Ten Days Before Christmas

 

Barbie in her Christmas best

Once again I'm choosing to write in a conversational style, which means I've imagined a rough draft but we'll see where this actually ends up by the time I sign off at the end. And of course, whatever I write here has to get past my editor/proofreader (which is a good thing, believe me).

display window in our Reunion Center

Starting off with some seasonal eye candy, the above pictures show off some of the beautiful work from the Leisure Arts League. There are a lot of interest clubs here in our 55+ Active Adult community and most of them have a display behind glass, like this one. I am no longer a member of this particular group since I rarely sew any more, but I do appreciate their creations. 

And of course, Barbie, looking especially fine in her hand-knitted dress, is the perfect hostess to welcome you into this particular blog post.

We usually dine off of Gary's white Corelle dinner plates with the ivy border. His dishes are in much better shape than the Winter White Corelle I had when we met. He has all the plates, bowls, cups, saucers, and such. My Winter Whites went to donation destinations.

shrimp and a hearty fresh vegetable salad

But now that the big day is fast-approaching, I've taken my Christmas dishes from Walmart out of the dining cabinet. They are simple but elegant, and when used only during this holiday season, they hold up well. My appreciation for poinsettias comes from my mother, so when I spotted these dishes years ago, I impulsively bought two sets (for a total of 8 place settings) and have not regretted the money spent.

I've said before that we celebrate Fish Friday around here (see my post on that at this link), and this is Friday, so Gary once again popped frozen shrimp into his hot air fryer for today's lunch. My assignment was to prepare the salad, as you see in the above photo. 

Continuing on the topic of food, yesterday afternoon was the Christmas social for the Thursday Bible study I attend. Everybody brought some form of "finger food," which naturally makes it all a simple fare but nonetheless tasty. I've been pretty busy the last few days, so my contribution was the round container of sausage slices and cheese squares accompanied with two kinds of crackers. 

Our study leader (a man!) brought croissant sandwiches he made himself that were filled with smoked turkey and cheese, heated to soften the cheese. We also had nuts, those miniature quiches, Moose Munch, cinnamon cake, and more. Our leader also provided the sweet and unsweetened tea. Nobody left hungry.

Sister's two Basset Hounds

It's been a while since I last included Sister's two dogs here on the blog. Maggie and Daisy live a hard life as they fulfill their calling to keep squirrels and other related vermin out of my brother-in-law's summer garden and generally patrol the grounds year 'round. This photo came in via text earlier today with "their" Christmas tree.

Christmas napkins

We reciprocated with a text of greetings to them. Some years ago I think it was my BFF, Sister D in Denver, who gave me a package of these napkins. As you can surely understand, I use them sparingly due to their cute design.

new pasta bowl

Gary and I are in the October or maybe November of our lives (surely not the December!!), so we have just about anything we could possibly need. We decided early on that for birthdays and Christmas we wouldn't shop for each other for things we don't need or want. 

new bike helmet

Having said that, if there is something either of us wants, we are usually able to just get it. Recently he got a new bike helmet, and I ordered some Corelle pasta bowls. Amazon delivered the bowls today. I look forward to some simple pasta topped with sauce meals during the cold winter months of Florida.

Christmas wreaths from Home Depot

On the subject of purchasing, we were very surprised how hard it was this year to find fresh Christmas wreaths to take to the cemetery. Our usual has-everything hardware chain was completely sold out, and didn't have very many Christmas trees, either (although we did not need one of those). I've heard that boxed Christmas cards are in short supply, too -- which is really strange since we haven't received many cards except those from businesses and Christian ministries. Of course, postage rates are ridiculous (especially considering the poor service, but I won't venture into that...).

Beloved's headstone

We made the trip to the veteran's cemetery this week for the purpose of laying wreaths at the graves of our late spouses. We make it down there every month or 6 weeks or so. I was very pleased to see that someone had left a coin on Beloved's headstone, which is a military tradition I wrote about a couple of years ago. None of his "neighbors" had a coin on their graves, so I think I can safely assume that whoever left that coin was someone who actually knew my late husband. I will probably never know who it was who honored him in that way, but it warmed my heart.

Edith's headstone

As I've said before, our spouses both died within two months of each other and are "neighbors," so to speak at the cemetery. We actually need to drive from one grave to the other, but they are surprisingly close. We went to Edith's grave after stopping at Tom's and met some of our family there. We brought the Christmas wreath, and they added a bouquet of live flowers to embellish on either side. 

We visited, took time to "talk" to our departed ones, and then got back into our cars to meet up at Cracker Barrel for lunch. As one of our kids said, they feel our dear ones are watching us from above, genuinely glad that Gary and I have found each other and are living happy lives. 

another  Christmas napkin

This is my segue into more thoughts on "Merry Christmas." In a recent post I commented on my feelings about that greeting versus "Happy Holidays," and you can read about that here if you want. (spoiler alert: I'm not hard-over about either term).

