Usually as I get ready for church on Sunday mornings my husband has already gotten his shower and sits in his recliner in our living room watching the CBS program called Sunday Morning. He loves this show and I do too but I rarely ever get to see it.

I must have been ready a little earlier this week because I got to see a few segments of the show.

One segment in particular got my attention as they were remembering those we lost in 2017. The list started out with Mary Tyler Moore and listed a lot of famous people. About midway through the list it was spoken to remember all the men and women of our armed services that have lost their lives this past year.

I have seen this same memorial tribute played out on several award shows and several newscasts but that was the first time I ever heard the military sacrifice mentioned. I salute the Sunday Morning program for doing this.

Those thoughts led me into several more thoughts of issues that concern me.

There are many losses in our spheres of living other than just through death. We have lots and lots of children that have lost the security of having a Daddy and a Mommy living together in a family unit. We have divorced parents that carry the constant guilt of the hurt that their children feel that they over compensate by letting the children rule the roost and manipulate them as checkers on a checker board. We see presents and money taking the place of quality time well spent. We walk in rooms where no one talks to each other anymore but rather holds some type of electronic device as if it was an extension of their own hands.

We have grandparents that are lonely because grandchildren don’t want to come to their house because there is no WiFi or specific gaming system.

We are raising up a ME society where it is rare to see people sacrificing and doing for others without the expectation of something in return.

I am not saying everyone is like this but the clouds of change are rolling in.

I pondered on these thoughts and did a lot of soul searching of my own self. What can I do in 2018 to make it better? Sure, I received and enjoyed many blessings in 2017 but there are areas lacking.

I saw these words posted on a friend’s page and that is what I seek for 2018. A closer and more intimate walk with the Lord.

If I stay in tune with God where I need to be and keep my focus on improving me then hopefully the reward of doing that will be that I can be effective in my sphere of living and lessen a portion of the problems that I am concerned about.

We all have areas that can use improving. My thoughts tonight are to challenge each of us to be more effective and make a difference!

As a small child Christmas was such a special time for me.

One year my siblings and I had been told by our cousins that there really was no Santa Claus but that it was just our Mom and Dad playing a role. Somehow Mom and Dad found out how disallusioned we were and that particular year they took the time to make the deer prints and the sleigh skids in our front yard of heavy fallen snow and Daddy walked in single tracks with his big work boots into our house and back out since we had no chimney for Santa to come down.

We woke up the next morning just overjoyed with the newly ignited belief that Santa was real. We went back to our cousins bragging about how real Santa was and how they were badly mistaken!

We also grew up with an intense knowledge of Jesus Christ and there was never any doubt as to why we really have Christmas and Santa was just filled to overflowing with God’s love and shared that love with children and by giving.

We were poor but not such that we forgot others at Christmas. I remember Mom giving each of us kids a twenty dollar bill and taking us in the Ben Franklin store on the square and telling us that we were expected to pick out something for each person in our immediate family, make our own purchase, carry our bag of treasures home and wrap our own gifts in private and put them under our tree at home. I learned all my wrapping skills by watching Mr. Carlock wrap all Mom’s purchases at the Jenkins and Darwins store that was also on the square.

I don’t think the real meaning of Christmas hit home to me until the year that Danny was 16 and Mark and I were really struggling financially and all we could afford that year under the tree for our kids was socks and underwear and that was all.

On Christmas Eve of that year that I speak of, my Aunt Leretha and Uncle James came by early in the evening and gave each of us our Christmas money envelopes with a ten dollar bill inside just like they always did each year.

After my aunt and uncle left that night our four kids went into the bedroom and shut the door. In just a few minutes the older three came out and said that they had to go to the store for a minute and would be right back. Danny was the driver as he had just recently got a driver’s license. In just a few minutes they returned as promised and nabbed our youngest son and went back in that bedroom and shut the door again and when they came out the three older kids said they had to go back to town as they forgot something. We did think their behavior was very odd but let them go as we suspected it all had something to do with Christmas and after all it was Christmas Eve.

