After Christmas update....

I had some computer issues before Christmas and then when I was finally able to get back on here, life had gotten so busy with Christmas baking and cooking and gift wrapping and gatherings, that I decided to take a little blogging break. I will be back tomorrow with some updates of the past week.

I trust everyone had a wonderful Christmas. I will be back to "visit" tomorrow. 

It's getting closer

Christmas is just around the corner. It's getting closer every day. My Christmas menu is made. All the gifts are wrapped and under the tree.

I went out last night with some of my friends after work for wing night (although I don't eat wings.) Had a wonderful time with them. 

Saturday I am going to do all my baking for work gifts on Sunday. Sunday is the church Christmas play by our adults. 

Then Monday, I will get up early to bake the goodies and prep the meal for the kids coming over that night on Christmas eve. We will track Santa's route all evening on Norad's Santa tracker. Not sure how much I'll get to post over the next few days, but I hope you and yours find true pleasure this holiday season and have a very Merry Christmas. And remember.....

Virtual Christmas visits

Today starts my round of virtual "visits" with my family for Christmas. First is my niece Emili and her friend Brittany. These two girls love life. They love sports, travel and decorating their houses for holidays. This is the interior of their house later this week I'm going to do a blog post of the exterior of everybody's house we visit this week. I hope you enjoy these as much as I did.

My gals love their sports. This is an adorable tree.

I have always wanted one of those little real trees. I need to see if I can find me one.

I am a sucker for kitchen Christmas decor. Love this.

I loved all their decor, but this was my favorite. 

Christmas Songs

The week ahead....

We are entering into the busiest week of the year at work, so I'm not going to have a lot of spare time. I do have a few more Christmas gifts to pick up and then I need to decide what to bake for Christmas goodies. I only have 2 days off this week and not back to back to get everything done before Christmas eve.

But I can do it. I freak out about this time every year but still end up getting it all done in time. I have some friends who love baked goods but don't bake so I will be doing up some cookies and small loaf cakes for gifts. I have been checking out ways to package them.

I think I like the bags and Baker's Twine or maybe the Parchment paper and twine. The clear bags and the paper are at Dollar Tree. And I already have the twine from a craft project. 

I also want to try some "chocolate-dipped" goodies this year.

Well, I have a short window of time to figure this out so I better get started. Have a great weekend.

What an amazing day....

I didn't post anything yesterday because I was too busy having a birthday. I had so many wonderful birthday wishes and birthday moments. I had a lot of people tell me in person, a lot on Facebook, a lot texted me, I got cards in the mail and I even had several call me on the phone. I appreciated every single happy birthday wish.

Even found some old pics of me in the beginning of life. Above I was just two weeks old. Below was my 1st Birthday.

I have been getting little gifts from my work friends all week. One was this sign that I fell in love with.

One was the beautiful warm blanket for my bed. I put it on the day I got it and slept like a baby all night. Just the right weight and just the right warmth.

I came in one day to find a friend had put a Christmas tree on my desk that is fiber-optic and the star lights up and changes colors. She know my love of Christmas and said I needed a tree for my desk.

I did some shopping yesterday and knocked some more items off my Christmas gift list. Later, I ended up attending the Stampede show. After the show, my arena friends kept telling me to hang around after the show to see a co-worker who has health issues and we hadn't seen in a long time. I went and sat and visited with him after the show. Then as I was leaving they told me the arena manager wanted to see me and even helped me find her. Then she told me not to go nowhere, to go back and visit the co-worker with everybody else. She needed me for something. So I did. Imagine my surprise when she came through the door while I was gathered with all my arena pals and she was carrying a birthday cake and they all started singing to me. One really special friend told me he had bought the cake and got chocolate and coconut. He sure knows me well. He is also the one who keep telling everybody I am only 26. I am not arguing with that logic.

I came home and had a big piece. It was too die for. 

So you can see that I had a very special day. As a matter of fact, I have had a very special week that kicked off when dinner with my children on Sunday. I am truly blessed. Now, to go have another piece of the wonderful cake before I head out to work this morning. 

I have come to realize.....

This came from one of those Facebook posts that you click on it and it tells you something about yourself. In this case, it is absolutely true. I have people in my life who are good friends, people who are friends when it is convenient for them and some who show me daily how much I mean to them. And I have learned not to care. I simply accept them for who they are and go through life doing my thing. 

Sometimes friends come from the oddest places. I work in guest services on my job and I work with an amazing group of people. I love my job and my co-workers are not the drama type. We are there, we do a job, we get along and we go home. It is very refreshing. But I don't spent a lot of time in my actual department because my job descriptions require me to be in the arena a lot. 

Over the years I have made a lot of friends in the arena and some of them having ended up being my best friends. We can talk about anything. We get along great. They show me in tons of ways that they love me and they value me for who I am, not who they want me to be. The thing I find the funniest is that the majority of my friends nowadays are between 25 and 40. Since I am 61, it is funny to me that I get along so well with people in that age group. One person told me it is because I still have a young heart and an open mind. I like that idea. I hope I always stay that way. They are a great group of guys and gals and I thank God all the time for bringing them into my path and making my work day so much fun.

I had a boss that used to say you should be in a job where you are so happy to be there you should want to come in and kiss your desk every day. I finally understand what he meant by that. I have those days when my body just says UGH I gotta go to work today but it's because I have other things I want to do, not because of the job. I honestly love what I do more than any job in my entire life. 

I will be 62 this year and people find out and ask me if I am going to retire. My answer is always the same...yes when I about 70. As long as I can keep doing this I will because it brings me great satisfaction and happiness.