Felis Navidad in Muddling Through As Best I Can

Well, Happy Holidays! Things here are rolling along. A short update. Brian has been sick with bronchitis and has missed a few days of work, but hopefully will be able to be back to work soon. Brad and Shea are getting married next Saturday. Moods are soaring even as the parents’ bank accounts are crashing. The wedding has effectively trashed my Christmas budget, but Grandpa is going to make up for it on New Years. Luckily, none of the grandchildren are going to be the wiser so I don’t feel TOO bad, but I do hate not having anything for them on Christmas day. Just my personal hangup.
Work is going well, bills are getting paid on time, starting to remodel the other house so I can move in there and get rid of this mobile home I’ve been in for so long. These things are just not meant for long term living.
Brad is still not working, and I told him that I would continue to let them live here until the baby comes in April, but after that they have to make plans. From the size of Shea’s tummy, I’m not sure that I won’t have a new grandson or granddaughter before then though. Hoping that after the wedding on Saturday that he will get a fire lit inside and hit the bricks, looking for something. When I was twenty-one, I had a two year old son a mortgage and two jobs. I guess I can’t expect all of my children to behave as I did, but that child can be vexing to say the least. He’s been drug free for a couple of years now, changed his social circle and is very attentive to Shea and her daughter, so there is improvement.
I always get nostalgic at this time of year, missing my grandmothers, my parents, and especially my son. In a couple of months, he will have been gone for fifteen years. Hard to believe. But the world rolls on, and I cherish the memories of my eighteen years with him.
My niece, Kristen lost a baby late in her third trimester week before last . Her name was to have been Harriet Johanna, with her middle name being derivative of “John”. She was to have been named for me.
Kristen had to deliver the child, and the funeral was last Monday. You would think that I of all people, would have the right words, but everything just sounded like a platitude. I guess there are no right words at such times. I know that some of the outlandish statements I received when Austin died have stuck in my memory for years (“Were you two close?” has to be the prize winner in the dumb question category; he was my first-born child for heavens’ sake!). In the end I just hugged both Kris and her husband and gave them my love. I hope they understood.
But, enough depressing talk. I’m gearing up to cook for Christmas since I can’t buy the plethora of gifts I had planned. Lots of cookies, brownies, and other unhealthy yet delicious foods for the season. We have a Christmas Eve program at church that Sienna, who shall officially be my granddaughter by that time, will be in. She’s playing the angel who appeared to the shepherds. Since she’s two, they’ve omitted her lines and an adult will narrate. I will be filming for posterity sake. She is a doll-baby. Her biological father is Mexican, and she looks like Dora the Explorer. For those of you who live outside the United States, not sure if you get that program, but it’s an educational television show here. It drives me crazy when people comment on it, so Grandpa took her to the hair salon and got her a nice hair style to alleviate the similarity. The cutest thing is, she doesn’t love me, she “wubbles” me. Yes, I am a sap for grandchildren. They are my kryptonite.
But, I see I’ve rambled once again, so I’m going to call it an evening.
I wish you and all your loved ones a very Merry Christmas, filled with all the joy and happiness you can hold.

Last updated December 16, 2014