LET'S HAVE A LITTLE CHRISTMAS

It's official - the Christmas season is upon our household! I think this is the first year our tree is up so early and we have our number 2 son, Brian to thank for that. Thanks, Brian - you did a great job. Our lights are out, another first for being early. Our wreaths are also up so, our house is now deemed  decorated and ready for Santa!  We do not have one ornament on our tree, just lights, more lights and red bows - tastefully simple.

Its so nice to come down  the stairs in the morning seeing our tree in our living room - I'm loving it!

That's about all that is done tho - I am at a loss as to what to get our grand kids - they all want electronics, even our youngest I'm not sure what to buy, and I'm even at a loss for our kids.
last year I had a lot of luck on line, but not so much this year. I've added to my gift giving also - 4 more are added on to my list - all for a good cause.

I'm always afraid I will disappoint someone with their gift. Then when you think you found the "gift" - on Christmas you findt out that - nada - nope you didn't find the right gift.  So out come the receipts or the gift vouchers and they have to go back to get what they want. There  should be a law that no one is allowed to return anything unless it is the wrong size .

I truly miss my parents, more so during the holidays then at any other time. It was always festive at my parents home. All the wonderful smells that hit you when you opened the door and hearing Christmas music playing.

 To this day, I know no one else who could come close to having all the friends like my parents did. The phone rang constantly and  people were always coming over for coffee or baking with my mom. 
My dad was president of No. 1 Fire hall for years and my mom had that magnetic personality that drew people to her.
Now a days people don't just drop in for coffee, at least not on my street. In the summer we are lucky if we saw two people outside!  When we lived on Pittsburgh Street and Grant Street,  people did come for coffee or were always outside stopping in to talk, This street we live on now is an old street and people pretty much keep to themselves.  It was very hard to get use to when we moved here, no traffic sounds, lack of people. It was very lonely for me.  But, just like with everything else that happens in life, I adjusted and got use to the quiet of people and traffic. We were only the 9th or 10 house built on our street. We had loads of blackberry bushes and apples. Slowly more houses were being built but the people stayed inside. Now the street is filled.  I love my backyard because our property ends where the woods start - nice and peaceful.  My boys were little and when they started school I met a lot of nice people and joining the PTA helped a lot.  You know, I don't think it is called the
PTA any longer. I'm not sure on that --I will have to ask.

My mom and dad always made the pizzales together. Just the two of the two of them with Christmas music playing. Their love was strong and my dad put my mom on a pedestal till the day he passed.
Gosh, how I would truly love to have Christmas one more time with my parents. Sometimes that feeling is so very strong, like I just want it to happen, right now.
 I wonder if anyone else ever feels that urgent need?

I do  reading about blogging and they say you should not talk about yourself. You should talk about something interesting to draw the people to your site.  I could do that - I could talk about how I love to make home made bread or the time Brian made 1 pie and used 5 lbs of flour and yet the pie was delicious. I could go on and on but again it is about my family and my self.  That's OK by me if no one is drawn to my blog or they don't find it interesting. I write for myself.  I wish my sons and their family would read it tho, so they could find out about their parents lives. But they are sons, and not one of them comment on it to say if they read it or not and I am not about to ask, I just assume they don't.  I'm not their number one person, they idolize their dad, they are always calling him about this or that. They have a lot in common with him, hunting, music, computers - so much more. My oldest son calls and ask about recipes or he calls to tell me about a memory he has about my parents. Both Brian and Ron always play polka's because every time we visited my parents on Sunday, polka's were always playing. Doug and Jeff were much younger and dont remember  much about that.

I will continue this at another time . . . . . . . . . .  . . .maybe, or just start another titile blog

In the meantime I hope you all are enjoying the holiday season - Merry Christmas to all in case I don't post till after wards.
Also I have a very special prayer request - please pray for the lady who is having a health problem. so it is nothing serious

rockportdee@yahoo.com

Let us remember the true meaning of Christmas    Happy Birthday Dear Jesus
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Oh Theres No Place Like Home for the Holidays

Here we are, the week before Thanksgiving, and  Christmas tunes are playing on the radio continually, they won't stop till Christmas Day. We will be so sick of this beautiful music because of repetition over and over again.
Not only that, but there were at least 6 trees decorated and all through the lobby of the hospital when I was there on Thursday.
And driving home this evening one house has their tree up and lit, they had their curtains open and the tree was lit in its glory.

