Pictures of Christmas

I am going to put some pictures up from Christmas. I made a little slideshow of them in my previous post, but they turned out really small. This time, I will write about what they are!
I had a visit today from a friend of mine that I knew when I lived in Germany, as a teenager. She brought her dad with her, and he and my daddy had a nice visit. They are both retired Air Force sergeants. We had a great visit, but I forgot to take pictures!!

At this angle, you can see Rachel and Adam's little paper ornaments that they made when they were just little toddlers!



The view from the living room into the dining room. The girls helped get the table ready!


My Family! Adam, Vicky, me, Rachel, and Don!!


Adam, Julia, and Little Dewey, III



Dewilla, Rachel, and Don


Vicky, Adam, Dewilla


Kane, Kate, Susan, Thomas, and Lauren


Adam and Don "boxing" to a video type simulation game, at Rachel's house.


My 1800's desk with Santa and stuff


My buffet with Santas and Lighthouse ornaments


Vicky and Adam showing Rachel's presents - prints to remind them of their Europe trip


And the stockings were hung...Granna made the one on the left, and Saramina made the other two.


Rachel and Don being silly with the hatchet and axe that I gave Don for Christmas. He loves having a fire in the fireplace, and he needed these little tools for chopping the wood!


Daddy and me at Rachel's house on Christmas morning


Can you see the snow??


My checkerboard cake...It actually turned out pretty good! Susan gave me the pans last Christmas, and I found he red/green/white idea on the Wilton website.


Rachel and Don's 12 foot tree!!


My chandelier with my 12 days of Christmas ornaments and two little stockings.


French doors going to the sunroom


The entry to the dining room


My Nativity sets...I love Nativity sets, and I splurged and bought all of the parts to the Willow Tree set, over a period of a couple of years. I also gave a set to Rachel.


The Hooper family - It took us a while to get everyone together, and it was cold outside! We are missing Don and 'big' Lauren, though. William used his tripod and timer. He almost didn't make it back up to the back row to get in the picture!!

Christmas Fun

Christmas, Christmas, Christmas!! It feels like it is still Christmas! Actually, I usually feel more in the Christmas spirit in the days following Christmas Day, than during the days before Christmas Day! The hustle and bustle is gone, and you can just enjoy family and being together. Adam and Vicky were able to come up from Tampa to be with us. They got in around 7:30 on Christmas Eve night. Daddy and I went to Rachel's house to meet them, and we all spent the night together at her house!! That was a lot of fun. On Christmas morning, Rachel and Don went to his dad's house to be with his little brother and sister, and Daddy and I came on home. I had everyone over at my house this year for Christmas dinner, and we had a great time. Rachel helped put up my tree, and I decorated the rest of the house. I actually have kind of a clean house this Christmas, so I was able to do a bit more decorating in the dining room than usual. I like the look, and it will probably stay up for quite a while! Who wants to go up in the attic any old way?? haha My friend Cathy took me to lunch today, as a Christmas present. We went to the Gryphon Tearoom, which is in the old Solomons Drugstore. When I was young, my mamma would take us to this drugstore after dentist appointments for milkshakes! It is now owned by Savannah College of Art and Design and has been turned into a tearoom. Cathy's name is Solomons. Her husband's ancestors actually owned the old Solomons Drugstore. Isn't that interesting! Christmas 2010 has been fun. I have lots of pictures to share. The date on the pictures is not correct. I forgot to fix the date when I put in a new battery. I fiddled with the media player thing-y on the computer and put lots of pictures in a little slideshow. Enjoy!

Christmas Busy-ness

As of today, I have my tree up with most, yes...most, of the ornaments in place. My dear daughter helped me put up the tree and fix the lights. I am no good when it comes to putting on the lights, so I was going to just leave them off this year. I decorated parts of the tree with my collectible ornaments, and I was waiting on the energy to arrive to finish decorating with the rest of the ornaments. The energy has not arrived as of yet, but Rachel came by today and put some lights on the tree for me :) I have been very busy trying to get this house in order, though. I have said before that I am NOT a housekeeper, and my house is ALWAYS a big MESS!! Well, I have the living room and dining room in an acceptable fashion now, but the bedrooms are full of the MESS!! HA! I am getting there folks...I am getting there. Slowly I turn, inch by inch, step by step...Isn't that how that funny comedy skit goes? Well,that is how my housekeeping goes! I have to get things in order, because I will be starting back on my dissertation in January. I must get this placed organized by then, or I will not be able to get my brain organized for writing. I will be spending lots of late night hours again on this computer typing away. I have GOT to do this. I wasted one full year of procrastinating, and it has cost me a bundle. This busy-ness of Christmas is just starting. The weather is cold, but we are getting warmer weather this week. I have been really sick this past week, and I haven't gotten anything Christmas-y done. Today, I have stayed inside trying to get more done around the house. I am not sure if I will brave the weather tomorrow to go to church. I just need to get well before Christmas gets here, so the day may be spent at home again. It is just no fun sitting in church with a stuffy nose and a stuffy head trying to sing hymns or pay attention to the sermon! I will probably stay home where I can blow my nose in private. hahahaha!!
I am getting the Christmas spirit, although I can't get out into the crowds of shoppers right now. Maybe I will just put on my Manheim Steamroller CDs and bounce around the house to their great Christmas music. That sounds like a terrific idea. Talk to you guys later!!

Santa, my brother

My brother plays Santa Claus each year. He really takes this job seriously. There is an article in today's paper about him. He has also been named as the Hometown Hero for Savannah this week, and there will be a special segment on one of our tv news shows about him. He does a lot of work with Jumprope for Heart through his job as a PE teacher, and he received an award from the state association this year. He is a really good guy, and I a proud to say he is my "little" brother!

I am attempting to include the web address for the article. I hope you can make it
work! Maybe you can copy and paste it in your browser window to get to it. I hope you can do it!

http://eedition.savannahnow.com/newsstand/servlet/getPdf