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I Need More Christmas Than Just This

Today, we were at our daughter’s home. We were visiting and some of the children were across the street at a neighbor’s house. The children came back and forth. We watched one come in to take off her shoes. Our twin girl was upset and her dad took her to the garage and they brought out the wreath to put on the door. Eventually, she fell into the pool when she was trying to get a ball and needed a shower. Then, our six year old grandson came running to the door. As he entered the door, he called out, “I need more Christmas than just this!”

How profound! I thought about how I felt. This year, it seems we all need a little Christmas. Even before Thanksgiving, we had neighbors who had put up their Christmas lights. It was hard, but I waited until the traditional Friday after Thanksgiving to turn ours on even though they have been on the house and bushes since last week.

I love driving into our neighborhood where the Christmas lights greet us. Yesterday afternoon, I went back to the office to help my husband with a project and we left after dark. I was in my car. I turned on the radio to the station I knew was playing Christmas carols (they started before Thanksgiving as did DishNetwork radio). I was tired and contemplative as I listened. Then, I noticed as I do each year, how the “street lights, even stop lights blink a bright red and green”* and I thought “It feels like Christmas time.”

Then, I noticed the lights, just a hint from the road, but as I got closer to the turn, I saw them all. They are simple yet elegant, and they brought peace to me.

How many times I think about how we are connected. Just as the lights are connected to one another on each string, we are connected to one another. There are many colors of lights, just as each of us has our own unique characteristics. One light alone is pretty, but when they work together, they are magnificent; when we work together, we are powerful. We bring calm to the chaos going on in the world. We bring peace to one another. And isn’t that what Christmas is all about…”peace, goodwill toward men*”? I hope you have peace in your life.

*song: Silver Bells by Jay Livingston and Ray Evans; scripture is found in Kings James version of the Holy Bible, Luke 2:14

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Thankfulness

Over the river and through the woods,
To grandmother’s house we go.
The horse knows the way to carry the sleigh
Through the white and drifting snow.

Over the river and through the woods,
Oh, how the wind doth blow
It stings the nose and bites the toes
As over the ground we go.

Over the river and through the woods,
To have a first-rate play;
Oh hear the bells ring, “Ting-a-ling, ling”
Hurray for Thanksgiving Day!

Over the river and through the woods,
Trot fast my dapple gray!
Spring over the ground like a hunting hound!
For this is Thanksgiving Day!

Over the river and through the woods,
And straight through the barnyard gate
We seem extremely slow.
It’s oh so hard to wait.

Over the river and through the woods,
It’s Grandmother’s house I spy.
Hurrah for the fun, is the pudding done?
Hurrah for the pumpkin pie.
From the poem “The New England Boy’s Song about Thanksgiving Day” by Lydia Maria Child (1802-1880)

How blessed we are to be a family and to have each other.
Happy Thanksgiving Day to all!

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Thankful for the gifts of God

We are blessed in so many ways. We are able to enjoy beautiful sunrises and sunsets. We have family and friends to love us and we love them. We can sing. We can dance and we live in an age where remarkable growth and development can make our lives easier.

I have received so many blessings in my life. I look at my family. My family loves and encourages me. My children are growing into loving, kind men and women and are willing to serve and help others. My grandchildren are being taught correct principles and are a delight to be with and to love.

I have thought a lot about being thankful this month. I actually think of my many blessings and gifts from my Heavenly Father often.

My four-year-old grandson came running into the door of our house, calling excitedly for his twin sister. “There is something exciting to see.” I immediately asked what was he wanting to show her. He replied it was an animal. “What kind of animal?” His mother was with me and we asked many questions of him. We discovered it was long and covered with dirt. We asked how it moved to try to determine if he was speaking of an earthworm or a snake. He was not deterred. His excitement continued.

I have thought about this since it happened. There are times when it is easier to give up. Then, I think of those beautiful grandchildren Heavenly Father has sent me and I want to do my best. How grateful I am to have been greatly blessed.

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Stitches!

Recently, our family and Karin’s family were helping to clean the church. Our four year old granddaughter tripped as she was running and was bleeding as she came down the hall toward the kitchen where we were putting away the cleaning supplies and getting ready to leave. Her head hit the chair rail and she was required to have stitches and has a nasty bruise on her cheek.

I immediately called her doctor’s office and the doctor stitched her wound. He was so good with her. He covered her eye with a guaze pad so that she would not see him stitching her eyebrow. He talked her through the whole procedure.

I came in part way through and she was so brave. She hardly flinched as he anesthetized the skin.

I am amazed. Her mother and I were more anxious. We winced. I left before the procedure was completed and prayed for my daughter to have the strength that she needed.

I was surprised, when I first became a grandparent, how connected I am with my grandchildren. I knew I would love them, but was not prepared for the intensity of the feelings for the child of my child. I am so grateful that Heavenly Father wants us to be connected as families. I love being with my family!

Connecting with our grandchildren is an important part of being a grandparent. There is a feeling of safety from having grandparents who love you and take time to listen.

What can you do today to connect with one of your grandchildren?

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Taking Classes

A couple of months ago, our family signed up for a sign language class. This last week, our class focused on the vocabulary we should have learned during our beginning and intermediate classes. The teacher, Karen, is sending an email for us to practice and giving us a website so that we can practice over the holidays.

I have enjoyed our sign language classes. My family practices with me and I can teach my grandchildren. The four year old twins are most anxious to learn the signs. We can talk together.

I have been sick and it hurts to talk. My daughter suggested that I sign to communicate. This has been an exercise which has taught me that I really need to work on learning the signs so that I am prepared.

