Right on the heels of Christmas...

comes my sister's birthday!

I'm sure she sometimes must feel like she misses out but over the years, she has had to come to terms with a birthday on the 26th!

Happy Birthday Donna! I hope you had a wonderful day and your next year is better than this one. (as we have agreed, ha)

Yes, this is an old picture but I thought it would be nice to show Ma once again. This is our 'four generations' pic =) xoxo

Merry Christmas to all..

and to all a GOOD night =)

for the next few days....

we will be celebrating my Grandma's life.

My sister and I knew her by Ma and we have tons of memories. Instant coffee with carnation milk. Playing with old purses and Cashmere bouquet powder cans. Hiding between the drop leaves of her old, heavy table. Spaghetti in her packed kitchen when my Aunt was down. Tons and tons of memories.

My children also have their share. Ma would drive out after work whenever invited. She attended any and all celebrations and loved laugh.

She loved to read Piggly Wiggly.
She loved UNO.
She loved the color green and lemon pie.
She was so easy to tease.
She was 90.
She was ready.
She believed.
She will be missed.

When I visited her a few weeks ago, I took this picture of her hands -

She had such pretty hand writing. But now, those hands are wrinkled. They are tired and ready to hold the hands of an angel in Heaven to walk through those pearly gates.

 Quickly I put together some pictures to share with the family and friends that come visit tonight and tomorrow. For those of you that knew her, you will smile. For those of you that didn't, I hope you can smile as well.

We love you, Ma and will miss you so. xoxo

Such sad times.  Our country is struggling.  Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families in Newtown, Connecticut.  I honestly can't imagine how they must feel.

This is a test....

Picture one -

Picture two -

what is the difference? See the mouse at the very bottom, left corner?!  ugh....

And then, where was Bo today?

Well, he was sitting at the table signing the kids 4H checks, lol!

I'm definitely interested to see where he is tomorrow morning since it's Saturday. lol!

Oh, i forgot Cierra's gingerbread cookies - meet Ginger!

Happy weekend my blogger friends.  My heart is just a little heavy. I can't help thinking about the families in Connecticut. All we can do is pray...

Meet Bo -

Yep, we are wayyyy behind in the times but finally this household has The Elf on the Shelf! Since our kids are older, Ronnie suggested we take turns. He's going first, lol!

Oh how I wonder where Bo will be tomorrow =) Fun, fun!

You might recall....

my post a few weeks ago highlighting a tool my mother-in-law told me about -

Well....last night we had the opportunity to actually test it out and guess what?! It actually WORKED! Yay.

The bottom strand of our lights on the family room tree was out. Ronnie followed directions and viola! All the lights were lit.

So you too must have this newest gadget. We got ours at Home Depot in Winchester as our local one was sold out.

Just thought you might want to know that something actually worked =) Happy Friday Eve!

O Christmas Tree...

Yep, finally got the last one done -

I LOVE iheartfaces so found this blog topic that give your tree the 'starburst' effect.

Pretty cool, huh?!

Now I just need to get all the presents wrapped and bake some cookies.....less 13 days to go. Shew!

She's here....

Sunday was 'shower' day. Ronnie always jokes and asks why you have showers for babies...are they dirty?! LOL.

What a perfect day -

Britt was a little uncomfortable but survived, ha!

She and Brandon received a multitude of gifts -

and by the end of the day she was pretty much exhausted.

Around 10:30 p.m. she was very uncomfortable so decided to call the dr. She had some app on her iPhone that was awesome and tracked her contractions. Regardless, she headed to Winchester to be checked out.

By 11:30 I received the call that all was good and she would be released in a few hours.

At 12:38 a.m. the house phone was ringing and I was being informed that she was actually dilated to 6-7 centimeters and needed to head there. Geez..

Cierra was all about being there so I gathered her up, picked up G'ma and we arrived to find the waiting room empty.  Within a few minutes,  Brandon's parents arrived and very shortly Brandon appeared.

Thumbs up.
Smiling.

So of course I said..."what"?? Did she already have the baby?! And he said "Yep, she's in NICU"! She was born at 2:42 a.m.

Wow.  There wasn't a dry eye in the waiting room.  I had flash backs to when Britt was born. When I thought she would never become a Mom. To the many times we sat in the waiting room while she had her many surgeries. I couldn't help it. (nor could the rest of the waiting room).

