Out With The Old..

...and in with the new.  That is a saying I have heard all my life.  Sometimes it is good to think that way.  Maybe it helps us remember there is such a thing as a new beginning, or it could be just as simple as cleaning out your closets!

However, since today is December 31 and the last day of this 2013, I want to talk about that.

2013 just like any other year rolled around on January 1.  A new year, full of promise and hope.  My family started this year with a wonderful trip to Hawaii.  My husband and I, our son and daughter in law spent a glorious week on the island of Oahu.  Those days and nights were filled with fun and memories I cherish.  It was a trip I will always treasure.

February was good until I fell in the back yard and required a trip to the ER for a CT scan and xrays.  Thank God nothing more than bruises and sprains but I was quite sore and the trip wasn't cheap!  "Trip" get it.  That is how I fell, tripped over the tie down strap for our pool.  Grace isn't my middle name.

We lost a family member in March.  Our brother in law had valiantly fought cancer for over a year and a half.  He slipped away on a Monday evening.  He left a hole in our family and in our hearts.  I cannot grieve for him, but for us.  He left that weak, frail body and found an eternal peace.  The loved one he left behind was lost.  She broke my heart daily, but God was with her to make it through each day.

I think it was April that one of our beagles got out and while my husband chased him down he stepped in a hole and heard something in his knee pop.  That is never good.  More on that later.

May we celebrated the 30th birthday of our son.  What a great day!  His wife planned a wonderful party, friends and family came to wish him well and it was a time to look back and look forward to more fun with this guy that we all love.

June was my daddy's 80th birthday!  How blessed I am to have him in my life.  This year we celebrated on Father's day (his birthday was the next day).  My family got together to have a dinner and celebrate him and the other dads - my brother and my husband.  The next week my husband had knee surgery...yes, from the fall in April.  It wasn't as involved as the doctor originally thought and that was good news.  It still wasn't easy for someone who is very active and doesn't relish being the patient.

July was pretty much recoup and rest.  Not much going on here for us.  August we slowly got back in the swing of things and attended a family reunion but didn't do too much more.  My husband spent a lot of time in physical therapy these two months.

September turned out to be quite the month.  We took our sister and her friend to Disney World.  She had been so sad since losing her husband, and we wanted to see her smile.  Well, let me tell you it is hard not to be happy at Disney World!  It was like a healing balm for all of us.  We had the best time and laughed till we cried and that is the best kind of tears.  The week after that we took a trip to upstate New York.  My husband had a business trip and I just tagged along.  We met up with two friends in Buffalo and visited Niagara Falls.  Oh my gosh.  What a sight.  The pictures, the movies, the videos, nothing can do it justice.  We rode the Maid of the Mist right into the falls.  It was amazing, breathtaking and downright thrilling!  Fun trip.  When I thought the month could not get any better, we were told on Sept. 28 that we are going to be grandparents in May!  WOO HOO.  That tops anything else that happened all year!

October is one of my favorite months of the year, every year.  I love autumn and everything it brings.  We had a family dinner at my house and of course got to share our good news.  I hosted an annual Harvest Dinner with friends and that is something I look forward to all year.  An outdoor fire, good food, and fellowship.  October did not disappoint, we had a beautiful autumn.

My birthday is in November and my sister by heart lives in Tampa (as I have mentioned).  My husband gave me round trip air fare to visit her.  So thrilled with the idea of a week together and believe me we can do a lot in a week!  I arrived on Monday and we hit the ground running.  Straight to the mall!  Dinner at our favorite local restaurant and I had my usual shrimp po boy.  Same goes for Tuesday and Wednesday - Clearwater, Sarasota, Tampa.  Shop, eat, sight see, rest.  Repeat.  Thursday I got the shock of my life when not one, not two, but three more friends arrived!  They had planned this for awhile.  It was great.  We took a Harbor Cruise of Tampa Bay, we had lunch onboard.  We had a fabulous home cooked meal one night of fresh caught fish.  We talked, reminisced about things we had all done together before her move.  It had to be one of the best birthdays of my life.  When I got home the celebrations continued for a week so yeah, it was pretty awesome.

