Family Memories

After last night's blog, "Home is where the heart is", my mind has been flooded with all sorts of memories of what made our home so special. Memories filled with love, laughter and a few tears.

There are 8 children in my family. We are spread out literally all over the world. There is a big age difference too. All of this plays a part in the fact that we are not ALL able to get together very often. There is probably good reason why we shouldn't all get together at one time! Ha!

1. We moved to Chattanooga the first few days of December 1979. My brother Tom was a Senior in high school and did not want to leave for that last semester, he stayed in Joplin. He did come for that first Christmas. Tom and I had a favorite cake, chocolate with cherries mixed in the batter. We convinced mom that cherries needed to go in the icing too. I do not remember why we did that or why we thought it was so funny because Mom sure didn't find it amusing! I guess the icing was runny and she couldn't make it right, I'm not sure, I don't really remember. Here is a little secret (sorry all WF supporters) I hate folding the newsletter. I don't know why because it isn't a big deal. It drives me crazy! Christmas Eve that year was spent folding the newsletter, eating chocolate cherry cake with weird icing well past midnight. Maybe there were a few tears over folding the newsletter, but that night was filled with laughter and that's what I remember.

2. In 1984 my parents thought it would be a great idea for all the kids and their families to come home for Christmas. Chris had to work, had a baby and was pregnant and could not make it. Tom was in the Air Force and stationed in California with no leave. There were 10 grand kids at that time, I think. It was a full house. Micah had been adopted and arrived in the US only a few months before. We had seen him a couple of times, but he was still getting to know us. One morning Mom and I were sitting on the kitchen floor watching cookies bake. I'm not sure why we were doing this, maybe we were trying to hide! Ha! We looked up and sweet little Micah was staring at us from around the cabinets. The first couple of times he looked at us like we were crazy, the he ran back to their room. The third time he smiled and then ran back. Fourth time he must've thought being crazy was fun because he came over and sat with us! That began a special lifelong bond with Micah. When it was all over with our vents had been stuffed with 2-3 bags of cooked egg noodles, a big box of crayons glued upright to the concrete basement floor, and many other things that now bring much laughter!

3. Since my parents didn't learn anything from that Christmas, they decided to have another family Christmas in 1994. By this time there were 25 grand kids! Is it bad to admit that I was so happy I had my own house a few blocks away and Lacey was only 3 months old so I had to take breaks with her? Haha! It was crazy! Mom decided it would be a lot of fun to make Christmas cookies with the grand kids! I don't think she has made Christmas cookies since! The house had 10 feet ceilings. We found icing, flour, dough on the ceilings. There were feet print on the walls, Mom had to re-paint walls once everyone left. It was crazy and still kind of stresses me out thinking about it, but I wouldn't trade those memories for anything.


Two of my brothers have now passed away, only making those memories even more precious. The grand kids are all grown up and most have kids of their own. This makes it even more rare that we all gather. Makes those precious memories easier to hold and wanting to hold on tighter!

For me, the house or how ever fancy it is decorated or furnished, or if I pull out all the different holiday or seasonal decorations

"HOME is where love resides, MEMORIES are created, FRIENDS always belong, and LAUGHTER never ends."