Thursday, December 1 – Saturday, December 31, 2011
A “Little” Overview of December
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December took us through a huge range of emotions. Even as we began the month by anticipating Christmas dinners and get-togethers with as much of the family as possible, we also dealt with old, raw memories from last year as we completed the “year of firsts,” the concluding days of the year since Jimmy Clint’s death and burial in Lubbock in December of 2010. To say that our emotions were a veritable roller coaster ride would be putting it mildly, but with God’s help and the kindness of friends and family, we made it through the remembrance of the events that occurred between December 5 and December 13, 2010. The three months following Jimmy’s death were a nightmare, as we waded through the bitterness of the business of death, but time has done much to fade, if not erase, many of those memories.
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As for the Christmas preliminaries and celebrations themselves, we have never had a more fun year of preparing and celebrating. Shopping was actually fun and adventurous for both of us, and the celebrations, beginning with the church choir cantata on the 11th and continuing through a visit from Heather, Andy, Alexander, and Abby on the 20th as we celebrated in Mother’s room at the nursing home, The family dinner at the house on the 23rd with Mother, Leah, TJ, Ladd, Angela, Logan, and Madelyn, and a wonderful trip to Olathe to celebrate with Heather, Mike, Whitney, and their families before moving on to Artesia for Christmas with the Terpenings and then to Lubbock for time with Jaycie and her family; all was far more than we could have ever asked.
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Mother seemed to maintain her spirits and health throughout the month, although she became a bit pensive as we approached Christmas Eve, the 69th anniversary of her marriage to Daddy. Three days later, on the 27th, would have been the 70th wedding anniversary of Barbara’s parents, W.T. and Virginia Perry. We can’t celebrate the season without remembering those special occasions also and wondering what might have been if…
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A sad aspect of the month was the pondering of the mortality of Mother’s favorite child, Spike, her 14 ½ year-old Boston terrier. Spike has been Mother’s constant companion for all these years, but his health is failing. Spike is mostly blind and deaf, is crippled with arthritis, and is losing weight, even though his appetite is normal. Because of all this, we began talking more and more openly with Mother about the possibility of putting Spike to sleep. It is not anything anyone wants to do, but the time is near when it will be the humane thing to do. Mother did finally say that we will have to do what is best for Spike, but we told her we wouldn’t make a decision until after we returned from our Christmas trip and were able to give her some more time with him.
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Special December Celebrations
Birthdays: Susie Francis, Hobbs, NM (4th), Jim “That Would Be Me” Little (20th), Daughter Heather Little Dondis, Richardson, TX (21st), Grandson Alexander Dondis (27th).
Anniversaries: Daughter Leah and Ryan McQuitty, Cleburne, TX (27th)
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We set a new record for photos included in the journal/blog this month and for that reason, the overview of December is shorter than usual, and we’ll let the pictures and collages tell the story of a month of many activities and celebrations.
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Friday, December 1
After taking out time waking up, having breakfast, and getting cleaned up and dressed for the day, Barbara decided to have some fun with the camera. She really likes the mirror design and enjoys taking self portraits from different angles. I decided to join in the fun as we took pictures of ourselves all decked out for the day.
In the following shot, we were trying to show our sadness at having to end our mini-vacation return to Mineola. The looks were so comic that Barbara decided she’d just go with the “happy face."
When we finished clowning around in the room, we gathered all our stuff and hauled it down to the car to be stored in whatever way we could make it all fit. The trunk section was jam-packed with gifts we bought during the trip, so we had to cram our luggage into the back seat alongside packages that wouldn’t fit in back. It was an interesting puzzle exercise.
The last few times we’ve stayed at the Spring Hill Marriot, we’ve noticed a huge white cross on the other side of the woods behind the race track. The cross stands above everything in the area and at night is brightly lit by floodlights so that anyone driving along I-20 can easily see it. Since we had some time this morning, we decided to drive up the road to see what that was all about. What we found was the campus of the Central Assembly of God Church, with the cross towering over the property. We just had to get out and take some pictures.
The cross is 190 feet tall and is set on a concrete pad in the center of a huge Star of David.
Benches, memorial plaques and bricks, and the natural scenery provide a beautiful setting for the cross, which stands behind the landscaping and the cluster of buildings that house the activities of the church and its outreach programs.
