Christmas season smiles

I’ve had some health problems this December that have slowed me down but I still have lots to make me smile.

Getting our home decorated always makes me smile.

I love pulling out old favorite decorations each year.

Getting all my gifts bought and wrapped makes me smile. this year my friend Jan helped me wrap a lot of my gifts. Having a sweet friend help me really made me smile.

I love setting pretty eating tables and…

buffet tables… but the best part…

…is having dear friends and family come over and

…share the evening with us visiting and enjoying a good meal together.

Having company come makes me smile. Seven of Erin’s friends from Utah came an spent the week with us while they visited Disneyland. They are a delightful family… and now Marta, Adam and their family are our new friends too. That makes me smile.

I love going to Christmas programs and hearing inspiring messages and music. Today was really special for us. Claire sang a beautiful solo , Mindy played a flute solo and Ernie conducted the choir Christmas music.  It was a beautiful service and having our talented kids featured was extra special. We were smiling from ear to ear.

Making goodies and taking plates to friends makes me smile. Claire and Austin stayed with us tonight and will help us deliver our goodies in the morning. That makes me smile even more.

Having these dear kids, their spouses and our grandchildren makes Christmas really special. Each one brings us lots of joy and smiles.

Of course the reason for the season…. celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ makes me smile most of all.

How thankful I am that  our Lord and Savior came to earth as a wee babe in a lowly manger and then lived a perfect life

to set an example for us to follow… and…. that He died for me and you so that we can return to live with our Heavenly Father again. My heart is full of gratitude and smiles.

So I am sending this greeting from our home to yours with love. I hope that you have a wonderful Holiday season.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Hugs, Grammy Lura

(I didn’t post my annual Christmas poem this year because I think you have seen it enough…. but if any on you are new to my blog and would like to read it you can go to http://grammysnews.blogspot.com/search/label/Christmas%20pics%20and%20poem )

A sad weekend for Newtown

It is hard to speak of smiles when so many are suffering anguish in the aftermath of the terrible shootings in Newtown, Connecticut 2 days ago. How can we make since of it or come to grips with such unthinkable violence?  Any killing is terrible but when it involves so many little children it seems unbearable.

However, even with this terrible news there are things to bring us smiles.

We can smile because God is always there to comfort those who mourn.  I was overcome with emotion as I watched the father of little 6 year old Emily speak on TV last night. They had recently left their Mormon community in Utah to move to Connecticut. You know that they must regret making that move…. and yet as grief stricken as that father is, he still has faith in God.  His little family is turning to God in their grief, not away from Him. Their faith and knowledge that life is eternal will help them get through the days ahead.

We know that Jesus’s sacrifice made it possible for all mankind to be resurrected and return to live with God again. Jesus overcame the sting of death. That knowledge brings comfort to those who mourn.

Temple ordinances seal families together for time and all eternity. They will be with their sweet child again one day. Click on the word TEMPLE  or on the picture of a temple on my sidebar to learn more about why we build temples and the ordinances that are performed there.

I was touched by the way that grieving father reached out with love not only to others in the community who had suffered loss but also to the family of the shooter.  He was not vindictive or judgmental. He knows that God will see that justice is done.  He knows that he can put his burden on the Lord who will carry it for him.

My heart goes out to all of those involved in this terrible shooting. My prayers are with them. I am shedding tears for them but at the same time I am thankful for my knowledge that God lives and life is eternal. That gives me reason to smile.

May God’s blessing be upon you.   Hugs, Lura

 

Tea Party Smiles

This Grammy just loves to have tea parties with my Grand daughters.

I have a lovely assortment of teacups I’ve acquired over the years just for that purpose.

This year we were so busy with other activities I was afraid that we might not be able to crowd in our traditional tea party…..

…But my little grandgirls were so disappointed I knew we had to find time to have our tea party…. So I decided that we would have a tea party breakfast.

We made heart shaped waffles and French toast with Raspberry syrup, bacon ribbons, melon diamonds and Angel fluff fruit salad….

 

…And of course….herbal tea….. not just any tea…. Royal tea sent to me all the way from England by the Queen of cooking…. Marie.  We were having a Royal Tea Party for sure.

