Blessed Thanksgiving

Our family has celebrated a wonderful week. Here is a little recap of the activity.

Micah and Rhyne got home Sunday night about 9:30. I had a pot of home-made chicken noodle soup waiting. We had a short visit and we were off to bed. Unfortunately, Collin and I had to work Monday and Tuesday, and Collin also had to work Wednesday. We shared meals and visited during the evenings. Of all my children, these two are my favorites. Aren't they just precious?

By Wednesday, Micah and I planned for a shopping spree in the city as is our usual custom. We had a productive day making some Christmas purchases at a number of stores and the mall. After arriving home, we shortly made our way to Grandmother's and Papaw's house for our Thanksgiving celebration. We girls had a pretzel at the mall, but with all the walking, we were starved. We had a wonderful meal with the traditional dishes and the turkey was extra good. Collin got a new smoker in the late summer and he smoked the turkey. He really "out-did" himself. Of course, my mom is the queen of dressing and she also prepared a number of other vegetables and salads. We had pumpkin pie, butterfinger pie, and mincemeat pie for dessert.


Thursday, the Putman's Jr. headed to the Putman Sr. household for the rest of their visit. I began decorating the house for Christmas. Collin, Bryan, and I went to his parent's house for another celebration in the late afternoon. Again, wonderful food and we all enjoyed ourselves. Micah and Rhyne came over for a couple of hours.

Friday morning after coffee, I decided to make a run into town for a few bargains. Notice, I said, "after coffee." There was nothing I needed that would cause me to get up and shop at 4 o'clock in the morning. People are crazy. Mom and I met up and looked for a few things. Once I got home, it was back to decorating the house.

Today, I pretty well finished things up around here, cleaning and putting on the final touches. Monday, it's back to school. We are richly blessed. I'm thankful to have had my children home, to be with our families, wonderful meals, and some time off to rest. I hope each of you had a blessed day.

Marcia

Day Off for Christmas Tree Decorating

It has been a wonderful Wednesday, one I've looked forward to for some time. I took a day off from school in the middle of the week for a seasonal activity and I have thoroughly enjoyed myself.

This is my third year to spend the afternoon at church helping decorate our 30 ft tall Christmas tree that is used to present a Christmas musical extravaganza to our community as a ministry of the church. I did a few things on the home front this morning and went to church at 11:30. I worked with two other ladies and by 4:00, the solid green tree was glistening and sparkling with gold and red tinsel, ornaments, and poinsettias. A few more touches are needed to be completely finished, but the major project is complete. As time progresses perhaps I'll have more pictures of the completed staging and even have the lights on.

We also enjoyed our Thanksgiving celebration meal tonight at church. It was complete with turkey, dressing, and all the trimmings. We had a huge crowd for the occasion.

And now, I'm home and completely exhausted. I've crawled up and down and all around on that tree like a monkey. The back steps are not in place on the back of it yet, so yes, I literally, mean, I've climbed all over it. I'm sure my muscles will know it in the morning. I've got a couple of chores to complete and then I'm off to bed. Tomorrow is another work day and I have to go back. I can only squeeze an off day here and there.

Marcia

Season of Blessing and Beauty

It is truly a beautiful fall day today--sunny and bright, a slight, crisp chill in the air, and the crunching of fallen leaves underfoot. I'm filled with both an awe for the beauty I see and with anticipation of the holiday to come.

In spite of a hot, dry summer, and the continuation of a dry fall, color is overtaking the countryside and we actually have some beautiful foliage. I've enjoyed a golden hickory tree for the last two weeks at the top of our street. Several mornings I've sipped my coffee, wrapped up in a throw in the early morning and simply sat gazing trying to burn the image into my brain knowing all too soon the masterpiece would vanish. It's golden image has now disappeared, but has been replaced with the fiery reds of the pear trees. This picture doesn't do them justice, but these two beauties are outside in my backyard.


I'm looking forward with delight that my children are coming home very soon. With Thanksgiving approaching quickly, Bryan will be home from college for a week, and Micah and Rhyne will be home from New Orleans for a week. That one blessing is enough for me to rejoice and thank God over and over.

I've added a few more holiday decorations in the house to celebrate the occasion.
To all our friends, a welcome is extended throughout this holiday season. If you're out our way, do stop in. The front door is always opened. . . and the invitation is always on display.Blessings to one and all. May your holiday be warm and wonderful with love and laughter of family and friends.

Marcia

New Orleans Weekend with Our Children

Collin and I had lots of weekend plans for October, but due to complications with our work schedules, none of our plans came to be except for this past weekend when we loaded up and headed south to the Crescent City.

We hadn't seen Micah and Rhyne since July when they were home for a short summer visit. Micah wanted a couple of furniture pieces for the house and the rest of her china, crystal, and pretty serving pieces. Perhaps for the last time, we loaded the truck for moving the big stuff.

We left Thursday evening at 5 o'clock as soon as we could get home from work. We arrived about 12:30 a.m. totally exhausted, but excited to be there. Collin got a quick tour of the new house since this was his first time to visit and we all quickly went to bed. None of us needed sleeping pills and we slept in a little on Friday morning. After coffee and some visiting, we went to work unloading the furniture.

Micah wanted her cedar chest and some pieces to complete a guest room. I was delighted to help out since we can finally stay with her when we visit and I have my own bedroom and bathroom. It was so nice.

She fixed up the cutest guest basket for us with some little treats.

Here we are unloading the truck and moving in.

After placing the furniture and evaluating some other needs, we dressed for the city and went to eat lunch and buy some other items needed for utility work. We ate at Landry's on the deck overlooking the lake. I failed to make a picture, but it was a beautiful day. After some shopping at Home Depot, we headed back to the house where Dad hooked up the ice maker for Micah, made some adjustments on her washer, hung a picture which needed heavy anchors, and helped with some maintenance on the lawn mower.

Saturday morning was rather relaxed, but once again, we dressed and headed to the city for fun shopping. Micah has some great stores that we don't have and we always hit World Market and Kirkland's for sure. We also managed Michael's, Pier I, Sears, and Target. Before shopping, she took us to a great restaurant for lunch, Izzo's Illegal Burrito, where you build your own. It was delicious. Saturday night back home, she and her dad tag-teamed burgers and fries from her kitchen.

We always try to have a little surprise, so this time they got holiday coasters since the Christmas season is so close at hand.

Not only do the kids have a new house, but Rhyne has a new office and we wanted to see it. Obviously, this is a work in progress.

All to soon it was Sunday morning and we headed back home. It was a beautiful day to travel. We reached Brookhaven about 11:15 so we stopped at Cracker Barrel for lunch. It was rather tough getting back in touch with reality this morning as we had left all the stress and responsibility behind for a few days. Now we can look forward to Thanksgiving and the next visit.

Marcia