With the picture-taking completed and our mini-vacation over, there was nothing left to do but get back in the car and head west on I-20 to return to Mineola and real life. Along the way, we checked and re-checked our lists to figure out what we hadn’t found and for whom we hadn’t found it.
When we returned to Mineola, we stopped by the nursing home to see Mother and let her know we were back, and then went to the house to unpack the car and put everything away.
Sunday, December 4
We would have gone to church today, but I woke up with the coughing, sneezing, scratchy throat, stuffy nose, aching ears, feeling crummy all over bug that seems to be going around, so Barbara texted David to let him know we wouldn’t there this morning or for the church Christmas party tonight.
Tonight we had a major storm system pass through the area, resulting in nearly three inches of rain by the time it was all over. Our night-time photography needs a little work, but Barbara did manage to get this photo of the rain gauge with nearly 2.8 inches of rain in it.
Monday, December 5
I received a call from one of the ET Patriot Guard Riders captains on Saturday, asking me to play Taps at a service in Tyler today. There were two services today, one this morning and one in the afternoon. I wasn’t able to go to the morning service, but Barbara and I went over this afternoon and she took pictures of the PGR members at the church. The weather was so bad today that there were no motorcycles at either service. Some of these guys are hardcore riders, so that should give you an idea of how bad it was outside.
I played at a memorial service for William Fontenot, 56, a veteran of the U.S. Army (Green Berets), with service in the Viet Nam War.
Wednesday, December 7
While I stayed at home today to clean carpets, Barbara went to Lindale to have lunch with our dear friend Heidi, who we first met when we were doing volunteer work at the Georgia Baptist Conference Center in Toccoa. Heidi was the pastry chef in the kitchen, and Barbara ended up working with, and learning from her. We became fast friends with Heidi and her family when we were there, and then they eventually moved to Texas, ending up in Lindale, just 12 miles away from us…what a small world!
Heidi called Barbara this morning and said she was off work today, so they arranged to meet at Chili’s for food and talk.
It was a beautiful fall day, so Barbara took the camera along and got these shots along U.S. 69 that runs south to Lindale and then on to Tyler and points south. (Barbara: Okay, so driving and taking pics can be a little dangerous…but…I did it anyway!)
Barbara said that she and Heidi had their usual great time together, getting caught up on each other’s news during lunch. They even got one of the wait staff to take a picture of them while they were there.
Saturday, December 10
If it’s December, it must be bread-making season at our place. We decided that loaves of homemade bread would make good gifts for family and friends this year, so I set out to bake as many loaves as possible before time runs out.
The specialty breads for this year are Jalapeno (made with fresh jalapenos), Italian, Garlic, and Parmesan Pepper, a new creation utilizing packets of hard, grated cheeses and peppers from Pizza Hut. Of course, there is also old-fashion white bread for those whose tastes run to the more traditional.
In this shot, Barbara caught me with a handful of freshly diced jalapenos. I finally had to start using rubber gloves while handling the jalapenos because my hands, particularly under my fingernails, were burning from scratching out the seeds and pulp. For jalapeno taste without the burn factor, the peppers have to be scraped out. For the heat enthusiasts, I chop up everything except the stem.
After getting the last loaf of the morning underway, I geared up and rode the motorcycle to Lindale for a Patriot Guard Riders mission. It was a very busy day for the PGR, with services at three different communities throughout East Texas.
The service in which I participated was to honor David Allen Hopkins, 72, a U.S. Navy veteran who served as an electronics specialist during the Viet Nam War. Thirty motorcycles and several carloads of PGR riders and their families met at the funeral home in Lindale to stand a flag line for an hour before the service began, to serve as an honor guard at the end of the service, and to escort Mr. Hopkins and his family to the cemetery east of Lindale.
In all, more than 50 PGR Motorcycle riders and nearly a dozen carloads or PGR members, families, and friends provided support during the three area services today.
Saturday, December 11
It was a busy Sunday for us. This morning we visited with Mother for a few minutes at the nursing home and drove to Yantis for the regular Sunday morning service.
We returned to Mineola for the afternoon, visited Mother again, and then returned to Yantis for the presentation of our Christmas cantata. I was the narrator for the program, a combination of familiar Christmas hymns and Bible verses that had been skillfully woven together by Danette Lovelace, our choir director.
