Welcome 2015

Happy New Year, dear friends. I am expecting good things of 2015. This past year was a very hard one for me and my family. Life goes on but sometimes, it hits a mountain and struggles to get over it. We have had several mountains this year with Mom's passing being the highest of all. She has been missed so greatly but I am starting to smile more when thinking of her. 2014 will always be burned in my memory along with 1981, the year we lost my Dad.

I have so much to tell you. A lot has happened this past month. Good things mostly for which I am so very thankful. So I'll get to it.

December started with a bang with 3 birthdays right off the bat. Ella turned six on the 2nd, Lilly turned 4 on the 10th and their Mom (my sweet DIL) had a birthday between them on the 5th. I always send the grandkids a card with money matching their age and then usually I will buy books. Ella is in kindergarten and she is started to read so I got her Level one books to help her with that. I am so happy that all my grandbabies like books and love to read or be read to. Grammy/Mimi loves buying books and will do so as long as they will let me.

I guess I should explain the Grammy/Mimi. All 3 of the Georgia kiddos call me Grammy. That's what we decided on when Ella was born and it's just a normal thing. Jellybean, however, calls me Mimi. Grammy was a little hard for him to say. I love it. Christmas was a hoot with 3 calling me Grammy, and James saying, "Mimi'. Ella thought it was funny.

We were all able to get together for Christmas at my sister's home on the Saturday after the actual day. I'm always happy when all my chicks are together under one roof. Christmas was a happy/sad time this year. Not having Mom ensconced in her rocking chair, smiling at everyone, (especially the babies) and ruling the roost *smile* left a hole in our celebrations. However, there is nothing like small children and the joy of presents to put a smile on your face. We opted for snacky things as opposed to a full meal and we all ate and snacked all through the night.

Watching those little ones open their presents is the highlight of Christmas for me. I believe they were all very happy with their presents. The Georgia grand babies got Kinetic sand (a box for each) and a Kindle to share from us. Sweet Baby James got a VTech Zoo playset with animals that make all kinds of noises. Thank goodness my daughter and SIL are easy going people. Of course they both checked to see that they could be turned off right away. The zoo was a big hit, apparently, because Abby said he had played very well with it and she and Doug had been able to have a complete conversation. Mimi done good!!!!

I was very blessed with gifts. The adults, as a rule, don't buy for each other. My daughter, however, made everyone something. She is a wonderfully skilled knitter and her projects are always so beautiful. She had made some felted slippers for her and her hubby and I told her my toes got cold, too. So Hubs and I both got felted slippers. Oh. My. Goodness. How warm these things are. I have worn mine every day since Christmas and have finally gotten warm feet in the winter. Yesterday I had to run some errands and when I came back, I put my shoes away in the closet and was just wearing my socks. After a while, I noticed my toes were really getting cold. Then I saw that I hadn't put on my slippers. BEST CHRISTMAS GIFT!!!! Hubs likes his also. He has never been much of a slipper wearer but he really likes these. They are soft, comfortable and very warm.

There were some small presents for me and one was wrapped sort of wonky. When I opened it, there was a charm on a necklace that said, "Grandma". Ella is in kindergarten this year and her school had a Christmas fair/store type of thing so the kids could buy presents. Her parents gave her money and she bought presents all by herself and the teachers helped wrap them. Doug and Trisha didn't even know what was in the package because the gifts came home already wrapped. I adore this. It just warms my heart so much that my 6 year old granddaughter thought of me and bought me this all by herself. Can you tell I am proud and happy????  I have ordered a new chain for the charm as the chain that came with it was a little too tight for my chubby neck.

Lilly did a drawing at preschool and the school had them made into Christmas ornaments. Lilly's has a flamenco on it. The body is her hand print and it has her name and the year. I treasure things like this.

James gave Papaw and I a photo magnet for the refrigerator. I love looking at that sweet face every time I go into the kitchen.

My sister had decorated her tree this year with Mom's ornaments. It was so sweet and sad to see all of them hanging on the tree.  After all the presents were opened and things were winding down, we took turns picking an ornament for ourselves from the tree. We started with the oldest (me) and went down to the youngest (James) and then reversed the order. We all ended up with special ornaments that were a part of Mom's Christmas tree decorations. It was a bittersweet moment and Stacey, Abby and I had a good cry afterwards. Those ornaments will have a special place on my tree for years to come and then I will be able to pass them down to my children and grandchildren.

Sorry there aren't any photos. I haven't had a chance to take any. I'm working on changing my office to my office/craft room and it has kept me busy. I promise photos will follow. Tomorrow is a stay at home day because of the weather and I will get things photographed and try to do another blog post soon. It's really cold here in Tennessee right now. The temperature has been only in the twenties and is going down to maybe single digits tonight with a wind chill of 0 degrees, I do not like cold weather. I could tolerate winter if it didn't get so gosh, darn cold. I will just have to keep reminding myself that warmer days are coming.

Before I leave you, I want to tell you about my daughter's blog and Etsy shop. I am so very proud of her and have to let everyone know what she is doing and making. Please visit her blog and leave a comment. Tell her I sent you.  :)  She will really enjoy it. Her blog is www,abbycrafty,com.  Her Etsy shop is AbbyCrafty. Drop by for a visit.

Thank you so much for visiting. I hope you are having a wonderful year so far wherever you are. All of you mean so much to me and I love having you for my bloggy friends.

Hugs,
Sharon