Gram's Place

She was not hurt, thank God. The car was. She wasn't. Although she did go in to the doctor yesterday and the chiropractor today just to be sure the back pain she has is not associated with this. Both air bags deployed. The air bags cracked the windshield, and the front end has some damage. So, given the value of the car currently, it's totalled. We recently switched insurance companies, so we'll have to see how this one handles it. It's frightening when your 18 year old calls and says "mom, I went in the ditch". Pictures to follow. stay tuned.

I was going to participate in the Christmas Tour of Homes that Boomama had... but I am a day late. Wow...that's a surprise. So, here are some Christmas photos for ya anyway. This is the tree in our living room. This is the fireplace in the living room. Please notice the huge stockings we have to fill each year. Shawn's mom made those when the girls were born. They are quite big. A few years ago, we added the stockings for him and me. His is a camo one and mine is red with leopard cuff. I think they look like something you would see Peg and Al Bundy use. This year I changed the decor on the basement tree. I was in kind of a funky blue mood, so I did this tree all in blues. I had a little help from two of the kids and we added a fun silver freaky thing at the top! :)

I'm trying to make a very big decision this week. Christmas letter - yay or nay? It might be nay by default because I may think about it so much that I won't even get my cards out! But, it's fun to think on isn't it? I have a friend who gets a letter every. single. year. from a little old woman she used to rent a room from in college. I honestly don't think that the woman is that lonely and sad... she just only knows how to tell about the sad things in her life. Each year when she gets the letter, she calls me and reads the letter over the phone. I alway begin the conversation by saying "Please tell me it's good news this year!". I searched google to help me make my decision. It showed some pretty bad Christmas letters... check out these excerpts... My family actually received a Christmas letter about how they accidentally ran over their new puppy with the mini van and now the puppy has three legs. We receive a Christmas letter from a childless,

Okay, I know it's not monday. But here's the joke. there's no menu plan either. aaaaaaaaaahhhhahhahahaha!

Saturday was one of those days. Emily was getting ready for a dance recital and it was busy here... but I was anxiously anticipating the arrival of the two older girls who are at college. They were both travelling home and on the road and planning to be here for weeks during the Christmas season. There is just something about those words "coming home". I could hear it in the girls' voices as they told me when they would be arriving. A longing to be with family... to just be home. I completely understood as well. There is nothing like having all your family close at Christmas time. This morning, at church, Jane sung a solo... "I'll be home for Christmas..." and my eyes stung with tears. Partly because my girls were all together, home for Christmas, and partly because the fact that they are away reminds me that God is moving and doing incredible miraculous things in their lives. I am thrilled that they are growing and learning from God the thing

We've had every type of sickness known to man in this house the last month. So, it's no wonder I haven't been posting. If someone isn't sick, I'm sterilizing the house! So far, we have had the stomach flu, ear infections, sinus issues, headaches, and now pink eye! Yes, you heard it right. Now it's pink eye. Actually, it's pink eyeS. Two of them. Only one of us has pink eyes, and it's the youngest. So, that's good. That means that the 14 people we have coming over for dinner tonight won't be affected because she will be quarantined to her room or the basement. AND I have officially sprayed disinfectant all over the bathrooms and the door handles in the entire house, just to make myself feel better. I guess the good thing about this is that by the time January hits, we ought to have the resistance of a lab rat so we should be good and healthy, able to survive a long winter! A little pink eye information for you pink eye rookies: The last time we ha