Tuesday, December 13
Today turned out to be a day of a lot of little activities (no pun intended) and several photo opportunities.
When we first got up this morning, we found Spike and Bonita sound asleep in the living room and couldn’t resist the opportunity to take some pictures of them when they are resting and peaceful.
Spike has his own bed, but for some reason, he and Bonita were sharing her sleeping space.
Later in the morning, our next door neighbor, Addie, knocked on the door and said she had a little something for us for our proposed Christmas trip to Olathe. She said it was a surprise and we weren’t to open it until Christmas. We rarely get to see Addie when we have a camera handy, so today we convinced this sweet lady to come into the living room and have a Christmas photo made with us.
When we bought all the groceries for the Thanksgiving dinner, we received a free turkey from Brookshire’s. It has been taking up space in the freezer – space that is sorely needed for the bread I’ve been baking. We took the turkey out to thaw a few days ago, and today was the designated day to stoke the smoker and get some cooking done in advance of our family Christmas dinner on the 23rd.
While I was checking on the smoker from time to time, I took a few pictures of the late fall colors that we are experiencing in our yard.
Around 10:00 pm, we pulled the turkey out of the smoker and took it inside to cool before deboning and slicing it and then packaging it to go back in the freezer (where it now would take up much less space).
While we were waiting for the turkey to cool down enough to slice, Barbara grabbed the camera and took a picture of me with the turkey and a fresh loaf of bread to show what I had accomplished this day.
Wednesday, December 14
Today was primarily a day for taking care of the regular, ongoing business of keeping up with two pieces of property, as well as preparing for Christmas.
Along the way, we took Spike to visit Mother for a while. The truth is that Spike is getting old and feeble. At age 101 in human years, he is losing his equilibrium and often falls while just trying to walk across the room. As the old saw goes, he is blind in one eye and can’t see out of the other. We know it won’t be very far in the future when we are going to have to send Spike to a better place, but our goal for now is to keep him as healthy as possible through the Christmas season so he will be here when we bring Mother home for the family get-together. We’ve already begun talking to Mother about Spike’s condition and how Dr. Bradshaw, the vet, has said that Spike will not get any better, but none of us has the heart just yet to take that final step. So, we just continue to love this most loveable of all of God’s animal creatures.
Thursday, December 15
This was another day of miscellaneous chores to get ready for Christmas and our upcoming trip.
We started the distribution of some of the bread that had been waiting in the freezer since it was baked, but first took a picture of the 23 loaves that we still had on hand.
This afternoon, we drove out to Yantis so Barbara could work with David and Missy on the church directory project. Barbara has taken quite a few pictures that will be included in the directory, and the three of them had to make some decisions about the layout. The trip also gave us an opportunity to distribute some more bread to the church staff (and open up freezer space for the bread yet to be baked).
Sunday, December 18
Today was a (mostly) typical Sunday…we visited with Mother this morning before driving out to Yantis for the regular morning service. When church was over, we returned to the house in Mineola to take a nap and then Barbara got some goodies ready for the church-wide fellowship following the business meeting. One of her family’s traditional Christmas favorites was wiener slices cooked in a sauce made of grape jelly and mustard. We didn’t have any grape jelly, so she substituted raspberry jam, and it was quite good. While Barbara was working on the food, I was checking my notes for a Nominating Committee report that I had to give at the business meeting.
Scenes from the Yantis FBC Fellowship:
Tuesday, December 20
Happy Birthday to me, Happy Birthday to me, Happy Birthday dear Jee-Yummmm, Happy Birthday to me!
Today I reached the same lofty and distinguished age as Barbara, so it will be another eleven months or so before we discuss age differences again.
Heather and Andy brought Alexander and Abby to Mineola to celebrate the day with Mother and us. The pictures tell the story of the day far better than words can. However, we will explain that while we were waiting for the kids to arrive, we decided to take a picture of us “all gussied up.” I was wearing a new wind suit that was part of a package that we gave each other/ourselves for Christmas. We got a lot of Facebook mileage with my description of my new birthday suit.
When we finished at the nursing home and left so Mother could get a well-deserved nap, we returned to the house and took advantage of the good weather and beautiful fall colors to take this family shot of Andy, Heather, Alexander, and Abby.
