Winding Down 2015

If you have read my previous posts, you know that Christmas this year was stressful for me.
It came in like a lion.
Roaring and running right for me, with the intent to devour me.
Somehow, some way...by the Grace of God, I made it through okay.

Although I usually like to leave decorations up until the new year arrives, this year, I was ready to put it to rest. So, I spent my Saturday, December 26, taking down the tree and putting everything Christmas back in it's totes. 

It was 76 degrees outside that day, so it still wasn't feeling seasonal anyway.
I actually spent a little time straightening up the shed.
That's a never ending battle. 

I do have a cold setting in. My throat is a little sore and congested, so I guess this weather is to blame.

We went to church Sunday, December 27 and then met up with the Paramore's at El Tapatio afterwords for lunch. Devin and I went to moms to visit for a while Sunday too. Her little mind is fading away. She tells the same story every 10 minutes (or sooner). She gets things confused and she worries about petty things. I hate to see her start to drift away like this, but I fear this is only the beginning.

My cold was getting worse by Monday, December 28, but not to the point of considering myself "sick" just yet. 

We went to dinner at Craw Daddy's with Brandon, Erin and Ansley.
I love Craw Daddy's Pesto appetizer (even if no one else does).
This was our scheduled Christmas get together with the Brooks. It's sad that we are so busy that we can only schedule time for friends on holiday's or occasions.
If it were not for holiday's, we would never get time together. 

These girls are just four years away from being adults. We need to see each other more often.

After dinner, the Brooke's headed back home, and so did we because Tuesday was back to work.

Ella came over and spent the night with Brooke on Tuesday, December 29.  

My head was in full blown congestion mode by Wednesday, December 30. I sat on the couch that evening and rested. It was my worst sick day. Yep...I'm officially sick. 

Sick or not, it was the holiday's so Brooke and I hit a couple of boutiques on Thursday, December 31 in Sparta. She got a few new things. I got nothing.
We took mom to lunch while we were in Sparta.
Once back home, I tried to rest and catch up this blog.

Although it is New Year's Eve, I was dosed on Robitussin and AlkaSeltzer by 10:30 and asleep by 11:00pm. 

Except Me :)

Stroker snuggled with me until I fell asleep.  It was just as good as being in Time Square in my book.

The new year will just have to ring in without me.

Christmas 2015 Edition

Christmas this year fell on a Friday!  Woohoo!!

Wanna know a perk of having older kids? Getting to sleep in on Christmas morning.

We didn't get out of the bed until 10:30. We slowly made our journey across the house like a slugs dropping on the couch like dead flies. With our eyes half open, we leisurely handed each other the gifts that we had purchased.

Devin was the first to open a package. His eyes widened as he made it through the wrapping, then the taped box and finally to the roll of bubble wrap. As he began to unwind the roll, you could see from his expression that he was pleased. Benjamin's always bring a smile.

His second gift turned out to be more of the same. His gift from Brookelynn was something he needed in addition to something he likes. It was a toboggan with built in blue tooth speakers.

Brookelynn was next and she tore into her first package.

and then she moved on to package number 2

I told Brooke that every time you turn the hover board on, it says "Bluetooth Mode" for some reason.

She squealed and said "You got me the one with built in speakers!?"

Hhmmm...Apparently I done better than I thought. ;)

Stroker was next up. He opened his gifts from the kids first. My post on the search for it is a few days back :)

Stroker's second gift was from me. We will see how he likes it within the next few days.

I got a new Dell 27" monitor, a Neat Desk scanner, and all those goodies that I picked out on the shopping trip last weekend.

After all the wrapping paper, boxes and bows were collected and thrown away, we gradually made our way to getting dressed and in the car. We went to Mildred's for round 2 of gifts, dinner and relaxing.

My favorite gift this year was having this.

Thanking God for my family today and everyday.

I hope you too had the merriest of Christmases. 

I'm Not Ready Yet

Stroker and I went to dinner with Gary, Darlene, Trent, Stacia, Jett, Dash, Grey, Brad and Casen for Trents 25th birthday on Monday, December 21. We went to Rib City. The food was good, but the weather...not so much. It was pouring the rain when it came time to leave. This whole week has got a crazy Christmas forecast. Tornado's are predicted for Wednesday night. 

I spent Tuesday, December 22 wrapping gifts and wrapping up loose ends all around the house. This holiday is coming for me and I am not ready!

