I sat with my son Mark today and we began the process of filling out college applications.  I can’t believe my oldest child will be graduating this May and will soon be out of the house and on his own.  The feelings I have are bittersweet. I find myself missing him already and at the same time, I am so excited about his future.

Mark is an intelligent, handsome, great kid. He has a heart as big as the moon and a wonderful sense of humor. We have been very close all these years and I don’t know what I or his sister Haley will do when he is not here. I will miss the guitar playing late at night, the arguments about him getting a motorcycle, and the stories he comes home with after spending time with his friends. Outside I see a strong, confident, great looking young man, but I can still see the cute little boy on the inside who loved to play with lizards.

He is interested in Sports Medicine and wants to attend University of South Florida. That is so far away from north Georgia.  He won’t be able to hop in the car and come home anytime he wants.

I think of his future and see great things for him. He is determined to be successful and has everything going for him. I have no doubt he will fulfill his dream of taking care of the players of a pro football team.

His momma is going to miss him dearly!

I woke up to the delicious smell of baking pies; apple and pumpkin. My Mother and brother are here for the holidays and this year we celebrated at my best friend Cindy’s Italian restaurant. She closed it down just for us to have our party. Fifteen people showed up ready to eat and play games.

After Joni finished carving the turkeys, she started cleaning up. She grabbed the giblets and the neck and started for the trash can. That’s when we all heard my Mom scream, “don’t throw away the neck!”  We all stopped in our tracks and looked at Mom like she was crazy. Some people use the neck to make gravy with, but not my Mom. She saves it for last and eats it like a cob of corn.

We quickly cleaned up, arranged the tables, grabbed our jars of change, and dealt the first hand of Texas Hold’Em. Hours went by and my pile of coins dwindled quickly. I was told that I needed to work on my poker face. I guess I am not very good at being serious, not even in poker. The big winner of the night was my seventeen year old son. He won eight bucks and felt mighty proud of himself for beating seasoned pros like my good friend Erika Rich and her husband Charles.

The time we have with our family and friends is irreplaceable. I am so thankful for my  two beautiful children, my parents and brother and the best friends a person can have. The memories we make each year are priceless.

Turkey Dinner

Finally! My Mother and brother have arrived from the northern part of Michigan. My Mom calls it “God’s Country”. Normally they don’t come until just before Christmas, but I think that they were quite ready to take a break from the cold weather. So, this is the first year we get to spend Thanksgiving together for a long time.

While I am at work, my Mother does the laundry and has a great dinner ready when we all get home and my brother picks my youngest child up from school every day. Yesterday, he even gave the dog a bath. This allows me more time to work on my blog.

When they come, all diets are called off!! My Mom is an excellent baker. She makes homemade cinnamon rolls, banana bread and molasses cookies, just to name a few. I always seem to put on a few extra pounds when she comes.

My family loves to play all sorts of games. We play Phase 10, poker and Rummy. However, Canasta is our favorite. We
have an annual competition to see who can win the most games during her stay. My son Mark usually comes the closest to beating her; she is good!

All my friends love to come over when Mom and Ray are here. We usually get quite loud as we tell stories and
reminisce about the silly things we have done over the years. The stories tend to grow and have more exaggerations
added to them each year.

I look forward to spending Christmas and New Years with my Mom and brother will be here. I expect we will have a lot
of fun and make a lot of memories to pass down to the generations to come.