Christmas Fun

As many of us that could, got together at Betsy and Anthony's for Christmas. We had a great time.

My parents opening their gifts.

Kate with her camera. When our family gets together, one must have a camera...for self-defense!

Dale opening his new Beagle wear coat. It's really nice--the nicest he's ever owned!

Betsy gave us pedicures (not the guys). I love the bright red; I usually only use pink.

This is the tag that came with a cute jar labeled "Brownie Points" I give Brownie Points when they do something especially nice. However, once in a while, I take some Brownie Points away. All in good fun. I try not to be a mean mother-in-law.

Betsy helping Lori see if there's enough salt in the mashed potatoes.

A feast fit for a king...and enough to feed his army! We had two hams and two turkeys with all the trimmings.

Anthony smoked a turkey for the first time. Turned out pretty good. The white meat was nice and moist.

Karen made one of her adorable gingerbread houses. (Yep, I got the chocolate door!)

Just hangin' out.


This was in Betsy and Anthony's front yard when we came home from shopping the day after Christmas. Actually, it was already dead and gutted out...and frozen. It was one Jeff shot and was giving to Ben. The neighbor's dog was having a fit behind the fence!

Remember, I try not to post pictures of my little grandchildren on this public blog. I plan to post more pictures on Facebook.

Friday Night Party Time

...or not. Actually, what I did with my Friday evening was go to the nursing home again. I heard that the Amish young people were going to be caroling there. I heard them last year and really enjoyed their singing style, so didn't want to miss out. They lined up in the hall, girls on one side, boys on the other, and sang in their unique way. Once when they were deciding which song to sing next, I asked if they had sung a song last year something about Star of Bethlehem. One of the adult ladies asked if I meant "Beautiful Star of Bethlehem", then she found the page number. Several pairs of eyes looked at me. That was the precise moment I realized that in the Amish community, the person who chooses the song starts each verse of it. Here, I'd thought that was just the way they practiced their songs. The lady had mercy, tho, and started it for me.

Making Christmas Cookies

Ingredients. Looks like we have our work cut out for us.
Oops!

This picture must have been taken early in the day; the kitchen is not yet in utter chaos.

Show that dough who's boss, Kate!

I believe the mincement is supposed to go on the cookie dough...

About this time I was lecturing Kate on the amount of iron found in different brands of molasses. Did you know that gingerbread is pure health food?


That's why I'm making a triple batch.

Kate's creative juices were flowing when she took the frosting bag in hand. She did these to replictate her parents...


...her brother Jeff (the policeman)...

her husband, Josh, the snowmobiler...

And you should have seen the native warriors, Hawaiians, etc. The ones I decorated were quite unimaginative.

Anyone like to stop in for some cookies and hot chocolate or Candy Cane Lane tea?

Cuteness

Shylo likes to use visuals when teaching Bible lessons. (This wasn't supposed to be a movie. Someone had used my camera and left it on movie mode.)

Just a few shots of today

Christmas in our kitchen (where Helper Elm Kate and I will be baking up a storm next week)

...and in the living room (I don't like the looks of these drapes as much as my pretty ruffled flounces from before, but they are much more energy efficient...and you'll see why that's important in some of the following pictures!)

First time we've ever done all white lights. Looks so pretty in real life.

Those mounds are not hills; they are piles of snow. Big piles of snow.

This pathway to the church is pretty much drifted shut by now, I think. Might have to snowshoe over in the morning!

These are snowflakes, not snowballs.

Heavy-duty icicles (middle part of them, anyway)

My little Shylo

Jeff's Article

Jeff wrote an article that appeared in The Morning Sun newspaper on Thanksgiving Day. Here's the link.

pages 19 & 21 on this link
http://epaper.morningstarpublishing.com/edition-mtp/data/20081127/03/MSUNMP/mbz.jsp;jsessionid=0A7E16CF2AC9BA551211BBC66457EC96?aldatum=20081127

If that link won't work, try this one, but it is missing the first couple paragraphs

http://www.themorningsun.com/articles/2008/11/27/sports/sunhunter/doc492eae7400dd5192442537.txt

Meet Shylo

Dale took me to the Animal Shelter on the way back from Muskegon today so I could pick out my Christmas present. Shylo is 7 months old and a very nice kitty.