I purchased my last gift on Wednesday, December 23 during lunch. What a relief! At least I can relax that the shopping is complete. Now to get everything wrapped. I hope I didn't forget anyone. We went to dinner with Sterl and Debi Wednesday evening before the storms ramped up. 

Wednesday was Strokers first of five days in a row off of work, so he was pretty relaxed. 

Our traditional Christmas at Moms was Thursday, December 24 (Christmas Eve). The Dobson's didn't make it for the second year in a row due to sick kids. All the other kids were outside passing football, running around in the yard and eating on the back deck. It was sunny and 78 degrees. The warmest Christmas I can remember. We could have had a Christmas picnic this year. 

The kids all opened gifts right before dark and we finished cleaning the mess around 5:30.

My family came back to Cookeville for a Christmas Eve candlelight service at church. Another of my favorite Christmas activities.

Christmas at Daddy's 2015 Edition

Breakfast!  I had forgotten all about it being my day for breakfast at church on Sunday, December 20.  Stroker reminded me about it around 9am Sunday morning. that gave me about 20 minutes to get dressed, get food and get to church.  Needless to say, I ran in with a bag of McDonalds sausage and biscuits at the last second. 

Just another example of how there is never enough hours in the day it seems. 

After church service, we rushed home, changed, made a delivery and set out to daddy's for Christmas at his house. Phyllis cooked dinner for about 25 of us as usual. That is a lot of preparation for all of us, but she does it every year. We took photos with daddy, had a good lunch, opened gifts and had a great time. I got daddy a yellow convertible. He always talks about them, but will never buy himself one. Mine was a bit smaller scale, but none the less...it's a yellow convertible. 

Look at this...Daddy with 8 grand kids and 5 of his 8 great grand kids!

 This is how I make daddy feel uncomfortable...but I did it anyway :)

4th Annual Christmas Shopping Trip.

Saturday, December 19, was mine and Maleigha'a annual Christmas shopping adventure. We had so much fun.
 I felt bad for Stroker having to make deliveries all by himself all day. I almost cancelled on Maleigha. but I didn't want to because we have done this since 2012.
Stroker managed just fine without me. The kids helped him some too.

Maleigha and I headed out early to Lebanon. Our first stop was Cracker Barrel for Breakfast and a little shopping at the old Country Store. It was here that we came up with next years plan. Christmas sweaters! I also picked up a gift or two (and a couple of things for me).

Our next stop was down town Lebanon where we circled the round-a-bout parked and walked boutique to boutique admiring the cute clothes and frowning at the price tags. I bought a few items (he-hem...for myself).  We even took time for a couple of shopping selfies.

Then we proceeded to Murfreesboro where we finished off the night. We even made Mickey jealous of our lunch choice. Our last stop was Target where I had mentioned that the only thing I planned to buy was a new Keurig for Stroker. Of course they were sold out of the one that I wanted. According to one of the Target associates, there was one in inventory, but nowhere to be found. Just before checkout, my eyes picked up on a Keurig logo, so as I quickly looked back, there was the Keurig I was looking for in the kids clothing section, on the floor, under a pile of wrapping paper,bows and bags.

Thanks God for leading me right to it. It amazes me how He is always showing up to help me.

After making it through the check out line, we loaded the car and headed home. Another successful shopping adventure. I'll admit, I thought this one would be more treacherous, nerve racking and a headache being so late in the season, but it turned out to be another awesome trip!

Time is Running Out

Went to a Christmas Drop in at Sharon A's house on Thursday, December 17. Hung out with friends, had hour-devours and toured her new house. I got back home in time to draw a name for one of my Christmas giveaways on Facebook. This season is flying by.

Friday, December 18, Stroker and I tried to slow down enough to have a quiet dinner at Cheddars, but it too went quickly. I had lots of things to do at home, not to mentions tons of gifts still to be bought. The thought of Christmas being one week away was stressing me out. 

As we left Cheddars, we took time to drive through the live Christmas Nativity that one of the churches here in town displays every Christmas. It is one of my favorite Christmas activities and it puts things back into perspective. Scene by scene, the story of Christ.

Denial

Brooke text me on Monday, December 14 about an old friend that she and the "fab four" cut ties with last year. Two of the others in the Fab Four  have on and off associated with this girl behind the scenes since then, but Brooke has never went back on her decision.

