Well, it's not HOT in my neck of the woods in temperature (not today anyway) but it's sure been a HOT minute since I last posted. For that I am so sorry but it seems my life has been consumed with doctor appointments, tests, and MORE tests, biopsies, surgery and so much more. One day at a time sweet Jesus is all that any of us can ask for. Wanted to pop in on this beautiful Sunday afternoon to share a little about what I've been up too. Marty and I enjoyed a weekend at the beach before I had breast cancer surgery and took advantage of the time I had in between so many doctor appointments and testing. It was sure a good little getaway. We celebrated our 47th wedding anniversary in September. WOW! Just babies! LOL! We were high school sweethearts. Started dating at age 16. Married at age 18 and started a family at age 20. We celebrated Marty's birthday in October. He says that he's feeling his age these days. LOL! He still works 4 days a week and has a long commu
Free printable from http://lifeasmama.com/7-free-christmas-printables-that-will-get-you-in-the-holiday-spirit/
Here's hoping that your week has started off great for you. MINE???? Well it is storming with humid temps but suppose to be super cold by Wednesday. WHO KNOWS ABOUT THE WEATHER RIGHT? However, I am not going to let some bad weather decide for me what my week will be like and I going to be............
Love my new shirt don't y'all?
Holiday baking, decorating and gift wrapping has already begun and the festivities are beginning to bloom everywhere. I love Christmas. BUT...I have decided that for some reason, not that I'm old or anything...that it takes me forever to do what it used to take me a couple of hours to do!!!
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I have done all that I am going to do except for my tablescape and hope to get it done this week.
Speaking of Christmas let's have some fun with a few questions shall we? I will share a few pictures of four of my grands that went to Bass Pro Shop over the weekend to see Santa.
1. If you have children that are now grown what is one Christmas tradition you miss?
I have many but one that came to mind to me just yesterday was that when my three daughters were all at home and growing up we always had a live tree. Our tradition was to go to the Christmas tree farm, pick out a tree, saw it down and then we would have hot chocolate and cookies. It was so much fun and a wonderful family outing. I miss those days.
2. Do you wrap your gifts in different colors of paper or do you like to coordinate your colors and ribbons-bows?
Well, I do love for my gift wrapping to match with ribbon and bows. If it can't be wrapped then I find gift bags that will coordinate with my color scheme that I am using for that year. Now I do make it simple with exception of a just a few "special" gifts and oh yes, the hot glue gun come out! I was quite proud of myself as I bought wrapping paper last year after Christmas for 90% off at Walgreen and it all matches! AND I didn't forget where I stored it! LOL!
3. Do you cook a more traditional meal for Christmas celebrations with family or do you prefer to choose something different each year?
Well, we celebrate Christmas with several families . And with each family gathering it has been something different for the past few years. This year for Christmas Eve we are doing finger foods. For my children and grands we will have the traditional Christmas foods as they have requested this year though we have done steaks, chili, BBQ and etc. in the past. However, my girls love their mama's dressing and gravy so traditional it is this year.
Cousins...make the best friends....
4. Is there a tradition that you have with your grandchildren or your children that you started and still enjoy? Or does each Christmas change in that aspect?
I have several that I began and still do them each year and will continue too for as long as I can. I am sure that will all change one day though.
14 1/2 years ago when my first grandchild came along I began to put up a Christmas stocking for her. Now keep in mind that my daughters has always had a Christmas stocking but when those grandbabies started coming the MAMA'S stockings came down! LOL! I have six grandbabies and each has a stocking. And yes...THEY ARE FILLED to the brim with little gifts that I have picked up here and there. I also began a new tradition a few years ago with my grands for them all to wear PJ's after our family meal. I buy them PJ's every year and and as soon as we eat the PJ's goes on and then it's time to relax and open gifts. Who knows, we may change it up next year!
I love hearing other's Christmas past traditions and things that they do different or ideas for new things to be tried.
Either I am really short or Santa is really tall? I think it might be both....Ha!
I hope that you all have a blessed week and enjoy each day....EVEN IF IT'S STORMING!
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Hugs and blessings, Cindy
Great post! Laughed and snickered!
ReplyDeleteMy favorite picture of all the darling girls, is the one with the littlest, with her cute feet sticking straight out! DARLING!!!
Thank you Christine. She's a happy little one too!
DeleteLove the picture Cindy. YES that Santa is tall and you are short! LOL! I miss my the excitement in the eyes of my kids when awaking on Christmas morning for sure. Gift bags of any kind as much as possible for me. I am lazy! We have some kids and grands on Christmas Eve and some on Christmas day. We change things up yearly with our food. This year is Christmas eve will be Chili and Christmas day we are doing a big brunch. I always give my grown kids a gift card out eat and we keep the kiddos while they have a night date. That has always been a tradition for us. With the grandchildren we give them a special ornament I have made each year with the date. Rain has quit here but looking for more tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteConnie Royals
Chili sounds good and so does brunch foods! I give my grands an ornament each year too but I don't have them made. Oh I bet your grown children love the gift card out to eat. Sounds like a wonderful tradition.
