Hosting - Cauthen Christmas

Cauthen Christmas- My family starting arriving the day after Christmas. My brothers, their wives & my (kk) parents came in. Since we are about mid-way between my brothers, we hosted Christmas this year. It looked like an air-mattress commercial, but it was great to have everyone. David & I were both sick, but we managed to enjoy every ounce of it.

My parents gave everyone PIANOS for Christmas. We were floored!!

Everyone enjoyed playing on the Wii….which was a big hit!We all ate way too much!! I was so thankful to Kellie for helping me get dinner together. I couldn’t have done it without you!! We went out to sushi for dinner. I don’t think we could have eaten another heavy meal!! We were so glad to have everyone come to our little church Sunday morning. It was very relaxing. No one rushed to leave. It was great!!

Keeney Christmas

December 22-25:-
Keeney Christmas:
This Christmas was bitter-sweet. It was the first time Grandma & Grandpa Denick couldn’t make the trip over to Dallas from New Mexico. Grandpa Denick was in the hospital over Christmas. Thankfully, we can report he is finally back home with Grandma. David’s mom is staying for a while to help. Please continue to pray for everyone during this time.

The sweet part of Christmas was spending so much time with Kelly, Jonathan, & the kids [our niece, Emily & nephew, Thad]. We all had so much fun playing, talking till the wee-hours of the morning, and eating too many sweets.

We spent Tuesday at a mall nearby with Kelly, the kids, and Mom & Dad Keeney. Thad climbed a rock wall, while we all watched his bravery!! Both of the kids enjoyed playing in a “soft-play area.” (Everything is covered in foam & is kid-friendly & bo-bo proof.) We even managed to find enough space for us to eat lunch in the food-court. Dad got Emily the cutest little outfit (which she got to wear the next day for Christmas).

Christmas Eve lunch at Mom & Dad Keeney’s was delicious. Mom sent us home with her famous fruitcake. Dad told us about his 300 perfect bowling score he recently played. Everyone gave such thoughtful gifts. Of course, the kids’ excitement topped the afternoon off on a high-note.

Christmas Eve supper at the Lemons- Jonathan’s parents invited us over for dinner & fun. They made steaks, potatoes, salads……you name it, they had it. They are a jolly ol’ bunch & it reminded me of my own family. Needless to say, we fit right in!!

Christmas Day

Christmas Day- We got up early to watch the kids open Santa’s gifts before heading back to MS. Somewhere in Arkansas, David & I both began to feel under the weather. We made a pizza & had our own little Christmas celebration before dozing off.

Blanton-Cauthen Christmas's

December 20th –
Blantonville: David & I (kk) stopped by Mammaw & Papaw Blanton’s on our way to the Cauthen family Christmas. We had a nice quick visit with everyone. We gave them a coffee maker with a timer. [Mammaw had been getting up at midnight to make coffee, because she couldn’t manage to get up before everyone else in the morning…..she tries her best to take care of the menfolk, even though she’s the one in need of special care. God bless her!!]
We also got a few little candy happies for Papaw, Mammaw, & Uncle Cecil. It turns out that after we gave them their goodies; my little brother Matt & his wife, Kellie, gave them all the EXACT same gifts…….down the Super Dooper Reindeer Pooper for Uncle Cecil & a coffee pot!!!! We all had a good laugh over that one!!

Cauthenville: After leaving Mammaw & Papaw Blanton’s, we drove down to my (kk) other grandmother’s house in Goodman for our family “get-together.” We had a nice visit! Everyone was on their best behavior!! We could only stay for a few hours, before having to drive back home to Tupelo.

Weather

Friday, December 19, 2008
Today's Writing Prompt: Weather

Write about how the weather affects you emotionally, or recall a weather-related memory.

I suscribe to another blog that asks you to spend one minute writing about a different topic every day. I find that it gets the creative juices going. Here's my one minute on today's topic “Weather”:

I always find that these topics remind me of people, not places or things. Today, I thought of my husband, David. He has more excitement about all things weather related than any other person on this planet. Although, when he gets excited…..the rest of us should be worried. The more severe, the more his excitement grows. I find that I no longer trust TV weathermen (not that anyone ever does). I just call my own personal meteorologist for any query I have. After we got married, we both got certified to be storm spotters for the National Weather Service. I’m not sure there was anything greater for me to do with him than to share in his world. “Whether” or not anyone cares, he’ll always be my weatherman.

Christmas Decorations

The last few weekends, we put up our tree & decorations. Admittedly, I cried a little bit when we lit the tree. Our first real-“sized” (but fake) tree. We’ve had a “Charlie Brown” tree the last few years (reminder to self: post that pic as well). We still put our little tree on our coffee table. I don’t think I’ll ever part with it.

I’ve started wrapping Christmas gifts & addressing our cards. Christmas is almost here. We’ve been practicing our Christmas music at church. It truly is “~~~~~the most wonderful time of the year~~~~~.”

Traveling Keeneys

NEW MEXICO
Catch-up. David went to visit his folks & grandparents over Thanksgiving break. His grandparents live in Alamogordo, NM. He hasn’t been there in years.
He really enjoyed the trip. [I was finishing up a project. So, I worked over Thanksgiving. However, I’ll be taking the entire week off for Christmas. I don’t think I’ve done that since I was in high school.]

NEVADA
For a turn-about last week, I was flying off. I had a conf. in Vegas.
Admittedly, if you’re not into strippers & gambling… it’s not a big deal (ie I’M NOT!!). I was stuck in the hotel the whole time from around 7am-11pm (the conference was in the hotel). The only time I got to really see much of the city was on my morning runs down the Vegas strip. I’m thankful to be home though. A whole week without David or Jack, just had me out-of-sorts.