Christmas in Colorado

We've had a great week so far in Colorado! The family pics are taken off the balcony of our condo. We can sit on the couch with a cup of coffee or hot tea and watch the skiers/snowboarders go down the mountain in the background and watch the gondolas go back and forth. Tim is posing in one of these photos under deer antlers in front of a shop. Tim, Joe, and Brian have spent almost everyday skiing. Today, Tim and Joe took the day off to spend the day with Laura and John. We went downtown and ate lunch at this neat little cafe called Winona's. They had wonderful soups and sandwiches and great deserts!
Joe and Tim have skied/snowboarded every other day. Yesterday, they did Powder Cats to do back country skiing. They had a great time but they came home tired and hungry! We ordered pizza.
Tonight, Laura and John are cooking, It will be delicious!
Hope you are all enjoying your holidays!

Good news, Sad news

First the good news...I made an A in my Career Counseling class! Hooray! Now I have to take Testing and Assessments next semester. Hope I'll do as well in that class. I should since I'm a lot more interested in that subject.

Now the sad...well, on one hand, it's not so sad. We buried Papa Mutt yesterday. It was a blessing to see him at peace in his casket yesterday. When Robin and I took Mama to see him on Friday night, he was struggling for every breath and it was so hard to see him like that. He had already told us he never wanted to live that way. Bill, Diana, and Tamara Lynn went to see him at the last visitation time that night and then he died during the night. Somehow I think he was just holding on until he saw all of his children. Mutt and Mama had been married for over 20 years. My daddy died when Joe(y) was still in diapers and he's 26 now. Though I dearly loved and still do love my daddy, Mutt was really good to Mama and he made her laugh. Even on Thanksgiving when we moved them into the nursing home, he was still joking and laughing with us and making her laugh. The good think I can say about his death is that he didn't linger long. They found the cancer right before Thanksgiving and it was very fast growing and aggressive and he was gone in just a couple of weeks. I'll never forget the first Christmas he had with us. Never having had children himself (well, he did have one who died when he was a baby) he'd never experienced a big family Christmas and so when he had gifts piled up higher than his head, he was more fun to watch than the children. He was so excited! And he loved to give to us, too. He took good care of Mama and for that I will forever be grateful. All the grandsons who were old enough were pall bearers. I was really proud of Joe, dressed in his suit and tie and looking so sharp and being there for the family in spite of the fact that he had a migraine. (Tim had to stop twice on the way down for him to throw up, but he hung in there anyway and did his part!) There was one really funny thing...the new preacher at Indianola whom none of us knew led the singing...Wil and Tim decided that it didn't really matter because when he started the songs, if the Skelton and the Horis clans didn't like how he was leading singing that we'd just all take over and sing how we wanted to sing anyway, but that wasn't necessary. He did a good job. I think Pappa Mutt would have liked the singing and Mama sang along with every word!

Now, please pray for Mama. She seems so lost and alone without him. Several times yesterday on the way from Corinth to Indianola, she looked at me and asked if I knew that her husband had died and she didn't know how she would make it without him. I pray that when she not longer knows all of her children, the Lord will take her home, too.

Thanks to everyone for all your love and prayers and support! Especially to Beckie for coming from Searcy and to Brenda and Randy for coming from Memphis to be with me!

Party! Party! Party!

We have spent this weekend partying with our friends here in Memphis. We started Friday night with our annual group dinner which we have been doing since before some of us had children...so this was our 28th or 29th year for that dinner. It is always great fun. Wonderful food, wonderful fellowship, wonderful friends...until we start playing dirty Santa...then watch out...all niceness goes out the window and the fight is on but we have great fun!
Then Saturday night we had the praise team party at our house. We ate and sang Christmas carols. It sounded beautiful! Ed Riddick brought his keyboard. He is amazingly talented as is his whole family! I think that Tim could have sang all night!
Today at lunch we had our Sunday school class party at Ed and Leanne's. Needless to say, more good food and fellowship and tonight, we had home group here at our house with more great food and fun and fellowship and a dirty Santa ornament exchange. I think everyone was pretty happy with what they ended up with. Fred Collier got his annual UT ornament...nobody else wants it...I got a Santa dish...Tim ended up with a Christmas recipe card deck...how funny is that...maybe I'll be encouraged to cook or maybe Laura will like it and use it.
Rick and Leslie are leaving in a few days for Togo to see April and Brett and their grandchildren. The partying is over for me for now. My final is tomorrow night so I have to discipline myself to study all day tomorrow for that. Guess I'm a glutton for punishment...just keep taking classes and having to study...oh, well, they say life long learning wards off Alzehemizers...

For Baby - John Denver

This was a song from our wedding....I still love it and I still love my Tim!

Dec. 2 - A Special Day

This is Joe, Jon and Jeremy James...Yesterday was Joe's 26th birthday! I can hardly believe that he is that old. That really makes me old! He's my baby! Joe and Tim had Mexican food so Joe was pretty content.

Sadly, I didn't get to spend much of the day with Joe. My Uncle Jimmie, my daddy's brother, died and yesterday was his funeral in Mississippi, so I was gone most of the day. Uncle Jimmie was a wonderful man. He and Aunt Etheleen always welcomed us into their home and showed great hospitality to everyone. His oldest son, Gordon, was one of my favorite cousins when I was growing up. Gordon was one year older than me and we played together all the time, but the year Joe(y) was born, Gordon was hit by a drunk driver the same week Joe was born and I didn't get to go to his funeral because I'd just had Joe so I'm sure that yesterday was harder for Aunt Etheleen because of loosing her oldest son about this same time 26 years ago. There's only 3 of my dad's siblings left...there were 8 of them in the beginning. That's one thing I hate about getting old! But we'll all get there one day! Uncle Jimmie left a wonderful legacy of love for God, love for family, love for his fellow man, integrity, hospitality,and the one special thing I'll always remember is going to their house around Christmas time and they would always have those little bottles of coke to drink from. Every year when I put up my Christmas tree and hang those Hallmark Santas holding those little bottles of coke, I think if Uncle Jimmie and Aunt Etheleen! Here's to fond memories and love everlasting!