MERRY CHRISTMAS TO THE WORLD!

It is 5am on Christmas Day in Atlanta. As Santa finishes up his ride I wanted to leave this post and wish all of my friends a very Happy Holiday. Whether you celebrate Christmas or not, this is a season for being thankful for all we have even with the enormous problems in the world today.

In my case, I am thankful for all of you that read my Blog, many who I know and even more many who I don't. But to each of you, I hope that today is a day of peace and time with your family and that the dawn of a New Year in a week will bring a better year for you in 2009 than in 2008.

For me, yesterday was a wonderful day despite the stress of worrying about my wonderful Mom who is suffering so much.

Cris, Landon and Wes were with us here at our home and they worked on a Gingerbread House. Notice Landon's interesting way of sitting in his chair at the table.

We have a tradition from my maternal Grandmother that on Christmas Eve we make home made rolls and we make a separate roll in the shape of each person in our family who will be with us on Christmas Day. Cathy has been teaching Landon that tradition so that he too can pass it down to the next generation.





Later in the day we all went to Andrea and Lee's for dinner. Lee's parents, Leslie and Linda, along with his sister Claire are visiting from Newcastle, UK and so we had a fairly non-traditional Christmas Eve meal of Cheese Fondue along with champagne, good wine and Christmas Cookies. Landon and Wes got to see their cousin Finn who they had not seen since Thanksgiving and while I did not take any photos at their home, Andrea and Lee did give us a framed photo of Finn that they had taken about a week ago so I took a photo of the photo to share with all of you so that all 3 of the boys were in this posting.


We came back home and the boys got ready for bed and let me take this photo of them to send to my Mom, their Great Gran. They are posing in their Christmas PJ's and Landon is signing the word for Friends.



Soon after they went to bed Grover arrived with their Black Lab Adams. Their dog sitter had canceled so Grover, who had to work on Tuesday, drove the 9 hours from DC with Adams. So at least we will all be together today when the boys open their presents.

Today in a little while the boys will be up and pandemonium will rule. After we open our gifts we will go back to Andrea and Lee's for breakfast and to eat the little people that Cathy and Landon made. Then we will exchange presents over there and come back here and Cathy and I will prepare our Christmas dinner of both ham and turkey and this afternoon we will all sit down as a family, with the UK Bothams joining us, for our Christmas dinner.

And I ask each of you as you have a spare moment today to say a prayer for my Mom who will be eating her pureed Christmas dinner in the rehab center in Scottsdale.

May you all have a peaceful day.

CHRISTMAS IN OUR NEIGHBORHOOD & AN UPDATE ON MY MOM

It's Christmas. A time for decorating, celebrating and trying to get into the Christmas spirit. I've been struggling mightily with my Mom's health (which is why I haven't been posting) but if she was feeling normal she would tell me to stop worrying and get in the spirit of the season.

And in our neighborhood that is not hard to do. Above is a photo of one of our neighbors’ homes. For the longest time we thought they owned a store that sold these things since for even the most remote holiday they have dozens of these blow up animals on their lawn. But they may have outdone themselves this Christmas.

It turns out the owners of the home are not in the business-rather, he is a neurosurgeon. I decided not to draw any conclusions about that since they do provide a festive spirit (and a massive traffic jam) for all of us.

And now it is catching-as I drove down another street in our neighborhood I saw this:



Christmas is an emotional roller coaster for me. When I was a child it was a huge event-my parents really went all out and so every Christmas I think back to those times and I realize how much I miss my Dad, who left us in 1991. And now this year, my Mom has been fighting for her life and that makes it even harder.

When I was a kid my parents would take us to Midnight Mass and the choir would sing what I call the religious Christmas songs such as Hark the Herald Angels Sing, Oh Come All Ye Faithful, It Came Upon a Midnight Clear and other ones.

Now, I cannot listen to them without breaking completely down. We went to a GSU annual Christmas concert here in Atlanta with a wonderful orchestra and when they started playing those songs I had a total meltdown. Sitting there around people who are my fellow Trustees from the GSU Foundation and directly behind one of the University Deans, I was crying like a baby.

