THANKSGIVING, CHRISTMAS, TRADITIONS, AND TWO NEW BABIES - 2015

We had a lovely thanksgiving and Christmas holiday
season.  We went to Trey and Jenna's for Thanksgiving.
Like his Granddad, Trey is a marvelous cook.  The turkey
he cooked was one they raised on their farm, it was a
big one, weighing in at 30 pounds.  The butter, milk,
cream, and eggs that were used to prepare dinner, were
provided by their chickens and Betsey, their cow.  

Jenna was busy cooking vegies and delicious goodies
of many kinds.  Rhonda made the dressing and her
cranberry salad and some desserts.  Jenna's mother,
family members and guests brought their delicious
contributions to help make the dinner fabulous.  Jenna
was so sweet to make sure there were things I could eat
on my restricted diet.  For instance, she made me my 
very own mashed potatoes.

The children love to play on Trey and Jenna's farm.
They have lots of room, the freedom to run and play
and the animals that delight them.

Surrounded by the love and laughter of family and
friends, it truly was a day of Thanksgiving for the
many blessings George and I enjoy every day.

When I came home from the hospital, I was having
some challenges and George and I had to let a few
things go, like my Christmas letter.  George didn't make
cinnamon rolls this year, but with his help, I did get my
Christmas fudge made.  We didn't make as many flavors
as I have previously done but still a nice variety.  The
last few years, we have given our great grandchildren
their own gift of fudge and according to things they and
their parents have told us, it is one of their favorite gifts
to receive.  Brexton and Nixin have both told us that it
great that they can now eat as much of their own fudge
as they want and they don't have to share it as everyone
has their own.  We all miss Cote so much during the 
holidays but I think he knows that we love him a lot.
He loved the fudge.  We always have some for him
and when Rhonda delivers her and Steve's gift to him,
she also takes ours.

We all went to Steve and Rhonda's for our traditional
Christmas breakfast, to open gifts and watch the children
play.  There is so much for them to do there with lots of
room to run and play.  They love to climb on the stack
of hay bales and Papa has even made them a big pile
of dirt that they love to play in.  What child would not 
love playing in the dirt?  G-Mama and Papa have made
it a fun place for their grandchildren to play.  They love
G-Mama's horses and dogs.  Their five sons' families
have given them 16 grandchildren.  And George and
I are blessed to have beautiful and amazing great
grandchildren. 

Rhonda's Christmas breakfast is always wonderful and
very delicious.  It is also rich with tradition.  I can no
longer eat all of the traditional holiday foods, but there
is plenty of the good stuff I can eat.  I have to say that
I did miss the dressing, eggnog, and pies, but the diet I
am on has done wonders for my health, now if it would
only make me skinny, LOL!  Who needs all of the food
anyway, when I am surrounded by my amazing family?

The holidays were especially joyous the year with the
birth of two more great grandchildren.  Trey and Jenna
welcomed an adorable boy, Bradley Rex Colburn, on
October 1st, and Brinton and Allison welcomed a
beautiful girl, Harlow Jaylyn on December 7th.  Of 
course, they are perfect and absolutely wonderful.

We love our Christmas traditions.  It always amazes
me how excited the children are to observe them each
year.  Including my generation, it is now the fourth
generation to observe them.  The children can't wait
to make and decorate sugar cookies and build their
Gingerbread Houses.  Brexton and G-Mama have
started a tradition of Brexton making a train instead
of a house. 

George and I went to Brinton and Allison's to watch
Nixin, Presley, Montana and Harlee build and decorate
their houses and Brexton assemble and decorate his train.
I think part of the fun of this tradition is eating as much
of the candy as they use to decorate.  It is okay, though,
as G-Mama always brings a truck load of candies of all
kinds.

There was pizza to eat and two precious babies, Bradley
and Harlow, to love and snuggle.

We miss Paul and Joanne, Chris and Jeni, and Ethan
and Ryann  We would love to see Ethan and Ryann build
and decorate their houses.  It is wonderful that their proud
grandparents and Uncle Justin are there to join them in the
fun.  I love it that even our adult grandchildren who don't
have children yet, still observe this tradition, usually while
watching and helping the little ones.  I love it that even
though we are separated from some of our family by
distance, we are together in our hearts and the spirit of the
holidays.  We do always see Paul and Joanne and their
family sometime during the Christmas season.  They
came for New Year's this year and we celebrated another
Family Tradition of eating with them at the Golden
Corral Restaurant.  Ethan and Ryann love their Arizona
cousins.  They have been wanting to ride Aunt Rhonda's
horse.  So, with their cousins, they had a wonderful
time riding Santannah.  They didn't want to leave
Uncle Steve and Aunt's Rhonda's.  I think they will
make that a favorite thing to do when they come to
Arizona.    

Often Miranda has joined us to make her house and she
has introduced Ryan to the art of Gingerbread House
building.  They enjoy doing it together.

One dearly loved tradition George and I couldn't observe
with our family this year was Zoo lights.  Those who
went reported that they were more amazing than ever. 
We also didn't get to see the Temple lights this year.

Craig was flying home from India to Bentonville for 
Christmas.  He made a stop here for several days,  It
was nice to share some of the Christmas season with
him.  Miranda and Ryan were going to drive to
Bentonville for Christmas.  Miranda was having
severe abdominal pain and the day they were to leave,
she was admitted to the hospital with a burst appendix. 
She was septic and full of infection.  They had to
remove a part of her intestine. They were sad that
they couldn't go but if they had left and it had
happened while they were in the middle of nowhere,
the doctors say she could have died.  It has been a
long road of recovery for her but she gets better
every day.  When it happened, Craig,  Tracy, Josh,
and Chasity were planning to drive here the day
after Christmas.  Since Miranda and Ryan are in
their new house, Craig was going to pull a U-Haul
and bring Miranda's things.  They also wanted to
check up on Miranda and I.  They weren't able to
make the trip as tornados and blizzards had hit
Texas and New Mexico hard and many roads and
freeways were closed.  We were all sad but we
will see them all at our family reunion here in July.

Before Craig left India, he had given me his
flight schedule.  It made me laugh.

He said, "This is how I will be commuting to work.
It makes my head swim, but he has been doing it for
so many years, it is old hat to him.

This is his commute:
Mumbai - London - Chicago - Phoenix - Dallas -
Bentonville - Dallas - London - Mumbai 

It doesn't always include Phoenix, only if he  is
stopping to see us.  

All of this family fun and family traditions were a
wonderful way to end the year 2015 and welcome
the New Year, 2016.