Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving

The year has turned its circle,
The seasons come and go.
The harvest all is gathered in
And chilly north winds blow.
Orchards have shared their treasures,
The fields, their yellow grain,
So open wide the doorway~
Thanksgiving comes again!
~Old Rhyme

Hey!

I'll be gone for a few days for my work. We are going back to New Jersey for the Abilities Expo! Wish me luck. We've gone several times over the last few years. It's lots of fun but lots of work too! Four days with no dishes, dinner bought for me, and the tv and tv turner to myself! Four days on my feet selling trikes! They ache just thinking about! I'll be back on line next week! Blessings to all!

We are staying at a new hotel. I hope it is nice!

He's an Easter photo of Jackson. The Easter Bunny brought him a "Pixar Cars" ball. The bunny knew Grandma would like it! Hope everyone had a blessed Easter!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

In honor of the day here's a clip from Darby O'Gill and the Little People:

I watched this part with John when he was just 3 or 4. I walked into the kitchen for a moment and when I looked in the living room to check on him, he was doing this little jig with the leprechauns.
and here is a little scene from my favorite movie, The Quiet Man. I'm watching it right now on Turner Classic Movies:

Maureen O'Hara, Our Queen of Ireland:

Happy New Year!

We celebrated the New Year downtown on our Cumberland Mall. It's always a fun event!




We had an exciting 2008. Our youngest, Lori, graduated from high school and started her first year at our local community college and got her driver's permit! Our first grandchild, Jackson, was born on June 28, 2008. They are the highlights of 2008 for us. Not sure what 2009 has in store for our family. Our prayers are for good health for relatives and our children and each other! We pray for our jobs to be safe in an unsure economy. That's a BIG prayer! We will celebrate our 30th anniversary in March of 2009 and also our 50th birthdays in November and December! Oh dear. Where did the time go? Oh well! Those are post for another day!

Happy New Year to everyone! How are you spending your day? We are watching Jackson for a little while. I'm cooking a ham for dinner. Lori and I will play some Racko or Rummy. Paul will watch football. I might even catch a nap! A nice relaxing day! Hope you have the same. It's back to work for us on Monday the 5th.

Merry Christmas!

A very Merry Christmas. I pray for safety for everyone who is traveling. I pray you find happiness in your life and peace and joy as we celebrate the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Have a very Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I'm taking a little blogging break. See you soon! And don't eat too much turkey!

One Solitary Life

Easter Blessings!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Here's a little video clip from one of my favorite movie! The Quiet Man with John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara. It's a wonderful movie!

Happy Leap Day!

Since this day only comes once every four years I thought I'd do a post celebrating the day! So Happy Leap Day to everyone!

Here's a little Leap year info from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

February 29 is a date that occurs only every four years, in years evenly divisible by 4, such as 1988, 1996, 2008 or 2016 (with the exception of century years not divisible by 400, such as 1900) for the Gregorian calendar, which is most widely used in the world today. These are called leap years, and February 29 is the 60th day of the Gregorian calendar in such a year, with 306 days remaining until the end of that year. February 29 is also known as bissextile day or Leap Day.



There is a tradition that women may make a proposal of marriage to men only in leap years, further restricted in some cases to only February 29. There is a tradition that in 1288 the Scottish parliament under Queen Margaret legislated that any woman could propose in Leap Year; few parliament records of that time exist, and none concern February 29.[1] Another component of this tradition was that if the man rejects the proposal, he should soften the blow by providing a kiss, one pound currency, and a pair of gloves (some later sources say a silk gown). There were similar notions in France and Switzerland.

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day! everyone! Hope you received some candy, flowers, dinner out or a BIG Valentine Days hug. If not maybe next year!

To celebrate I wanted to share two Valentine cards my Dad sent to his parents while he was serving in the Army during World War 2. I think they are beautiful!

This card was sent to both his parents 1943.



He sent this card to his mother in 1944.



They are both signed simply "Len". The date, Feb 43 & Feb 44, are written on both in pencil and Dad's signature was done in pen. So possibly my Grandmother put the date in them. I'm glad she did.

Here is my Dad in his army uniform!

Happy New Year!

UPDATE!

Here we are celebrating the New Year!


Welcome 2008!


We had a great 2007. I'm sad to see it over but 2008 holds many new and exciting things for our family. Lori will graduate from high school in May and we will welcome our first grandchild in June. Exciting things to look forward too.
Happy 2008!