But what I do want to say is that as we age and life has had the time to knock most people around pretty hard at least a few times (if not more), sometimes wishing each other a MERRY Christmas is not realistic. Those hard knocks of life can get buried for much of the year but when the holidays roll around, the memories (both good and bad) tend to unearth themselves. Also, as we age, merriment takes on a different definition due to physical limitations. 

Christmas card from Bealls

Not meaning to come across as a wet blanket, I'm concluding for myself that instead of desiring a Merry Christmas, I'll be content with a Peaceful Christmas that is free of regrets, reminders of losses, and pain of all kinds.  

For me quiet music performed with skill and respect, gentle lights, and a focus on why we are even celebrating -- that's what I want and what I wish for those who feel as I do. There is a time to push aside "Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer" (which this Grammy considers a personal insult, by the way) to consider what it meant for God to come to earth as a human being. The grandeurs He left in Heaven above to reach those of us so far below.....what a sacrifice!!

Well, Christmas is fast-approaching for all of us. I hope it is a good time for all, however you define it for yourselves.

Until next time, grace and peace.

Another Adventure For Us Old Folks

photo credit

Currently our outside temperature is 81 degrees with a partly cloudy sky. Here in North Central Florida we've been moving from summer weather to about as wintry as it gets around here with lows in the 30s, and then back to the warmth again. Although the majority of residents around here enjoy the balmy temps, some of us are grateful for the occasional cool, cloudy days requiring sweaters.

Walmart purchase a few years ago

I'm one of those. When I left Colorado, I disposed of most of my winter wardrobe, keeping the favorites. I have family in cold country. The sweaters, socks, long jeans and coats come in handy if a trip up north or out west is necessary.

Gary unloads our bicycles

Last Friday we went on another adventure. This time the mode of travel was our bikes. The Outdoor Adventure Club made a trip to the Gainesville-Hawthorne State Trail a few weeks ago on a day when we could not join them. The leader of the club is one of our nearby neighbors; her descriptions of the trail appealed to us. 

a view from the handlebars

The multi-purpose trail used to be a railroad track. Paved with smooth asphalt for fifteen miles from start to finish, the road was a delight to ride although we couldn't go to the very end on that day. (we are senior citizens, after all!)

Gary said we were lost

We examined the map (no, we weren't lost!!) and decided to turn around at the 9-mile marker. By the end of this day's adventure, we had traveled 18.6 miles. We want to return another time to ride the remainder. 

The ride was beautiful with dense forests of tall pines, oaks draped generously with Spanish moss, swampy ponds alongside the trail, and we even saw a deer. Evidence of autumn with colorful orange and red leaves were occasional, but certainly not as profuse as our northern neighbors. 

gears on the handle bar

The air was quiet with an occasional car moving past along a highway that ran parallel with us much of the way. One particular stretch of the path near the start had some hills (seeming to all go UP! of course). That was when I learned how to use my gears. My default setting for all these months of riding has been on 4, but Gary taught me how to shift up or down, depending on the need and that was, indeed, a help. We don't have serious hills in our neighborhood route, so that's why I've been riding my bike for some 20 months without knowing about gears. 

We didn't talk to each other a lot while biking since we both have some hearing loss and there was some distance between us as we rode along.

alligator

One more adventure awaited us before getting back to the car and our sack lunches. Not to worry, the above snapshot was taken with the zoom feature on my iPhone camera. We were nowhere as close to him as this looks. 

About a mile into the start of our bike ride, there was a walking trail we could take to see wildlife. Only pedestrians were allowed, so we left our bikes in a rack at the entrance to this narrower trail. Walking about a mile, we eventually reached a very long boardwalk atop swamp land and sightings of gators. 

me with a reptile on my arm

Gary took several pictures of me with this gator, which was probably 8-10 feet long (nose to tail tip), really zooming in close to get the shot right. 

gators behind Gary

From that wood boardwalk across the wetland, I took this shot of Gary with gators sunning themselves on a beach. There are at least a dozen of them in this picture, hardly moving as they soaked in the sun's warmth. Our cooler weather slows them down considerably.

alligator beach

As we entered the hiking trail to get us to this point, we passed a park ranger's kiosk with a white board sign indicating how many wildlife sightings had been reported that day, thus far. It said 126 alligators were in view. I found that hard to believe until we began to see them ourselves. There was a large swath of beach on the far side of the lake from where we were allowed to stand. We zoomed in as best we could with our cameras, but this is the best we could do. You get the idea, but at the same time, you sorta have to see this in person to really believe it. 

