It’s beginning to looking a lot like Christmas…..

From our front door, we captured the December full moon rising in the east….

The nativity set that we have had for so many years….that Owen remembers as a child—with mother Mary, Joseph, and baby Jesus in the manger is at the cabin with Owen, Mila, and our grandchildren, Hannah,Vernon, and Robert….for them to celebrate the glorious miracle of Christmas.

Thanksgiving……we are thankful for God’s providence

 …..thankful for the great abundance of blessings that God has bestowed upon us.

And thankful for such a loving family to love!

We spent this Thanksgiving at our cabin in Pine with family….Owen, Mila, Hannah, Vernon, Robert, and our littlest grandson which Mila is gently caring for in her belly.

Grandma made Grandpa’s favorite pumpkin pie before we headed up to our mountain cabin.

There were lots of loving hugs and cuddles “hello” when we arrived at the cabin….

Venom and Hannah excitedly helped unload all our belongings and the sixteen pound Thanksgiving turkey….there were many heavy loads for these tiny tots!

Grandma and Grandpa brought new books to the cabin for our little grandchildren.  And by the time the weekend was over, we had read each of them several times.  It was a devious plot of ours to get them to sit in our laps for hours on end.

Hannah worked for hours on the children’s and Grandma’s surprise Thanksgiving project.  Grandma traced everyone’s hands on colored paper, cut out the hands, and then Hannah wrote everyone’s name on their paper hand and what each person was thankful for on this Thanksgiving Day.

By the time Mama and Grandma had finished stuffing the turkey with veggies, stuffing, and herbs, we needed big, strong Papa to lift it and put it in the oven for us.

Our Thanksgiving project was completed right after Papa put the turkey into the oven…so we strung our “hands” together with Grandma’s yarn and hung our “thanks” above the piano.

Grandma and Grandpa gave their little grandchildren winter coats and boots….an early Christmas present, to keep them snugly warm during the cold winter at the cabin in the high desert mountains.

We took a pre-Thanksgiving dinner walk, so we’d have extra room in our tummies for all the delicious food that Mama and Grandma had lovingly prepared.

Papa caught a lizard….for real!  Those little critters are fast!  The children admired it for a few minutes, and then Papa and the kiddos brought the lizard back to his home, so he could enjoy his Thanksgiving dinner with his lizard family.

Grandma taught Hannah and Vernon how to make a hot pad….a surprise present for Mama!

Turkey’s done….come and eat!

Vernon certainly knows how to eat his Thanksgiving turkey like a real “man!”

Only the children were still full of energy after our Thanksgiving dinner and dessert….but we certainly enjoyed watching them laugh and play together.  It the perfect grand finale to a perfect day!

Thanksgiving dinner II on Friday…..Hannah gave her Mama the hot pad that she and Vernon had made for her.  Mama was so touched by the gift from her children that she decided she wouldn’t use her beautiful new hot pad as a hot pad…..she plans to hang it in her kitchen and save it forever!

Grandma taught Hannah how to knit….she is a fast learner!

Loving hugs for Grandpa from little Robert…...

We are blessed with love.  

We are thankful that we found each other.  Loving and caring for each other gives meaning to our lives.

And we are thankful for our children and all these little people that our children have given to us….they are also what gives great meaning to our lives.  

Although we were far away from much of our family, we feel that we spent this Thanksgiving with all of our dear family—as they are part of us always within our hearts and souls.  

Thank you,, God, for all that you have given to us.  The blessings you have bestowed upon us are precious, and we will treat them gently.

What's happened to Ma Bell?

We spent many hours on the phone and in chats trying to get a landline for our cabin in Pine.

What we realized is that nobody we talked to even knew what a landline is!  

We'd explain:  "you know, where a cable is run in from the street, and then there was a little box on the wall where you would plug in the cord from your phone?"

Besides the fact that everybody except one person was not a native English speaker, (so our most frequent question was:  "would you please repeat that?") they kept trying to sell us, instead, a "cordless" phone that would be connected to our WiFi line.  

We are wanting no signals of any kind coming into the cabin or being inside our cabin.  We wanted an old fashioned telephone.  (Hey!  We're old!)

