The Snow.

 

Late Winter Snowfall

Snow falls

on snow.

Lazily drifting

above to below.

I shuffle

through the white.

All is still...

no sounds tonight.

The trees covered

in frozen ash.

Quiet, serene

they watch, abashed.

I am obtrusive,

so I leave.

Saddened by thoughts

I cannot conceive.

Outside snow

falls on snow.

What else is out there?

I do not know.

Copyrighted by Texasblu

(click on this to view other poems by Texasblu)

The Fun of Creating Christmas Decorations For Your Children.

As my children were growing up and my first grandchildren, I would make ornaments that would be personally theirs for putting up on the tree.  My oldest helped when she was little then the others followed suit each year making salt dough ornaments.  We had a full set of Dorthy of Wizard of OZ, Disney Characters, and misc. bears, angels etc.  I was heart broken when we moved to the country and mice got into my storage and ate most of the ornaments.  (Hope they got heart burn.) 
My next attempt at personal ornaments were embroidered ornaments.  We had a panda bear, angels, my favorite were the Holly Babies ornaments, and mercy the rest escapes me.  My aunt, their great aunt, made crocheted bells, and stockings to put on the tree.  As they left home, I would give them their own ornaments to keep.  I bought some porcelain Holly Baby Angels to represent each of my children on my own tree as mine grew bare from giving away theirs.  I still have those. 

It had warmed my heart to see my Em crocheting her own ornaments for her tree.  But! Tonight after her daughter went to bed, she unveiled her crocheted manger scene to be a surprise for her daughter to play with as the season progresses. I had not seen it yet.  I was amazed at the detail she put into each of the manger scene people.   Her husband takes great delight in her creativity. Hope you enjoy seeing her manger scene. Some traditions around the birth of Christ are just wonderful.    

 

A Christmas First For Me,

My son-in-law saw a flyer for an old fashioned Christmas parade in downtown Tehachapi.  Tehachapi is in a valley surrounded by mountains.  At this time of the year it is cold.  I was excited and joined in with a "Yes! Let's go".  The day came for the parade and I was ready to go into town at noon.  'No', I was told, it is not until the end of the day at 5pm.  That's good, I can do that.  Now something I have not told you was that all I brought with me was a knitted poncho for a coat.  I had a hoodie, so I decided that would be enough, after all it was 47 degrees and the sun was nice as we left.  My daughter was on the cell and was not paying attention.  We got into town, the streets were busy as people began choosing the site they wanted to sit at to watch the parade.  Everyone had parkas, blankets, hats, gloves, I began to ponder the situation.  The sun was setting, the wind was "breezy".  I began to get cold. It was evident that I did not have enough layers on.  The granddaughter was cheery, but by 5:30pm the sun was down, it was 27 degrees, and the wind chill was 17.  As you can tell, between my shivering and the granddaughter's the pictures took on a blurry view.  The parade was nice the community put lots of thought into their floats.  There was a consensus amoung the citizens that Christ was the focus of Christmas.  I was uplifted by that.  On the other hand, I have never been to a parade at night and never at 27 degrees in dress pants, a sweat shirt hoodie, and no gloves or stadium blanket.  I am still warming up. 

When we got home, we made homemade chili and added Fritos and cheese to make Frito Pie.  We also made wassail. The granddaughter was not sure she was all that festive yet, so it was hard to get her to sing along with the carols we were having fun with. 

After supper, we all retired to our rooms to snuggle under warm blankets to sleep and dream of warm sunny beaches with a nice warm ocean breeze.

The video is of the Tehachapi Marching Band.  The town is very proud of them and they handled the circumstances well.

Setting Up For Christmas

Conversations around picture taking time....

Introducing our new Christmas Wreath!

"Mommy, do I have to?"

'Yes.'

"Okay"

Click

"Ha ha ha I did it"

 

I love Christmas time, but I love my blog background because it feels like me.

So I will include Christmas in my blogs.
These are pictures of our Family Evening on Monday.  My ham granddaughter is showing off the wreath we made using rose hips and rosemary.  She is a joy.  Next she 'helped' her dad with the lights.  Afterward, we made stain glass windows with tissue paper and construction paper...she helped with the glue
     ; ) .

This is always a fun time for me seeing the excitement in the children's eyes.  There are things that will be changed and adjusted but that just adds to the fun.