December and celebrating Christmas is always special.  It is festive and you look forward to parties and gatherings with family and friends.  I shopped, wrapped, decorated and cooked like I always do.  I knew it would be a different Christmas because of losing a family member, but I knew the promise of God so it makes it easier to bear.  We also knew we would find out what our grandchild will be!  I knew this would be a special day.  It was a sweet Christmas Eve with my husband's family.  We had dinner and opened our gifts at his mom's house.  We also learned in May we will welcome a little girl!  Emily.  I love that.  Again the good eases the bad.  Christmas day was spent with our son, daughter in law, and my family.   They were told about Emily and it was priceless.  Later that day we took in a movie and relaxed just the two of us.

Now it is December 31 and you have walked through a year with me.  I didn't intend to write it this way when I started but it just happened.  My main thought throughout was sometimes you don't need  to be "Out with the old".  That is what makes us who we are.  Good times, bad times, fun times, sad times.  They are all to be remembered and treasured.  I will hold 2013 close to my heart, pray for a safe and happy 2014.  I will look forward to each month and the days it holds.  For that is the best part of any year...the gift of days.  Use them wisely.

Happy New Year. 

Christmas Eve...

and my heart is full of conflicting emotions.  While I am thrilled and happy that it is once again Christmas, my heart aches for family and friends who are no longer with us this year.

I suppose that is the way it is every year, but it seems to be a stark reality more than ever this year.  Perhaps because it came so close to home this year with the loss of my brother in law, or the fact that as we age we notice these things more.  I am sure being on Facebook gives us insight into others sorrow more than we would have noticed otherwise.  Friends who have lost a loved one just in the past weeks or days breaks my heart.  Their sadness and emptiness does not end just because the service ends and we all go home to our lives. This Christmas is the first one two of my friends will face without their mom, another lost her dad last month, my husband's uncle passed away on Sunday and I saw this morning that a classmate from school lost her dad last night.  Another sweet friend is missing her baby this Christmas.

All my feelings are not sad however.  My heart is also full of joy and love for the promise of our first grandchild, due in May!  Tomorrow we find out if we will be snuggling a little boy or little girl!  I have been asked so often which I want.  I truly do not care which it is.  Either will be the light of my life!  My son and his beautiful wife are giving us a gift no other can give us, a grand baby!  Our family is already giddy with excitement just knowing that.  Hold on to your hats when we learn what they are having!  I have forced myself to walk through the baby departments at the stores.  That will soon end! 

I keep thinking, "This time next Christmas!"  He/she will be 7 months old and it will be the most fun we have had in so many years.  While we all love Christmas, it is for children.  Imagine seeing it once again through the eyes of a child.  There is something almost magical about the season when shared with a child.  Everything takes on a special feeling.  The lights are brighter, the music sweeter and the love deeper. 

That brings me back to those who we miss and long to see again.  They live through the children that come after them.  How I wish they could see this new baby, perhaps they can.  But when we hold it for the first time, we will holding generations of love.  We will see them in this babies smile and eyes.

That is another thing about Christmas.  The most important part.  We will teach this child about Jesus. We will sing the songs of Christmas.  Away in a Manger, Silent Night, Do You Hear What I Hear.  We will sit through the Christmas pageants God willing, and watch our grandchild portray a shepherd, a Wise man or perhaps an angel or even Mary.  We will read the Christmas story from the Book of Luke.  Again, generations and traditions relived.

 How could you go through life not knowing the promise fulfilled on that night, whether it was a December night doesn't matter. What matters is that He is the Messiah.  The prophets foretold His coming.  He was born of a virgin, He lived and died that we might have eternal life and isn't that the greatest gift of all?  That is what assures us that we will be reunited with those we have loved and lost.
 
Isaiah 9:6, 7

Merry Christmas.