IT'S STILL CHRISTMAS TO ME

Even my grandpup,

Miss Tatum,

got to see Santa with her pack walk friends.

And Santa brought our sweet Sophie exactly what she asked for,

a new coat for her expanding girth.

She is now 13 years old and really slowing down.

Her back legs are going out from under her when she stands up, 

and of course she can't jump up anymore.

I hope the day never comes when she can't get up the stairs.

I don't think I could carry her all the way up.

She is 45 pounds these days.

And it would break her heart if she couldn't sleep with us. 

But I know I'll try.

Maybe just take a couple of steps at a time.

RECYCLING AT XMAS

For me,

Christmas Day afternoon is spent recycling tissue paper, boxes, bags, ribbons, 

even tags to be used for the next year,

organizing them and storing them away

while dinner is cooking.

And I'm thrilled to share

 that my daughter has started this recycling habit as well 

several years back now.

I guess because she used to help me wrap and clean up when she was little.

But at the same time we like to change up our wrapping styles for the next year,

so we plan and purchase only a few new items.

And each Xmas we love to surprise each other with our new looks.

My daughter went with a deer theme this year 

with softer colors that were so lovely.

All those different blush tones are so pretty,

and her tree was gorgeous!

This year I reused mailing boxes to put gifts in.

So not one single holiday bag was used.

Only one new item was purchased during the end of year sales,

a roll of festive tape that I wrapped around the boxes like a ribbon.

Last years black bows I had made were reused.

I learned how to make big beautiful bows when I worked at a flower shop 

when I was 17 years old and minimum wage was $1.63 an hour.

Ha!

Ann's Flowers in Buena Park Ca., no longer there.

In fact,

 all the skills I learned from the owners have paid off big time in my adult life.

Caring for fresh flowers, making corsages, bouquets, and arrangements,

and identifying all the various flowers and shrubs 

used to make those arrangements beautiful.

It's funny, 

I was recently asked to help out at a new floral shop in our neighborhood

because the owner found out from her boyfriend, 

a trainer at our gym, 

that I had floral skills

Now how did he know that?

My ex, who works out daily at our gym told him.

Hummm...

flattering,

but do I want to work that hard again on my feet all day long

in a refrigerated environment during all the Holidays.

Nope. 

And the tags are all at least 10 to 20 years old,

some possibly older.

Some were handmade when my kids were much younger, 

but mostly they came from Xmas cards that I cut up from the previous years.

That was a wonderful tradition I learned from my mother. 

CORRALING THE GRANDS

Trying to get all 3 of my boys to sit and pose for a picture was hard

Xmas Eve night.

They were so wound up as you can see.

Then they were ready to bolt after the first try.

Ok,

so everyone look at me and smile nice like Syd,

please...

Pop Pop, you look really done with this exercise.

But,

we are getting close here.

Let's decorate Pop Pop some more.

Gee,

this is the closest we got.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Holiday.

We did both the lighting of the Hanukah candles

 and the singing of Christmas songs.

Plus the unwrapping of a couple of excellent  presents.

Merry Christmas All

And Happy Hanukah!

FROM OUR HOME TO YOURS...

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!

Hoping 2023 brings us all healing, good health and much better luck.

Ha ha!

This is Xmas morning at my daughter Danielle's home.

From left to right,

Jim, myself, ex Inars, Nicole, Zach and Dani

Missing in this picture is Nicole's dad Nick who came down with Covid,

and Dani's boyfriend Aaron who had to work.

2022 was a rough year for all of us.

We lost our dear Mary in May after so many years of her fighting cancer.

Isn't she beautiful?

This is April 2019 with her daughter Nicole

 at Zach and Nicole's Wedding in Kona, Hawaii.

You would never know she was suffering from cancer in this pix.

I can't even begin to tell you how deeply her loss was felt 

during this Thanksgiving and Christmas.

I miss her so much...

My ex husband who is still a very big part of our lives

 here with Bogie...

and cooking for all of us for a Xmas breakfast a couple years ago.

Inars had a heart arrest on the golf course recently 

and his two buddies saved his life because they both knew CPR.

He was without a heartbeat and oxygen for 30 mins.

Inars with our two children several Xmas Eve's ago

Thankfully he is back home now and continues to work on his recovery.

His long term memory stayed intact 

but he is still struggling a bit with his short term memory.

He is also waiting on his heart doctor to install a permanent defibrillator.

Right now he is the prisoner of a temporary one

 that he wears either over his shoulder or strapped around his waist. 

A 24/7 device that is heavy and causing him back and shoulder problems,

attached by a wire to a shoulder/back bra with 8 sensors 

that is highly uncomfortable.

You can see his defibrillator strapped around his waist this Xmas.

He is still going to the gym everyday

 to try to build up his body weight and muscle mass that he lost while hospitalized.

And now to update you on my love,

my husband Jim.

This is my honey in May

 up in the mountains waiting to play live music with his band.

Before the jeep accident.

And here he was on Xmas Day with Inars 

(did I mention they are buddies)

with his hair growing back in.

His leg wound is completely healed over now 

and continues to shrink and sort of look better.

He also lost a lot of his body weight and muscle mass,

so for Xmas I gave him the present of our favorite trainer,

Gelissa.

Right now she is working on stabilizing his core and doing a lot of stretches.

Sadly he continues to have severe back spasms and sleepless nites.

He has many appts coming up to try to figure out the causes and fix these things.

Oh,

 and here is me laid up for the past two weeks with a swollen ankle and foot.

I have always been a klutz,

and as I've aged I've taken several spills as I trip over everything.

Two weeks ago,

 as I was wrapping presents,

 I missed a step going into my workshop in my little house garage.

It was a bad one this time.

My foot completely buckled under me

 as my entire body weight landed on top of it.

Incredibly painful.

I stayed down for several minutes 

 scared to death to know how much damage I'd done.

More then usual.

Ouch!

Iced it and put it up for 3 days taking lots of Ibuprofen.

After a week my middle toes and both sides of my heels 

turned several shades of purple.

It's much better now and I'm able to walk on it with not a lot of pain,

but this week I will go have an x-ray,

just in case I fractured something.

We are thrilled to be starting a new year

and have a lot of hope that 2023 will be kinder and gentler.

HAVE A WONDERFUL NEW YEAR ALL!

 I hope it brings you many blessings.