ReplyDeleteWhat a delightful post! Yes, Cmas wrapping needs to match here at our house. And, I always buy up a lot of the gorgeous Cmas boxes at the after Cmas sale and use a lot of those as well. They are like a gift themselves. We generally do not have a traditional Cmas meal. I have no idea what we will have this year. Your Grans are just adorable!
ReplyDeleteI buy boxes too after Christmas. Usually the white ones so I can use my matching paper. LOL! Thanks for coming by Lea.
DeleteI love your shirt, Cindy! Your grands look absolutely adorable in their Christmas-y outfits. I have always bought the grands advent calendars as a tradition, and I buy pj's, too, for them to wear. I'm almost done with my shopping. This year I am having heavy appetizers on Christmas Eve. It takes me longer to put up decorations, too, Cindy!! Hugs to you, my friend.
ReplyDeleteThe pjs has really been a good thing . I fir one enjoy it so much . Thinking about matching Christmas shirts next year or maybe not matching . That’s the good thing about Christmas . You never know what magic it holds . Right ? š
DeleteI miss going to cut down our tree together too. It's just been the hubs and me the last few years so it might be time to do a faux tree as our main one! I love all of your traditions and the grands are all so adorable and sweet! We do traditional and non traditional foods for Christmas dinner but breakfast is usually always the same every year. You're my CINDY LOU HOO for sure. Love that shirt. That's a cool Santa too!
ReplyDeleteAwe thanks Heather. You put up so many trees that girl, you need to start in August. LOL!
DeleteYour grandkids are too cute! I'm also petite so Santa would have towered over me too. We've always had an artificial tree, but maybe I'll get one of those air fresheners to make it smell like a real tree.
ReplyDeleteUs short gals has to stick together Margie. LOL! I love your Tea theme tree too!
DeleteWe always had Christmas stockings for the kids, it was so much fun finding little gifts to fit in them. I think they always went for their stocking first on Christmas morning. In the early years, long ago and far away lol, I always used different paper but as time went on I started coordinating my gift wrap with my decorations. We always have the traditional turkey and dressing at Thanksgiving, but Christmas we usually have something different every year. This year we're have seafood gumbo. When my grandchildren were little we bought a Christmas Train, they would sit for hours watching it go around the track which was under the tree. On the remote were buttons that made sounds of whistles and bells, they loved it. Now they're grown too and Christmas isn't at our house anymore. The girls have started their own traditions with their children and grandchildren. Mr D and I now go to their homes for Christmas. Always enjoy pictures of your precious family!
ReplyDeleteLove the traditions you shared Miss Mary. When our girls were all small at and home we too had a train around the Christmas tree. Seafood gumbo sounds yummy. I honestly like doing different types of food different for my family at Christmas since at Thanksgiving we do the traditional foods. But the girls wanted dressing so dressing it is.
DeleteYour littlest grand girl looks like a baby doll! So precious. The Christmases I miss most are the ones when I was growing up. We didn't have much but Daddy and Momma always made sure we had a good Christmas. Daddy was given a ham and Oranges at work and that was a big treat for us. I miss going with them to pick out our tree and the ornaments my Mom put on the tree each year and the big blue bulbs around the picture window. Sweet, sweet memories. I didn't answer your questions but you gave me a chance to think happy thoughts. š
ReplyDeleteDeb, I am so glad you were filled with happy thoughts of Christmas past. You know friend, it's those good memories that bring a smile to our face.
DeleteYour grands are so cute and I love your new shirt! How appropriate! š I have to say that my favorite Christmas family tradition is making cookies. This was very important to my mom and it’s something my kids and I enjoying now. We use her recipes and love remembering her while we bake. Such sweet memories! As you know, we made some of her famous press cookies over Thanksgiving....and will have to make more when Andy comes home again later this month. Even Jack got it on it, so I’m hoping it’s one tradition I’ll get to share with my grandkids, just as Mom did with her grands! Oh, by the way, EVERYONE is going to have a stocking. I know it looked like there isn’t much room for more but we have more railing going to the basement, so I’m expecting LOTS of grandkids!!! šš. Happy week, dear friend!
ReplyDeleteZenda, the pictures of those Press cookies looked so good. I need your recipe if it's sharable. I love your tradition. And I am quite sure you will be making new ones with that grandbaby!
DeleteAw...this post was such fun to read! And the pics of your grands are precious! I sure know what you mean about what used to take a short time seems to take days to accomplish! I think I have finally got my decorations all finished! This will be most likely our last Christmas in this house so I wanted to do it up right! The kids will be coming in from TN the weekend before and we'll celebrate on that Saturday.
ReplyDelete1. If you have children that are now grown what is one Christmas tradition you miss? One that I can think of is leaving out cookies and milk for Santa. :)
2. Do you wrap your gifts in different colors of paper or do you like to coordinate your colors and ribbons-bows? I used to be really fancy when it came to my wrappings but as we traveled out of state after moving away from "home", the packages would get all messed up. I still enjoy wrapping and coordinating pretty packages but these days it seems I'm always rushing and so it has taken a back seat. My favorite thing to do is put on Christmas music when I'm home by myself and wrap, wrap, wrap!
