The Christmas Letter I never sent...

One of the things I love to do for Christmas is send cards. I try to add a little element of creativity to them. I have made my own, sent pictures, etc. I also LOVE getting cards, but unfortunately, fewer and fewer people are sending them. What I do love, and maybe I am in the minority, are those Christmas letters and newsletters that people send. One year I got the ABC's of the senders year and that was very interesting.
Anywhoo- here is the letter that I never sent this year, but thought it would be fun to post on my blog and Facebook.

Here goes- It is long!

January brought us a new car and new car payments, unfortunately. February I helped my son get a new car! He gets those payments, thank you very much! March brought me to my very own Nikon DSLR camera, from which I have taken a least 100,000 pictures- I have loved it. The main reason I wanted the camera in March was because our very first granddaughter, Grace Lyn (Gracie) was born March 21. She proved from day one that she is a Princess. She has the best smile. She looks like her mom when she smiles real big, and her dad the rest of the time, hence the nickname I gave her, Ryanna. At the end of March, about a week after Gracie was born, we got the announcement that Brad was going to be a father!! Wow!! In April we were blessed to be able to attend good friends' daughter's wedding and a few weeks later, I helped with another friend's daughter's wedding. On
April 29, my first daughter, Tiffany turned the "dreaded" 30, but she is handling it quite fine now. In May, Brad turned 24 and we had Joselin and Brad's Couple Shower. In June we celebrated Brad and Joselin's beautiful wedding. The thing so wonderful about the wedding is that it was such a joint effort- we had food brought in by family and friends (thanks, Tammy and Betty!) and it just came together so well. (Hey, I made a cheese ball in the shape of a heart! ) I feel like I, along with Joselin's mom, did a really great job as the wedding planners- she had some wonderful friends pitch in and make it such a beautiful day. I took about 400 pictures too!) The very next week after the wedding, we moved from our Clearwater home of 17 years, to Tarpon Springs, just 3 minutes away from Amy (and most importantly, 2 of our grandchildren!) We really love it. Amy had a birthday just before Tropical Storm Debby hit our first week here (on my birthday). I am proud to report that even though we didn't have a dryer hooked up yet, we managed to keep up with the laundry! (It is the little things in life!) July was hot and we spent some time swimming in Amy's pool- along with taking some great pictures. In August, Bob and I went to Chicago for his 45th 8th grade class reunion (yes, 8th grade). We drove! It was quite a trip. Thank the good Lord for my phone- it really helped GPS-wise and Facebook wise. We went to the former Sears Tower, went to the Navy Pier (twice) walked about 50 miles and spent some really nice time with Bob's former classmates. I took about 400 pictures and especially loved all the beautiful, old Catholic churches. Sadly, in September, my sister and I made the realization, that our Mother, was very, very sick. We put her in the hospital, where she stayed for 6 days and discovered she was suffering from Dementia, which apparently robs the afflicted of a lot. She was then admitted to a Rehab, but we soon understood that she was not improving. She is now in long term nursing and Hospice has been called in to make regular check ups. It has been a nightmare and we have learned that professionals that we all count on in these times, have really failed us miserably in so many areas. She still recognizes us and asks how our hubbies (who she loves dearly) are. We have also learned how important family really is. At the end of September, we celebrated our 34th wedding anniversary, can you believe it?? Time has zipped by and we have had a very blessed life. In October, my girls and I threw Joselin a gorgeous Baby (blue pumpkin) shower- we had a great time. On October 27, we celebrated our 6th anniversary of being married in the Catholic Church. In November, our 3rd Grandson, Jaxen Robert was born! What an excitement filled day that was!! Amy and I did Thanksgiving Dinner for 35- of course we had a lot of help as well.In December we had a very, very nice Christmas. Our children and grandchildren are healthy and happy. They are a joy in our lives. Tiffany and Steve celebrated their 2nd anniversary and she just started teaching at a new school this past fall. Little Steven is 7 and does very well in school. Amy and Ryan just celebrated 5 years of marriage (the day Jaxen was born!) Johnny is 4 and started preschool. He is doing very well and is so much fun to watch. Gracie is 9 months old and crawling with her first tooth and she even stood up the other day! Brad and Joselin have just began married life and added the blessing of little Jaxen. Our grandchildren are our pride, joy, love and pure bliss. Bob and I are amazed daily that we have the same thoughts quite often and can finish each other's sentences. We have had our struggles, but life is good and God has blessed us beyond measure. We look forward to 2013 and wish everyone a very Happy New Year!!

Jaxen's Birthday!

I am a little behind in my blogging, but with the New Year, I am getting myself more organized and updated!! Here are the pictures of my grandson's birth(day and night!). The day began rather early with a 5:00 am phone call from my daughter who had been called by my daughter in law, even though she and my son live on the other side of our house! Kinda funny! Anyway, her water was breaking- it was surprising her a bit since she was 11 days early with her first baby. (Heck, I figured we had a good 2 weeks!) So, I jump out of bed and into the shower-even though everyone else was freaking- I knew 1) I had time, 2) that I better get a shower! Good thing- poor girl was in labor for 17 hours- then had an emergency C-section. Afterwards, with the baby being 9 lbs 4 oz and with a large head, we were told she never would have delivered him naturally. If she had somehow delivered his head, they would have had to break her pelvis to deliver his shoulders (he was face up.) So it was a long, but glorious day.