We had a tradition in our family since our kids were older that we would stay up on Christmas Eve until one minute after midnight and then open our gifts as it was then Christmas morning and after that we would all go to bed and sleep late…. it worked out perfectly!

As we opened our gifts that night the kids were bursting with excitement as we found out what all the secrecy had been about. The  pow wow in the bedroom had been to pool their money envelope ten dollar bills together and buy Mom and Dad a gift as we had no gifts under the tree but our youngest at first wouldn’t fork over his money so the older three took off and found the Worley Brother’s drug store still open up by Jerry’s IGA and proceeded to buy me a new Bible there and picked out something for their Dad but didn’t have enough money for his gift so they hurried back and thus the second pow wow in the bedroom and this time they really put pressure on little brother to hand over his money and they took off towards town again. By the time they reached Worley’s drug store it had closed and the BP station was all that was still open so there they bought 2 cans of oil for Mark and a can of WD40 and hurried back.

As we opened gifts that night to all of this and to my shame of them just getting nothing but socks and underwear and seeing that they really didn’t care but wanted us to have a Christmas it melted my heart so much. After they all went to bed, I sat here in the living room  and bawled my eyes out and wrote out a Christmas Card of love to them and placed it in the branches of our tree for them to find the next morning.

Of all the magical Christmases that I have ever had, that year lives in my heart as my most cherished one. Our children gave all they had to us with no thought of anything in return.

God gave all He had to us when His only son came down to earth as a tiny baby in a manger  to offer each of us the gift of salvation and it is all free for whoever is willing to accept the gift!

As an adult now and a woman of quite a few years I realize that God’s Christmas gift is my greatest treasure of my life! I have a Savior, a comforter, a friend, a compassionate listener, a loving corrector, an unfailing love of mine that carries me at times when I can’t even walk. He has been with me through every trial and every blessing of my life and as I write this with tears streaming down my face I want that for you too!

Merry Christmas every one! May the love of Christ find it’s way into your heart this Christmas!

I don’t remember the year but it doesn’t really matter anyway. Our twins were in middle school or grammar school as it was called in my day.

Melinda had been showing an interest in art and in music. I was in Paul Bowman’s 5 and 10 one day and I spotted this nice looking guitar. I was trying to buy more this Christmas than the usual socks and underwear for our kids.

I enquired of Paul what the price of the guitar was and he told me and I believe it was around 100.00 or maybe a little more.

I didn’t have that kind of money to spend so I walked away and left it there. I was telling my coworkers about the guitar and someone mentioned to me that Paul would let you make payments on the musical instruments. A few days later I went in and got that guitar for Melinda on payments and snuck it home and wrapped it and hid it in the garage.

In the weeks to follow I put our tree up and decorated our house for Christmas. I began to pull gifts out of hiding places and wrap them and put them under our tree. I always used name tags so each child knew ahead of time what was under the tree for them. In retrospect, naming the gifts was probably not the smartest thing to do.

Danny accidentally knocked the tree over one year with his bottom as he was in behind it trying to count his number of presents.

Melinda is normally a pretty upbeat person but this one particular Christmas her countenance slowly began to change….. everyone had gifts under the tree but her. The guitar was such an odd shape that even though I had wrapped it there was no way that she would not guess it and that was the only present she had as I was going to have to make payments for a year on it plus I tried to always spend the same amount of money on each kid and that one gift was her limit for that year.

As Christmas rapidly approached, Melinda smiled less and less and I probably didnt really notice as my life was so hectic back then.

One day Rachel came to me in private and asked why Melinda had no presents under the tree. I explained to her the why of it and she explained to me how sad Melinda had been. I think those kids were counting presents under that tree every time my back was turned.

Rachel went her merry way and immediately ran to Melinda and told her everything that I had said. That was back in the days before I realized that there are no secrets between twins and if you tell one in private you might as well tell them both at the same time so the story stays straight and it doesn’t get garbled up in the translation from one twin to the other.

Melinda was fine as soon as the cat was let out of the bag and when she opened her guitar that year she acted like she was surprised even though she had known for weeks.