This info-sign was along the boardwalk. I am a Creationist (believing in a young earth created by God in 6 days, not millions of years ago). I do, however, readily agree where the sign says we as humans, when in alligator habitat, are not at the top of the food chain... in other words, don't get too close and don't feed them!!!

as close as I got (with a zoom lens)

With that venture behind us, we climbed onto our bikes and completed the one-mile distance back to our car where an over-due lunch awaited us. We had been gone 2 1/2 hours. 

This chicken salad is carried by our Walmart deli all the time and I buy it often. Sandwiches, potato chips, homemade chocolate chip cookies and bottled water made up our feast while we sat on a concrete bench near the parking lot. 

We change when we are challenged. There was a sign along the trail stating something to that effect. I pondered this thought as I pedaled along, concluding it is definitely true. The past three years have challenged me in a more concentrated way than any other time in my life.

Well, I take that back. Becoming a mother for the first time was also a big challenge for me as I was forced to rise to the responsibilities of keeping a tiny little person alive. 🙄😆

I'll close with my usual, but nonetheless sincere, prayer for your grace and peace as you face your individual challenges.

A Christmas Home Tour

 

posted by Ida on FaceBook

Were it not for a couple of serious bone-breaking falls both Gary and I have in our respective histories, this might be us. I will not recount those episodes that have marked us for life 🙄. But no, that's not us in the above picture. We have, however, decorated for Christmas.

shutter stock.com 521469241

Oh by the way, regarding the Merry Christmas vs. Happy Holidays arguments that encroach on the joviality of this season, I use both. 

Christmas is without a doubt the celebration of God coming to earth as a human to bring about salvation for all who will believe. I have no desire to diminish Christ in Christmas.

But to be practical, December has several special days, Christmas being the one on the 25th. But there is also Hanukah and New Year's Eve, Boxing Day, the Feast of St. Stephen, and Kwanzaa, to name the ones that come to my mind as I type. (there are surely more) There are times to wish one a Merry Christmas but there are also times when we want to just wish everybody a "happy whatever you celebrate" that promotes good will and cheer. 

Okay. I've said my piece, which I hope does not disturb the peace of my readers. Returning to the topic of decorating in our home for this happy time of year, it began outside with the tall lantern Gary has had for years. While it looked good out in the yard, we decided a strong gust of wind would knock it over, so it's now on the front porch (and much closer to the electric outlet). 

tall electric lantern

The porch is a safer location, adding a warm welcome to whoever rings our doorbell. 

Gary and I began dating in the Christmas season. One of the things I noticed when he brought me to his home for the first time was the red poinsettia wreaths on the garage lanterns.

I was mildly impressed that a single man (widowed, actually) had gone to the effort to decorate. That was nice.

Then I saw the electric lantern and his white Christmas tree. He had not gone crazy wild but I liked his taste. By the way, that year this tree was in his office window, but for the past couple of years we've put it in the garage window where it is more easily seen from the street. Now there is a potted Poinsettia on a table in front of the office window.

Lunch on the front porch

My contributions to the outside Christmas decor are focused on costumes for the creatures. As people approach our houses, Larry the Turtle welcomes them first.

Larry 

Larry sits above the stump of a Live Oak tree that was growing on top of utility lines, necessitating its removal earlier this year.

Dawg

Dawg, formerly known as "Brutus" at my last house, was re-named by Gary. He sits beside the driveway, close to the garage.

two birds outside a garage window

These two birds don't have names, as far as I know. Gary put me to work spray-painting them with a fresh coat of copper sometime shortly after we began dating. The white Christmas tree is in this window, but I couldn't capture it well in the daylight.

back yard bird

This bird came with the house when Gary bought it ten years ago. He, too, does not have a name. 

new this year

This couple flew in and stayed when we updated the back yard landscape last spring. They are probably our favorites due to the art of their wing spans. When hurricanes or tornadoes threaten, we are able to easily remove the wings and they still look good. (the feet of all our birds are embedded in concrete)

Can you tell that yard ornaments are "a thing" here in Florida? We see birds like this in the yards of many of our neighbors, along with other animals. Now this next picture is not from our yard but is currently in the yard of one of our more creative neighbors .....

This gator in her front yard usually has golf balls in his mouth, but for Christmas it's the lights. This is Florida, after all, and we live in a golf community!

As I have shared before, I put up a 6 1/2 foot artificial tree for years, the last several being more an activity of love on my part for my late husband than personal preference. He helped me drag the box into the family room and assemble the thing, and together we wound around the strings of lights; but after that, he watched football from his recliner while I hung the hundreds (or so it seemed) of ornaments on the branches. 

decor from Sister

Please understand that I mean no disrespect at all when I say this. As I struggled through the first two holiday seasons after his death, I did take some satisfaction that since I had the house all to myself, I no longer needed to put up that big tree. I gave it away to a family member and bought a much smaller artificial tree to stand on a lamp table. 

