Christmas Time and A Scary Time

Hello friends I hope you had a very Merry Christmas and that you are having a happy New Year. I know I have been out of touch lately and not posting as frequently as I usually do but it has been quite a scary time over here. I will get to that in just a minute.

Our Christmas was very quiet. The temps were unbelievably cold. On Friday before Christmas Eve 12 degrees F was the high temp for the day with morning lows at about 6 degrees F. Now that is really cold for us in the south.

My husband had to work all weekend so I went to my sister’s house for Christmas Eve and spent that time with her and my brother in law and nieces and nephews. Christmas Day I spent at home alone watching movies and eating snacks. It was quite wonderful. It would have been better of course if Mark had been there too but it has been this way a lot of holidays for us because of his job. Mark and I didn’t get to open our Christmas presents until Christmas night. That is fine because it’s not like we didn’t know what we were getting anyway. I’m not sure why we carry on with the gift wrapping and everything. We put most of our items that we are interested in in our Amazon gift cart or text pictures of what we want and where to find them. We then purchase them. One of us picks the presents up from the Post Office and then we do wrap them for each other. It sounds silly I know, but that’s just the way we roll over here. I think when you get to be our age you buy what you want when you want it anyway.

My nephew Caleb showing his bear feet house shoes I got him. I spotted them at a small shop close to home and I knew he would love them. His mom says he leaves them at the back door when he leaves and he puts them on the minute he comes back into the house. He is so funny.

One of my very favorite Christmas presents was this shawl wrap thingy that my nephew and his wife got me. I just had to do a runway modeling of it. The Santa hat and the intense model stare just added to it I think. HA! HA!

And now for the scary part. Several days this past week have been spent at the hospital with my sister Sandy. I think I may have mentioned that she has been feeling bad for the last couple of months. Watching her feel worse day after day has taken a toll on our whole family. She had been seeing several doctors for months and was diagnosed with anemia and a couple of other related issues. But she just continued to feel worse with every passing day. The day after Christmas she felt so bad that my brother in law and my nephew took her to the hospital ER. She was admitted and a lot of tests were done. Because she was immunosuppressed from other medications she was taking she was quarantined. Only two people could stay with her in the hospital. So me and my brother in law took turns staying a couple of days at a time. We are relieved to finally have some answers. It is not what we wanted to hear but it could have been so much worse. My sister has large b-cell Lymphoma. We are now in the planning stages with an oncologist so we can start to get her better. Prayers for all she is going to go through in the next few months is appreciated. She is a 35 year survivor of colon cancer. I know how strong she is. I know with God she can do this.

The night my sister was admitted to the hospital we had a freak snow. It snowed and at first it wasn’t bad at all. Then with cars driving on the road, because it happened right around rush hour 4:00 PM, the roads became slick and turned to ice and then more snow fell and it was just treacherous. I had planned to go to the hospital first thing the following morning to be with my sister but my driveway, which is very steep, was covered in snow and ice. Fortunately the temps warmed up fairly quick and with my husband’s help getting my car out of the driveway, I was able to inch my way out. My car is all wheel drive so it does pretty well on the road once I am out of the driveway.

We made the best of being at the hospital. Of course my time there was nothing compared to hers. We watched T.V and TikTok, read and of course I knit. The hospital had a great cafeteria and gift shop. They also had lots of after Christmas sales.

While my brother in law stayed with my sister in the hospital I kept my little nephew dog Max. He is precious and has been such a good boy for me. Even the kitties have adjusted to him. I won’t say they love him but they tolerate him. He is going home today so I will miss him. He is a great little snuggle bunny and loves sleeping right up against me.

So I say goodbye to 2022 with a great deal of relief. I feel that so much has happened this year it has really made me feel vulnerable and insecure. I lost my sister Pat in April, I lost my two precious kitties Milo and Buster just before that, I had Covid, my brother had open heart surgery, but good news there he is doing great!!! My precious dog baby Molly died and then my precious boy Scruffy. And now my sister has been diagnosed with Lymphoma.

I couldn’t sleep last night I was awake most of the night with a lot of thoughts on my mind. Around 3:00 AM I wrote these two Haiku:

So on to 2023. I am still and ever will be grateful for everything I have in my life. I have faith and it is strong. I am so grateful to all of you who take the time to read what I write. When I started this blog it was a way to journal and help keep track of my life through photos and sharing my words. It has become so much more than that to me. Thank you for being here.

Always remember

Love your day your way!!!!