December happenings....

It is Christmas day....all is quiet. Unbelievable! It has been an upside down, topsy turvy year. The holidays have been backwards too....but it fits the way the year has gone. Jim and I anticipated December would be crazy. To accommodate the craziness we put the tree and decorations up before we left for Colorado at Thanksgiving knowing there would not be another opportunity. Even though we thought we were prepared for the chaos...we are pooped! We are getting too old for all this running around and partying! :)

December started with going to Katie's house and getting baby Emma's room ready. Jim worked ever spare second on refinishing old bedroom furniture from his mom's house. He is a perfectionist which can be annoying but in cases like refinishing furniture it comes in handy. It turned out beautiful. Katie bought new updated and fun handles and knobs...the result...gorgeous, updated, solid baby furniture. We arrived with Andy's truck full of furniture and I took my box of paints to create Katie's perfect vision of her baby's room. We got there late Friday night. Charles helped us unload the furniture. We got up early Saturday morning and just got busy. I painted from about 9 in the morning until aroun 1:30 am. I could hardly walk the next day.....or the next week....but the end result was worth it. On Sunday we pulled the room together...with a few finishing touches. We attended church with the kids and then on to the church baby shower for Katie and Emma. It was lovely....and now all is ready for Miss Emma's arrival.

The following weekend we jumped in the car on Friday and headed west to Abilene. Amy and Greg were graduating for physical therapy school. They are now Dr. Amy and Dr. Greg Johnson! Seems unbelievable....but WOO HOO! We attended a banquet on Friday night and graduation on Saturday. They both received awards. Greg's parents, Jim and I hosted a bar-b-que at my brother's house to celebrate. The kids are exhausted....and so ready to finally have a life together. They have not lived alone together in a house since they married in May. With clinicals they have lived out of their suitcase and on the road for almost the entire year. They are tired....and ready to live a normal life....with ruts and routines.

THEN...last weekend it was already time for our family Christmas! After celebrating we brought mother home with us for a few days. SO in between all the celebrating there was shopping and cooking.....AND....not to mention another wrinkle in all the goings on....Amy had bought Greg a chocolate lab puppy for Christmas but until she could give it to him....guess who became puppy grandparents? Yep...a few vet bills later...we can claim part ownership! :) OH...and if that wasn't enough excitement for December....throw in a Texas tornado for fun! The first ever tornado hit Denison in December! It tore through town leaving behind devestation......just left a trail.....then moved on. We were blessed and slept right through it but others were not so lucky.

SO...here I am on Christmas Day...and it is quiet. I am grateful! Amy and Greg took Mom home and they are having Christmas with his parents. I insisted! :) Katie and Charles can't travel too far from home so they are celebrating alone together in anticipation of a baby any day now. Andy and Bobbie will celebrate with Shelby this morning and then come over for lunch....lasnaga! Then we might go to the movies later...if we feel like it! I think it sounds like a heavenly day. It has been a year of weddings, funerals, graduations and babies. We have been richly blessed and I am beyond grateful.

The new year is full of promise. Amy and Greg will live here for two years. Emma Grace will arrive and hopefully life will settle down a bit. I know there will be valleys to travel through...but the valleys seem to make those mountain top moments sweeter. Certainly, you appreciate them more. We are still living in the sandwich....it has shifted a bit this year....but we are still getting squeezed! AND.....loving each moment of it.