Life on the Hill

A busy Christmas

We just got home from a trip to family and friends for Christmas.  We left on Tuesday after having an impromtu lunch with good friends and went east to Colombus to see Aunt Estelle, my DH's aunt who is in her late 80s. She fell on Saturday and broke her pelvis in 3 places.  She was already in the rehab hospital by Tuesday but doing very well -- she is made of tough stuff and didn't utter a complaint about the pain or the situation but very upbeat and glad to see all of us.  From there we went to see some church friends we haven't seen since moving from the Dothan area and had a wonderful visit with them.  They are dear people whom we have known since we were children.  Then we went to see Aunt Mary who is 91 and still lives alone.  Her mind is sharp and her heart is huge.  She talks about the Lord and how good He is to her.  Finally we reached our destination --- my DH's homeplace and his family.

We had a Christmas Eve celebration at my cousin Lea's home.  This was a throwback to the Christmases of my childhood when my parents and brother and my aunt and 2 cousins Chip and Lea would always have Christmas Eve with my grandparents.  It was a loud and lovely time with lots of love and presents and laughter.  Now my grandparents and mom are gone to be with the Lord and we kids have kids (and grandkids in my brother's case) of our own and are scattered to the wind but at least some of us could get together. In later years my husbands whole family would also gather with us, which made it more special.  This Christmas we had my aunt and uncle, Lea and her DH and son and my whole family.  My heart was full watching my sons play with little Sam, Lea's son, and knowing that memories were being made, friendships built.  Cousins are special and my sons don't get to be with theirs very often.

Christmas day began as it has with the last 19, with a son waking us up and letting us know it is Christmas!----Get up!!!!  My husband read the story of Jesus from Matthew and Luke and we asked questions of the boys to see if they were really listening. (they were) Then the presents.  It was a blessed Christmas with practical as well as fun gifts and lots of love.

Then came the work.  We ended up working almost all of the waking hours for the next 2 days completing repairs on my MIL's home.  She had a severe plumbing problem and both toliets had to be taken up and one replaced.  What  a job!!!!!!! He also had to repair the ceiling in the living room and install a DW in the kitchen. 

We finally reached my Dad's home 1 1/2 days late.  The 3 younger boys, Richard and my dad went fishing in the pond.  Brennan caught 2 --- one of them a whopper catfish, Garrett caught a small cat and Jonah didn't get a whale or any other swimming thing.

We reached back home at 1 am on Sun AM and were we tired!!!! Now we have to recover from our vacation!!!

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10:41 PM, Dec. 28, 2008 .. Posted by Wayne

Sounds like a busy but great Christmas! I've posted some more pictures on my blog this evening, some of them from Christmas and some from later in the year. Love you!

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9:51 AM, Dec. 29, 2008 .. Posted by necrone

Sounds like a great Christmas! I'm a bit sad that it is over. :(

Critical Thinking

9:55 PM, Dec. 30, 2008 .. Posted by MamaDuke

Hi! It sounds like y'all had a very busy Christmas! It sounds like it was a very blessed Christmas, though. You sent me a question on whether Critical Thinking had any high school / college material. From what I can tell from their website, they do offer materials for 12th+. Here's the link to the books they offer for this grade level:

http://www.criticalthinking.com/searchByNeed.do?categories=bs&subjects=glmsh&code2=p&catalog3=p&gradeLevel=13&code=p&catalog2=p&x=24&y=14

I hope this helps! Let me know if you have any other questions.

Meredith