Christmas Eve's Eve.....

It's cold in Texas tonight as I write this 'catch up' journal entry.

Wednesday was chilly enough to have a fireplace and I had a cozy fire burning when they arrived in the afternoon.

Finally we are burning some of the wood we bought earlier in the fall.

Amber loves the cats and will not take NO for an answer when she wants to pay them some attention!

The girls helped make the sugarplum dough and it didn't take nearly as long with four of us as it does when I make it all by myself!

I am hoping this is the start of a new tradition - the making of the dough together!

Trystan is good at decorating and strung up some white lights by the pond while Logan used several strands of colored lights around the arbor.

The kids were excited when Pam came over to visit! She also brought a camping cot for Harrison to sleep on that night. He's taller than I am now and the chaise lounge in the living room where he has loved to sleep for the last few years no longer works for him.

They had some great conversations going on out in the gazebo.

It was a family lasagna dinner around the dining room table Wednesday night!

I love that we have had so many of those over the last 10 years.

There's always been two rules I've had since they were little.

#1 - You do NOT tell MeeMaw NO!

#2 - You do NOT wake MeeMaw up!

Now there's just one.....

The first one to wake up - if it's a reasonable hour - PLEASE wake me up!

We don't get nearly enough time together and I don't want to lose a single minute.

Harrison woke up first at 7:55 and we went out to the den to start the fire.

Trystan was the next to wake followed by Logan a little bit later.

I had a pot of mint coffee, a can of whipped cream, a carton of cream, Hershey's chocolate syrup and some cinnamon sugar to sprinkle on top. We girls used Christmas cups and saucers for our coffee but Harrison had fancy hot chocolate in a mug.

My Kansas City Siblings sent us a a can of the very best popcorn from Topsy's!

It's famous!!

The kids love it as much as I do so I shared - a little bit!

There's three flavors - cinnamon, cheese and caramel - and I love them ALL!

We had a great afternoon making caramels, playing NUTS and watching several episodes of Gunsmoke - Logan's favorite.

The girls and I went back to the kitchen and together we made all the fixings for Taco Salad.

Taco meat, rice, lettuce, tomatoes, avocados, tortilla chips, grated cheese, and flour tortillas and Mexican pastries from the Mexican bakery on O'Connor Road.

We packed it all up and took it over to the Bells arriving at 5:00 on the dot!

This was our Christmas outing this year!

Both sets of grandparents and Amber and Mike and the kids - we took up nearly an entire row at the Comerica Center in Frisco.

The parking was a mess causing a long line and a long wait to get in the parking garage.....

but the show was absolutely amazing!!

We had such a good time and Louis Dean dearly loved the violin solos and all the beautiful trapeze acts.

It was bitter cold on Thursday night - as in 10 degrees that felt like -7!

We were walking out to the parking garage and that's when Louis Dean tripped and fell off the corner of a curb. Normally he and I are holding hands but it was so cold, I had my hands in my pockets.

He fell hard but his Karate training is obviously ingrained in him as he automatically raised his right hand to block the fall from his face causing him to scrape his wrist, hand, and forehead.

He was bleeding and totally shook up and hurting but Amber and Lynn (Mike's mom) helped him get up and held onto him and we continued to walk to the garage. There we waited while Mike went on and brought the car down.

Louis Dean kept saying he was okay but he was hurting and his chest was aching. I gave him a nitroglycerin table and he said it helped. 

When we got to the Bells, Amber doctored his head and hand, gave him a Tylenol and dressed the scrapes. No cuts so no stitches needed. Though he hit his head, no concussion. No broken bones, though he fell hard onto the concrete. So much to be thankful for.

It could have been SO much worse!

We drove home after he calmed down and stayed up for a good while talking and watching a program or two on TV. No headache - just soreness where he hit.

He actually slept really well even though he said he felt like a truck had run over him when he woke up!

The biggest scrape on his forehead had already started to scab over.

After all he went through - he brought ME coffee in bed!

I went out to get the mail today and discovered water and ice on the driveway!

The one faucet  Louis Dean forgot to winterize had a broken pipe!

SO here he was already not up to par and now he had to go out on this bitter cold day and work on repairs. It took a good while because he couldn't stay out long and we ended up having to go to Home Depot for more supplies. After he fixed the pipe, we had to wait for it to dry so I was without water all day until around 7:00 Friday night.

This was my baking day and that didn't start until tonight!

It's already 1:00 in the morning of Christmas Eve and I won't be going to bed for another hour or two.

I'm about to put the turkey in the oven to cook overnight - which thankfully has thawed out enough - I hope.

Louis Dean is resting in the den and is grateful the pipe is fixed now.

He noticed the front faucet is frozen up and we are hoping that pipe won't crack!

I still have hot water in the kitchen but not cold.

We left the faucet dripping but it was the hot water side - so the cold is still frozen.

It's going to be a challenge but I'm going now to deal with that turkey!

But before I go - I have one last bit of news to share.

Deanie called me this morning to let me know that Lonnie was taken by ambulance to the hospital after having had a seizure this morning.

They ran lots of tests and gave him some medication that will help prevent further seizures but he will be okay. Praise God! He should be able to come home in a day or two.

Praying for his sweet wife Michele as this was such a scare for her - and for me and Deanie and all who love Lonnie.

I will close with what Pam said on my Facebook post this evening.....

Never a dull moment!!!

Merry Christmas Eve!!!