EXCITED and BLESSED!

I just had to sit down for a few minutes to say that I am so EXCITED about Christmas! God has been so good to me this year. Could I "count His many blessings" to me? Well, I could try, but would only get so far, because His blessings are new EVERYDAY! I am really looking forward to my family being home with us this year. The grandbabies are old enough now to realize they are coming to "Mimi and Papa's" house and we're going to have FUN, FUN, FUN, and get to open gifts from everybody. Oh yes, it thrilled me when Brenda told me this morning "Savanna has been counting the days until we go to Mimi's house!" Scarlet was trying her best to "crawl through the phone" when I called them awhile ago. Brenda said, "Mom, Scarlet is about an inch from the phone. She is trying to figure out where you are!" They will be here tonight and will stay as long as they can. Andrew, Mandy and Alayna, are living here in Wichita Falls, but when Jon and Brenda get here they come over to our house and are here most of the time. Sometimes they pack up and come stay with us! It's so much fun!

In April '04 I wondered if life would ever be right again. From 2000-2004 my sisters and I lost our "brother, mother, and father". The pain of the loss was almost more than we could stand, but we have found that "life goes on" even when you don't think it will. Yes, LIFE CHANGED and the pain of change was TERRIBLE, but God has been GOOD to us through it all! We will always miss them terribly, and at Thanksgiving and Christmas it seems to be worse than at other times, but one of these days we will be together again, and that's what keeps me LIVING!

Memories flood my heart and mind as Christmas day approaches, and a lot of them come from ME being the "grandmother"! I LOVED going to Grandma's house. She always had her Christmas tree in the corner of the living room, and when we arrived, even if it was late in the night (it was a 5 hour trip) the lights on the tree were on and there was ALWAYS a pot of "white beans" on the stove. I was so EXCITED about being at Grandma's house! She usually told me what she bought me before I could open my gift. She couldn't hardly stand the suspense of surprises. I think every Christmas of my childhood I got a doll from Grandma and Grandpa Pound. I loved my newborn babies, my black baby, and my bride doll. The Christmas dinner was always so delicious. She made the best turkey and dressing and always had me come and taste it to see if it "tasted right". How would I have known? I was just a little girl! After several years of tasting the dressing, then I got really good at telling her what it needed. UMMMMM.....I can almost taste it now. After Christmas dinner with all the aunts, uncles, and cousins, the adults usually took naps, or went outside and lounged in the front yard while the kids played. We weren't in the house playing video games, since they didn't even exist, but I have a feeling that even if they had, we would have been "shooed" outside to play. The wonderful thing about it was we didn't have to play by ourselves for long. The adults would come out and we would "jump rope", play "catch", or "flying dutchman". Then when the adults were too tired to keep playing the kids would play "ditch"!

It was so much fun being with all my cousins. After it got dark and we were called inside there was always the time around the piano! Mother "tickled the ivory" as Grandpa would say, and we had to sing by "note" out of the songbooks! Everyone had their "part" they HAD to sing. If you didn't Grandpa would stop the song and correct you so that the song would be sung RIGHT! WOW! It was beautiful and fun!

I want so much for my grandkids to grow up enjoying their Christmases with Mimi and Papa like I did when I was a "child". I cannot allow sorrow to rule my life, lest I forget to have FUN with MY grandchildren, like Grandma and Grandpa showed us. They had a son die at 17, and a baby daughter die when she was around 6 months, yet they always showed me the JOY of LIVING! Thank you Grandma and Grandpa Pound for the great legacy of LOVE, JOY, PEACE and FUN! I will meet you, Keith, Mother, Daddy and all our loved ones who have gone before us "in the morning" around the THRONE!

Here is a reminder to all of us who remain here on earth: Talk, laugh, sing, play, and enjoy THIS Christmas with family and friends.

MERRY CHRISTMAS, EVERYONE!