announcing.....

My new blog!  This will be of special interest to family members. Visit me at storiesofthenyefamily.blogspot.com to learn a little of our family history.  There will be photos and all the stories I have about our family.  Enjoy.

visiting our favorite teacher

One of the nice things about being retired is we can take off whenever... so today we visited Jessica at the HISD magnet school near Rice University where she teaches kindergarten. The kids were still on holiday break, so only the teachers were in for a work day.The school was built in the 1940's and is nestled among lovely and very expensive homes, with ancient oak trees lining the street. The classrooms are huge. (And this is only 1/4 of the room.) The windows of Jessica's room look out onto it's own outdoor patio. Here is one of the patios in the center of the school. The school has a lot of character and charm, lacking in modern schools.
We were impressed with all Jessica has done to make her classroom a fun learning environment. We might be a little prejudiced, but we'll say it anyways, "Jessica, you're the best little kindergarten teacher that we know!"

A fond farewell to 2009

Good-bye to Christmas 2009....Good-bye to the very last of the Christmas cookies...Hello to New Year's day... And Grammy is still in the kitchen, working on her final holiday pie. After staying up til the wee hours New Year's Eve, this Grammy was beyond tired and had to get a lot of help from her good friend, "Cooking Show Grammy." "Cooking Show Grammy", with her fake southern accent and crazy ways, took over, and taught Kyla how to make a pie. Kyla loved doing some commercials for the cooking show,which will soon be aired on the Fools Network.Well after all that work and all that fun and all that family, it's time to take a deep breath, and contemplate the New Year. I think about time and how it passes too quickly. What if in this new year, I make a resolution to treat each day as if it were my last and take the time and make the time to do something that means something in that context?

Here's my childhood friend, Carol, who in this picture is wearing a wig because she is bald from chemotherapy. Her cancer was incurable. She died within a year of this photo taken in 2001. She lived life to the fullest, while dying. She took the time to visit me for a week --that's when this photo was taken. We packed a picnic lunch every morning and in spite of her fatigue, we saw the sights, shared memories, laughed and had the best time. She took the time to take wonderful trips with her husband. Evey night, they took the time to say "I love you" and "good-bye", because that night could be her last.

Make the time and take the time each day. Appreciate those precious moments and be grateful for the gift of time -- every second, every minute that's packed into the year 2010. Have a Happy New Year! Don't ever take the precious gift of time for granted.
That's my New Year's resolution. How about you?

'twas the night before Christmas...

When all through our house, the cookies were baked that granddaughters decorated...

A little one experienced his first Christmas eve.....And we gathered around a candle-lit table for our traditional dinner of Christmas Eve soup...Then, around a fire (built from logs from oak tree branches downed by Hurricane Ike),Grandpa told the story of the Jesus' birth.

From our house to yours, Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good-night!

starting a new tradition

Grandpa had been wanting us to do this for years. This year,after all my kids are grown, I finally got excited about it. It was fun to make real gingerbread -- found a good recipe on the Internet for that and the royal icing. Graham crackers were used for the roof. The gingerbread was super sturdy, and yet soft enough and very delicious to eat. We gathered for a meal of Cajun shrimp gumbo--a new recipe which everyone, including kids (used half the amount of Cajun seasoning) enjoyed. Christmas music was turned on and the creativity began.
We had a lot of silly laughs.
For home evening night, on the Monday before Christmas, we'll be doing this again and again and again.

this old grammy did it!

Yes, I sure did. Earlier this month I turned 62 (not too depressed about it, since I'm still below 65.) ..... and to celebrate this birthday month I finally did it --- during my long run today, I reached my goal of easily running 2 miles without stopping. Don't snicker all you super marathoners out there; it took me a long time to get to this point, a lot of baby steps, a major accomplishment for me. 5K here I come ... someday! What a beautiful day to be in Texas, and running in the park -- 71 degrees, no humidity, sunny, blue sky. Meanwhile, up north in Minnesota, Mark is buying ice skates for his family so they can skate on the frozen pond in back of their house.

white elepant Christmas party

Last Saturday, we gathered at Bill & Sharon's for the annual grown-ups' white elephant Christmas party. After a dinner of Sharon's yummy mannicotti, we had lots laughs opening our "white elephant" gifts. Here are a few of the presents that no one wanted to steal --

Pat took his chances with this pretty blue bag, and look what he got! No one would admit to giving the "butt booster". I wrapped up an unused bathrobe one of my son-in-laws left behind in an upstairs closet. And look who got it! Matthew says he loves it.The girls will be chasing Justin on his college campus when they find out he is the proud owner of so many springy keychains (at least 20).Donna loved these limited edition Target slippers soooo much that no one had the heart to steal them away from her (Jessica was coveting them).Hank enjoyed smelling his basket of fragrant body lotions. Donna will probably steal it away from him when they get home. Maybe they can just share.

Sharon, our lovely party hostess, deserved and got the lovliest gift of all, a mirror framed in exquisite gold- leafed plastic. It'll add that touch of elegance to her decor.And "Merry Christmas" from the Ellis siblings here in Texas to Billy in Pennsylvannia and Beverly in Utah. Wish you could have been there with us!