 I believe this has sparked animosity from this girl towards Brooke.  

This girl boasted about wanting to fight Brooke just before she had to change schools earlier this year. That was a God send because I really didn't want the situation to get ugly.

Fast forward to Monday's text from Brooke said the "Devin is trying start trouble again", then she sent me a picture of the snap chat that Devin sent her.

 It was an ugly message to say the least.
 I tried to call Devin's mother but did not get an answer.
After a while I text her to tell her what was happening.
 I was blown away by her response.

I cannot grasp the idea that a parent would automatically deny any wrongs that their child commits... when the evidence is right in front of their face.
The Saga continued on Tuesday, December 14. I had a voice mail from Emily (another parent in Brooke's Fab Four group). She had left a message for me to call her back because she just got off the phone with Colleen.
I returned Emily's call and as she was giving me the breakdown of what Colleen had said, another call tried to come through. As I looked to see who was "beeping in", I noticed it was Colleen calling me.
The nerve of her to call me back after she has spoken another parent to get a feel for their reaction.
I didn't bother to answer, I just continued my conversation with Emily.
I don't need to hear any more excuses.
uggghhhh
Brooke and a few of her friends sat out Wednesday, December 16 Life Group since there was too much drama there. She, Mary and Ella opted for El Tapatio and Dogwood Park instead. We went to see the Christmas tree light show which was very pretty.

This Is Not A Test

After church and lunch with some friends from church on Sunday, December 13, Stroker and I had big plans.  I had bought tickets a couple of months back (for his birthday) to the Toby Mac "This Is Not a Test Tour". We have been looking forward to it.

The weather was quite unseasonable for mid December. The temperature was in the high 70's, but a little breezy. Storms were predicted for Monday.

We headed toward Nashville a little early because I wanted to make a quick Target stop on the way down. We didn't stop for dinner, we instead opted for arena food. We had nacho's and hot dogs and even funnel cake. Yum!

Colten Dixon and Britt Nicole both opened before Toby Mac. He done a great job. I appreciate Christian artists who don't hold concerts to put on a show, but yet hold concerts to host a night of worship. The crowd sang, we had prayer, we praised God and we had a great time through all of it. This was one of my favorite nights.

One Day at a Time

• After church and lunch on Sunday, December 6, we celebrated with my great nephew Braxton at his 5th birthday party. 
• I went to lunch at Fuji with Kate and Amy on Monday, December 7. Stoker and I went to a funeral visitation of his aunt Jeanette Monday evening. 
• We attended her funeral on Tuesday, December 8. 
  
• We attended the graveside service of Matt and Michelle's baby on Wednesday, December 9. 
• We stayed in on Thursday, December 10 as I prepared a home cooked meal. Chicken, mac-n-cheese and sweet potatoes.
  
• I helped decorate for a graduation party Friday, December 11. Amy P.'s husband graduates nursing school this weekend. Stroker and I joined a church group at Nick's for dinner Friday evening. We enjoy our time with our church family.
• I worked on a few of my Christmas gifts on Saturday, December 12. 
• 

  
  I also went to Sparta, picked up my mom and took her Christmas shopping. She started and finished all in the same day. Wow!

December Begins

I took mom to Premier Diagnostics on Tuesday, December 1, for some tests. I had an appointment of my own that day too...for a back massage.

That is also the same day that we had to give up Hank. Stoker had met his limit as to how much kitten he could stand. So, I loaded him up and took him to Katey for the night. He had a permanent home waiting for him at Lisa's the next day.
It was hard to say goodbye. 

I spent the rest of the first week of December working on Christmas cards and 

painting on a family birthday's sign at Stacia's. 

Grey helped me a little too.

We had dinner at the Dipsy Doodle Friday night, December 4, with Debi and Sterl before we went by the hospital to visit Matt and Michelle. They had gone to the doctor earlier in the day to find the gender of the their baby, but instead could not find a heartbeat. 

Saturday, December 5, I had a photo shoot with the Drouillard's. I could never be a professional photographer. Getting everyone's attention, getting smiles and making sure no ones eyes are closed is more challenging than you think.

Later that day...Heather L. and I went to Cheekwood together to see the Christmas light display. It was beautiful. The weather was good too. The temps were in the 50's, so we were not freezing. We had such a good time.