Fred and Gran Nella's Nativities.

Tymothie's darling son Fred calls me Gran Nella. (You can read more about Fred here) When Tymothie got Fred he declared me Fred's granny... I balked at that, and originally was going to be a Gran Mere (french for grandmother) but Fred started calling me Gran Nella, and it stuck. Fred loves this particular nativity because for him it is life size. He wanted to go visit baby Jesus, so he climbed up on the table to visit for a while.

O Christmas Tree

I really hate that song btw, but I love this time of year. Here are a few pictures that I took of some ornaments on my tree.

Q and I always get a new ornament for each member of the family each year. Ours is always two characters together. This is the first one we got 14 years ago. It is nifty cause the place we lived had a fireplace, and also because it is soooooo cheep it almost bends out of place every year. Why is that neat? We were poor. Memories help me appreciate what I have now.

Anybody else out there been poor? What has it taught you?

I am... (Becky you are good girl!)

Once again Becky got it right... I've never met you IRL Becky but we must be soul sistas or something... lol
In case you didn't see her comment, Becky wrote...

I see this all the time here... my kids love to step through it and make "foot tracks" In the morning the moisture in the ground raises up as it freezes into ice crystals, taking bits and pieces of soil for a ride.

This is fun. :-D

I have to agree Becky, this is fun. I totally love your explanation too. As a kid, when I would go to the bus stop on cold mornings, I loved to see in the ditch where the water had frozen and lifted pieces of dirt, or leaves up into the air on stilts... Neat o.
Here is my road I live on, it is a dirt road, all the white is ice...
Here is a leaf lifted on ice stilts.

Here is a side view of the ice stilts holding the leaf up.

All the little red pieces on top of the ice are simply pieces of good ole Alabama Red Clay!

What am I?

I like this game... I think it is fun. So can anyone tell me what it is? I will not publish any comments for 24 hrs so everyone can play with out their fun being spoiled by quick guessers! If you click on the picture you can view it bigger.

Happy Guessing!!!

I love my Church...

Well, Juju snuck into that one...



Here are some pictures of our Christmas Decorations. Sister Barbara did most of the decorating she is indispensable!




The wreath with the candles is because the Sundays before Christmas we are observing advent. It is interesting.

Christmas Traditions

Here is a picture of one of my nativities at our church in the foyer.

I love Christmas time! I collect Nativities. Every year at Christmas time I put away all of my nick knacks and replace them all with nativities. I have about 20 of them. Every year, the children each want to set up a nativity. It just blesses my heart. I love knowing I am teaching her the true meaning of Christmas.


Here is a picture of Anny setting up a nativity in our "Poppy Cock"


What kind of traditions do you have that you have passed down to your children? Specifically things to do with your religion. If you read this, please take the time to comment, I need it for a research paper I am doing in Biology on why parents feel a need to teach their children about their faith.
Thanks Bloggies I know you will help me!

Our New Addition!

You guessed it! We got a puppy. She is part of the kids christmas present. She is a Mutt. We named her Precious.

Black Friday

I love black friday... all the madness and fun... I got a new comforter set today... baby blue and chocolate. For those of you who don't know the story of my beautiful bed, here it is.


New Wine, Old Air Mattress?
When we moved to Alabama in 2006, we had been renting a queen-size bed from a rent to own place. Knowing that we would be staying with my parents for two months, we decided to let the bed go back. We could not see paying for it to stay in storage. However, if I had known then what was going to happen, I probably would have kept it... But, God had a better plan.
At Mom’s house, we wound up sleeping on an air mattress. Not just any air mattress, one of those fancy ones with an electric pump. That was ok for a while, until one of my children decided to see how resilient an air mattress is when stabbed with a metal fingernail file. Can’t u hear it now? POW! SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSsssssssssssssss! Needless to say, the file won. So, I patched it using Q-tip cotton and crazy glue (don’t be alarmed when it begins to smoke, it’s part of the process). Then we sprung another leak, so I got out the Q-tips and crazy glue again. That was fine until the patch began to leak. Then I put on more Q-tip cotton and crazy glue. That made the whole area so stiff it cracked. So, I got an idea; I plugged in my hot glue gun. I didn’t want it too hot, so after the glue began to melt, I unplugged it. Then I began to goop it over the hole. If you sit on and air mattress that has a hole in it, and squeeze hot glue onto it, it makes some really cool glue bubbles, but does nothing to fix the hole. So, I got smart... I let all of the air out, and then put on more glue. Need I tell you that it still leaks?
Kind of reminds me of Matthew 9: 16-17

People don't sew a patch of new cloth on old clothes. The new piece will pull away from the old. That will make the tear worse. People don't pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst. The wine will run out, and the wineskins will be destroyed. No, everyone pours new wine into new wineskins. Then both are saved.

We have to be refreshed and renewed by God in order to be ready for the new wine. I need a new bed!



God’s Plan was sooo
much better; I now
have a king-size bed
DEBT FREE!

Thanksgiving...

I wanted a cute picture of the thanksgiving table like Deanna and Tara found... So I took one of my table. We are so blessed. We had 13 for thanksgiving today. My family and kids (minus Sam, she had to work) and my sister Shannon, and her husband and five kids. Quintin and I put on a wonderful feast, in spite of loosing our thanksgiving manifesto... No I am not kidding. We lost our cook book with all of our recipes in it. Thankfully, we have done this for 14 years now, so we have most of them memorised. My hubby is sssssooooooooooo amazing! He has it all planned like clock work. We know exactly what has to be done on Wednesday night and on Thursday. The only thing that threw us off, is Shannon and Wendell came a little early... thankfully Christeonnah had just called them, and they had said that they were leaving, so we ran around to finish some cleaning. As we were setting the table noticed the dishes seemed dusty... So I said, "Did you wash these before you put them in the China Cabinet?" and Que said no... So we had to wash all 33 dishes at the last minute... and did so in 5 minutes... Go us!

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Thank you Elfs!

Yesterday after church Sister Yovonne, and Sister Barbara said they wanted to speak with me. I said "Uh-oh I am in trouble!" But I knew better, they only intended love. They took me up to the front row, and there sat three boxes full of Christmas Dishes. I almost cried... They said some little elfs had dropped them off for me.

When Anny saw them she said "Wow! what an awesome Tea Set!" lol

Happy BIrthday Shirley! (a little early)

A couple of years ago, my sister and I decided to have a "spend-the-night" party for mom's birthday. So, for the first time in 18 years (since my sister has been married) we both spent the night at "home". It was so much fun that we made it a tradition to do it every year. We always watch at least 4 movies. (This year we watched Becoming Jane, pretty good movie.) I always bring mini chocolate eclairs, creme puffs, and dibbs... Shannon brings supper We have so much fun! You should try it, you are never too old for a sleep over!
Obviously since I am in it, I probably didn't take this picture... although I have so don't put it past me. However, thank you to Dad for his wonderful picture skills.

Turkey Trouble

Sarah Palin pardons one turkey while another behind her isn't so lucky... Some people say this video is disturbing... only if you don't realize the turkey on your plate was once alive and is now in your mouth... lol I tried to embed it, but it won't, so google "Palin pardons Turkey". or click here

Sorry guys...

I have been sick with the crud, and starting a new job, not alot of time... love to all!