My New Addiction

Thanks to the technology of live web cams, my new addiction is watching Impalas, Wilderbeasts, Zebras, Giraffes, Elephants, and more, at the Nkorho Pan watering hole in Africa. If you want to get addicted too, check out Africam!

Sunday Blog Challenge 11.19.06

Sunday Blog Challenge from Two Peas in Bucket

Challenge:
Holiday Sparkle or Traditional Mistletoe? Share your preferences for Christmas decorating... what kinds of things do you love?

Traditional Mistletoe. I love Christmas and all the traditions surrounding it!

Our main Christmas tree is old-fashioned looking, with a popcorn chain, candy canes and Gingerbread cookies on it. The ornaments are all different and each one has sentimental value. Decorating the Christmas tree is a family affair. We play Christmas music and drink eggnog, while we unwrap the ornaments and relive the memories that surround them. Every year, we give a special gift ornament to each child....one that has been selected especially for them, based on their interests or achievements that year.

My large Christmas village is set up on a table in the living room and, most years, a new house is added to it. I also collect crèche scenes, which I display on our hutch, fireplace mantle, corner cabinet, and elsewhere throughout the house.

We have a small tabletop tree in our dining room, with miniature ornaments on it & a miniature crèche scene under it. In our enclosed porch, we have a large artificial tree, which can be viewed from our dining room through a sliding glass door. A train goes around and around the tree and a small Christmas village is displayed under the tree. The ornaments on that tree are ones we've inherited.

I collect balsam and pine greens, from our woodland, to use for decorating. I have pine cones wreaths, made from pine cones collected in our woods. Some years, I make a Partridge Berry terrarium.

I love the look and feel of an old-fashioned country Christmas! I even hang up mistletoe! :)

Memorial service, movie review & other stuff

It's been awhile since I've written anything in this blog, so here's an update.

The week-end of Oct. 21st, we went to Vermont for my Dad's memorial service. No condolences are necessary, as it's been almost three years since he passed away. His urn has been sitting on my fireplace mantle all this time, but recently my Mom decided she wanted the urn to be buried. So, we made the arrangements and we buried him in the cemetery on an island in Lake Champlain, where my parents used to live. My Dad loved the island, so I know he'd be pleased with our cemetery choice.

My Dad's death didn't come as a surprise. Not only was he just a few days shy of being 88 when he passed away, but six months earlier he had coded and been resuscitated 8 times. He shouldn't have lived as long as he did! It's funny how no matter how well prepared you think you are for someone to die though, sometimes you're not really prepared at all. And, it's funny how almost three years after your Dad dies, it can still make you cry when you try to write about it in your blog.

Please excuse my Mom's "back side", but for privacy's sake, I didn't want to show the photos with her face.

My Mom ~ photo taken the day after the Memorial Service

The week-end of Oct. 28th was the Fall Cyber Crop at Memory Book Inspirations. It was awesome!

This past Wednesday, we went to see the movie "Flags of Our Fathers". Our seventeen year old, Brittany, treated us. Wasn't that sweet of her? Although normally I wouldn't consider "Flags of Our Fathers" to be my type of movie, I really enjoyed it! Although there were some very gruesome scenes, overall the movie was extremely powerful and educational. I can't wait until it comes out on DVD, so I can watch it again!

Well, I guess that's about it for the latest news. Most everything else has been status quo.