Holiday Year End Wrap-Up

We've had a wonderful Christmas holiday and a full two weeks. And now, we're just hours away from the new year. I'll probably be asleep when the clock actually hits 12 midnight. Now for a little recap as we look ahead to the new year.

During the week prior to Christmas, I spent several days finishing last minute shopping, baking a few goodies for everyone to eat, wrapping last minute packages, cleaning a bit and getting ready for company, and taking in a few RCS basketball games at the NEA Tournament.

Bryan was already home for the holidays and spending quite a bit of time duck hunting while we waited in anticipation that Micah and Rhyne would get home as well. Our formal celebrating began on Friday night as we enjoyed dinner with the Putman's. Here are a few shots of the evening.

I've prepared Christmas Eve brunch for my family for several years now. We've began inviting the Putman's to come join our family for this celebration.

Since Christmas fell on Sunday this year, we went to the morning service and then everyone gathered at Mom and Dad's. We started off with lunch and then moved on to enjoying Christmas presents.

After celebrating with my folks we headed to Brookland to celebrate with the Elder's.

Last stop of the day was back at our our house.

Micah and Rhyne were at our house a couple of more days. Bryan joined Micah and me shopping at the mall the day after Christmas. Tuesday, Micah and Rhyne had individual plans as did Bryan and myself. I went to a book signing and Barnes and Noble related to RCS, then Bryan joined me for another RCS basketball game at the NEA Tournament. We called Micah and Rhyne and all joined up for supper at TaMolly's. Wednesday, they packed and headed home to New Orleans. I began taking down Christmas, packing it up and cleaning house. By Friday afternoon, things were almost back to normal.

T0day we spent most of the day in the yard raking leaves and burning. It looks much better, but Collin and Bryan will finish up Monday. It's hard to believe that it is sunny and 60 on the last day of December.

Bryan went hunting early this morning. Look at the trophy goose he got.

He had a great time and was pretty proud of this.

And last, allow me to introduce you to what is probably going to be the newest members of our family. They showed up last night and Collin has taken them in. They have made themselves at home pretty quickly. They aren't named, but we'll keep you posted.

Here's wishing you a Happy New Year.

Marcia

PS. A few individual pictures were deleted due to technical difficulties, so I had to redo. They are the ones at the top.

Christmas Hustle and Bustle

The last few days have been very exciting. I don't know if I accomplished any work at school during the week, but it was certainly festive. Beginning on Monday, parents began bringing in all sorts of trays filled with goodies to eat. The counter in our little office kitchenette area was covered. The staff was in an out all day and everyone would grab a snack when they had a minute and were passing, myself included. Come Tuesday, there were fresh trays when there were still a few leftovers from Monday. The week went on like this. Every day there were new trays delivered. I don't know if I have ever seen so much food. I certainly never experienced anything like this in public school I wish I had made a picture, but alas, I didn't think about it until it was too late.

Not only did we have all kinds of food, but presents began arriving on my desk from first one and then another. Some from families, some from the staff, and the board presented everyone with a whole ham. Guess what I'm serving for Christmas Eve dinner to my family!
This is a picture of some of the gifts I received. I can't begin to tell you how wonderful this kindness was and how meaningful. Once again, maybe in elementary, but as a high school teacher, I didn't receive gifts at school. Included in the loot were two beautiful poinsettias, a lighted figurine of Mary, Joseph, and baby Jesus, two books, three beautiful tree ornaments, necklace and matching errings, a bowl along with bath gel and lotion, a vase and towels, a gift card to Long Horn's Steak House, and a cheese board with dip mixes.

I love this board. I am drawn to anything with my initial on it and this is a favorite Bible verse that I have used as a print in another part of my house. The spreader has a cross engraved on the top edge.

My car was loaded down when I left Friday afternoon with all my gifts, the ham, and a variety of left over goodies. Bryan had to help me get everything in the house. On Saturday morning, Collin took me shopping in Southhaven. We discovered a mall there and spent the day.

We began at Gordman's and found several things. It isn't actually attached to the mall. Of all the stores there, we found a Kirkland's which is one of my favorites and I either have to travel to Memphis or go see Micah to shop at one. We found several things there as well. There were lots of fun places to browze and we had a successful day.

No day would be complete without a good meal and Collin chose his favorite place for his part of the trip.

There was lots of Christmas items in every store and outside of Kirkland's, we found this sidewalk display. Collin caught sight of these stockings and he said that we should buy one for Ben. It would take a big one to hold all his presents. I know Micah will be so excited.

These last three days have been very hectic. I went out Monday to finish some last minute shopping, but plans changed, and basically, I bought a ton of groceries. Yesterday, I went to town again, and this time finished my shopping. I left out early so I could meet my buddies for lunch.