Mark and I never exchanged gifts back in those years because it was all we could do to pay for the gifts for the kids.

i am really thankful for store owners like Paul Bowman and his 5 and dime where you could buy on credit sometimes.

Melinda still has that original guitar and says she will never sell it because she cherishes the fact that I made payments on it for a whole year at the 5 and dime.

Yesterday was the day that Sis decided to take me on my treasure hunt! Like I said previously, the mistletoe just hangs everywhere here in huge clusters right at an arm’s length away. We were driving along a country road and right on the roadside was this huge cluster of mistletoe just waiting for me! It is the most beautiful bough I have ever seen in my sixty one years.

Just down the road from where we found the mistletoe was a field full of gleaned cotton with several beautiful stalks of it that the machine missed. I was able to get all I want as it doesn’t come up every year and has to be replanted. I have always stood in awe of the beauty of a field of cotton. To me the sight of the pods bursting forth with the fluffy white softness is truly a wonder from God.

Next we head to the local Goodwill. Anyone that knows me in the least knows how I love finding treasures at Goodwill! Sheppard Air Force Base is nearby so this Goodwill is a really good one. Here I find the greatest treasure of all:

Today I drive to Oklahoma to see Rylan and do Christmas with him and family there and also attend Balee and Spencer’s baby shower for which I have been knitting for months for. God knows how the long drive here hurt my hips and back so much and I feel that He loves me enough to let me find a 2.99 travel cushion and a .99 cent back support! I sure felt the Father’s love in finding these treasures!

God is not a bell boy to me or a slave but He is my best friend. This trip has been amazing and not only am I taking home material treasures tomorrow as I drive back to Tennessee but I am taking lots of treasures of the heart.

My sister has had a rough year in a lot of ways and the battles are still ongoing as are my battles in my own life back home but our God is bigger than all we have or can possibly face and that is our greatest treasure of all!

As I write this it is Sunday morning here and for all of you that do not know Christ as your personal Savior, your treasure awaits you! Please find Him today!

My sister and both of her daughters are nurses and the two daughters both work at a hospice nursing facility here in town. Last night was their annual night to Christmas carol to the patients and I was so honored to be able to join in with them.

My great nieces and nephews and spouse of one of my nieces were with us too.

It was a little hard for me to see some of these patients as it brought back memories of our last days at the nursing facility with Granny Poston. I could see first hand that some of our recipients probably would not live to see this Christmas.

I think it is so important to do for others this time of year and to teach and encourage your children that Christmas is more than receiving gifts wrapped up under a tree.

I know that my sister and her girls work through a lot of our holidays and most people’s red letter days and they serve when the rest of us are celebrating. They work long, hard hours and lose a lot of sleep and their patients become extensions of their own families.

I had a family of military men and my sister has a family of nurse women…. it is all so much the same. Both groups of people are on the front lines serving others.

I salute my family here in Texas and was so happy last night to see their loving spirits in action!

Silent Night, Holy Night…. All is Calm, All is Bright…

Please take the time to remember others this Christmas!

Another day of laughter and good times!

My sister works from home some days so I sleep to my leisure just like I am a teenager or something. I have my own private suite here and a sleep number bed! Wow! She gives me her room even though I tell her not to.

When I get up I try to be as quiet as I can so she can work. I take my shower and dress and work on organizing my make-up bag which desperately needed it!

I hear a knock at the door and Sis brings me a cup of Pecan coffee. And then you wonder why I would drive 14 and 1/2 hours to get here! She does for me all the things I do for everybody else back home… here I get the royal treatment.

Sis returns to her office to work and I do what I do best and that is to Christmas decorate. Granddaughter Kaylee had started putting ornaments on the tree the night before but there were many left so I decided to try and make one of those coat hanger wreaths like I had been seeing on Facebook. It was easy and fun and turned out so pretty.

Sis comes back through and tells me she has 7 more charts to audit and then she will shower, dress and we will go into town and pick up some stuff at Hobby Lobby and grab a late lunch. I am all for it as I meant to get to Hobby Lobby before I left but never found the time.