Wednesday, December 21
39 years ago today the world welcomed the arrival of Heather Marie Little at Presbyterian Hospital in Charlotte, North Carolina. Her mother and I were pretty clueless about what to do with this little bundle of joy, but we must have done something right, because she is not only a beautiful daughter, but also a loving and kind mother and wife.
Because Heather was dismissed from the hospital on Christmas Day, they sent her home in a Christmas stocking.
Thursday, December 22
There’s not a whole lot to say about today. I had a dermatologist appointment in Quitman early this morning. I got a generally good report, but left with a frozen scalp after Mr. Gautier, the PA, sprayed me with the cold stuff.
Barbara had a hair appointment this afternoon to get spruced up for the Christmas season and Leslie did her usual great job.
The rest of the day was devoted mostly to getting the house ready for visitors tomorrow when we will bring Mother home for a few hours to celebrate a family Christmas…a little early, but we decided long ago that real Christmas is whenever we can all get together, and tomorrow will be the first of several of those occasions.
When Spike and I returned from seeing Mother, Bonita met us at the door and gave Spike an earful about being gone without her (although she doesn’t like to go anywhere herself). When Bonita was finished ranting and raving, the two puppies went to Bonita’s bed and settled down for a nap before lunchtime. If ever there was a dog that was the perfect model for the proverbial fishwife, it is Bonita; she can be kind and loving, but when it is “get-in-your-face time,” I can’t think of any person or animal that can do it better! The red eyes are probably the result of the flash, but sometimes we have to wonder…
I broke out the smoker again this afternoon and started to work on the pork loin that we will serve as part of tomorrow’s feast. We’ve decided that this is one of the easiest ways there is of cooking for a big gathering.
Leah arrived from Cleburne this afternoon and immediately joined in with the cooking and cleaning as we were trying to get as much done as possible so that tomorrow morning would be easier and less stressful. Of course, we also had to take time out for pictures while the living room was uncluttered.
After much laughing and clowning around, Barbara was finally able to set the camera on a timer and we eventually came up with this shot of the group behind the little Christmas tree.
Because tomorrow morning promised to be so busy as we put the final touches on the family dinner, we decided to celebrate an early, Early Christmas with Leah tonight in the living room of Mother’s house. Presents were brought out, distributed, and unwrapped as we talked and laughed and listened to music on one of the TV channels.
When all was said and done (including cleaning up the mess we had made), it was time for one last photo of Spike and Bonita as they rested up for the big day tomorrow.
Friday, December 23
It’s Christmas!!!...Well, at least it’s Christmas at our house, a day for bringing Mother home for a few hours and celebrating the season with our Mineola family.
Barbara, Leah, and I spent the morning making the final preparations for dinner…cooking our part of the food, arranging furniture, setting out the table decorations, etc. I kept an eye on the pork loin as it when through the final hours of smoking.
Ronnie, the transportation driver for the nursing home, arrived with Mother at 1:00 and helped us get her moved into the house and all set for her guests, who started arriving soon after. By 1:30, the food was on the serving tables and we were ready to begin the meal. I read the Birth of Christ prophecy from Isaiah, Ladd asked the blessing on the food and family, and then we dug in, as our family always does when there is company and lots of food.
Mere words fail to give an adequate description of the activities of the day, so we’ll let the photos and collages take over at this point.
After eating, we did our gift exchanges, had some desserts and coffee, and alternated conversations and taking photos of the various family groupings.
Mother was the guest of honor, while Spike and Bonita served as the lord and lady of the house.
Mother and her sister, TJ
Mother with our cousins, Madelyn, Angela, Logan, and Ladd Thompson. Logan was home on leave from the Air Force, having recently served another tour in the Middle East.
Brother Ernie and his wife, Billee, stopped by on the way to see their daughters in Waxahachie. They didn’t have lunch with us, but did get in a few minutes of visiting with the group. It was the first time we had seen them since they moved out two years ago.
Mother with Barbara, Leah, and me.
Around 3:45, Mother said that she was ready to “go home” and get in her bed, so we called Ronnie and he came and picked her up for the trip back to the nursing home.
