OH THE JOYS OF CHRISTMAS BREAK

I finished work on Friday and have started what should be three weeks of R and R. I know before I know it the Christmas break will be over and it will be back to the grind stone again, but in the mean time I am going to try to pack all I can into the days off.

As you can see I am not the most decorative person when it comes to getting ready for Christmas, but I wanted to at least have up a Christmas tree. Sarah, Cody and the kids will be leaving on the 26TH headed for Washington state. He will be stationed there for the next two or three years. Anyway they were not able to put up a Christmas this year because of the move and Luke and Charlotte are a little disappointed. When they get here on Wednesday they should be excited to see our little tree. John set out the Nativity set and I pulled out a few Christmas dishes. I'm sure the kids will think its all ready for Santa.

The first thing planned for my time off was cataract surgery which I had Monday. Surprisingly enough there was no pain involved and I felt fine this morning so Paige, John and I spent most of the day doing some last minute shopping. Hopefully I didn't over do it. It is already amazing how the much clearer my sight is. For the last few months it has been like looking through wax paper. Images are so much sharper and clearer now. It was totally worth the surgery.

We have spent the evening going through old picture. Paige is looking for pictures to create a slide show for the wedding coming up in June. Man when I look at the pictures of when all the kids were home it gives me a feeling between sadness and humor. Sadness because the time went so fast and humor to see how we all looked and how much we have changed. When you look at your babies coming home from the hospital, to toddlers, to starting school, finishing school, to having babies of their own and becoming young adults then older adults it takes takes your breath away. ( It makes me think of the song that says " Life's not the breaths you take, but the moments that take your breath away").

Sometimes in the next two weeks all the children will be home. As I said earlier Sarah will be here for Christmas with her family. Mark and Paige, Johnny, Tracy and the kids will all be here for Christmas also. Sondra and Jonathan and the boys will be getting in for New Year's and so will Monica, Tim and their boys. We have the fishing lodge rented again this New Year's and our family and the Krieger family will be spending four days up there. We had such a wonderful time last year, we decided to go there again this year. It will be four days of screaming kids running up and down the hall. Karaoke from most of us who can't carry a tune in a tow sack. Everyone laughing, talking and reminiscing. This is our favorite time of the whole year.

This year neither family has anyone deployed at this time. Last year Charlie was in Iraq. Cody will deploy again sometimes in 2011. Jonathan is home for now. We are just thankful to have them all home for the Holidays.

I haven't posted anything in a few weeks. It always gets hectic this time of the year. School is coming to a fast and furious end on December the 18Th. Mid terms are in progress right now and all the students are anxious to get their test over with and get the heck out of Dodge for three weeks. We have a million things going on at Sodexo with all the Christmas parties, graduation and the NCAA Championship game that will be played on Saturday.

It never ceases to amaze me how everything is crammed into the last week of the semester. On Friday we will be feeding the teams that are in town to play for the Championship. I think they are Delta State and Duluth Minnesota. If I'm wrong it because I not a big football fan. Anyway there will be 344 players and personnel whom we will serve lunch to. Then we will go directly into the reception for graduation. We are planning on 450 for this event. Then there are a few other small parties scattered in throughout the day. By the time we get through Friday night we will dragging our hinnies. Then for a few it will be back to work bright and early on Saturday morning for the President's box and the Press box for the big game. Poor Denise I don't know how she keeps up with it all.

To top it all off we are under a winter storm watch. It is suppose to start sleeting, snowing and freezing rain tonight. I'm afraid to say if it is nasty in the morning I won't be going in to work. You really can't tell about Alabama weather, it may be sixty degrees tomorrow. We will just have to wait and see.

Opps!! I just looked at the clock. It is 8:00 o'clock and I have to go watch Biggest Loser.