Sunday, December 26
We were up early this morning to help Leah finish loading the car so she could return to Liberal. It has been a grand visit, but the time has come for her to go back and for us to get on with our routines here in Mineola.
Leah was on the road by 7:30, even earlier than we expected, and we turned our attention to getting Mother and ourselves ready for church.
Sophie arrived at 8:30 to help Mother and we got away shortly after that so we could join in the weekly fellowship breakfast at our church in Yantis.
I taught the Sunday school lesson this morning and then we all adjourned to the sanctuary for an inspiring and very fitting sermon delivered by Brother David. David and his family left right after the service to visit family in Amarillo for a few days; our prayers for safe travel and a good visit certainly go with them during this time.
Since it was so chilly and we wouldn’t have choir practice or a service tonight, Barbara and I returned to the house in Mineola, had lunch, and then settled in for an afternoon of reading and napping, resting up for an evening of doing not much of anything.
Monday, December 27
Happy 7th Birthday to grandson Alexander Dondis in Richardson, Texas!!!
Happy Anniversary to daughter Leah and Ryan McQuitty in Liberal, Kansas!!!
With a second round of Christmas coming up tomorrow, we got an early start on the day with me baking bread and then helping Barbara wrap presents for distribution when our next batch of family arrives.
TJ brought over a big pot of chili for lunch and we enjoyed having a nice quiet conversation among the four of us as we ate and recounted what a nice Christmas season it has been.
This afternoon Barbara and I ran some errands and then went in search of an ice cream cake to serve when we celebrate Alexander’s birthday tomorrow. Our first thought was to go to Dairy Queen, but the local DQ doesn’t do ice cream cakes and they suggested that we drive to Lindale. We really didn’t want to do that and checked at the local Brookshire’s grocery store instead. Luckily, they had exactly what we wanted, as well as some books for Barbara and some ribs for tomorrow’s barbecue.
Tonight we double-checked all the gifts to make sure we had everyone covered and were all set for another great family gathering.
Tuesday, December 28
I got up early this morning to go to the weekly prayer meeting at church and then returned to the house to join Barbara in making preparations for a big lunch for the family bunch.
Heather called about 10:30 to say they were getting ready to leave Richardson, so I set about tending the two charcoal grills and getting the chicken, ribs, and sausages underway. Meanwhile, Barbara was putting the finishing touches on the mashed potatoes and baked beans while the fresh loaf of jalapeno bread cooled.
The kids arrived between 12:30 and 1:00, and the excitement began. Since this was the year for Whitney, Jim, and Little Jimmy to visit in Richardson, they also came along for the day. It was the first time in nearly a year and a half that we have seen them, and the first Christmas in several years that we have all been together. Mother had never met Jim or seen Little Jimmy (now three years old), so the visit was especially meaningful for her.
Food, Fun, and Family Fotos were the order of the day:
Jimmy, Abby, and Alexander particularly enjoyed the fresh California oranges during lunch!
Heather, Andy, Alexander, and Abby.
Whitney, Jim, and Little Jimmy made their first trip to Granny's house in Mineola.
There was time to play mix and match with the family groupings.
And some time for horsing around!
With the weather turning colder and wetter, the kids decided they’d better get back to Richardson before dark, so we helped get everything out to the cars and had hugs and kisses all around. Unfortunately, the situation and distances keep us from seeing our kids and grandkids as often as we’d like, so we make the most of every opportunity to visit.
When Heather, Whitney, and their families were headed down the highway we turned our attention to Jaycie and her Christmas celebration with us. Even with the recent loss of Jimmy Clint hanging in our memories, we were able to celebrate this Christmas with Jaycie in a special way. A month or so ago, when we were talking with everyone about possible Christmas plans, Jimmy had specified his gift plans for Jaycie. He wanted her to have a University of Georgia wind suit because Jaycie has become enamored with the Georgia Bulldogs dance and cheer squads.
Barbara searched the internet to find just the right thing for Jaycie, but couldn’t find a wind suit in her size. Instead, she found a sweatshirt that we both liked and agreed would be an acceptable substitute. So, it was an especially bittersweet moment when Jaycie unwrapped the last Christmas gift she would receive from her daddy as we shed tears of sorrow at his passing and of joy at the life we had shared together.
Tonight was a night of phone calls to friends and a lot of laughter as Jaycie broke out her computer and tried to teach us the shorthand commonly used in texting and instant messaging. Barbara and I were able to use the shorthand, but the school teacher in us still won’t allow us to be comfortable with it. Maybe you can teach an old dog new tricks but he doesn’t have to like to do them.
Wednesday, December 29
We got up early this morning and while Barbara looked after Mother, I fixed a big breakfast…bacon, scrambled eggs, and pancakes, which we all devoured after Jaycie got up and around.
We spent most of the morning just pickling around the house and visiting with Jaycie until Cathey and Stacy arrived to pick her up.
