My youngest daughter was married on the 28th!  She and her fiance had been together for years and I'd given up on thinking it would ever end in marriage.  Leigh was more than careful since her first marriage ended in a painful divorce.  Her two children like Mark and I think it should be the beginning of a happy time in her life. 

Hope everyone is having a great holiday and Happy New Year to everyone!

I'm not good at writing about my own life.  Blogging is a journey using that skill and maybe I'll get better at it as I go along.  Please be patient.

 Life is all about preparing for Christmas last week and this week.  Giving the best of myself to my grandchildren is what I wanted to do most.  I can't give them "things" so much as I can give them myself and my time.  It would be nice to be wealthy enough to buy everything they want, but I'm just not. Even sending cards is out of the question this year except to send eCards.

I received a letter from my oldest daughter for Christmas.  That was the most I had asked for; to hear that she and her children are fine and to catch up on the news of how each child is doing.  I'm blessed to have my youngest daughter and her children close at hand and to spend so much time with them.  They're the light of my life.  Not getting to know four of my grands is a sad, regretable thing, but life is what it is.  Today I'm just grateful to have had contact with them and their mother.  It's as near to the perfect Christmas as I'll see in my life:  my youngest and her two children have given me a reason to be alive and I know my oldest is safe and her children growing up well..

Today is my grandson, Michael's 10th birthday. Beautiful, sweet Michael! Tomorrow my granddaughter, Robin turns 10 as well. Sweet, sweet child.  I missed my grandson, Brian's birthday in November (I have an extra soft spot in my heart for Brian) and will miss my grandson, David's birthday in January (the oldest is always special).  Then comes my youngest grandson's birthday, Eric in February (love him to death).  The youngest grandchild is Angelina.  (She's adopted and I wasn't sure I would love her as much as I should, but once I was around her she had as big a spot in my heart as the others).  Her birthday is in April.  So many reasons to celebrate during the holidays whether I get to see my grands or not. 

Today I'm grateful to be worn out from having Robin and Eric for three days and nights.  I'll be sore for a few days and live off Tylenol but I wouldn't trade it for the world.  They enjoy having an adult who can focus on them exclusively, cater to them shamelessly, and I get to spoil them rotten.  Not so sure their mother appreciates it exactly but the kids have the security of having an extended family they know loves them. 

This year is the first that Robin and Eric won't believe in Santa and I suppose Angelina Marie is the only one young enough to believe.  It takes a bit of magic out of the holiday, but kids have to grow up.

 I haven't seen David, Brian, Michael and Angelina in 5 years this Christmas.  They're in my prayers every day. David will graduate from high school next year.  Hard to believe.  Years have a way of slipping away! And I'm far too busy to feel sorry for myself.  Just miss them all.

Like most people, I'm still trying to wrap my mind around the tragedy in Newtown, Connecticut.  One of the experts on MSNBC said this isn't mental illness this is revenge and pure evil.  I can't make sense of something so horrible as the killing of innocents.  Thinking that this boy, Adam Lazar, has an eternity of suffering ahead doesn't seem enough somehow.  The best of humanity is the pure in heart, the babies who have yet to think an evil thought.  To touch them with harm in any form is some sort of ultimate evil.  I couldn't "blog" about anything else in the wake of such a deed.  Everything serious pales in comparison and everything light hearted is far out of reach.  There is no "Merry Christmas" today.  There are simply tears and prayers for twenty children who represent the best in human kind. 

Today was put up the Christmas tree day.  I'm gradually getting into the Christmas spirit.  Playing my favorite Christmas songs to help the process along.  Maybe because I'm in a smaller town, this Christmas seems less commercialized than usual.  Did anyone see the 121212 concert for Sandy survivors last night?  I was holding my eyelids open by the end of it, but enjoyed the music.  Thought it was funny when Jagger make his crack about it being a major gathering for the oldest rockers. These guys may be getting some age on them but they can still make great music.  A few bad notes in the singing but these guys are in their 70's?  I could hope to be doing as well when I get their age.

Living in Southern Georgia is seeming less and less weird.  Maybe I should be polite and say it feels more and more like home.  Illusive word there... I've moved around so much in the last decade I barely think of a place as "home" before I'm moving again.  This time I should be in one place for a long while.  Hoping to stay put anyway.  I'm in school again starting in January and maybe teaching by next year or after next Christmas. That should make life interesting since it'll mean the beginning of graduate work and my first teaching experience other than in an office environment. 

I'm putting up a video of David Phelps.  Christmas Spirit though not exactly Christmas songs. So, Merry Christmas!

Remembering John Lennon

Animusic - Pipe Dream 2

Albrecht Durer

     Durer is one of my favorite artists.  This is the first of six parts on Durer that touches on his contemporaries.  It's worth watching if you have the time!

Christmas Lights

Went riding through Americus looking at Christmas lights tonight and was blown away by the many old Victorians decorated to the nines.  And naturally decorated with excellent taste. The grandchildren were excited to see it all.  Am posting a Christmas carol house from 2011 from YouTube just for fun.  Saw my first light show house in Omaha when I lived there in 2001 and thought the concept was awesome.  This one is especially well done, I thought.