Fun Times

 The holidays are always fun.  It is interesting that we go from Halloween (which I don't particularly care for) right into Thanksgiving and then right into Christmas.  I still remember that Lynda Ann had a choice to have Hayley on October 31st or November 1st.  She was adamant about not have a baby on Halloween so she chose November 1st.  Apparently her doctor was going out of town and those were the two dates he gave her.  She wisely chose November 1st.  I bring this up because the Gertsons invited Neal and I to join them at Chili's to celebrate Hayley's birthday.  It was a fun evening and fun to celebrate with Hayley.  

November 1st is also a date that I usually start putting up Christmas decorations along the Thanksgiving ones.  Neal and I had Brock and Boston get our Christmas containers down from the loft when they were here getting the lights on the outside tree.  Fun to go through the buckets and pull out different Christmas decorations that bring back so many memories every year.  Some memories bring tears of sadness for a brief moment and then a smile.  Putting up the Jim Shore nativity (which belonged to Lila Mae) made me long to be with her.  How I miss her.  

The next project was the Christmas Tree.  Neal and I have a tree now that is manageable and much easier for two older people to decorate without having to climb a ladder!  As I was pulling out the decorations I came across this neatly packed Christmas ornament that Abby gave me in 2008.  So fun to still have it and be able to hang in on the tree.  I'm not sure why Mallory's name was scribbled off and Abby's name put on there.  Maybe someone can remember the story behind that.

We decided to put our tree by the big North windows this year.  I didn't have the tree skirt around the bottom because I couldn't find it.  Since then the lost skirt has been found.

We are pretty much all decked out for Christmas and will just be awaiting the celebration of Thanksgiving and Christmas.