Sorry that I stayed gone longer than I'd planned. Davis' mom passed away, last week. As you probably know, she had Alzheimer's disease and had broken her hip over the Thanksgiving weekend. Even with all those things plus 87 years working against her, we were still caught off guard as she seemed to be doing ok.

Davis and I will have our 26th anniversary in February and we dated a year before we married, so Mrs. Billie (or Granny as I've called her since the kids were born) has been in my life for 27 years. The mother-in-law/daughter-in-law relationship is one which is often described as adversarial....like the lioness and the antelope.....but I can't say that I've ever been able to relate to that. I can't nod my head in agreement when my friends tell me about their mother-in-law woes. I've never gotten the mother-in-law jokes. I even told someone at her visitation that, in 27 years, I can't recall a time when I was ever angry, resentful, aggravated, or the least bit perturbed at her. Honestly, I can't. She was just that kind of sweet, gentle person who never provoked anyone to have any sort of ill feelings.

I hit the mother jackpot when I was born but what are the odds that I'd win it again when I married Davis? What a precious lady. Our humble, kindhearted, selfless Granny. We're so happy that she's free from the heavy weight of this world and is with Jesus, but we surely will miss having her sweet presence here with us.
The holidays seem like an especially sensitive time to have to process grief. All this has had me thinking about Christmas and how it changes. It's always evolving and moving along with the current of our lives. We've all got our favorite memories of Christmas. From the years of dinner around grandmother's table and lying awake on Christmas Eve to quietly assembling a Barbie Dream House and Bob the Builder tool bench at 1:00 in the morning. From year to year, the landscape of Christmas can look just a little different. Santa only visits our houses for a season. People fade from the home movies and the family pictures and new ones come on the scene. Traditions may require adjustments. Children grow. Settings are altered. Some to accommodate happy changes. Others to adapt to loss.

When I think about the eventful year that's about to close, I know a lot of people who are facing a Christmas that won't look like any other they've ever had. For whatever circumstance, this holiday won't live up to the warm memory of Christmas past. There will be one reason or another why the joy of the season won't pour over them like it's done in years before. An anticipation for Christmas to come may be replaced with an anticipation to see it go. So, if your family is nestled in a place in time where all is cozy and right with your Christmas, well, don't forget to pray for those who are missing pieces to theirs. Give thanks and soak up every minute of Christmas present. One day, it will be the Christmas past that you'll look back on with misty-eyed nostalgia.         

I do hope you have a wonderful time with your family over the next couple of weeks. Whether you're grieving or transitioning or have it just the way you want it, the hope of Christmas remains, year after year. The hope that no matter what has happened since our Christmases past, our Christmas future is secure because He went from the manger to the cross for us.

So, I'm done with my shopping......except those things that I keep picking up because I just can't help myself. Davis says it's not a good thing that I start my shopping early because I just buy for longer. You know how you have those years when you think you've hit it out of the park with gifts and you can't wait to give them?  Well, I think I'm having one of those years but only time will tell if anyone will ask if I kept the receipts. Bought my Christmas groceries today.....selling a kidney tomorrow to cover those. Saturated fats seemed to be the overall theme of my shopping cart. Decided a while back that New Year's cards would be more realistic than Christmas ones, so I have a few more days to ignore that task. Tomorrow is the last day the gift shops will be open before Christmas, so we'll have about 4,500 men come in around 3:45 and start thinking about their gifts. We have 4 consecutive days of Christmas family gatherings coming up, followed by a birthday celebration on day 5 and so I'm on track to be back to my pre-wedding weight by day 6 if not sooner. And as a random, unrelated, and unsolicited piece of information, if I hear one more My Pillow commercial, I'm going to snap. Just sayin'.

I'll see you after the New Year! With everything going on, I've got my plate full with family business, thank you notes to write, and New Year's cards to address and so I'll start 2018 off with a resolution to blog more consistently. Maybe '18 will prove to be a little quieter than '17 was for me.  Whew, it was a doozy!

Thanks for spending time with me, this year! I may have limped along with my tongue hanging out, but we made it. 

I appreciate you more than you know! Really, I do!


Merry Christmas to you all and Happy New Year!!