A lot going on since Christmas

Christmas was only a month ago, but it seems a lot longer than that. I started feeling bad 2 or 3 days before Christmas, but I thought it was allergies. Jackie and her family came over late in the afternoon on Christmas Eve. We let each of the kids open a present or two, then we had a nice dinner that I had prepared. The table looked so pretty. I regret that I didn't take any pictures of it. To see pictures from Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, click here. On Christmas morning, Holden called me bright and early to tell me that they were up. He was ready to open presents so I needed to come over. I was there within 15 minutes and brought more presents for everyone. George came over later. The kids rushed through opening their gifts. We opened our gifts along the way, then we had our traditional Christmas morning breakfast - Holiday French Toast (baked in the oven). By the time I got home late in the morning, I knew that I was sick. I made phone calls to family members, then went to bed. It was at least 2 weeks before I started feeling like myself again.

On New Years Day, Jackie brought some dinner over for all of us. the kids took a bath in my big bathtub before they went home. They got to use the hooded towels I bought them for Christmas. You can see pictures of the two of them in their towels by clicking here.

Since then, I've set up one day a week when I have Holden and Sophie come over to spend time with me individually. Holden comes in the morning and Sophie comes in the afternoon. Holden and I mostly play with toys and puzzles, then have lunch. Sophie and I do crafts (as we watch one of the Disney movies Santa brought me) and play school. Before Christmas, I taught Sophie how to paint with acrylic paints on wood and plaster items. Like me, she is hooked on it! She always wants to come over and paint with me. I bought a workbook that we use to play kindergarten. Sophie loves it when I give her a star for doing good work!

Besides those things, I've been working some on my photo albums, knitting, crocheting, and reading. I pulled out an afghan that I started about 20 - 25 years ago. I finished crocheting it and now I'm working on fringing it. It has inspired me to get some books from the library on crocheting. I'd like to make a purse for myself and a shrug or shawl.

I have been reading constantly. One book that I highly recommend is Water for Elephants by Sarah Gruen. If you like David Baldacci, his latest book Stone Cold was full of twists and turns. I'm finding Barack Obama's book Dreams from my Father to be very interesting. Some books that I recently purchased are The Memory Keepers Daughter, While I was Gone, Big Stone Gap, and The Color of Water. I'll let you know how they are.

Last, but not least, I will be flying to Hawaii by myself to visit Christina and her family. It's sort of an emergency. Christina is having some dental work done next week. Joseph will be busy with a court martial hearing for one of his Marines. He won't be able to help Christina. She called me to see if I could help her. That's the main reason why I'm going, but I've wanted to visit her for quite some time. This just pushed me into doing it. I'm sure that I'll have a lot of pictures to share with you when I get back in early February.