Needless to say (but we’ll say it anyway), the day was a huge success. When it was all over except the shouting, the company had gone to their homes, and Leah pulled out of the driveway to head back to Cleburne, Barbara and I gave a great sigh of relief, changed into our night clothes, and settled in for a long winter’s nap.
Saturday, December 24
It’s Christmas Eve, also what would have been Mother and Daddy’s 69th wedding anniversary had Daddy not been killed in the southeastern New Mexico floods of 1966. Since Daddy’s death, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day have always been bittersweet for Mother as she remembers what was, and what could have been.
Mother and Daddy were married at the home of one of my great-aunts in El Paso on December 24, 1942. Daddy was in the Army Air Force and Mother worked at Price’s Creameries, where she first met Daddy.
Sunday, December 25
Merry Christmas to family and friends around the world!!!
Strangely enough, this was a very low key day for us. We got dressed and went to the Christmas service at Yantis First Baptist Church and then returned to Mineola to have a simple lunch with Mother at the nursing home. We didn’t realize until much later that we didn’t even carry the camera with us today.
When we left Mother after a couple of hours, we came back to the house, took a long nap, and then started packing and making other preparations for our trip to Olathe and yet another Christmas with Heather, Mike, Whitney, and their families.
Monday, December 26
Again, there were no photos today. We spent the morning packing the car, getting the house ready, taking Spike and Bonita to the Doggy Hotel, and doing the 1,001 other chores involved in preparing for an extended absence.
Around 2:00, we shut down the house and drove over to the nursing home to visit with Mother for a bit, and then set off on our journey to Olathe, although we only made it as far as Henryetta, Oklahoma, before it got dark and we decided to stop for the night.
Tuesday, December 27
Happy 8th Birthday to Grandson Alexander Dondis!!!
Happy Anniversary to Daughter Leah Renee' and Ryan McQuitty
(This would have been Barbara’s parents, WT and Virginia Perry’s, 70th anniversary!)
We took our time getting up and around this morning and then made several stops along the way as we motored toward Olathe and our long-anticipated family gathering with the kids.
When we got to our motel in Gardner (there was no room at any of the inns in Olathe…seems to be an age-old Christmas situation) we checked in, went across the lot to do some last-minute shopping at Walmart, and then talked to Mike about plans for the evening. Mike said that his mom was supposed to meet them at the house this evening, but that everyone needed some time out of the house, so the kids and grandkids were going to a family fun center in one of the shopping centers for a couple of hours. We agreed to meet them at Zonker’s to see everyone and have some fun until they had to leave.
When we got to Zonker’s, Mike said that his mom wasn’t feeling well this evening, so she wasn’t coming over from Lawrence. Instead, he asked if we wanted to join them after the fun time for pizza and trimmings at CiCi’s. We decided that would be a lot of fun, but for the next couple of hours, we focused on the kids and grandkids having a great time with roller coasters and various other rides and games.
When we finished at Zonker’s, we all loaded up in our cars and drove across Olathe to CiCi’s to continue the evening of fun and frolic. Believe it or don’t, but we forgot to take the camera inside at CiCi’s, so we had to make do with pictures from the cell phones.
Wednesday, December 28
Since our family gathering wasn’t scheduled until noon today, we just took our time getting up and around at the motel…worked at the computers, read books, and did very little of anything else.
About 11:00 we made one more run to the Walmart across the parking lot from our Super 8, and then headed into Olathe for our first look and Whitney and Jim’s “new” house and the first gathering with all the kids and grandkids since Mike and Kelly’s wedding three years ago.
After carrying in the presents that we brought and greeting everyone (lots of good hugs all around), the next item on the day’s agenda was to follow Jim and Whitney to a Chinese restaurant for our noon meal.
We were definitely NOT disappointed in the setting or the food! In fact, had we not been able to see the decidedly American parking lot through one of the windows, we could have sworn that we were back in China, enjoying a top-notch meal with family and friends at one of the finer restaurants.
After the meal, we loaded into our cars for the return trip to Jim and Whitney’s house for one of the best Christmases we have spent in years.Mere words cannot describe the day and all we experienced, so once more we’ll depend on pictures to tell the story.
The cast of characters for this marvelous day and celebration are listed below.
