This has been a wonderful Thanksgiving and Christmas for Bill and me.

 

We had a nice visit with Joe and his children, Austin, Madison and Grace and Jimmy and his children, Savannah and Collin with us for Thanksgiving. Martina is a member of the local Fire Department and was on duty for the Thanksgiving holiday. Krista and her mom, Edna, had a wedding in Baltimore to attend so it was just the sons and grandchildren. Although we missed the girls, we still had a very nice Thanksgiving with all the trimmings. My sister, June, in Texas sent Texas pecans to us so we could enjoy pecan pies along with turkey and all the trimmings, ham and numerous other side dishes and desserts. These pies were the best we've had since we left Texas.

 

While the grandchildren are here on Thanksgiving, it has become a tradition to have Christmas ornament kits for each of them to make an ornament for their family tree. This year, we made pine cone angels and they turned out beautiful. The children are always a joy during this time. They are so proud of their ornaments as they should be because they all do a beautiful job of making them. This one makes a wonderful additon to our Angel Tree that we decorate in memory of Tracy ever year.

 

I have saved a large box of toys over the years. Many were purchased for the grandchildren and many are toys that our daughter, Tracy, used to play with when she was a child. The grands enjoy rummaging through that box and are very creative in the ways they play with them. We have a set of balls and velcro-type catchers that go with them. Here, are Savannah and Austin on one team and Grace, Madison and Collin on the other playing catch in our backyard. I don't know who won but they seemed to have a great time.

 

We had quite a bit of snow in December plus the not-so-fun ice storms ... so far, we've had 3 of those. Max loves to run and play in the snow. He also loves to go for long walks so he and Bill were able to combine both of those playtimes for him with our most recent snow. I cheated a little bit here and combined two of the photos I took of them as they headed off up the hill to the back of our property for a romp in the snow.

 

This year's Angel Tree for Tracy has a lot of new angels including the Pinecone Angel the Grands and I made during Thanksgiving weekend. We have so many beautiful angels plus a lot of whimsical ones that are a lot of fun, too. I know Tracy would've loved those as well as the pretty ones. It is always such a good feeling for me to decorate the tree and think of Tracy as I do it. She loved Christmas and decorating so it's a labor of love for me. I got several new angels on a weekend shopping trip to St Louis that several of my friends in Quincy Newcomers took early in December this year. I also received many from friends this year. Even my dentist's office contributed an angel! They are all treasured ornaments for me. I try to note somewhere on the ornament the year and the person who added it to our angel collection. The little stuffed angel at the bottom just right of center was made by Tracy in 3rd grade. It is a really special angel. We also have a ballerina angel, a baseball angel, an Eskimo angel and several cowgirl angels.

 

Angel Tree for Tracy

 

This year, I knitted caps and scarves for the granddaughters and our only great-granddaughter using a really fun furry yarn called Bernat Boa. They turned out so cute. I made six sets in all; 1 pink (Aubrey's), 3 green (Madison, Savannah and our friend Casey's) and 2 blue (Caitlin and Gracie's). The hats are just simple knit caps and the scarves are 'keyhole' scarves so the younger ones' mommies don't have to worry with tying and untying the scarves but can just slip them over the girls' heads. The boys hats were knit from 'cammo' yarn. I made two of those ..... one for Collin and one for Austin. I don't have photos of the ones that I mailed, yet but hope to have them, soon. Also, Savannah's photo taken in her hat and scarf didn't come out so I'll post hers, also when I receive a new one from her. You can download a printable .pdf file of both cap and scarf here.

 

Austin and Collin

 

Madison and Grace

 

We went to Jimmy's home for Christmas Day with his family and Joe's family this year. We hadn't visited Jimmy in his new home and what a treat it was. Their home is just beautiful with lots of room for the kids both inside and outside. They're out in the country but still very close to town. It's an ideal place to raise children, we think.

Joe — Bill — Jimmy

 

Joe has also bought property in the area and will be starting construction of their new home, soon, too. We had a great visit for the better part of the day. We all ate too much but it was all so good, how could we help it? We missed seeing our other two boys and their families but they're always close in our hearts.

Martina — Savannah — Gayle — Grace —Edna —Madison — Krista

 

Although they weren't able to be with us, I have new photos of Brad's family and photos of Jim's family when they were here last year from Australia. As soon as I get new ones from Jim & Trish for this year, I'll post them also.

 

This is our littlest angel, our great-granddaughter, Aubrey. Aubrey is 18 months old and grows more precious every day. She just lives too far away from us! It's probably best because if she were closer, we'd spoil her every single day. Isn't she beautiful?

And no wonder ... this is her Dad, Seth, and her beautiful Mom, Tara (our next-eldest grandson and granddaughter-in-law).

 

This is Brad, our eldest son and his wife, Jill. They are Josh and Seth's parents. Josh, our eldest grandson, didn't grace us with a photo of himself this year but, trust me, he's just as handsome as all the other men in our family. As soon as I have a photo of him, I'll add it to this family page.

 

This is Jim, our next-eldest son, his wife, Trish and their daughter, Caitlin (our granddaughter). They are much too far away in Western Australia but did get to come visit for Christmas last year. We had a wonderful visit and keep the memory of it close to us, always.

 

We thank God every day because we are so blessed to have such a beautiful, healthy family. Now that the Holidays are almost over, we all get back to our everyday lives. But, as long as we stay in touch with phone calls, photos, emails and visits, it gives us so many wonderful memories to enjoy the year round on all the "everyday" days.

 

Bill and Gayle aka Pop & GeeGee, December 2007