All of my little princesses thought it was a grand occasion…. From the youngest …

To the oldest…. we all had a lovely time.

We even had Prince Cal decide to join us. It was quite a bit of work to

get all of the Thanksgiving stuff put away in order to set our table for the tea party. I was really tired after all of our Holiday feasting…. But it was worth the effort.

My heart smiles as I think of the fun I had will my sweet grand daughters… and little Cal… at our Breakfast tea party. I doubt if Queen Elizabeth enjoys her Royal Tea Parties any more than I do mine.

…

Thanks for your well wishes for my health. I’ve had a few more attacks this past week but less than the week before so that is good. I go back for more tests next week.  However some of my friends really need your prayers.

Jan and Sil have not been doing well.  LouAnn had a bad gallbladder attack when a gallstone got stuck by her pancreas. She was very sick with infection. She spent the week in the hospital and had surgery Friday night. My friend Darlene broke her ankle in 3 places and Linda had another surgery, her 5th since July.  Please remember them in your prayers. 

I hope that you have had a good week. Hugs, Grammy Lura

 

Goodbye to Sunday Six and more Thanksgiving Smiles

For several years I’ve made a Sunday post called “Staffy’s Sunday Six Smiles” and used this picture as my title page.

I’ve enjoyed thinking about the things each week that I am thankful for and sharing my smiles with you in pictures….. However, thinking of six different things and putting in pictures made my posts long.

  Sometimes I’ve had a hard time coming up with 6 things to post….. sometimes I’ve had more than 6 things I wanted to share. Sometimes writing my post seems like an assignment rather than a pleasure. Sometimes it seems like a lot of work considering that Mindy is my only family member that reads my blog and very few blog friends stop by anymore.

So…… for these reasons… I am retiring “Staffy’s Sunday Six” and replacing it with:

This way I am not obligated to…. or limited by…. 6 smiles.  I can keep posting on Sunday… or pick another day…. or forget it not. I think this will get me off the hook  work better for me. What do you think?

As you know if you read my last post, all 22 of our kids and grandkids came for Thanksgiving. What a wonderful time we had. I shared our Thanksgiving  dinner with you last week. Today I would like to share some of the other things that made me smile throughout the week they were with us.

Erin and Patrick were the first to arrive and Erin didn’t let any time go to waste before she started in helping me. She decided to help me by cleaning out all of my kitchen drawers….(not that they needed it… as you can see from all she pulled out of my spices drawer …lol)….. but she did it anyway.  I so appreciate all of her work. My heart smiles now every time I open one of my kitchen drawers. Not only am I enjoying having all my drawers so nicely organized…. I am enjoying the love that pours out of them as I think of Erin’s kind service.

Dathan helped John fix our kitchen faucet that has had a leak for a long time.

Patrick did some outside cleaning up for us. Even Cal got into the spirit of helping. I didn’t get pictures of Patrick and Dathan to show you but picturing them in my mind  makes me smile. I am thankful for sweet family that were so helpful.

Our kitchen that was so full of people and food

is clean and quiet now.

Our home seems big and empty now with just John and me here.

But if I listen closely I can still hear the laughter and voices that filled each room Thanksgiving week.

We were wall to wall family. All the bedrooms were full and so were the living room and family room floors.

And we were stylish.

Aunt Lynell bought all the girls crazy stylish socks….so…

They traded them around and we had a sock fashion show.

What sweet memories. My heart is full of smiles and thankfulness.

…

I’ve not been well this past week. I spent 7 hours in urgent care Tuesday. They thought I was having trouble with my heart because I was having bad pain in my chest, neck, jaw and arm…. and my heart enzyme troponin 1 level kept going up which is an indicator of heart damage. However, my EKG was just slightly abnormal and after a full day of tests I came home.

I’ve had 4 more attacks since Tuesday. I feel like I am having a “Charlie horse” in my chest, neck and jaw.  It may be caused by esophageal spasms. It is very painful, but not scary like it was Tuesday since they ruled out heart attack. I just wish it would go away.

I go back to the doctors next week for more tests. Wish me luck. This is not fun.

I hope you are doing well.  Hugs and best wishes, Grammy Lura