God took a snapshot
of what I would need in a friend
and then he gave me you………….
I am so thankful to have
so many in my life
that I am privileged
to call friend.
I was reminded this weekend how precious and dear our friends are, how truely blessed I am to have so many, and how in a moments passing, how easily they can be gone. Fortunately it was just a close call, but chilling by the mere inches between life and death. I will remember to count my blessings tonite.
So it’s time for the annual Christmas Letter, and where do I start? It was a year with no births or family additions and no losses either. Some years we are just grateful for balance. A couple of family reunions in September really brought home that we are the “senior” generation now for the most part. We are blessed to still have a few much-loved and honored aunts and uncles, but the continuance of family traditions is now falling to us. Family dinners on Sundays are now at our homes. Holiday plans now revolve around our kids schedules. Most gift purchases and plans are all about the grandkids.
On a lot of weekends, we are swamped with activities and visitors, and when we aren’t, the hubby and I tend to be very lazy and just relax. It feels like all we can do to keep up with our jobs, the kids, and the grandkids. Spent several evenings this fall at their high school watching my sister’s girls, play volleyball, and we even traveled to several of their out-of-town games. Then the ninth grader was in the fall High School Musical, and I was at two of the four performances! The older niece turned 16 in the spring, had a very muddy but fun b-day party, and is now a HS Junior, has a car, and a job. It really just hit me this fall that she is going to graduate from high school before we know it!
I have a new job at the University, in a new and rapidly growing department which I really like, although some days it is very quiet. Our students receive a general health sciences degree. My new supervisor is always telling me she loves having me here, and she is so glad that I choose that day to submit this job application. We have found an amazing number of connections, from the same doctor and hairstylist, to man and wife former bosses. It’s just incredible that we did not know each other previously. The circumstances surrounding my change are truly unbelievable. That they chose me from many good candidates, and that two days after I started the new job, my former co-workers were told their department was closing down. I am very blessed and appreciative.
Our oldest son seems to be doing well with his new job. I see a remarkable difference in him. He was able to buy a vehicle this fall, one of those hamster cages lol – it’s a 2010 silver Kia Soul. All the struggles seem to have worked out ok. This one does pay well, feels well-suited with growth potential, and seems to be flexible, which a single Dad really needs anndddd he likes it!
The Oldest Granddaughter is now 7 ½ , is in Second Grade, and began riding her bike without training wheels in the spring. She is showing great promise with her drawing and is a very industrious helper with cleaning. Her sister turned 6 in September, was finally old enough to start Kindergarten, gave up the training wheels on her bike in the fall, and is a great reader! Coincidently, in typical kindergartener fashion, she is now able to sing with conviction the Christmas Carol – “All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth!” She loves to help Nana in the kitchen and is my number one prep chef. Both love to do art projects with me, and have discovered my scrapbooking tools and papers. They got a long awaited visit from their Mommy in the spring, and she took them to Great Wolf Lodge Resort for three fun-packed days. One of my older nieces captured some great memories taking Mother-Daughter pictures in the snow that week as well. The parents, though separated the past several years, hope to make a long-dreamed “family” trip to Disney World happen this coming spring and giving their girls some huge memories.
The younger son’s family are making plans to move to bigger place in the coming summer, and it will be conveniently close to both grandparents and her twin sister’s place! Their daughter is growing and so is her accumulation of stuff! She is the delight of our hearts, and learning so many new things. Her PawPaw (as my hubby is known) just loves how she imitates anything he shows her. The one-finger-wiggle with the accompanying “ah-ah-ah”, and the disgruntled “bummer!” are to his credit. Since she will be two on the 23rd – you can imagine no one had to teach her “NO” and that is one of her favorite words. With all the cameras in the combined families she is well practiced at saying “CHEESE!” It’s also one of her favorite things – grilled cheese and macaroni-and-cheese are at the top – along with orange sherbert and mandarin oranges. She discovered big kid foods like catsup, corn-on-the-cob, and ice cream cones this year as well. We all think she is “just too stinkin’ cute!” Her Nana (yep-me) calls her my “Bitty.” A neighborhood park is a favorite play destination, and she knows where it is when they try to drive on by!
While I was out-of-town, the younger son’s wife, and her sister managed to get some great pictures of the granddaughters – especially the oldest two – in their Holiday outfits. Their Auntie did all the prep work, made sure their daddy followed through on his part. She did their hair and such, worked very hard, and drafted her sister into taking the pictures. They have a mini studio set-up at their mom’s house, and it works out great! No words can express how treasured the pictures are. These pics turned out fantastic, and really capture their personalities. They just let the girls have fun making-up some of their own poses, while the camera just kept clicking away. Our littlest angel was battling a nasty virus so wasn’t feeling well enough to “sit” for pictures with the big girls at this time. She and mommy have been a huge help with childcare when the girls have a day-off school and she loves having them come over.