We are never too old to learn. I have been surprised by what I can understand. And you never know when you will need to use the knowledge you gain. I would not have guessed that the class we took would allow me to heal and still be able to communicate. Mostly, I have to fingerspell (spelling out words using the signing letters). And often, I give up and speak. Tomorrow I am going to be more diligent to use sign language. This is an opportunity for me to grow.

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Thanks for Family

Thanksgiving is my favorite time of the year. (See the November message on the home page and the link to make a Thankful Turkey.)

When I was a child, our family went to my Aunt Gwen’s house for Thanksgiving dinner. My dad always made the fruit salad and Aunt Gwen always had made her fabulous apple pies. My parents made a fruitcake (their fruitcake recipe is the best. It is the only fruitcake that I would eat.  It had only enough cake batter to hold the ingredients together, and it had many more pecans than fruit pieces.) The feast was phenomenal.  When we were done cleaning up and doing the dishes, we would play a game of football in Uncle Warren’s front yard. I don’t remember who won, I just remember how much love I felt. As we grew older and could drive a car, the teenagers would often go to a movie on Thanksgiving afternoon. We just loved being together! Isn’t that what family is all about, loving being together?  How grateful I am for my family. Even though we are now separated by miles and the “ busy-ness” of things, we still love each other and will do anything we can to help one another.

It would be fun to hear about your family. Can you share a family story under comments today. It is easy and all of us who read the blog will love to hear your Thanksgiving stories.

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Grandma Gratitude

So far, I have been blessed to live close to my children and grandchildren. I still have 3 children living at home, but next year that will change. There may come a time in the near future that my children and grandchildren do not live close to me.

I have thought about this a lot. Our youngest grandchild was born in September, but because of sickness, I have not been able to go and see him since the day he was born. (I don’t believe in sharing germs.) So, we have resorted to talking on the phone and seeing pictures online and watching him grow from afar.

Being a grandmother is one of the joys of my life. I am so happy to talk on the phone and in person to these wonderful little people who Heavenly Father has sent to be part of our family.

Is there anything better than being a grandma?

Please share your comments and stories with us about being a grandparent.

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Halloween is here!

Today is Halloween. As a child, I loved Halloween, most likely because my mother loved Halloween! We usually had a store bought costume until we were old enough to come up with ideas of our own.

One of my favorite memories of Halloween was when I was growing up in South Carolina. We lived in a house that was on a very busy road. On the opposite side of the road were many neighborhoods. My mother always was the parent who took us “trick or treating”. We would go from house to house until we were so tired we were ready to go home. My mother was the master encourager. She believed we could go farther than we ever thought imaginable. She pushed us just a little more. The prize was worth all the effort.

Pushing onward and forward has become a part of me. I learned that we “pick ourselves up by our boot straps” when we fall and “keep moving forward”. No matter what is happening “our ship is always coming in.”

Tonight, we will celebrate Halloween. We will go to our daughter’s home where we will have a birthday celebration for her son and then I will stay to give out “treats” while our children help her with her children as they go around the neighborhood. They will sing and talk and laugh and just enjoy being together. Isn’t that what life is all about?

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Communicating and Health

This month (October) is Women’s Health Month and Breast Cancer Awareness month. As a result, I have been thinking about the women in my life and the health situations that have occurred or are occurring in our family.   Some of these situations include memory loss (and brain connection issues), thyroid, ovarian cysts, and fibromyalgia.

About a month ago, our family decided to take a sign language class from the local college. We did this for many reasons. I have always wanted to learn sign language, and we were looking for an activity that our whole family could do together; one of our daughters already knows a lot of signs, and, because of our family health history, we are always looking for ways to build our brain connections.

Sign language has been fun to learn. Now that we are in the advanced class, we must communicate one to another by signing during class. I must admit that I almost didn’t take the class because I worry about being able to remember the signs. In our last class, I became aware of something I discovered a few years ago:  I understand more that is spoken in another language than I can speak. The teacher was giving us directions. Even though I didn’t understand all the words, I was able to follow her directions.

Sometimes, our lives are like that. We may not understand each aspect and what is being said, but we have a feeling for what we have to do. We may be unsure at times as we take a step into the darkness, but still, we try to understand what is needed from us.

Taking the class has been good for me. I hope that some day I can communicate with sign language as well as I speak English. There are other languages I would like to learn as well. The more people we can understand, the more we can do to become a family–a family as members of this world.

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Welcome to the MPower Generations Grandparents Blog

Welcome to our grandparents blog. We invite grandparents to be our guest bloggers. Go to the Contact us page and enter your information and join us as a guest blogger.

This blog is to share our successes, our hopes, our dreams and our well learned knowlege about being a grandparent. Each day, we learn new ways to look at the world by participating in the lives of our grandchildren.

Sunday, some of our grandchildren were visiting with us after church. My six year old grandson said, “Mormor, do you want to be a ninja for Halloween?” I replied that I did not want to dress in a costume this year. He was not discouraged and proceeded to tell me all about his ninja costume. His excitement was contagious!

We love Halloween at our house. It is also our oldest grandson’s birthday. (We talk to our babies before they are born.  I tried to convince him before he was born to come on the 30th instead of Halloween, but undoubtedly he didn’t listen.)  So, we always have beautiful Halloweeen birthday cakes to celebrate the day. The whole country celebrates  on his birthday.  Then we participate in a church activity or trick or treating in their neighborhood.

As a grandparent, do you dress up? Do you give out candy? What are your family’s Halloween traditions? Please share them with us by making a comment.