Memories

Wow, just two more sleeps until Christmas Eve. I'm ready but miss the Christmas's of the past years. As I get older I reflect on so many things of the past. Some with much love and some with longing and regret. But Christmas memories are so full of fondness. The times as a child that we went for rides after Christmas eve church service full of anticipation and excitement because Santa was bringing gifts to our home. There were many times that I have no idea where the money came from for our gifts but the gifts were always there. At the time I was too young to notice that the gifts mom and dad received were very few, they used what money they had on us. Mom filled our tummies with freshly baked cookies, candies,  and wonderful holiday meals besides keeping the house and often times working several jobs outside the home. Memories of going from grandparent home to grandparent home to celebrate with all the aunts, uncles, and cousins. The noise, the teasing, the games, the singing and the food. There was always an abundance of food everywhere.  But above all that there was so much love all around. But as a young child you never think of that, it's all about the "wrappings" of the holiday. 

Holidays as a young mother, I tried my best to bring the  memories to our home when our son was little. The goodies, the meals, the gifts, bright lights and decorations, and the laughter. Sharing my Christmas past memories as well as building new ones. There are some that I know our son will hold in his heart as I do in mine. Some will bring much laughter and some will bring tears of what was.  Now is his time to build new memories and traditions for his family. We all grow and move on.

Memories, it's funny how they pop into your head during the holidays. And how much more meaningful they become as you get older. Cherish those memories, even though they will never really  leave, they just grow more dear.

Making new memories and traditions is a part of growing up and we all grow up.  Growing isn't just measured in our years but growing as people, to learn, share and love.

The greatest gift of all was a gift of great love, our Savior Jesus, who loves us and shares all our memories whether they are sad ones or happy. He is there for us through them all. And He loves us all the time. 

Merry Christmas blessings from our home to yours.

Where has the sun gone?

The sunniest place on earth has had little sun for the last several days. And without the sun it has been cold. Cold by Yuma standards anyway. The days have rarely reached 68 and the lows have been in the mid 40's. Here I only have three sweatshirts and have been wearing them daily. We are so used to the warmth that the 60's are cold, yes, I said cold. hehe

The other day we went to the Arizona Market Place and I scored on t-shirts. A vendor was clearing out so I got 5 t-shirts at $2 each. Can't beat that price. They all have a pretty "Arizona" print on them too. Now I can toss some of my very worn and faded out ones and use them for rags. God was shining down on me. I was really in need of some new t-shirts. I live in them most all year round. Well right now, it's cold so it's sweatshirts.

It was also a great day because Marks A1C went down to 5.9 from 7.5. Now he can drop one of his diabetes pills, the ones that make him uncomfortable. God is so good. The diet needs to stay the same and he has to keep up with his exercise, but working at Walmart and putting on 6 plus miles a day at work, keeps him moving.

Christmas has snuck up on me this year. Not done shopping and no idea what to get. It looks like gift card time. Something I have never liked to do, but has become the only way we can go now. The baking is done and the cookies are dwindling down, but will make it to Christmas day..... I hope. This year I have made 4 batches of my cereal crunch (aka Chex mix). That will be it for this year too. The only candy I made was peanut brittle, and we ration that out each day. Too much sugar is not good for either of us. It really makes my arthritis flare up.

Tomorrow we are going out for a Christmas lunch with our dear friends from Utah.....Uncle James and Auntie Bettie, as I like to call them. They have become as close to as blood family. We are so happy that they still get to Yuma each winter.  Christmas's just aren't the same for us without our family around. It just never feels like Christmas to me anymore, but I do so love living here in Yuma. Thankfully we have a wonderful church to help with the Christmas spirit.

We got our flu shots on Friday, finally. This is the first time I have ever gotten a sore arm from the shot, and boy oh boy is it painful. Last night I still had trouble sleeping on that side, the whole arm hurts. I could hardly feel it when the nurse gave me the shot, but an hour later, oh my goodness. I hope that the pain means it is a great protector from the flu too. hehehe Mark has no trouble at all from his shot.

Just nine more days until Christmas Eve. And I hope that you are ready in your heart as well as the outward displays. Keep Christ and Christmas alive all year long.
God bless.

Arizona winter days

Arizona:

Last two days the weather has been challenging to say the least. First it has Rained for most of the last two days, although total rainfall was probably less that a half inch. But when you consider Yuma on average receives just over 3" a year that is significant amount of rain all.

Secondly, and I only mention this in relativity to the weather we experienced this summer. It has been cold, very cold! The digital thermometer when I got off work last night read a bone chilling 57 deg.. Now I am sure to some "bone chilling" is not the word one would use to describe this temp. But after baking in 110+ deg. weather this summer, a 53 deg. temp drop is very noticeable.

On another note the fields again are alive with the colored patchwork of green produce. You see planters working in fields, while others tend to the irrigation systems and still others are harvesting in the field next to them throughout this farm belt.

You now again see the stacks of cardboard and pallets ready and towering in the many cooling warehouses. While simi trucks lay in wait at the loading docks for produce to begins its destination from farm field to your stores shelves.

This all being accomplished in the middle of a desert. It truly is a wonder to behold!