Happy New Year to everyone! In a little bit we will be headed to our downtown mall to celebrate the New Year. This is the 3rd year our town has hosted a Ball Drop on New Year's Eve. We love it. It's almost like being in Times Square! I've never been to Times Square on New Year's Eve but I've watched it on tv for years and I imagine ours is a lot safer!

Happy New Year!

Here's a list of the event:
TIMES SQUARE SOUTH
BALL DROP 2008
DOWNTOWN CUMBERLAND
TOWN CENTRE
DECEMBER 31ST 2007
9 PM - MIDNIGHT
( OUTDOOR HEATERS )
2 BANDS
GALLA & DAN
FIREY & MULLANEY GROUP

ROCKIN' NEW YEAR'S EVE SPONSORED BY:
A-1 INSPECTIONS
RAY THE RELIABLE CLEANERS


Have a safe and happy New Year's Eve and a great New Year's Day!

Wordless Wednesday

**UPDATE**

Thanks so much to everyone for their comments about my Wordless Wednesday photo! I took this picture November 19, 2006 in Gettysburg, PA. November 19th is the anniversary of Lincoln's Gettysburg Address. We were fortunate enough to be able to attend the event in 2006. My post on the event is here.

We were leaving Gettysburg after the event when we passed by Santa standing on the corner. Paul stopped so Sara and I could take his picture. We are in the area of Gettysburg where the round about called the Diamond is located. The town Christmas Tree is here too. I've added some other photos at the bottom of the post. The pictures are of Sara and me with Santa and the Christmas Tree.

Santa is portraying a Civil War Santa. He was the nicest man. Maybe he really was Santa! You can find information about the Civil War Santa at a website called Original Santa. They have a cover of Harper's Weekly showing a Civil War Santa.







Find other great Wordless Wednesday blogs here.

My other Wordless Wednesday post are here. Please feel free to take look if your new to my blog.

"Christmas Eve" - My New Favorite Christmas Song!

I just found this video, Christmas Eve. It is a beautiful song. I've never heard the song before so I'm not sure if it has been done by other artist. The group is Blackmore's Night. They are a Renaissance-inspired folk rock band. They are led by Ritchie Blackmore (electric guitar and acoustic guitar) and Candice Night (lyricist and lead vocals). Their website is here.



Christmas Eve

Say goodbye to November
She must be on her way
The cold winds of December
Look like they're here to stay
Me, I'll just count the snowflakes
As they start to fall
Getting lost in the beauty
The magic of it all...

And our eyes filled with wonder,
As the reindeer take to flight...

*Its Christmas eve
Bells will ring
Through the town we gather to sing
Christmas eve
Has begun
Peace and love to everyone

Light the festive candles
They'll chase the shadows away
Gathering round the yule log
With handfuls of holly
Winter winds will whisper
Through the shivering pines
Never have the stars looked brighter than tonight...

Time for some more Christmas videos!

I've been taking a little break from my blog over the last week. I've had my birthday last, finished up my Christmas decorating, Christmas cards, and I'm working on my shopping and wrapping. Tonight I'm on my own as everyone else is at work so I thought I would do a little blogging. Here are two nice videos. Have a Holly Jolly Christmas and Silver & Gold. Someday, I'm going to do a Silver and Gold Christmas tree. Both songs are by Burl Ives. Enjoy! 8 Days till Christmas. Are you ready? I am even if I don't have everything ready. Christmas will come either way. The most important thing is to prepare our hearts for the real meaning of Christmas. The birth of our Savior Jesus Christ. That is the best and only gift we really need!

One of our favorite movies!

One of my daughter's and mine favorite movies is Meet Me in St. Louis. Here is a beautiful scene from the movie. Judy Garland as Esther singing the classic Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas to her little sister Tootie played by Margaret O'Brien. It is a classic.

Oh Christmas Tree!

We bought our Christmas Tree today! In the rain and the mud! We had loads of fun! We've been buying a real tree since 2000 and we love it! I don't remember having a live tree as a child. Although there are pictures of me as a little girl in front of a live tree. I only remember the artificial tree we had for 20 years. When Paul and I married his mother gave us her artificial tree and we used that for more then 10 years. Finally, we had to buy a new artificial tree and I hated it. It was the hardest thing to put together. So in 2000 Paul and I decided it was time to try a live tree and I love it. I'll never go back to an artificial tree. Picking out our Christmas tree is now something we all look forward too and is part of our Christmas celebration. I wish we had done this when the kids were little. I'm sure it would have been great fun but we can't go back and re-do things we just can make new traditions and we have.