On the drive here I noticed that the  mesquite trees just hang loaded with mistletoe. Every year I want Mark to go hunt me some and he has to shoot it down and last year he got fussed at by a property owner while getting it so I’m thinking why can’t I just grab some here somewhere before I leave since it is so plentiful. We drive by the city cemetery on our way into town and the tree lined sidewalks have trees just loaded and I am tall enough that I could just reach up and grab it! Of course I am running my mouth about it to Sis and she is laughing when I ask if I would get in trouble! I am always the country bumpkin that makes everyone laugh when I go somewhere new.

We do our shopping first as we decided that I would probably need a nap after lunch since I had been awake for 22 hours the day before. We finish our shopping and then Sis asks me what or where I would like to eat and since I cull nothing I tell her to choose.

She takes me to The Pioneer Restaurant as it was a family favorite when her daughters were small and even though it’s an older restaurant it has great food!

We walk in and the greeter meets us and asks how many and if we want a table or a booth and my sister says booth and asked that we be placed away from the breath of the door as it is freezing outside!

I look to the right where all these booths are and see what looks to me like propane wall heaters hanging in every booth… I think to myself how odd that is but Texas does have extreme winds and the building was very old so I think I have it all figured out by the time we walk to our booth.

We sat down and our sweet little waitress comes flying over and brings us chips and salsa and also squeeze bottles of homemade ranch and thousand island and it is meant to put on the homemade chips they just brought. Boy! It was so good like that. I look over at this thing on the wall and exclaim, Oh, it’s a jukebox…. I thought it was a propane heater!

Well now, just look at this! From a distance would you have thought it was a heater…. it’s BIG! Of course everything is in Texas.

When I said my comment about it being a jukebox and I thought it was a heater, my Sis says…..WHAT! The belly laughs start because sister already wants mistletoe from the city cemetery and now thinks jukeboxes look like heaters.

Like I said, you can’t take Lucy anywhere. This afternoon we go Christmas caroling at the nursing home where my nieces work… no telling what Lucy will get into there. I am wearing my snowflake sweater.

The JOY of the LORD is our strength. Be happy today…. Christmas is coming!

This morning at 2am I left my home to drive to Texas to visit my sister. I had asked Mark to go with me but he was fearful to drive that  long distance again since he had gotten a blood clot in his leg the last time that we went and he is still on blood thinners. He said he wished I would fly but I had several items that I wanted to transport out there and it was just better to drive.

I was very cautious today and only stopped for gas or food in very public places and made sure that my purse was across my body and that my car was locked up at all times. I was also very aware of my surroundings.

The total drive was 14 and 1/2 hours. After about 12 hours I was getting really uncomfortable in my seat so when I stopped for gas that last time I took a pillow from my back seat and sat on it for a little bit. After about 30 minutes of sitting on the pillow I felt really uncomfortable again and decided that I just needed to pull over somewhere and get out and do some stretches and movements to get the stiffness out.

I was on the last leg of the journey and there was hardly any safe looking places to stop. Finally, I saw a sign that said picnic area and handicapped accessible so I whipped in there quickly and jumped out of my car and here are some of the moves that I made.

I felt so much better! I hurriedly got back in my car and put the pillow behind my back as my shoulder blades had a bad hurting in them. As I started my engine and started to pull out there was a man in a green Mountaineer pulling a John Deere green trailer that was right on me. At first I didn’t think a thing about it but he never really stopped and when I pulled out he pulled out and followed me for a long distance.

All kinds of crazy thoughts were flying through my head and I was getting scared. I had had such a good day and had made no wrong turns or gotten lost and now this was happening! I began to plan how I might lose this person behind me and then he finally turned off.

As he drove away, I began to analyze the reason he had done that and it just dawned on me and I began to laugh uncontrollably. When I had hurriedly pulled off the road and was waving my arms frantically the man was a Good Samaritan thinking I had some emergency. I had been frailing my arms like I was trying to flag someone over.

I called my sister and said….. Lucille Ball has struck again and when I got to her house she took the above pictures of me so we could demonstrate to all of you.

Be careful where you exercise! Haha!

We both have laughed all afternoon.