The scriptures "Parenthood is a sacred obligation and privilege, with children welcomed as a 'heritage of the Lord" (Psalm 127:3) and 3 Jn. 1: 4 "I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth." Tells my feelings towards my children and grandchildren.  I guess what I am saying is, that Christmas is a time, that I am able to bring a spiritual aspect into my relationship with my family young and old to become focused on the great event of Christ's birth and prepare us for listening to teachings of Christ as the new year proceeds.    I have a cloth Manger scene for the babies to love on, and story books for the midsized ones.  The other we always read the story of Christmas out of the scriptures. 

Hope your Christmas is homey and bright...come by and visit as we progress towards the night before Christmas.

Life Slow Enough For Reflection

Life is pleasant right now. I spend the first three hours of the morning aiding others in their family history work. I love being a service missionary where I can help from home. After that, I am blessed with being able to love on my grandchildren. Emma is enjoying learning who she is. Pretty good for a one week old don't you think?

Today, I spent time studying how to dry rose hips and what to do with them after they are dried. I loved being outside, enjoying the sun on my face and listening to the calm sounds of twittering birds. Em says it is not a twitter when the baby birds are growing in the nest. (I laughed at that). Tonight we will use some of the rose hips for decorating a wreath we are putting together at family home evening.

I have been reading several wonder ladies blogs that are struggling with chronic illnesses or cancer of their own or their spouses. They feel free to open up to tell of despair, pain, or worry. I will think in the late of the night of challenges of my loss of my hero, but something within me will not let me write a thought that is not uplifting to another. Don't ask me why, it is just my inner self.

I have been procrastinating. I so need to get my sewing done for the girls before I go home. Therefore, I need to stop spending as much time blogging as I am and pause for the sewing machine. I won't do it...but I will finish what I have started in projects.

Now you see how my mind wanders when I am given time to reflect and ponder over the day and week(s). Hope your week ahead is blessed.

Oh Joy of Joy's

Emma is here. 7#4oz and just perfect.   I have more pictures, but need to fix lunch.   I'm back.

 Our first thumb sucking moment.

Mom and baby are doing well.  They are tired, the mom has a temp. elevation.  The mid wife thinks it is just exhaustion.  I am excited to be here and she is a doll.  Her sister is excited and indifferent.  What can we say, a new person in the house that out cries her.  LOL.  I am tired signing off.  Joyful day.

For Future Rememberances

Since I will not be at the dinner table with all my children and grandchildren this Thanksgiving, I took an idea from Janet at The Chart Chick to give to them for remembrance. She has a great newsletter she sends out. 

To answer the question as to ‘what are the most important lessons I’ve learned so far in my life’.  I learned that there are extremely important things to include in your life and relationships, laughter including learning to laugh at yourself, open conversation, service to family and community, and hugs.  That does not cover love because that requires an whole new a huge conversation.  Here is a synopsis:  As you know, I have, since my teen hood, loved my Savior and after I met your dad (grandadE), I loved him with all my heart.  I learned with the birth of each of you, there are no boundaries to love, for my heart has grown fuller with each new life that has joined our family by marriage or birth.

My greatest joy was the day I was sealed to all of you. My greatest sadness was that your GrandadE would not see you grow.

 To put some fun into the conversation, the answer to 'what was my most embarrassing moment' is coupled with learning to laugh at the situation.
I was at a reception with your dad (grandadE).  As I stood waiting, I suddenly felt something hit my ankles.  I looked down and much to my dismay there laid my slip around my feet.  I looked around and didn’t see anyone looking so I gently squatted down, and stepped out of my slip, scooped it up in the crook of my arm and rushed back to deposit it in my purse.  When I got to the table my sweet husband, said, ”What do you have there?”  I said shhhh, which made him all the more curious.  He then was determined to see what I was doing.  I was going (with the hand motions) shhhh, I will tell you later.  About that time, our friends came back to the table to see what was going on.  Long story short, I had to tell them what had happened and we all had a good laugh.  Of course, the funniest part of the story was the insistence of the usually thoughtful husband on finding out what I had in my arm.

How would I describe my sense of humor? I would exclaim enjoying life to its fullest while seeing the humor in all facets of life.  I would dance down the grocery aisles with you all saying “Mom, you’re embarrassing me!”  I was having fun.  I love to tease.  I try to make it a funny tease not to cause pain or humiliation. Texasblu you would fuss at me going to school saying "Sometimes I just don't feel like smiling".  A quick turn of words, a playful sleight of hand, and sharing a joke, if I can remember it, is what I love to do.  The grandchildren get regular emails when I find a funny joke.
There are more questions suggested, but they will have to wait for another time.

Just remember, I love you with all my heart.