We found the perfect tree today. It is a Canaan Valley Fir and is 7 ft tall. Sara and Aaron's tree is the same and is 6 ft tall.

Here are some photos of the fun we had today.

For the last two years we have gone to Pleasant Valley Tree Farm to get our Christmas tree. They are located in Pennsylvania just above the state line from Maryland. At the tree farm you can cut your own tree and that is what we like to do.

Here is where you pick up your tree cart and where your tree is measured and prepared to bring home. Picture from Pleasant Valley Tree Farm website.


This is the barn where you purchase your tree. They have a very nice Christmas shope where you can purchase weaths, ornaments and other Christmas items.


On our way to find our perfect tree. From left to right that's Sara, Paul, Lori, & Aaron.


Sara's a little cold!


No honey, that one won't do! It's not quite tall enough.


Sara & Aaron on the hunt for their first Christmas tree.


Decisions, Decisions.........


One down & one to go.


Lori's has taken over the camera and wanted me to act silly!


Success! Now let's get out of the rain!


Here are a few pictures from around the tree farm and gift shop.

Another Holiday Clip for your enjoyment!

Holiday Inn - Bing Crosby & Marjorie Reynolds singing White Christmas

Silver Bells

Here is a clip from The Lemon Drop Kid(1951). The movie starred Bob Hope and introduced the song Silver Bells. This is one of my favorite Christmas songs. I love it done by Doris Day. Bob is joined by Marilyn Maxwell. She has a beautiful voice. Enjoy!



Can you guess who is in the other Santa suit at the beginning of the clip?

Anyone in the mood to do a puzzle?

A Christmas tradition at our house is doing our Christmas puzzles! We have several that we do every year. I look forward to it. It is a quiet time to listen to Christmas music and be together as a family. Our family is smaller now with just Lori at home but it is still fun to get the puzzles out! This year we are doing them in my craft room on my big craft table. Fun! Fun!

What do you want for Christmas?

I found this poll in a December 1946 Companion Magazine.

(click on the picture for a bigger picture)

The Companion Poll asked What three wishes would you want for the world, your family, yourself. I'll highlight below some of the article.

The response was nearly unanimous:

For the World: "Everywhere peace, with decent food, clothing, shelter, and education."

I guess after World War 2 all these things would be first in every one's mind!

For their family: "Health and happiness in the things we have ;ambition without dissatisfaction."

I don't think you would hear that last part nowadays.

And for themselves: "Health, grace, humor and tact."

Tact? I don't think that word is used much anymore! Too bad! Some grace and humor might be achieved if it was.

Then they asked for the readers to pick material things just for fun. Here are some of the responses:

"A car as long as from here to the corner."

"A station wagon for fishing, camping, hauling, and riding around."

"A place of our own."

"A perfect new house, but if that is too much, dear Santa, please bring a new furnace for this one."

A furnace? I've never heard someone ask Santa for that before! Have you?

Here's a cute one:

"......a new country house, nicely furnished, with space for a landing field and many pets."

A landing field? For an airplane do you think?

Some asked for smaller things:

a photographic enlarger, a canoe, a three quarter ton truck, a power boat large enough to sleep five, electric blankets, and electric train.

And some are not politically correct NOW!:

"A mink coat."

"A Persian coat."

"A three piece red suit trimmed with Persian lamb and matching hat."

Lucy Ricardo would love that!

And here is a good one:

"An original dress by a very well-known designer, with accessories to match."

Another one Lucy would love!

Some wanted labor saving devices:

washing machine, refrigerators, stoves, mixers, sewing machines, mangles, vacuum pressure cookers, dishwashers, and more.

Mangles? What is that? I didn't know they had dishwashers in 1946 either!

And don't forget the jewelry:

A string of real pearls, a new wrist watch with a few diamonds in the sides, or a diamond bracelet that wide and a star sapphire ring. And one asked for a five-carat diamond.

Some wanted to improve themselves:

a beauty course

And then some just wanted ordinary everyday useful items:

a pair of field glasses, a buttonhole attachment for the sewing machine, a valve for an air brush, the complete novels of Jane Austin.

And I like this one best:

"A trip alone for two or three days to shop, to go to the theater and sleep uninterruptedly"

A mother's dream!

What do you want for Christmas?