Christmas Ornaments

This year our one large Christmas tree is filled with lights and ornaments, there is no ribbon, garland or tinsel to be found.  After many years of marriage, the ornaments represent memories through the years including older family ornaments,  hand-made ornaments from our children and grandchildren and ornaments from places we have visited.

My grandson was looking at the tree and asked if this ornament really was a bell. 

 

Yes, inside it is a tiny bead clapper. It makes a sweet sound. Like the bell in Its a Wonderful Life("When a bell rings an Angel gets its wings" fame. That bell ornament hung on my tree when I was growing up. 

Then I pointed to this ornament from my childhood. 

 

It is made from an egg shell that has ribbon, glitter and paper glued on it. My guess is that it is from the mid-1960's.  This is the last of its kind so it hangs high on the tree.

Then he found this ornament, holding a photo of our first pug, Kona. 

He looks a little smaller than my grandson's new black pug puppy who is pictured below waiting for a treat with his brother Walter and cousin Amber.

 

At times, looking at those older Christmas ornaments, decorations and Christmas dishes made me think of loved ones who are no longer here to share these memories with - my sister, dad, Aunt Dora and Nick's mom, dad and brother. Our family traditions -  such as  making my Aunt Dora's Christmas Love Knot cookies and hanging those old ornaments on the tree helps to keep their memories alive for all of us. 

Wishing my readers, JOY this holiday season! Thank you for letting me share my holiday with you.

Dee

Every Day is a Blessing !

Joy and Peace 2023

Today my family and I celebrate Christmas, the birth of Christ. Whether you celebrate Christmas or Hanukkah or Kwanzaa or Diwali or another holiday, I wish you Joy and Peace this Season.  

 

Dee

Every Day is a Blessing! 

Reflections

2020 was a different type of year that is for sure. The last trip I took was to Houston in January to give a talk at the NRG Semi-Annual Meeting. So many other meetings that should have been in person, Chicago, Washington DC, Rhode Island and others became virtual due to Covid-19. Family vacations were cancelled and our home was the safe place to be.

As I decorated the Christmas tree with ornaments from past travels, the memories provided me a way of revisiting each and every location.  Enjoy this short trip to just a few of the places I've been lucky enough to visit as my Holiday Gift to you. 

Zion National Park

San Francisco

Muir Woods

Mount Vernon

Mt Rushmore

Kansas

Yellowstone National Park

DisneyWorld

North Carolina

New Zealand

Alaska

Badlands National Park

Australia

Portugal

May this holiday season bring you good memories, joy and hope for the future. 

 Dee

Every Day is a Blessing! 

Happy Holidays!

With Christmas fast approaching I will be taking a break from posting to this blog for the next week. Be sure to check back on the 30th for a special post.

I wanted to be sure with wish everyone...

Dee
Every Day is a Blessing!

Season's Greetings

As I approach the ninth anniversary of writing this blog I want my readers to know how much I appreciate their support and the time you each take to read and comment on my posts. Thank you!

I wish my readers

Dee

Peace Joy and Love

At this blessed time of the year 

I wish all my readers 

Peace, Love, Joy 

and

 Merry Christmas

May your year ahead be a 

Happy and Healthy one.

Amber wishes you a Merry Christmas too!

Dee

Every Day is a Blessing!

The Love of Christmas

I just realized that I have not posted anything to this blog in 10 days. Sorry about that. But the Christmas Holiday season has pulled me away from blogging to spend time with others.

I love the Christmas Holiday season. I love getting together with family and friends. And I am blessed that I have been able to do that. I loved stopping by a new neighbor to drop of a gift and staying for tea and cookies.  I loved going out to dinner with my cousins and having some fried zucchini flowers. They reminded me of my Aunt Dora who I miss so much. I loved seeing my brother-in-law and catching up on the latest news. I loved seeing so many beautifully decorated homes especially in the snow. I loved seeing my niece and her family. I feel my sister present when we play with my 2 year old great nephew.  I loved that my husband and I were able to spend time with my son, daughter, son-in-law and grandson. My how JT has grown.


