Christmas Day

Today is Christmas and its 10:06pm. The day started out getting up early and we have some traditions in our household as I am sure most family's do. Ours starts out with each of us getting our stockings and normally they are filled with fun little trinkets that relate to each of us. Mine of course had things with horses and dogs since I spend a lot of time riding my horse and enjoying my two jack russell's. One of Dads stocking stuffers was a harmonica and as soon as the package was opened he began to play us a tune or two and he can really play it! It would take quite a bit of time sharing what all of us did receive in our stockings since there were 9 of us total but trust me each of us had a wonderful time and had a lot of good laughs. After the stocking stuffers it was time for the breakfast casserole's and they are always YUM! Then it was time to get into the gifts and that we did, from remote control helicopters to Jewelry and more. We all enjoyed opening gifts and it is even better to watch the kids open they make Christmas so much fun.

We had our big Christmas dinner yesterday evening so all day today we munched on left overs and when I say all day I mean all day!!!! Me and my sister Lori and her son Ryan decided to go on a hike up Chestnut Mountain and try to burn some calories. I have to say I now know for sure that I am totally out of shape but I endured it and glad that I did because the view that high up was beautiful. From that view we could see Mom & Dads cabin and normally you would not be able to but because its winter the leaves are gone off the trees so we had a clear shot at it. Anyway we made it back down just in enough time to see a Frosty (snowman) sighting and that was fun :-).

It's late and time to close out this blog, but I do want to add a few more lines. Christmas is about celebrating the birth of Jesus and I am thankful to my parents for bringing me up in a home that loves the Lord. I feel very blessed today!

Karen

With My Niece & Nephew On The Trail in Blairsville Georgia

Yesterday I spent the day running around buying stocking stuffer's, every year we all have our own stockings with fun things in them so I needed to find some cute things to go into a few specific ones. So in between stops we had to have some fun time so my nephew Ryan and Niece Kylie decided to hang out with Aunt Karen (of course ). We had some fun going hiking, they wanted to see if the creek was frozen since it got down to 11 degrees the night before. There creek was not frozen but there was a lot of iced over branches which made everything look pretty but that still did not take away the fact that it was so blame cold but we had fun regardless.

Later in the evening Mom made wedding soup with her famous salad! We were all eating like it was our last meal. Then we had a fire outside and roasted marshmallow even though it was cold we all endured it and the kids got such a kick out of it. To top the evening out Ryan & Kylie planned a concert for us! They played 5 songs on Rock Band, Kylie played the guitar and Ryan played the drums and they did a great job.

Well that is it for now I will get back soon with another blog since there is so much to share on Christmas and its not often when all of our family is together.

Karen

In Blairsville Georgia

Just got to Blairsville Georgia yesterday to spend the Christmas holidays with my family and it's FREEZING today! 11 degrees of cold weather that we woke up to. It's nice to be here with family and that makes me think about Christmas' from years back as a child when all of my grandparents were alive and how excited I was to open presents and then have Christmas dinner at my grandmother Berry's house. Their house was (still standing) a wood framed house with no central hear and air, only huge fan and several heaters in different rooms but somehow it always seemed to be toasty in grandma Berry's house even when it was not cold, that was just the way she always made us feel! I miss all of my family members that have passed away over the years but I especially miss Grandma Berry! She is with us in our hearts though and I feel that. It's nice how different holidays can bring back wonderful memories.

That is all for now gotta play Rock Band 2 with my niece and nephew!

Karen