I spent an early December weekend at Branson with the scrapbooking girlfriends and my sister. They were staying for the week, in a condo/time-share my sister traded out. One of the group and I just went down late on Friday afternoon and came back on Sunday afternoon. It was my first time there seeing the Christmas Lights, and I soooooo wanted to stay longer. What a beautiful city especially at Christmas! I do hope that my hubby and I can try to plan a trip for ourselves next year? The scrapbookers still try to gather every few months. I wish I’d get my crafting area better set-up for working in between times. That would make too much sense, now wouldn’t it?
My hardworking hubby is still bowling, two leagues in the fall, and one in the summer. He reached a huge milestone in the spring when he quietly but officially retired from the US Army Reserves. Health-wise he is suffering with various aches and pains. Maybe the change in the weather this time of year, but also that 3-time replaced and scarred left knee. He did manage to get our Christmas Tree up, and has made 4 batches of Fruit Cake in the past few weeks. He has been known to spoil some of his favorite people with no-bake-cookies, even making a special surprise delivery to a nearby High School to some of our nieces!
Anyway thought I’d check in and share some of the family news. Moments to myself have been few and far between during the holidays. I am on facebook, and I have this blog, so you can always catch-up with what’s going on via one of those. It really is a wonderful life! Our love to you and yours, and wishes for many blessings in the New Year, from our wonderful family to yours……..BOCOMO FAM
I am an over 50 Twihard, and saw the new movie opening day -Friday. I loved it. I do understand some of the creative liberties taken in the interest of drama and entertainment. One of the biggest differnces: The wolves never really fight with the Cullens in the book. Some scenes make better sense to those of us who have read the books – I wonder how it flows for those who have not? I think its the best of both worlds if you have done your homework and read the book at least once. Not everyone reads them over and over like I do, and now I want to see the movie at least a few more times as well. I guess that is the greatest testimony to my love of the story. Thumbs up!!!!
Its amazing how many things I share in common with a new co-worker. It’s like the seven degrees of Kevin Bacon phenomenon only about 5 degrees less. We share doctors and hair stylists, and even birthdays. We have shared a married couple as bosses (She had the wife – I had the husband) we know a lot of the same people, love to read, love Twilight, love chocolate, and love details. It’s amazing we had never met until recently! We took an afternoon off from work a few days ago, and went to a movie on opening day – because we couldn’t stand to wait any longer!!! Found something we don’t share – I love popcorn but she doesn’t. Oh and she doesn’t talk at all at movies – never – nada. I am generally good – but if I am with my sister – some things just require comment. I did manage to respect her – and my fellow audience members but it was hard. LOL- I learned something new about her I would probably never have learned in the office. I hope we do it again soon!
I was privileged to attend a baby shower for the daughter of a good friend yesterday. Amazing how a family that thought they wouldn’t ever have a baby/grandbaby (without four legs) have adapted to the thought. Even more amazing the overwhelming feelings of family for those of us who are chosen as family members by virtue of a deep and abiding friendship. These are the rare but good ones – the ones you can count on if needed. We laugh together and cry together, and really “get” each other. Time stands still when we are together. What a blessing.
After 20 months of unemployment my oldest son started a new job on Monday. All the stars aligned, and he was blessed by an offer for a job in a new facility, with lots of other new staff, and doing something he likes. Its also for enough money to support himself and his two daughters. Daycare worked out for both before and after school at a church less than two blocks from his house and at a reasonable price. Our daughter-in-law can watch them on non-school days. Much like his mother on her first day of a new job, just four weeks before, he had car problems on his first day of work. Unlike his mother, he managed to get within a block of his job before he was stranded. Since he was driving our vehicle, I called AAA after work, and they met us within 30 minutes, hooked it up and towed it to a good friend’s repair shop. May need a clutch, and some other replacement parts, but we still see the light at the end of the tunnel. At least he will soon have a pay check and a means to get a vehicle for himself!
Our little girlies
9 am and I have 5 lbs of beef chuck roast, seasoned browned and in the big crockpot cooking for dinner. Sundays are family days around our house. Usual attendees are both sons, one daughter-in-law, 3 granddaughters, sometimes my nieces, and sister. Often in the warm weather we grill, and the boys toss a football, girls ride bikes or swing, or do art projects. The older grandaughters, and sometimes the daughter-in-law help with preparations. Youngest sone Ryan is always fantastic at helping to clean up. Doesn’t seem like anything special, but the time together is priceless.
Today I signed up for my own blog site. Sort of exciting, scary, and impressive all at the same time. No huge goals, just incredibly impressed by a great friends example in her 365blog. ITS ALL YOUR FAULT ERICA!!!!!!
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