OUR FIRST CHRISTMAS CARD!!

Our first card arrived very early this year, right after Thanksgiving.  It was from Kerr and Mary Montgomery of Irvine Scotland.  They are very dear people and we remember them fondly from Roots 97, and the Montgomery Scotland trip of 1998.

The first picture is of the Tournament bridge at Eglinton Park where the tournament was held in 1839 that nearly broke the Montgomery family because of the weather and the excessive expenditures to host the tournament.

The second picture is the Montgomery tartan.

We have received a lot of other cards since then and are very appreciative of them considering that we haven't sent any in two or three years.

First off, we had sickness and then we had brokenness and the cost of postage keeps going up.  I have four boxes stored upstairs waiting the opportunity to send them.  If the economy keeps going down hill that might not be for some time.

I have sent all my face book friends cards on line and I guess that will have to suffice for the time being.

I have always thought of Christmas as a magical time of year, and have always loved the holiday and all the wonderful things attached to it.  For many years I made little things for my friends at work, and the family.  It was so much fun when the kids were small (and I was working at Sears...employee discount.and toy department) to find just the things they wished for most.  We had some really great Christmas'. God is good!

Matt offered to get us a real tree this year, but I don't have room for any more mess, do I declined.  Then, I got thinking of the artificial tree, I won many years ago at the YMCA raffle.  I dug it out of the cellar, but I couldn't find the base.  

So DAD made one!

It already had lights, so we decorated it with some wooden stars and moons that came with it, and added some energizer bunny decorations that wouldn't break (we hope)  We both enjoyed looking out the dining room window at it and we left it lighted all night.

Then.......came the rains and the frost and the rain and the frost and the rain and the frost and the dark dingy days and the dark dingy days...

One morning Dad got up real early, as is his wont, and saw the the tree was bent over backwards onto the deck.  "Your tree fell over!" he said.

Come to find out it had broken right off at the base.  The ice and rain had been too much for the poor little thing.  He tried to fix it.  He drilled a larger hole in the base to stick more of the tree down into it, but the branches were in the way and it wouldn't go.  It laid there, lifeless, for a day or so.  Then, today while I was getting dinner, I heard a few thumps out in front.  I looked to be sure Dad was OK.  I worry about him when he goes out.  There in somewhat less than perfect condition was the little tree.  Now truly a Charlie Brown tree, standing up again but not on the railing of the deck, but down in front of it.  He had me plug it in.  The lights still work.  We have a Christmas Tree!!!  Merry Christmas To All!

Back to Blogging

http://www.tryoncountybookshop.com I invite you to check out our Bookshop website. We are having a gigundus sale on fishing books, if that is your pleasure. It is for a limited time only, so hurry on over and take a look. I have updated the children's book page and added several more books. I intend to keep adding them as I dig them out from my inner sanctum.

We had an early Thanksgiving Sunday with Roger's family. This is the home-made bread our youngest son Matthew made for the party. There were 40 attending, and a good time and full tummys were had by all! Then yesterday we were invited to Matt's house, along with Roger's sister and brother-in-law. Another great meal, and I put back on that four pounds I had so painstakingly lost. Hopefully it will drop off with a little due diligence.

I have been sorting some books from the kitchen, (we have them stored everywhere) because I wanted to mop the floor and it is a little chancy when there are books all over. I took some out to the shop, and priced and shelved some in the computer room. At least I know a little about what we have. Some of them were Colt Books which are not on the website. R. L. Wilson stuff that has been reprinted several times, but these are all first editions in fine condition with dust jackets.

Since it is BLACK FRIDAY I started my Christmas shopping here in the house. I found a lovely book I know our youngest granddaughter will love! So I have put it aside for her. Hopefully I will be able to find it when the time comes for wrapping. Fortunately most of our family loves books, and we do seem to have an abundance of them.