Memorable Events - Fun Monday

The lovely smiling Sayre is today's Fun Monday host. For this challenge, Sayre is asking us to complete two simple tasks, Fun Monday, challenge is "What was the most touching, wonderful part of Christmas for you this year?AND What was the craziest, stupidest, funniest part this year?"

As I have two young granddaughters, first part of the assignment is easy. The most memorable moments involves these lovely ladies. I am sure that I will always remember of youngest granddaughter holding out her two hands or pointing to indicate that she wants to be held by Grandma or carried around the room by Grandpa. Another sweet memory is our almost four-year old granddaughter greeting us at the door and inviting her grandparents to their home in the most grown-up manner.

For the stupidest and craziest, I would have to say waiting all Christmas Eve afternoon for the cable guy to repair our cable that was downed by a tree limb in a recent ice storm. The cable guy was to arrive between 1:00 - 4:00 PM. The appointed hour came and past without the appearance or word from the repairman. We did receive a call about 4:30 from the man saying that he would be at our home by within 30 minutes. Now of course, we can live without cable, and I do have sympathy for anyone working on a holiday. However, the cable company did set this specific time. But the lateness of the hour was an inconvenience as the Christmas Eve Candlelight Service at our church began at 6:00 PM. Additionally, although we are now able to watch our favorite shows, the cable still lies on the ground outside our home. The cable guy did tell us to call the cable company in the spring when the ground thaws to request that the cable be buried. (You can bet that they will hear from us before then.)

The evening did have a wonderful ending. The church service was remarkable, and as usual our pastor gave an outstanding sermon that included a magic trick by a magician from our congregation.

Favorite Toy

This week's Round Robin Photo Challenge is to show a favorite toy. This teddy bear is not only one of my favorites, but was a favorite of my sons too. I have had the stuffed bear ever since I can remember, which is a very long time as I am sixty-two. As babies , each of my sons adopted the little bear as his own. Perhaps, this memory endears the bear to my heart even more. When our second child was born, our oldest child, Dean, left his teddy at the home of friends, who were watching him as his brother was being born. The little teddy bear was his nighttime security object so my husband, Daddy D, made an emergency trip to retrieve his teddy for a sound night's sleep.

Pictured here with three-week old Dean is the little teddy and two other favorites, a lion that played, "You Are My Sunshine" and Claymore C. Bear. The latter two toys have since bit the dust.

Then, when Dean's little brother, Luke, came home from the hospital and was crying as newborn babies do, the almost three-year old boy reached into the baby buggy, patted his little brother, and said. "Don't cry baby. Here's teddy." The memory brings tears to my eyes.

For the past several years, the little stuffed bear has been residing in the bottom of our school clock in the living room. If you look closely, you might notice that Teddy has a haircut. Little brother, Luke, gave the little bear a buzz at one point, something he did to himself...more than once.

Both sons are now adults and fathers to our wonderful grandchildren. Perhaps, we should dust off the old teddy bear and have meet a new generation of children. To see more favorite toys, visit Carly at Round Robin Photo Challenge.

Merry Christmas

To You and Your Loved Ones

Bleak December

It was a cold, windy, and icy morning this past Friday. About 5:00 AM, I received a call from my friend and teammate, Martha, letting me know that school was going to be delayed for 2 hours. Shortly thereafter, we received an automated message relaying the same detail. The delay in school was good news as our cars were ice-covered, and the driveway was no better. Additionally, this was to be our last day of school before our holiday break. The day before any holiday can be quite hectic for teachers and students alike. A two-hour delay meant that school would begin at about 9:30 AM. However, the weather conditions convinced the powers-that-be to cancel school altogether for that Friday, December 19, 2008.

After Daddy D, a physics and chemistry teacher for the same school system in which I teach seventh grade science, and I received a couple of phone messages about the school cancellation, my husband noted that we had lost a few branches to ice in the backyard. A few minutes later, I heard a loud crash and the lights went out in our bedroom. However, the computer that I was using was still functioning, and other lights throughout the house were still on. Investigating the source of the loud noise, I found this broken branch outside our bedroom window. As my husband looked outside, he found that this tree limb broke off and hit our roof apparently pulling down the electrical wire and the cable wire coming to our house. Luckily, the part of the power still coming to the house was to the refrigerator and to the furnace so we had both food and heat.

Of course, we called the power company immediately. The customer service person asked Daddy D several questions and said that repairmen would come to our house as soon as possible. It turns out the as soon as possible was Sunday afternoon. Furthermore, NIPSCO, the power company, was not responsible for the repairs so we needed to call an electrician. We called a conscientious and efficient electrician named Dean, who was here within an hour and quickly made the repairs in sub-zero temperatures. Dean and his men restored the mast leading to the meter, and the NIPSCO men turned on our power

Although this event was inconvenient and this cost us a few dollars, my husband and I feel fortunate that we had heat, a functioning refrigerator, and that were able to use our stove, washer, and dryer during these few days. I guess that December may not be so bleak afterall.

Where's Molly?

My last post was on the eve of election day, which was more than seven weeks ago. Since that time I have been busy and have not had the time or have not set aside the time to post an entry on my blog. So, "where have I been and what have I been doing?", might be the question to ask. Of course, I have been doing the usual stuff of teaching school, sleeping, eating, buying Christmas presents, visiting with family, and going to church.

However, there are some other commitments that have kept me from blogging. I am part of an organization, Coats for Kids(and families), that collects new and gently used coats to give to people in need in our community. This year with the help of the local school systems, two churches, and some other agencies, we collected and distributed over 900 coats in November.

In December, the guitarist in our church Praise Team, Bryan Lubeck, organized a benefit concert for Coats for Kids(and families). Additionally, Bryan and his band gave a free concert at our local mall, Westfield Shopping Centre. At the free concert, we sold holiday CDs created by Bryan and purchased by Westfield. All of the proceeds from the holiday CDs went to Coats for Kids(and families).

Besides the coat and concert responsibilities, we have spent some wonderful time with our family in Indianapolis. We spent a festive Thanksgiving with our son, Luke, his wife Frema, and our lovely granddaughter, Kara. The day after Thanksgiving our daughter-in-law, PJ, fed us a delightful meal, and we played with our oldest granddaughter for a few hours. This past Saturday, we traveled to Indianapolis again to visit with the family for Kara's first birthday. Unfortunately, Kara was ill and was not able to fully enjoy her party.

Today is somewhat of a break for Daddy D and me. School was cancelled because of the ice storm that hit our area. This provided me with some extra time to compose a post. I hope that you all have been well in my absence.

Note: I am not in the picture as I was the photographer at the Barack Obama Rally in Highland, Indiana on October 31.