Then, a few nights ago the TV was on and there was some orchestra playing them and I was sitting on the couch and again I completely fell apart. I know it is all tied to my memories of my Mom at Christmas time and what she is going through now.

As soon as I post this (Sunday morning) I am going to the Buddhist Temple down the street where I go to a meditation on Sunday mornings and I am hoping I can work through this. I can't spend the holidays in tears every time I hear a Christmas Carol.

In the meantime, Mom is continuing her fight. I last wrote about her a month ago on her 93rd birthday. As she said she was going to do, my brother and his wife snuck some champagne into her room at the rehab facility and Steve and I took turns holding the door shut so the nurses would not come in while Mom, who cannot swallow due to her stroke, took a medical sponge swab and dipped it over and over into the champagne and then rubbed it all over the inside of her mouth, laughing and giggling all the time.

That so defines who my Mom is. Here are some photos of that night when she was opening her presents. I'm so glad I have a photo of her and me together.

MOM TRYING ON HER NEW BLOUSE
MOM OPENING ANOTHER GIFT
MOM, STEVE AND JUDIE
MOM AND ME-I LOVE THIS PHOTO!

Since that time it has been very up and down for her. She has suffered another fracture in her back, has gone to the local hospital (returned yesterday to the rehab center) and is making only limited progress on her ability to swallow so she still has to eat only pureed food. So, that means that she cannot go back to an Assisted Living facility and yesterday Steve and Judie found a Group Home (up to ten residents) for her to move to when the Rehab center releases her. It looks like a very nice place but is going to be very hard on her as she does not know anyone there and she is not around any of her friends from Kingman she has known for 50 years. But she knows she is better off to be in the Scottsdale area near my brother, who along with his wife Judie, are my heroes. I don't know what I would have done if they were not there taking care of her and of course I feel guilty that I am not closer.

I hope everyone will continue to pray for Mom.

Lee's Dad Leslie, Mom Linda and Sister Claire all arrived yesterday afternoon here in Atlanta after a very long flight from Newcastle, UK thru Amsterdam. They will be here for about ten days and I know Lee was excited to see them, to show them the house and of course, to let them have time with Finn who has totally changed in the few months since they have seen him.

Today all of us are going down this afternoon for a Coffee and Cookie holiday event at Alice and Ervin's place at the Georgia Baptist Children's Home. This will be fun as Leslie and Linda will ride with us and it gives us a chance to catch up.

Tonight we have our annual "Dress up and Go Out" dinner with friends Bill and Cheri Robinson.

And then we get ready for the arrival of the DC crew on Tuesday night. With Landon, Wes and Finn all together with us for Christmas, along with their parents and Lee's family, I know it is going to be a wonderful holiday. I just hope I don't have to listen to religious Christmas Carols.

Here are a couple of photos of the three boys when we were all together at our place in Destin over Thanksgiving.

FINN HELPING HIS UNCLE GROVER OPEN HIS BIRTHDAY PRESENTS
LANDON-FUNNY AS ALWAYS
FINN IN OUR SWIMMING POOL
GRAMMY WITH WES AND LANDON
CRIS WITH HER BOYS
LEE, ANDREA, FINN AND BLUE BEAR

THE TOE

Here are the questions:

How much do you think this toe hurts?

How can a person, first thing in the morning, ram their big toe into the steps while carrying a cup of freshly brewed, deliciously warm coffee upstairs?

How can they manage to only jam their big toe when their second toe is much longer and will hit the step first?

How can the impact of this make the tips of the last three toes vanish into oblivion?

Shouldn't this type of thing happen to the guy who is walking up the stairs with his own coffee rather than a wonderful caring husband who was taking up that cup of freshly brewed, deliciously warm coffee (with foam on the top I might add) to his bride who is still in bed as he does every day before he makes his own coffee?

Is there really true justice in the world?