Nobody could grasp it.  All we did was call and ask this question:  "Can we get a landline to our cabin that comes in from a cable from the street and is connected to a little box on the wall?"

They didn't even know enough about what that was to say:  "Sorry, no."  They all just referred to their cheat sheets, and they all said the same thing regardless of who we called. 

What we frequently got, when they had no clue about what we were asking, was them trying to sell us cell phone service....even though we had already told them we already had cell phone service.  They must work on commission.  

One person asked:  "Can I ask why you want a landline?"

----like it's their business.  This was the first question.  The next one was trying to sell us their cell phone service.

Here is an irony.  We can't get something that was common only a few years ago, but now DOESN'T EVEN EXIST.

But, our wonderful town of Pine still has Pony Express, from 150 years ago:

 

 This is just messing with our old landline minds.

Leisure World votes on the cafe they want

We currently have a cafe that is run by a local organization for handicapped adults (COPA).  They serve basic food, at good prices.

 Recently we were given the option of replacing that cafe with a VERY upscale restaurant.

And, like everything in Leisure World, it was settled in a way that does democracy proud----we got to vote. 

Here is the result:

  

We are so happy about this, that so many of us at Leisure World want to support our little cafe and the people who are making livings working there.

This is our very own Leisure World Rendezvous Cafe that we walk to with our grandchildren (often, as they rollerblade to it). We sit outside at the tables in the sunshine and eat a very special breakfast of pancakes, eggs, bacon, and sausages prepared proudly for us by the Rendezvous Cafe employees. Eating at this quaint little cafe has been one of our favorite family traditions ever since we moved here over seven years ago.

Our family is spending the winter at our cabin!

Over the river and through the woods to Grandma and Grandpa’s house they go….

Owen, Mila, and our delightful grandchildren, Hannah, Vernon, Robert, (and our littlest grand baby in Mila’s belly) arrived in Arizona this week.

We spent the week playing together and getting our family settled in their new winter home….

We turned around and found that Robert had finished up all the leftovers.

Exploring the “back forty.”

We celebrated Vernon’s 3-year birthday with cake and ice cream….and a cowboy outfit, including cowboy boots!

Howdy cowboy!

Robert enjoyed playing with the vintage wooden duck that we gave him.

No tour of Pine would be complete without hiking on the Pine-Strawberry Trail—and climbing to the top of the piles of logs….

No hike would be complete without drawing a picture of Mama and Papa in the dirt!

And of course drawing circle dinosaurs in the dirt….

Owen noted that Vernon was a cowboy in the wilderness and Hannah looked like a 1980’s Barbie in the dancing dress that we gave her….

Robert had the right idea….every good hike finishes with a nap in your Papa’s arms.

Pine is a very special little town nestled in the high desert mountains below the Mogollon Rim.  In fact, Hannah has informed us that they now live in Pine…and every other place is “America.”  We think that she’s right.  There is definitely no place like Pine—it is a country onto itself!

When it was time for us to go, there were lots of hugs and kisses.  It so hard to say goodbye to all of them.  But we will all be together in a few weeks for our Thanksgiving celebration. It will be the first time that we’ll be at our cabin on Thanksgiving.

It will be a very special Thanksgiving.  It would be so sweet if all our children and grandchildren could be with us as we give thanks for all of our blessings….but they will all be in our hearts.

We are thankful that our winter will be filled with so much of our loving family. Sean, Emily, Soren, and Sebastian are visiting us at Christmas.  And possibly, Candice, Marina, and Stella will fly down to see us.  A few weeks later, our sister Kathy will arrive.  

Then Calvin, Alison, Aryana, and Easton will be at our home in Leisure World for the first time.  And if we are lucky, three of our other grandchildren, Ida, Alden, and Wilder, will fly south and see us at Nuestra Casa.  They visit us to our cabin in Pine (with their mama and papa, Ryan and Rachelle) each summer, but have never been to our home in Mesa. 

Hopefully, even more of our family will come down to warm, sunny Arizona to visit us this winter.

This will be a winter that we will cherish forever.  We feel fortunate….all of these years together we have been blessed with family and so much love.