all but one family had shown up. This one family left word with the contact person that if I could deliver it she would greatly appreciate it because she was unable to meet with us.

So, the kids and I delivered the final load to this family of 6, mom and 5 kids under the age of 10. They were living in a 3 bedroom home with tattered furnishings. The youngest, around the age of 2, just able to speak clear sentences.

One of the boxes contained a lighted snowman. When the child laid eyes on the snowman her face lit up like she'd just seen Santa! She asked my son if he really was giving it to her.

She ended up taking him by the hand and down the small hallway to the bedroom she shared with her two sisters. Tucked in one corner of the room, was the small toddler bed she slept on and beside it a small table. My son plugged the little snowman in and showed her how to turn the little button on the cord so that it would turn on/off.

A few moments later, as we were leaving this small home the little girl stops my son at the door and hugs him and thanks him for bringing her a snowman for Christmas.

I think at that moment...my son finally understood what it's like...for a child of circumstance...

For the first few moments after we departed that home, it was "drop dead" silent in that truck.

I hope that my kids never forget that day, and that they are always looking at life in "real-time 3-D" instead of "through a tunnel".

And as my daughter and son always hear:

"Life is a road filled with many decisions, and the only person who can decide the kind of person you are to be, is you. Never make a decision without weighing all the rewards, as well as the consequences."

Tis the season...

I've been avoiding the "Christmas" shopping push...

I've been avoiding it because I just can't "seem" to get into the "spirit" of the season...

I haven't even put up the tree this year...

But, in my defense, I "did" manage to put lights up outside the house!

I think it's because, as my kiddos have gotten older, the "requests" have just become MORE expensive! Thus, the reason (to some degree) for my "FUNK" with getting into the "Holiday Spirit".

That, and the fact that the commercial advertising seems to have drifted away from the "true" meaning of the SEASON!

I've noticed that more and more, children just don't even KNOW we celebrate the birth of Jesus! They don't know that Jesus received only 3(three) gifts upon his birth! It's really saddened me, especially this year, to see that it's all about "how much" they received, not "How Much" they have put into giving, not just at this time, but, all year long!

Last year, my son had developed a "questionable" opinion as to "EXACTLY" what Christmas meant to him. He figured that the season was just a time to spend money for things that you normally wouldn't buy. And sadly, he's probably correct with that thought.

I decided that I wanted them to understand and more importantly to experience the "JOY" of doing something for someone else, something unexpected!

So, one Friday afternoon I cleared the carport and dragged out all, and I do mean ALL, of the storage containers of Christmas decorations.

Next, I dragged out those two kids of mine! Set about first, collecting all the "ornaments" that meant something to us. Those went to the side, along with things of importance. Then we seperated all the different artifical trees, each in it's OWN little area. This continued for several days.

At last, we had completed the task and had divided things evenly. I moved all the decorations we decided to keep into the house.

The other 4 sets...well...we decided that we wanted to give them to families in need of them...so...

I contacted the Local Sheriff's office. They put me into contact with the Local Shelter for Women and Children of Domestic Violence. Once I explainedwhat we had and how I wanted my children to learn from this...they were happy to make the necessary arrangements with 4 different families.

To be continued....

WOW...Time Flies!

Well, sorry, I know it's been awhile....things are always buzzzy for me around the holidays!

My in-laws 50th wedding anniversary was the 19th! Since, they married in the 50's my 3 sisters-in-laws and I decided to throw a Sock Hop style bash! We had great fun decorating and getting all the good foods done and I might add, it was a HUGE success! Aren't they just the cutest???

My s-i-l, K-woman (not to be confused with K-girl) created a wonderful "Memories" book and had been working on it for a while now. She had been "sneaking" into town whenever my in-laws were out of town and we spent the time foraging through my m-i-laws keepsake boxes. I worked on the pages for Andy, K-girl, and T-man which went into the book by birthdates. I even managed to find the very first Valentine's card (with envelope) Andy sent to his dad while he was stationed on a battleship in WWII. I then found lots of great pics of he and his dad and he and his mom. I think the pages turned out really nice. But, I will have to include pics as soon as I can get copies of them up. Of course, my s-i-l, K-woman has been providing CDs of them growing up for the past few Christmas', which really helped in getting pics for the book!

Then, Thanksgiving hit! Wow, it's been a whilrwind of activity for the past few weeks and I still can't slow down! Christmas is coming and so far, I haven't managed to buy hardly anything! See, I've also been sick for the past month with this sinus/throat/lung thingy that I just can't seem to shake! I even went so far as going to the Dr. for shots (and anyone who knows me knows I HATE shots!!!) of antibiotics and steriods to assist with getting it gone, but, alas no such luck! This bug is holding on tight!

I will try to get some of these cool pics of the party up over the next few days.

Till then.....