Whats wrong with everyone?  Why is everyone so determined to by- pass a wonderful holiday?
Thanksgiving.  A day to thank God for all of our blessings, to spend the day with our families- together, instead of hurrying through dinner because of the great sales being held. Trust me, they will have more great sales..For people leaving the gathering early so they can go home and get ready to shop is ridiculous. Stay with the family, play games or watch a special program, share the day with your loved ones AND 
boycott the stores now - before it gets out of hand and Thanksgiving will be known as a great shopping day instead of being known for what it is THANKSGIVING.

Everyone is so into material things, that they forget the real meaning of  the holidays. ALL the holidays, not just this one. Step back and look at what the world is turning into - really -  look around, take a good look and realize that you do not want to be a part of the material things, of rushing out to get a good deal, to stand in line with all the others for the same deal. Be thankful for your love ones around you and enjoy them -

Mom, whats Thanksgiving?

In the years to come, when some of us no longer walk the face of the earth, will the Thanksgiving Day holiday still be celebrated? You know the one - where family and friends gather together like the Settlers and Indians did to gave thanks of gratitude to God.

A day for being thankful for all of God's blessings. Yes, we are thankful every day, but this is a special day of thanks. A day spent breaking bread with our family and friends, followed by the guys watching football, the boys playing football outside (weather permitting). The women, if not with the men watching football, then together talking about everything & anything, while the young girls play with each other or everyones playing family games. Some families spend Thanksgiving going to the theater together or skiing. We spend the day with music. Our family (except for me) can sing and play instruments together making them popular among friends and family. They are known as The
 Family Tradition Band. Some of you may have heard them play at functions.

What we are NOT doing is going shopping for Christmas specials, ordering on line or doing anything not related to Thanksgiving.  Media and retail have been advertising for weeks, actually when the Halloween decorations went out, so did the Christmas ones! Crazy, eh? but so true. I walked into a store and saw the Halloween and Christmas decorations side by side. It first made me mad and then I felt sad, still do for that matter. They are trying to by pass Thanksgiving, because it is not a big money maker for them, so they are pushing Christmas shopping.

Who of you remember when we kept holy the Sabbath day? All the stores were closed, it was a day of worship and rest for everyone. Everyone stayed in their "Sunday" clothes and spent the day with family or exended family. But slowly the stores, one here, one there started to open up on Sundays and pretty soon every store was open and no one treated Sunday as a day or worship or rest.

Thats what will happen with Thanksgiving unless we do something to stop it. Stop this insanity by NOT letting them win, not shopping for Christmas until AFTER Thanksgiving. Or else someday, when some of us no longer walk the face of the earth, there will be a little child looking at a beat up, dog eared Thanksgiving book asking their mom and dad - what's is this about? Whats Thanksgiving?

Think about it `~`~HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE`~`~` 

OBSERVATION OF LIFE

     LIGHT UP NIGHT FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 18    downtown    Pittsburgh - and it is not a joke!! 

Rushing through the holidays of life is not something I want to do, I want to enjoy Halloween, then Thanksgiving, then Christmas - I like to give each holiday its due.
When I worked full time, Halloween came and went, along with Thanksgiving and Christmas. I was not able to enjoy any of it the way the it should of been enjoyed. Working 8 hrs, coming home and taking care of the house, cooking, plus washing etc., did not leave much time for extra work that come with the holidays. There is the hustle and bustle, the fun kind, and then there is the" I hate this because I don't have the time and still do everything else that needs done". Having to go back to work the next day took away from all the happiness of the holiday I just celebrated. A lot of people are fortunate to schedule their vacations around the holidays but not many.
My dad use to take the week between Christmas and New Years off and during that time we would visit relatives, have relatives and friends over.  It was always such a fun time.
Everyone thought it was awful  when the stores would decorate for Christmas the week before Thanksgiving, BUT NOW, the stores are in full Christmas decorations by the early part of October.
So, how can I enjoy and celebrate the holidays before Christmas, whenever Christmas decorations are all I see when I go into a store now? They have the Halloween decorations up with the Christmas decorations. Thanksgiving, I hardly see any Thanksgiving decorations out except in the grocery store.
I feel bad for the kids today, I was able to enjoy the Happy Day kind of life. Today - Mayberry would be hard to find anywhere.

