Wishing You a Messy New Year – Again | by Linda Brendle

When you’re visiting family around the holidays, it’s sometimes hard to find time to blog regularly. But the good thing about having been a blogger for over a year is that you can recycle. Here’s a post I wrote last year, and as I re-read it, and in spite of my earlier decision not to make any resolutions this year, I may renew this one. Happy New Year!

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The Christmas Eve service was beautiful last night. Lights were twinkling, carols were playing, candles were burning, people were singing and smiling and laughing and hugging and wishing each other a Merry Christmas. Excited children crowded to the front when the pastor told the children’s story. The service ended with Communion and the traditional singing of “Silent Night” as candlelight passed from person to person until the whole sanctuary was alight with it. But something was missing.

Recycled Gifts | by Linda Brendle

I got several recycled gifts this year – not the “re-gifted” kind that someone didn’t want and decided to pass on, but some very special gifts from some very special people. First, there was the phone I told you about last week. David has been looking for ways to expand our limited connections to satisfy my ever-expanding demands. When a good friend upgraded to the latest and greatest, he made David an offer he couldn’t refuse on his existing phone. The friend works for one of the major telecom giants, so rather than being a shop worn hand-me-down, the phone is like new in the original box and has all the accessories and the latest software updates. That’s recycling at its best. But I also got two other very special recycled gifts, items that were something else in a different life and were reincarnated into something different.

My 12 Days of Christmas | by Linda Brendle

christmas paint (Photo credit: cassie_bedfordgolf)

It’s not technically twelve days, but it’s twelve of the many things that have made this Christmas season special:

1. Brilliant smiles, warm hugs and loving kisses.
2. Parties with unhealthy, delicious food and ridiculous, hilarious gifts.

An Old-Fashioned Christmas Afternoon | by Linda Brendle

Merry Christmas (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I’m spending the afternoon listening to traditional Christmas carols in a non-traditional way – via DISH satellite. I’m also trying to duplicate Mom’s recipe for Millionaires, caramel and pecans covered in chocolate. The songs are just what I remembered, but I don’t remember Mom’s candy being this flat and “puddly.” Oh well, it will be good, and making it brings back happy memories. Whatever you’re doing in preparation for and celebration of Christmas, I hope you have many happy memories and that you make many more.

Feeling the Holiday Spirit | by Linda Brendle

Some days the words just aren’t there. Since my writing muse passed me by today, I decided to air out an old post from last November.

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Yesterday one of my Facebook friends posted this question: Am I the only one not feeling the holiday spirit? I left a witty, social network kind of reply, but I’ve been thinking about it since then. Am I feeing the holiday spirit? My first question is which holiday are we talking about? My next question is what does the holiday spirit feel like?

I Miss Mom When I Pray | by Linda Brendle

Unless you’re a brand new visitor to my blog (and if you are, welcome!), you know that I cared for my parents for many years and that they both went home to be with the Lord in the last couple of years. Dad passed away on May 13, 2011, and Mom followed him on May 20 of this year. I was close to both of them, but especially to Mom, and on May 30 I wrote a post about how much I miss her. It’s become my most popular post, getting almost 1,800 views to date, almost three times as many as my previous favorite about why old people smell bad. 

Top Ten Ways to Know Fall Has Arrived in Texas | by Linda Brendle

All of us who live in the South have heard some version of this comment from our friends of a more northern persuasion:

“I couldn’t live down here. I’d miss the change of seasons too much.”

It’s true that we don’t always have the gradual Spring thaw with the first green sprigs peeking timidly through the muddy remnants of the last snow. Instead we go to bed one March night with nothing but bare branches in the yard and wake up with a riot of white blossoms on every pear tree. And we don’t have a month or two to go through a slow transition from long johns to lightweight jackets to summer wear. Instead we go directly from boots and sweaters to shorts and sandals. But we usually get a day or two of beautiful weather when we can open the windows and air out the house before we shut ourselves in for the long, hot summer.

Wal-Mart Antics | by Linda Brendle

I first became a big fan of Wal-Mart when we got our motorhome, and I was even more enthusiastic after I became a caregiver. We never overnighted on one of their parking lots like many RVers do, but we lunched there quite often. Wal-Mart parking lots are generally easy in and easy out, even for a 40-foot vehicle towing a car, so if we were close to one around noon, we pulled in. After we ate, one or the other of us invariably suggested we run inside to pick up this or that. If we couldn’t find it there, we probably didn’t need it anyway.

Wishing You a Messy New Year | by Linda Brendle

The Christmas Eve service was beautiful last night. Lights were twinkling, carols were playing, candles were burning, people were singing and smiling and laughing and hugging and wishing each other a Merry Christmas. Excited children crowded to the front when the pastor told the children’s story. The service ended with Communion and the traditional singing of “Silent Night” as candlelight passed from person to person until the whole sanctuary was alight with it. But something was missing.

Mattias Reads “The Reindeer Who Had Fear to Fly”

Chapter 2 of the family story book was written, illustrated, and read by 8-year-old Mattias. He is so creative and serious. He reminds me of Alistair Cooke introducing Masterpiece Theater.