Belated Christmas Update!

Hey everyone, I'm sorry for not posting in FOREVER, but I have just been a bit on overload since early December and blogging has had to take a back seat. Nothing bad....just more on my plate than I could handle. Not enough hours in the day! I hope you all understand.
This picture was taken of our family on Thanksgiving day. From left to right is our son-in-law Thomas, our oldest daughter Lauren, my husband Tom, our youngest daughter Adelaide and me.
This is my parents when we were attending a local church Christmas musical this year. I am so blessed to have Mom and Dad in my life, but they are really requiring more and more of my time to function on an every day basis. I am not complaining at all, but with working full time and helping with their care, it has really taken up a huge portion of my time. My Mom is almost 87 and my Dad is almost 90.

With Christmas thrown in and other family commitments, plus 4 friends who each lost a parent, I felt like I was on a roller coaster that wasn't ever going to stop. Something had to give and I just decided to quit blogging for a bit. I needed to get reorganized and focus on some of these other things in my life.

A big THANK YOU to all of my sweet blog friends who sent messages, emails, etc. to check on me and make sure everything was OK. I read some blogs on occasion and commented when I could, but not as much as usual. I sure appreciated your thoughtfulness! Thanks so much!! I love all my blog friends and I have missed you all.


Our family had a nice Christmas and for the first time since 1969, we had a white Christmas. We received between 6 to 7 inches of snow on Christmas day. I took this picture on my deck rail in the back yard. This little snowman measuring stick was made in my pre-school class many years ago, but I still love using it when it snows.
I love the house blanketed in snow. I put wreaths on all my windows with red bows. You can't tell from the picture, but I burn a single electric candle in each window on the front and the back of the house. There are also 2 lighted reindeer and a spiral Christmas tree next to the front door. I love to fly decorative flags and this particular time I was flying Santa Claus!

For those of you who don't live in the North Carolina area, we have had 3 major snow storms here in the past month. Needless to say, we are all looking forward to spring! Enough snow!!! They are calling for possible precip on Wednesday, but I am hoping for just rain.

Work for me has been a bit crazy too, recently. The week before Christmas, the family I work for had an older daughter who got married out of state, so that made things busy! Then these past 2 weeks at work, both of the kids have been sick and now the Dad has pneumonia. I am just praying that I stay well.

This past weekend I was fortunate to be able to get away for a ladies weekend with some of my girlfriends for some much needed REST & RELAXATION. It was most welcomed and I enjoyed my time away so much. Now maybe I can regroup and get on with life.

God may throw us a few curve balls every so often, but He promises us that He will never give us more than we can handle. Life may be BUSY, but it is GOOD and I am glad to be back with you all in the blog world!!! I have missed you all. Enjoy your week.

Love & blessings,
Melinda