Meet Jeannie and Vera. We met at Dairy Queen and exchanged our gifts. Our visit was short and sweet, but we squeezed it in. I had to get to Paragould to get my oil changed and get back home to meet up with Bryan. We went back to town to let him pick out one of his Christmas presents that I couldn't buy without him.

Today, I have wrapped and wrapped presents. I think just about everything is under the tree that is going to get there. I have one more package to finish up on Christmas Eve. The elf is still working on just one. I've also done laundry and began trying to straighten and clean my house a little. There have been boxes, bags, tissue paper, ribbons, and bows everywhere. Not to mention, we have camo all over our house. Bryan has been duck hunting every day and having the time of his life. There is no need to put any of this away if you're just going to use it again tomorrow. That would be a silly waste of energy. Besides, everything needs to dry out. I also have a boot dryer and other accessories in my laundry room. You have to pick your steps carefully. I'm really not complaining; it's good to have him home for a while and believe me, you can tell he is here.

We are anticipating the arrival of the rest of our family. Micah and Rhyne should be headed to Arkansas tomorrow. We have lots of family plans; dinner Friday night with the Putman's and Christmas Eve brunch for my family and the Putman's.

Tomorrow will be another busy day. Still have more cleaning to do and I need to squeeze in a girl's basketball tournament game at ASU. On Friday the RCS boys play. Then Collin and I have haircuts tomorrow. Sometime, I have cooking to do. It's a wonderful life.

Marcia

Tis The Season

Two weeks have already passed since Thanksgiving and it is hard to believe. Our schedule is simply so hectic that time flies.

After all our children returned to their homes, it became routine as usual. We got things back together on the home front and the laundry caught back up. We went to work and our schedule of activities was set in motion.

We began Monday night by heading out to the Fowler Center for the annual Riceland Banquet. We traveled with our neighbors, the Tidwells, and enjoyed a delicious meal. We were fortunate to win two door prizes. I made off with a flashlight (isn't that exciting) and Collin landed a $20 bill. As we headed out, it began snowing and when dinner was over, it was still snowing. You know this is very unusual before Christmas. It was beautiful. Fortunately, it didn't stick to the roads such that we couldn't get to school and work the next morning.
The weekend arrived and Collin left to deer hunt. Bryan came in for the weekend, but slept in late. As I was basically alone, I decided it was a good time to wrap Christmas packages. It takes quite a while to drag everything out and get organized with boxes here, sacks there, rolls of paper, and all necessary accessories--scissors, tape, bows, ribbons, name tags, and tissue paper. I wrapped all Saturday morning. After assessing my progress, I decided to head to town and do more shopping. I called my mom at the last minute, but she was set on go, so we headed out. Saturday night, I wrapped more. I'll have to get a picture made of the tree and post at a later time.

Sunday was a full day at church. Back to school on Monday and then I decided I needed to make an after school shopping trip. And guess what? Another night of snow!!!! Again, it was absolutely beautiful, but it didn't cling to the roads. By noon, it had just about all melted away. Between the two nights, we had about 9 inches. I can only hope this would happen for Christmas. How wonderful it would be to have a white Christmas, but nothing on the roads.
Wednesday night took us to church for supper and a dress rehearsal for the Living Christmas Tree. All this past weekend, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, we have been at the church doing what we could to help in the presentation of "One Incredible Moment." We had three "full house" turnouts. It was a wonderful program. Today, it was back to work. This is the last week of school and we'll be out Friday. It's very exciting around my office. Students and parents have brought in sweet treats throughout the day and this is just Monday. Everyone is excited about the festivities and Christmas break. We've another busy week ahead. More happenings and pictures will come.
Happy Holidays,
Marcia

Its A Boy

I mentioned on the last post that there was more excitement and news to come from Thanksgiving. Micah and Rhyne brought news and announcement gifts that our grand baby is a little boy. Pardon all these strange reflections on the glass frame, but we unwrapped this gift to learn the news.

There were complications in scheduling an ultrasound ( a looooong story that I will not attempt to explain, but the official and second ultrasound was Wednesday and it definitely confirmed that Bennett Roberts Putman will arrive as predicted on April 1st.

Obviously, all of us are very excited about Ben's arrival. We've already started buying a few little things in anticipation of his birthday.

The great-grandparents are also thrilled like the rest of us. There hasn't been a baby in the family now in quite some time. My dad couldn't be happier that he has a second name sake, and I think Uncle Bryan is just a bit please that his little nephew will carry his middle name as well. He has already promised that he'll give drum lessons to Ben.

Looking forward to April

Grammie and Papa