Making Memories

Well, Happy New Year even if it is a little late. I hope everyone had a great Christmas. We sure did. We had our first white Christmas since 1975 or so the news people say. I remember that Christmas very well because it was Jenny's first Christmas. She was about 5 months old, my sister Karen had a new baby (Lana) and we all stayed at Mother and Daddy's house. The snow was really deep, probably if I remember right about 10 inches. Yes, we used to get snows like that around here. We lost electricity but stayed warm because Daddy had the fireplace going all the time and we just stayed in that one room. The only downside was because we were on a well for water and the pump was run by electricity we couldn't use the water either. We had a great Christmas dinner that year of canned chili cooked on a Coleman camping stove. Such great memories. This year the snow wasn't nearly that deep but all of my kids except Josh were "snowed" in with us on Christmas Eve. It was great and we didn't even lose power. Noah was excited and even "opened" his own presents. He actually found one the night before in the laundry room as I had not wrapped it yet. We had so much fun playing with him. Next year there will be two babies to buy for. Yeah!
After Christmas, the Norman clan was gathering at Big Cedar for another Christmas celebration. This is the first time in years that most of us were able to be together. Thanks to my sister Detra for arranging all of the accomodations up there. It was beautiftul and great to be together. There are 35 of us and we were only missing three, my two sons and my brother. Mother and Daddy would have loved how big our family has become, mostly thanks to Karen and Loyd and their nine grandchildren. Wish we could have spent more time together just visiting but maybe next year. The kids all seem to finally be understanding how important it is to be with family, that there isn't nearly enough time for that. Making memories and being together. What more could I ask for.