When we combined our households into one, I brought my tree. This year it sits atop the kitchen counter above the sink, which puts it in full view of a large area of our home. 

"Greetings from Idaho"

When I emptied my house to list it for sale, I disposed of most of my tree ornaments. By that time I was with Gary, who hails from Idaho and grew up harvesting potatoes. I kept this ceramic ornament, a souvenir from my travels to that state some years ago. During this Christmas season, whenever he is at the kitchen sink, he can look directly into the squinty-eyed smile of this fella.

near the tree top

I tend to be a sucker for signs and pithy quotes, so that's what our visitors see when they walk through our home.

dining room embellishment

Think of the signs as stimulants to be cheerful and enjoy the season. Christmas stirs up a lot of memories, especially as we get older, and in particular if we have experienced significant losses. 

This one is perfect for Gary's desk ..... who tells me he wants to make a trip to Lowe's to buy a big green Grinch blowup for the front yard. (ah, no, please. No.)

Food is a big part of the season's fun, of course. I'm not much into decorating Christmas cookies (Publix does a much better job of it anyway), but I do enjoy cooking with the Hallmark channel on TV. 

Yesterday I baked a recipe from my mother, whose pseudonym for this blog has been "The Cook on Fifth Street." It's a cobbler made with 2 cans of apricots and 1 large can of peaches (both drained very well and the fruit chopped to smaller  pieces) and topped with a sweet dough. This was the first time I had made it for Gary and he pronounced it good. 

"Flamingle Bells" cross stitch
-- a gift from Sandy

Hand-made needlework will always be a part of what makes Christmas beautiful for me. Sandy (see her blog at Home Ec Major) stitched this flamingo for me the year Beloved died. I have her creation in the master bathroom this year. Here's a better photo:

Several of my creations are scattered about as well. 

Poinsettia made with wool scraps

Cross stitch is still a love of mine, but my days of focusing through my trifocals on the Aida cloth and linen are behind me. This one in the silver frame has been one of my very favorites. Peppermint is so cheery, don't you think?

stitched in Highlands Ranch, Colorado
in 2005

Then, of course, my love for quilting lasted the longest of my needlework hobbies. Snuggling under a quilt during a Christmas snowstorm is such a delightful thought!

Beautiful dining furniture is from Gary's first wife, along with the pewter candle holders, the pitcher and bowl (there are 3 of them!), and a china cabinet full of beauty. 

a combination of my treasures with those of Edith

The Log Cabin Star table topper is from my sewing room (sewn by machine in 2011). The Nine Patch quilt in Christmas colors (completed in 2012) used to hang from a rod on the dining room or guest room wall during the  holidays. Now it rests on Edith's rocking chair.

Per Gary and Edith's habit, we will display our Christmas cards on the dining table cloth, where we see them easily in passing by. They contrast nicely against the white table cloth. As you can see, our first card has come already (from Jersey Girl and Jersey Boy).

another view in the dining room

Here are a few more evidences of the season in our home:

a friend on our kitchen table 
(from Sister in 2020)

another snowman from Sister

Continuing with the snowman theme...

Jim Shore snowman.
Jim Shore is known for his quilt designs on figurines.

Jim Shore Santa.
Jim Shore decorates our lanai/Florida room

This is where Santa sleeps... (just sayin'!)

somewhere in my move I lost track of 
Mrs Santa's pink lace snood.

Of the nativity sets I had before selling my house, this one is my favorite. It's a combination of small figures from a Christian bookstore and Walmart. I intertwine tiny lights to sparkle like the stars above the shepherds.

Celebrating the advent of Christmas

As I close out this post, it is a cloudy afternoon with an outdoor temp in the 60s and a breeze is gently stirring the palm branches just outside the windows. My Christmas play list is on. This is my seventh Christmas in Florida after leaving Colorado. 

Georgetown, Colorado

With each year I am acclimating more to a sub-tropical Christmas here in Florida. Friends Terry and Sandy posted the above photo on FaceBook -- a favorite Colorado mountain town sitting beside I-70, en route to the ski resorts. John Denver made a movie there in 1986, The Christmas Gift. Wonderful memories of times gone by.

Gary and me
2022

My life has met big changes since then. While sometimes during this nostalgia-prone season I am tempted to dwell in what was or what could have been had not this or that happened ..... 

Well, I have learned the better choice of my thoughts is to be profoundly thankful for God's blessings on me in and through it all. He has been thoroughly faithful to fulfill his promises. 

Do not fear for I am with you;

don't be dismayed

for I am your God.

I will strengthen you

and help you;

I will uphold you 

with my righteous right hand.

Isaiah 41:10

Until next time, may your days be full of peace.