But the best part was celebrating the birth of Christ at Vigil Mass singing with my family - "Joy to the World"!


Dee
Every Day is a Blessing!

Christmas Weekend

What a wonderful and white Christmas weekend.

We started out with a Christmas Eve celebration at our friend's Ron and Elaine. For 20+ years we used to live on the same block in Edison. Now we live about 1 mile and a half from each other in neighboring towns and have been able to continue the tradition of sharing Christmas Eve with each other. Linda and Vinnie who moved from our block years ago were also able to join the festivities driving up from Maryland with their son. Elaine's brother and his wife also joined us. I learned for the first time that he is cancer survivor. His wife compared notes with my husband about being a caregiver and getting us to and at times talking us into continuing treatments. He and I compared the neuropathy we have in our feet. (I find it interesting that even meeting people with different cancers there is a special bond that makes you want to talk about our shared experiences. ) He is blessed with 2 years of survivorship. We ate delicious food and played fun games. The 5 year old twins were the real winners in the Christmas Memory Game.

On Christmas morning, Nick, Matt and I went to mass at St Anthony's then came home and with the fire going in the fireplace opened presents. I always wanted to be able to do that and in my new home I finally can. Later in the afternoon we ate dinner. Being of Italian descent, we needed the beginning pasta dish- ravioli then ham, sweet potatoes, & creme spinach. We let that settle and then went to see my Aunt for dessert. My sister and her family were there and my cousin joined us a bit later. From pears with honey , to an Egyptian coconut cake everything was delicious. Except the chocolate pecan pie I made - not good at all. Next year I'll go back to the Kentucky pecan pie recipe.

On Sunday after Mass we stopped for some things at the food store and hunkered down for the blizzard. We had about 20 inches here and the wind blew drifts even higher. It was so bad even the mail didn't get delivered today.

Now I'm just wondering how long until I see the wooden reindeer I have in the front yard.

Dee

Every Day is a Blessing!

The Weather Outside was Frightful but Christmas was Delightful

FRIGHTFUL: The blizzard in Manhattan, Kansas began around noon on Christmas eve day (Thursday) and it snowed throughout Christmas Day. The snow blew sideways and the wind chill was -4 degrees fahrenheit. The roads were snow covered with 6+ inches and drifts of over 2 feet in places.

DELIGHTFUL: We arrived at Terry and Andy's late Monday night. Andy's parents arrived Tuesday night. On Wednesday we drove to Kansas City and visited the World War I museum, ate at the Kona Grill and then Andy's sister and her husband arrived at KCI and we all drove back thru dense fog to Manhattan. So the whole gang was in the Little Apple to celebrate Christmas.

It was cookie and dessert baking time on Christmas eve day- Carol made special brownies, I made Kentucky pie( pecan pie with choc chips and bourbon) and Terry made Aunt Dora's Love Knot cookies. Then it was shrimp and ham for dinner. The plows went by on the main road but the snow blew back on the road in no time. The Kansas DOT 's website showed all the road in the area to be snow covered. So we opted to stay at Terry and Andy's and not return to our hotel which was about 7 miles away .

Christmas morning was definitely white and cold outside but inside it was warm and cozy. We laughed and oohed and aahed as each of us opened our gifts and then we took photos around the tree. Silvio and Murph dog had fun playing with each other's new toys. We played games and watched Christmas movies as the Turkey cooked. Dinner was delicious-antipasto, Terry's Baked Ziti, Turkey, mashed potatoes, sweet potato fries, gravy, cranberry sauce.

Christmas is about love- God's love for us and our love for each other . In Terry and Andy's home - two families came together and celebrated the love of Christmas Day.

LiveSTRONG

Dee

Every Day is a Blessing! I have been blessed these past few days with the love of family .