L8r

Border fence

Yesterday we went on a road trip with our dear friends from Utah. Bettie wanted to see the Mexican border fence. So Mark got us up close and personal, a little to close for Bettie's comfort but she got her picture. :) As did I. The fence is 16 feet high and in the area's where it is needed, it is being repaired and even in those areas,  that we saw, it looks to be in very good shape.  Just a nip and tuck here and there. Looking down the road it goes on and on as far as our eyes could see. We have followed the fence for quite a ways earlier in the month as well.

It looks like Christmas in our park.

Each day more and more Christmas decorations are going up. The twinkling lights are lighting even the darkest parts of the park. Some people put so many lights up I can almost see their electric meter spinning off the poll. Yesterday Mark put the finishing touches on our lights as well and it looks great. We have white icicle lights on the front and around our porch, two candy canes on the front porch screen, a window on the porch has colored lights all around and there are battery candles in the windows and on the porch. My fairy garden even has a lighted Nativity glowing. A few red ribbons adorn the gates and the tip of the house. Green garland with little red ribbons grace the hand railing of the front steps. Yes, Virginia, it looks like Christmas at the Bentons!

The Christmas baking is underway with two kinds of cookies made. Two of our favorites are still in the thinking process. I save the hardest to make for the last. No sense starting off on a sour/sore note. But to make those cookies I also have to make them on a day that Mark is at work or they will never see Christmas eve. There aren't many places that I can hide them here either. But next to the cleaning supplies is looking like the only place Mark would never look. LOL Good thing I'm not stupid enough to put food there.   But that would be the safest place. It will be challenging, as always, working in a limited amount of counter space making roll out and spritz cookies. But they are so worth the extra effort. So far we have consumed two batches of cereal crunch ( chex mix) so I'll be making a third batch before too long. That has to be our favorite winter snack.

It's getting close but we still don't know if Mark works Christmas Eve or not. Every Walmart closes on Christmas day so that day is not a concern. We will have our Christmas on Christmas day instead of Eve like we usually do.

The park will have a Christmas dinner on Christmas day, but I highly doubt we will take part in the gathering. I would much rather do my own cooking and kick back the rest of the day at home.  I like my own cooking better. LOL

Fun

It was fun making our Thanksgiving dinner. Yes, I enjoy cooking even though my kitchens in the last 7 years haven't been very big. It was so great to have dark meat and not just white meat of the turkey too. Having a regular size oven made making a whole turkey possible. :) White meat is not something I care for, but then I don't care for fowl to begin with. Give me Beef any day. :) Since we aren't used to eating rich food anymore our guts let us know that they weren't too happy about our meal either. The meal was still very good and we have plenty of leftovers in the freezer.

After our big meal and a nap for Mark, I dug out our meager Christmas decorations. Later in the afternoon I got the tree up and a few of the decorations put out as well. It takes me longer to get things done than it did 10 years ago so it took me a couple days to finish decorating even though I have only a fraction of what I use to have. Everything seems to take me longer to do now than it used to.  But until I can't do what I want at all, I'll keep doing, it will just take longer to get done. Mom taught me to not give up or give in, we are made of tougher stuff than we think. I love doing all these things so I'll just grit my teeth and smile my way through. The end result makes me feel good and proud.

Cookie baking time is on the next to do list. This year I only need to make three different kinds of cookies. We can't eat all the sweets anymore and Mark only eats his three favorite kinds anyway. hehe Today I mixed the roll out butter cookies, but not sure when I'll get around to making them. This week is kind of full or other things I need to get done.  Once the roll outs are done, I'll tackle the spritz and then the snowballs aka Russian tea cakes as they were called when I was a kid. If I can find the umpf I may make a 4th cookie just because I like Christmas baking too. No shopping to do so I'll just bake. :)

Not sure when Mark will have the time but we will need to get the outside decorations up at some point too. There are a few people in the park that have their lights up and glowing brightly. From the sounds of it, this park really goes all out with their decorating.

Miss Lola has been so quiet today that I think I'll cheer her up and take her for a much needed walk. She loves to walk and doesn't get to do that often enough. It's a beautiful day to be outside and not sitting in the house.

My kind of turkey

This year I am able to make a whole turkey and not just a breast for Thanksgiving. Having a regular size oven is one thing I am thankful for this year. No white meat for me, pass the dark meat and keep your mit's off of it!!!! hehehe

Yesterday was a busy day of prep for today. This year many of our usual foods will be sugar free and less fancy. No green bean casserole or scalloped corn. Mark doesn't eat it anyway I don't need it. But the dressing, gravy and mashed potatoes will be the same high calorie food as always. hehehe The sugar free, crustless pumpkin pie will be new and not sure how it will go over, but I do what I have to do to make it diabetic friendly. The cranberry sauce is still from scratch but I used the new sweetener Xylital in that. All in all most of our favorites will be served, just made in a different way. It was a challenge.

 When I was done with my work for the day, it was late and I headed to the shower. I almost needed help getting in and out etc, I was hurting so much. But I do what I need to do one way or the other. hehehe It felt so good to sit in my recliner with my feet up and feel good about all that I got done.

As is our tradition, the Christmas decorations and tree will go up later today. Well that is if I am up to it after all the clean up etc. from dinner. Most of our Christmas decorations are still in storage in MN. But I did pick up some things from the Dollar Tree now and then. Anyway, it won't take as long to decorate as it has in years past. We don't have the room for all of my decorations either. hehe I do have quite a bunch packed.

Time to open the house before the oven bakes us out of here. It's a rather gloomy gray day so I'll have to make my own sunshine. Maybe some Christmas music later today. :)