We were able to see Britt right away. She looked GREAT! Pretty much normal. The waiting was to see Brooklyn. We were anxious with little information. No weight. No length. But it all seemed fine. A little after 5 we were gathered up and headed to NICU. We had to scrub for 3 minutes each. Then one by one we marched into the small room and were introduced to Brooklyn Makenna.

She is perfect.
She is beautiful.
She is small.
We LOVE her.
We continue to pray for her.

She came about 9 weeks early but all is well. She's 3 lbs, 12 oz. and is 15 1/2 inches long. What a Christmas gift. I am so proud of Brittany.   And Brandon is already very protective of his little girl =) They are going to be the best parents Brooklyn could ask for. It makes me smile. I know she makes me one happy Gigi =)  So welcome to the world precious little girl.  I can't wait to spoil you =)

So CONGRATULATIONS Britt and Brandon - Enjoy every minute with your new little bundle of joy!

Silent Night -

Joy to the World -
O Little Town of Bethlehem -
Hark the Herald Angels Sing - 

That's pretty much what our evening consisted of and it was awesome! We live 20 minutes of Harpers Ferry and rarely take advantage of the many festivities that take place in this quaint town but this year we took a break from our chores and headed down.

After parking, we headed straight to St. Peter's Catholic church, passing a wagon all set to go.

Then, all the way up the beautiful, straight, crooked,  stone steps.

And what a beautiful view from the top.  It was cloudy today but still a pretty sight.

And the church?!  Beautiful.

Once inside the doors it was breath taking - The Angel Chorus was singing...

We have a little bit before the next activity so we hit a few stores.  All were very quaint and cozy with many, many crafts.  We were able to pick up a few Christmas presents.  Yay!

Then back up the steps to the church.  We were handed a program -

and then told to sit back and relax as we witnessed a Living Nativity.  It was perfect!

Can you imagine being the newborn baby that portrayed baby Jesus?!

What a great way to spend a Saturday evening.  Tomorrow is the last day for this year but I am definitely planning to make this an annual tradition.

O Christmas Tree...

O Christmas Tree -

One up.....one to go!  Gotta stay focused =)

Makin' my list...

and checkin' it twice....trying to be really nice =)

Somehow I received the magazine "Click" in the mail. I am assuming it's because of my NYIP affiliation but basically it's the first issue, ever. It comes out every other month and is stuffed full of so much good stuff. From gadgets to photographers, to equipment and just good stories and ideas. I have searched it at least three times in the last 4 hours. Needless to say, I have posted some Christmas ideas to my Pinterest boards, ha!

If you want to check it out, go HERE.  If you love photography as much as I do, you will be happy you did.

Here's one of the things on my wish list...

A camera strap with a matching bag.  Very cute!

Oh and speaking of photography, I have to share my test grade - 

ha!  Very glad to get 100%.

And then there's this -

Have you seen this?!  My mother -in-law is actually who first told me and then Ronnie heard about it so now we have our own.  We definitely have a need for it but haven't tried it out yet.  I'll let ya know how it works out for us =)  If you have it and have used, you must dish!

Til the season...

to be Jolly!  AND search for the perfect gifts for the perfect girl -

Yep, that's what Cierra did as part of the 4H Christmas Family project.  She definitely had fun making sure everything was just right yet within her 'budget'.

And by the end of the night, the crew had their bags.  Now all that's left is the wrapping.

I LOVE this time of year and the chance to make a difference.

FaLaLaLaLa, La La]La La...

The Stockings were hung by the chimney with care...

(well not quite the chimney, lol)  in the hope that St. Nicholas soon would be there -

Yes! Our house is Christmas ready at least 75%...yay, me =)

And yes, even my ceramic tree that is 30 years old, seriously =)

my kitchen counter with all my goods , ha!

but let's not forget our Christmas countdown....

Our breakfast nook tree -

the stairway -

and even our bathroom -

but best of all, the reason for the season:  The Nativity.

My favorite decoration of all!

So there you have it, I did dig out our Christmas decorations but still have a few trees to do and no, I didn't get to the wrapping.  I'll get there, right?!

Have a great Monday!