Daughter Heather and son-in-law Andy Dondis and grandchildren Alexander and Abby
Daughter Whitney, son-in-law Jim Farnham, and Little Jimmy
Grams and Gramps with Little Jimmy
Grams and Gramps with Ava
Dad with Heather, Mike, and Whitney
Dad with the kids and their spouses
Thursday, December 29
After the celebration with all the kids yesterday, we returned to the motel to bask in the beauty of the day…that is, until we realized that we had to start gathering everything up and packing it for today’s trip. We managed to load all but the necessities for the night and this morning, so it didn’t take us long after we woke up this morning to get underway…by 6:30 were on the road again, headed for Artesia, New Mexico, and a short visit with our “adopted family,” the Terpenings.
Silly us, we thought that by leaving early and driving hard and fast, we could possibly make it to Artesia by nightfall or shortly thereafter, considering the time zone change. The truth is that we didn’t even come close; after driving as far as we could, we finally set our sights on Amarillo, about 4 ½ hours from our goal, with one brief stop along the way.
Following our visit at the park, we drove on to Amarillo, found a good motel with a vacancy, and hunkered down for the night to get ready for the final leg of the trip to Artesia tomorrow morning.
Friday, December 30
After a good night’s sleep and some breakfast at the motel, we again loaded out things in the car and continued toward Artesia. The highway took us past Farwell, Texas, a community of special importance to Barbara and her family because that’s one of the places where her father pastured a United Methodist Church for a number of years.
It was a quiet Saturday around Jean’s place. We did a little work, a little reading, a little talking, and a little TV watching, but nothing much of any consequence.
Toward the end of this day of not much, I stepped outside and saw the setup for a beautiful southeastern New Mexico sunset, so I grabbed the camera and got a series of shots that resulted in the following collage.
The shot of the windmill was taken around 6:15 pm MST, facing slightly to the southeast. The cloud and horizon shots were taken over a period of several minutes from 6:15 – 6:30, facing toward the southwest from the south side of Jean’s pecan farm.
We never get to see sunsets in East Texas, so these are pretty special for us.
Around 7:00 pm, Jerry, Nancy, and Becky arrived and all of us loaded into Jerry’s car and went into town for a special New Year’s Eve meal at La Fonda, the premier Mexican food restaurant in Artesia. Needless to say, a great time was had by all.
We did a lot of clowning around, as the pictures show, and then it was time to dig in to the delicious food, some of which is shown here.
After the meal, we returned to Jean’s house to spend a relatively quiet New Year’s Eve playing Sequence, a game that was taught to us by our friends Gene and Carolyn Neyer in Mineola, and having a fun family time.
"If you stumble, make it part of the dance." - Anonymous
"If you stumble, make it part of the dance." - Anonymous
Spending New Year’s Eve in our hometown of Artesia, New Mexico,
Jim/Dad/Gramps and Barbara/Grams/Mom
ADDENDUM
Dear Family and Friends,
It became the custom, when we finished our first retirement journal on December 31, 2006, to write a short addendum to the final posting of the year and then the addendum would serve as the Foreword to the printed journal.
We have continued that custom, even though the format of the journal/blog has changed somewhat over the years, with a major change beginning in July of 2011. What has not changed is our idea of sharing a part of our lives with special friends who we consider to be a part of our greater family. Our lives have changed considerably since we became the fulltime caregivers for Mother in January, 2010; we travel much less and a large part of each day consists of the same minutiae as the days of everyone else. Still, we celebrate each day and like to share those celebrations with our family in the best way we know how. Our introduction to Facebook last year opened up new avenues of more immediate communications, but we continue to believe that our family history will be served by the writing and production of these journals.
Thank you all for the special love and concern you have shown us over the years. Some who read this are more recent “subscribers” to our literary efforts, but are no less a part of the family than those were the first recipients of those early emails back in July of 2006. We hope you enjoy the ride with us.
We are especially thankful tonight that we are finishing 2011 in Artesia, right back where we started our first journal, with our good friends and “adopted” family, the Terpenings. They have been here for us every step of the way for the past 5 ½ years, and we can never repay them for all the love and friendship they have shown us (but we’ll keep trying).
May God richly bless each of you with a wonderful 2012!
Jim & Barbara Little
December 31, 2011
Artesia, New Mexico