For many years now, we haven't have a traditional meal for Christmas. There is usually a breakfast casserole and biscuits for breakfast and then a mix of finger-type foods for the meal...that is my favorite!
4. Is there a tradition that you have with your grandchildren or your children that you started and still enjoy? Or does each Christmas change in that aspect? Every year someone is designated to be "Santa" and wears the hat to pass out presents. It's not a free-for-all...everyone's attention is on the one opening their gift...and then onto the next!
These were fun, Cindy! I love everything about Christmas. But every year I must take the time to just sit alone in the living room lit with nothing but Christmas lights, soft carols playing in the background and just concentrate on my wonderful Savior and how blessed I am that He was born to take away all my sins!
Love you, friend!
I love the Santa hat idea! Things can surely get chaotic when you have so many opening up gifts. We have so many now and everyone buys for everyone that it surely gets crazy. Girl, I am with you on sitting alone in my living room with Christmas lights on and music playing! Yes, Praise the Lord for a Savior that came as a baby and took the sins of the world upon Himself!
DeleteLove that shirt and those photos of the grands! So adorable! I know you just want to hug them up all the time! I miss having my kids around for 24 hours of A Christmas Story! It is one of our favorite family movies and even though we had seen it so many, many times, we still loved to watch it all day...snacking, staying in our jammies and just chilling as a family. Chili and crackers for dinner...just warm memories! I like for my paper, ribbon and bows to match and try to change it up each year! Love and hugs!
ReplyDeleteChili and crackers, yum! I just love all the past traditions being shared. I have a feeling lots of us might even make some new ones this year.
DeleteOH, my, I was just thinking the very same thing about how tall that Santa is!! LOL! You look like a little girl standing next to him! I loved hearing all about your Christmas traditions and memories! May the Lord bless you and your amazing family this Christmas season!!
ReplyDeleteThat Santa was tall! I didn't realize just how tall until I stood beside him! WHOA! LOL! Thanks for coming by dear Cheryl. You are always such a joy.
DeleteThat is a big Santa!!!
ReplyDeleteLove your new shirt.
Your grands are the cutest.
One of my traditions is to make a Spritz Christmas tree cookie for both kids families. One year I didn't make them thinking they didn't matter to them. They were very disappointed so I haven't missed making them since then. I triple the recipe so I have enough for them and some for my husband. I used to hide them in the freezer but my husband usually found them and sneaked some here and there. Now, I mark his stash with his name! LOL!
Wishing you a great December. I will be traveling to both my children's homes at different times.
Thanks Bonnie . Your cookie tradition sounds wonderful . Bonnie i know that you will enjoy your previous visits with your kids .
DeleteCindy- I love your Christmas answers. It is a whole different ball game when your children are grown and living their own lives, isn't it? Traditions change and that is okay, too.
ReplyDeleteI hope you have a blessed, wonderful day- xo Diana
Yes it is different Diana and yes it's okay. I have always told my children that it did not matter to me when we celebrated Christmas together or how we changed things up as a family just as long as we did it! Whether it be a ham sandwich or a gourmet meal. I see so many parents putting so much pressure these days on their grown kids with the holidays. They tend to forget what it was like to have to share their family. Hope you are feeling better dear friend.
DeleteChristmas traditions are the BEST! I loved hearing about yours Cindy, and I am jealous that you are all decorated because I am so not!! You are starting new traditions with your grands now! Our annual tradition is watching Christmas Vacation every year, we never miss it!!
ReplyDeleteJenna
Thank you Jenna . You are so sweet . Girl o have to start early . At my age i might forget what holiday it is ! lol ‘
DeleteSo lovely and uplifting to visit here and such all the cute kiddos! I do love the shirt. Lots of Grinches around and only a few Cindy Lou-Whos!
ReplyDeleteThanks Melanie. I love my shirt too and when I wear it and people comment on it and I tell them my name is actually Cindy they laughed! LOL!
DeleteYour grandchildren are adorable! I love the Christmas dresses, so fun! I scrolled back to your last post and saw you baking with them. What a delight! I am way behind on decorating as I was busy with the baby shower. But the big tree is at least up. Hope to have it decorated this weekend. All three children will be here (two are out of state) so I'm very thankful. We always have prime rib and twice baked potatoes, no substitutions!! They got pj's Christmas Eve when they were growing up. And everybody gets a stocking! Probably even after we have grands, haha.
ReplyDeleteThanks Deborah . I loved your pictures of the baby shower. You prime rib sounds really good too . Girl as busy as you was with the baby shower I’m surprised you got tree up . I need to get new stockings next year . I might need to make new ones or better yet try and catch them fir half price after Christmas š
DeleteOkay, you standing with Santa is just too cute! And wow, is he ever tall!
ReplyDeleteThis was such a sweet post, my friend. LOVE your Cindy Lou shirt! And the pictures of your grandchildren are just precious.
Happy weekend to you! Hugs!