LITTLE THINGS MEAN A LOT

With heavy heart I went to Lower Burrell because I wanted to buy a shirt to honor Officer Derek. When I pulled in I was surprised at the amount of cars parked and people walking in and out.  It was 9:45 am!  As  I walked up the ramp I saw all the flowers lined up to the entrance door for Officer Derek Kotecki to honor him, or to show their sorrow.

The people were very nice and it wasn't a place full of doom, no, it was a place with smiles and thank yous for caring enough to come in. The shirts were doing a brisk business,  I was lucky that they had my size and they had the wrist bands there so I bought one of them along with the shirt.  I felt much better leaving then I did walking in. I felt good because I helped and because the people smiled and were so thankful.

They have a web site set up so people can see pictures of the family and to let people post what they are feeling. I'm sure it  not only gives comfort to the family but to the ones that visit his face book page.

Most of you know that my youngest son is a policeman. I am not a happy camper about his choice of career, but I don't have a say so of how he wants to live his life. I just pray a lot.
 I grew up with a scanner in our house because my dad was very involved in the fire hall and was president for so many years, when my brother was old enough he became involved also. That scanner use to make me a nervous wreck and I was only a teenager. It let you know everything that was happening in and around my home town.  When someone needed an ambulance, if someone got hurt fighting a fire - so often my heart would beat so hard because of the scanner.  So, I do not want a scanner in our home today. This was especially true when my sons were teenagers and driving. If they were late meeting their curfew I would go spastic. Call me whatever, but know I would  always be jumping in my skin whenever the dang thing would go off.  Even though none of sons live in my hometown now, I still don't want to hear it.
It might seem to seem to you that I am a weakling or a coward by not having a scanner, so be it. I just know I live a lot calmer life.

Wonder how many of you who read this have a scanner? and what is your opinion?

SMILE PRETTY

It never ceases to amaze me to look at people who have such beautiful teeth. So white, so even =, such pretty smiles. Do they realize how lucky they are?
Growing up in the 1950's, braces were hardly ever mentioned, you went to the dentist if you had a toothache, but not for monthly maintenance. At least not where I grew up. As I got older I was more aware of my smile and started to take better ...care of my teeth, but no way can they even come close to looking like the bright fresh smiles that people have today.
It makes me feel good to know we were able to put all 4 of our sons in braces so they could have nice teeth. It makes me feel bad that we had bad experience with our two older sons. The orthodontist said they each had to have teeth pulled so the braces would pull the teeth back in place . So trusting in him we did that and to this day both of my 2 sons have gaps that never filled in. They cant be seen from smiling because they were pulled in the back. My younger two did not have any teeth pulled.
They had their braces on forever and a day - and now they have to frequently go to the dentist because of the damage the braces did to their teeth. Of course I get picked on because of that (lol). But when they smile I think what beautiful smiles they have.
We mothers, we try to do the best we can for our children but sometimes we screw up without intentionally doing so. Moral of this is ~~~ take care of your teeth and those of your family by checking into the background of the dentist you choose.See More

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WORK FRIENDS

Your friends

Dee Clark

Working next to people everyday or part of the time, you tend to think of them as part of your life, After all you see them everyday, share lunch, talk about your families, and sometimes spend more time with them then your own family.
You come to look forward to seeing them or sharing your news with them. Then one day, it's over - they either have left for another job or you have left for another... job. A person you have spent years with at work you no longer will see everyday or share lunch with. But that's ok, because you think that even though you will no longer be working together, you will still remain good friends.
How so no true! You get invovled in the new job, your busy trying to fit in, The phone rings and it is your previous co-worker, You want to talk to them, you really do, but there is so much pressure put on you in learning the ropes of your new job that you have to say no. Therefore you have to refuse and say that they will get together soon. But as the days go by, and then the weeks you know that you still have a friend but not the close friend you thought you had when working with them.
The only ones that make out by not losing touch with the person is their immediate family. They will continue to see or talk to them everyday. The closeness still stays but the people you work with walk in and out of your life without looking back ~