While we were working, Gene and Michelle dropped by for a few minutes. They are down from Kansas for a week of so and were in a hurry for an appointment, so we didn’t get to talk much except to start thinking about getting together some evening after the first of the year.
Thursday, December 30
Mother, TJ, and I spent the morning at Tyler for Mother’s appointment with Dr. Cohen, her rheumatologist, while Barbara stayed at the house and whipped up a delicious new recipe for our lunch. When we got back, we had a wonderful variation on chicken pot pie, cooked in the crock pot…guess we could call it Chicken Crock Pie.
Barbara: With Jim and Edith gone, the house quiet, and me totally alone since the 8th of December, I found that the tears seemed to flow and flow without any rhyme or reason. That's probably why I didn't have to add any salt to the chicken pot pie. :)
Jim: After we ate and got the kitchen cleaned up, we decided it was nap time. TJ went home and the three of us went to our corners and slept the afternoon away, still trying to wind down from all the holiday activities.
Tonight I watched a couple of football games and worked at the computer in the living room while Barbara caught up on email and games in the dining room…really exciting stuff.
Friday, December 31
Today is New Year’s Eve, celebrated around the world. Missouri-born writer, Bill Vaughan, said, “Youth is when you're allowed to stay up late on New Year's Eve. Middle age is when you're forced to.”
All that can be said about today is that it was a full-blown housecleaning day. With all the Christmas decorations cleared out and put away, we tackled the dusting, sweeping, scrubbing, Pledging, Windexing, vacuuming, and mopping, trying to get everything back in order and ready for the first day of the new year.
We had the inside of the house shining by the end of the day and spent the evening doing very little. We started watching a movie, but it was too depressing, so we turned it off and I alternated between available football and basketball games while Barbara wrote emails and played computer games for the rest of the evening.
Barbara tried to make her annual New Year’s Eve phone call to her friends Joyce and Gary in Houston but couldn’t catch them, so she left a message saying she was going to bed. Joyce called back later, (39 straight years!) and we all visited for a half hour or so and when that call was finished, I called our friend Max Johnson in Santa Fe for our holiday visit.
We finished our calls a little before 11:00 and decided we’d just operate on Eastern Standard Time and call it a day, a night, and a year.
“An optimist stays up until midnight to see the New Year in. A pessimist stays up to make sure the old year leaves.” – Bill Vaughan
Watching the end of 2010 from Mineola, Texas,
Jim/Dad/Gramps & Barbara/Mom/Grams
ADDENDUM
December 31, 2010
Dear Family and Special Friends,
As we sit here on the eve of a new year, we can’t help but think of what a roller coaster ride 2010 has been.
On January 22 we essentially gave up the vagabond life we’ve been living since we retired on July 1, 2006, and moved into Mother’s “sticks and bricks” home in Mineola to become her full-time caregivers. With that move we had to give up our traveling in Big V to visit friends and family around the country and our volunteer missions work that had brought us into an even larger family when we helped build churches in Florida and Tennessee and volunteered our services twice a year at the Georgia Baptist Conference Center in Toccoa, Georgia.
Our mission here became clear and we were blessed greatly when our pastor from First Baptist Church in Liberal was called to be the pastor of our church in Yantis…God truly does work in mysterious ways!
Significant family events included the exciting announcement from Mike and Kelly of the impending birth of their first child and another granddaughter for us sometime in February, 2011, in Virginia.
On the other end of the spectrum, what travels we had were limited mostly between Mineola and Lubbock as Jimmy Clint’s illness, which had first manifested itself in September of 2009, led to multiple hospital visits and eventually to his death, just days after his 39th birthday, in December.
In between those highs and lows, we traveled to Artesia and Roswell to share in mourning the loss and celebrating the lives of brother-in-law Cal Crenshaw (wife Carol, Barbara's older sister) and dear friends Medora and Marion Johnson, mother and wife respectively of a very special friend, Max Johnson, and were reminded constantly through the trials and illnesses of others that all our lives are not only connected, but intertwined in this vast family of friends that God has given us.
On the home front, we have learned far more than we ever imagined or thought we wanted to know about Parkinsonism, the disease that is slowly, but surely robbing Mother of her health.
Yes, 2010 has been a wild ride, but throughout we have been bolstered by God and His people that he has so graciously sent to cross our path and walk with us. There is no other way that we could have made it and still be able to see the goodness of God behind us and have faith in His continuing goodness and provision in the coming year.
Thank you all, dear family and friends, for following along with us, for sharing the tears of joy and the tears of sorrow, and most of all, for letting us know you are there for us and with us. Together we’ll move ahead into 2011 and see what lies before us, one step and one day at a time. And do you know what…there is no one with whom we’d rather make this journey than God to lead us and you to come along with us.
May God richly bless all of us in 2011,
Jim/Dad/Gramps & Barbara/Mom/Grams