She's adapting to her new home really well.

Playing cutesy!

In EVERYTHING Give Thanks...

We have so much to be thankful for...the Lord has blessed us bountifully



According to true Hammond tradition, here's our main course. We do have the usual side dishes: turkey, ham, mashed potatoes and gravy, sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, stuffing, veggies and dip, cranberry sauce, etc., to go with it. And yes, every single one of those black olives was consumed.



We were reminded again that we are to give thanks for everything. As dinner was being prepared, we received a call from my parents who were due to arrive for the festivities at any time. They had been in a car/deer accident and needed someone to come pick them up. Here's what I saw when I arrived:

It was a bad enough jolt that their airbags deployed. My dad's legs were hurt a bit so I took my folks to the hospital.

My mom's hearing kind of went in one ear, so they checked her out, too. The doc didn't think anything real serious had happened to them, so he let them go after examinations and some x-rays. They are doing okay, but quite shaken up.

We are so thankful that they were not hurt worse.

We had such a fun time with all the family that was able to be there, The girls and I got up very early Friday and went shopping like all the rest of the crazy people in America--and we laughed ourselves silly.

I took a bunch of pictures, but can't post them because they were either of the kids (which I don't want to put out for public viewing) or blurry. Some have the dubious honor of both. It was so wonderful to get together with family.

It's a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

This next picture looks suspiciously like one I had posted several months ago as "Springtime in Northern Michigan". We could call this one "Autumn in Northern Michigan"

Out of the Mouths of Babes

Kindergarten Granddaughter this morning: "It's so cold in here!"

Grandmother: "Would you like Grandma to turn up the heat?"

Granddaughter: "You have heat??? I didn't know you have heat!"

Not Much New

I guess it's been kind of a boring week. Busy...but nothing interesting to write about. I've mainly been playing catch-up. You know...all those little things (and some big whoppers) that seem to hang over one's head until ya just gotta take the time to clear 'em out. Not done yet, but making progress.

Can't Get This Song Out Of My Mind

A couple lines from an old song keep going through my mind today. The song was written by Stonewall Jackson and was popular when I was a teen in the turbulent 60's. It was about the draft dodger/war protesting problem that was big back then. But somehow, it just seems so fitting today.

"They march in lines and carry signs protesters one and all
They'd rather go to prison than to heed their country's call
Get out of here, get out of there, let's have an end to war
I'm glad they weren't around to say get out of Valley Forge.
The Minute Men are turning in their graves
Washington and Jefferson are crying tears of shame
To see these men who'd rather live as slaves
The Minute Men are turning in their graves.

What's happened to our heritage, what's happen to our pride?
Since when do free Americans pull for the other side?
Did we send food to Hitler's troops or praise the enemy?
Did all our children die in vain defending liberty?
The Minute Men are turning in their graves...

I can't condemn a man who feels that taking life is wrong
But I fail to understand a man that won't defend his home
Dear Lord I've got one little prayer I pray in years to come
Don't ever let those kind of people serve in Washington
The Minute Men are turning in their graves...

Oh the Minute Men are turning in their graves
Oh the Minute Men are turning in their graves"

CERT

I received my CERT backpack and stuff tonight. (Excuse the dorky way I look; slept less than 4 hours last night.) I have added some other stuff since.

New Windows

New windows were installed in the upstairs here tonight. They are so nice! Here's what they found when removing one of the old ones. Guess that explains our frequent wasp problem.

Someone Must Have Shopped 'Til They Dropped

Or were there just some great deals at WalMart that couldn't be passed up?


Obviously, the driver was not inside buying cigarettes!