Our Christmas blessings….

 And we are blessed that we found each other so many years ago….

Our precious granddaughters are not so little anymore

 Once they were oh so very young and vulnerable….

Hannah at three—now she’s almost five years old.

Aryana at three—now she’s over five years old.

Ida at two and a half—now she’s fifteen and a half.

Stella at three—she will be seventeen in less than a month.

Marina at five—she will be twenty years old in three months.

These darlings of ours are still vulnerable.

Time is brutal.  Our little girls are no longer small.  

But time is also sweet.  We have countless memories of each of our children and grandchildren that we cherish and reminisce about together every single day.

And every one of our grandchildren will always be precious to us.  We love them so very much.

Christmas with our sister, Kathy….

Kathy gave us a very special Christmas gift this December.  She spent an entire week with us at Nuestra Casa, our home in Mesa.  We spent days on end together sitting, reading, and talking in the sunshine on our patio.

We strolled around the beautiful ponds in Leisure World.  One of our resident graceful herons was out fishing.  Be sure to see the ever-present buzzards that hang out expectantly at our old folks community.

We walked to our community cafe for breakfast.  This has been a family tradition for over 40 years—ever since Mom and Dan lived in Leisure World in the 1980’s.

When I prepared our breakfasts and dinners, both my Danny AND Kathy serenaded me on the piano….it was delightful!

Our home will feel so empty without our dear sister.  We had such a lovely time with Kathy.  Thank you for this gift that you gave to us….a beautiful memory.

Our performance….and saying goodbye to our girls

Thanksgiving is over when Santa Claus and his reindeer arrive at our home.

On our last day with Candice, Marina, and Stella we put good old Saint Nick up in our front yard.

Candice is in training for the Hurt 100 mile race that takes place in the mountains above Honolulu, Hawaii.  This meant that some days that they were here, she ran for hours AND lots of miles in our beautiful, sunny desert wilderness areas.  This was a special treat for her, as she loves the mountains and deserts in Arizona.

It also meant that the rest of us had time to prepare a surprise for her. We decided to do a musical performance for her.  It was a blast, both practicing and performing.  And the hardest part was that we had so much fun, we were laughing most of the time….and it’s awfully hard to sing and laugh at the same time!

Grandpa played the piano while Marina, Stella, and Grandma sang All I Have to do is Dream.

We also performed Saginaw Michigan.  Grandpa played the piano and sang the song.  The “girls” just had a bit part singing only the words, “Saginaw Michigan”.  But spontaneously Marina, Stella, and Grandma decided to act out the words of the song.  Grandpa had no idea what his singing trio was doing…he just kept playing and singing merrily along, oblivious to the girls' shenanigans. This made our final “production” even more enjoyable and hilarious and totally chaotic.

Our video.  It's a "must watch."

All too soon it was time to say goodbye to our dear girls…..so hard, but that is only because we all love each other so much.  

Grandma and Grandpa waved goodbye. They left us with lots of hugs and promises to see us very soon again.  But most of all they left us with most wonderful memories!

We have so much to be thankful for….and not just for the “Seven Pie Mix-up”

We are so very thankful for all our grandchildren, children, and family!

Our grandchildren know this rule….and we extend it to our children too. We get lots of loving hugs!

This Thanksgiving week Candice, Marina, and Stella helped us celebrate our amazing life, family, our friends, and the country that we are lucky enough to live in.

They came bearing gifts….six extra large bundles of the most beautiful flowers!

We all had so much fun together.  Mostly we just hung out together—talking, laughing, telling stories, reliving the past, and learning what life is like today for teenagers and our granddaughters.

We also went on walks around the ponds, and golf courses….

Marina and Stella put up our Christmas Snow Villages.  We spent most of the morning and afternoon setting up the villages…..and making up the back stories for each Snow Village scene.  

This is one of our  most beautiful and memorable Christmas Snow Villages, as it reminded us of all the years that our little children helped us put up our Snow Villages…..and rearranged and played with all the little people for weeks afterwards..

Now for the part that you’ve been waiting for—“The Seven Pie Mix-up!”

We ordered three pies for Thanksgiving, strawberry-rhubarb, mixed berry, and pecan….more than enough.  The pies were delivered the day before Thanksgiving, but there were four pies—two chocolate silk and two chocolate peanut butter cup.  Huh?  

Then we remembered that these were Sean, Emily, Soren, and Sebastian’s favorite Christmas pies.  We had ordered these four pies for their visit to Grandma and Grandpa’s home at Christmas time! 

Village Inn said, “keep the pies, no charge.” 

Great, but this didn’t solve the problem.  We still needed our Thanksgiving pies.  

So we all jumped into the car, picked up our Thanksgiving pies, and 40 minutes later, were back home with three more pies.

Hence, seven pies, two gallons of ice cream, and three cans of whipped cream for our Thanksgiving dessert!

Grandpa serenaded us with his piano with many wonderful songs from our youth.  

Then our musical granddaughters worked on learning to read the sheet music and play the piano.

Our granddaughters shopped at the Leisure World golf shop….and Grandma and Grandpa spoiled them by buying whatever they wanted.  Isn’t that what grandparents are for?

Both Marina and Stella wanted to sit in the same chair….we can’t remember who won.

The Model Show:

Stella and Marina tried on Grandma’s clothes to decide what they would like have.  The answer was—all of them.

Aren’t they beautiful!  But when did our little granddaughters become women?

Grandma, as she walked down the “isle” with Dad Graybill over thirteen years ago.

Marina and Stella tried on Grandma’s wedding dress.  

They were both stunning!

Grandpa made them both promise to wear their Grandma’s wedding dress when they get married.

Thanksgiving Day….

Grandpa played for Grandma as she seasoned and stuffed the turkey….it was lovely.

Candice gave us two copies of the official Guinness World Record certificate—one for Nuestra Casa and one for our cabin. The 200 days that she ran an ultramarathon every day has great memories and is very meaningful to us.  Thank you, Candice.

Of course on Thanksgiving, we needed to get out and exercise.  Especially, since we had to eat our Thanksgiving dinner AND seven pies!

There is so much to see and do at Leisure World!

Don’t laugh, unless you can do a pull-up!

And unless you can do this….whatever it is.  Marina and Stella said it’s a lot harder than it looks, especially when you do fifteen or more.

Thanksgivings dinner….

A said a little prayer and a big THANK YOU for the life that we have been given….and the life that we have created together.