Well, another beautiful Thanksgiving. We had everyone together at least for a short time. Eric had to go to work and Mikey had to go to in-laws. We all ate too much but oh well... Of course something usually happens in my kitchen to make the dinner eventful. Not too many years ago, it was my oven, yes my oven. I got pretty ugly or so I'm told. This year it was the dishwasher. So.. we washed by hand and used Chinet plates to make it slightly easier to clean up. But that wasn't the end of it My husband decided that he would try to will the dishwasher to work and continued putting it through its cycles only to force water through to the ceiling of the basement. Yes, that's right, our ceiling is falling!!! Gotta love it. So, tonight we will be dishwasher shopping. I wrote on my facebook that I had finally learned to keep life in perspective. This is no big deal. So the Pressley family is happy and well, and looking forward to the Christmas holiday and a brand new year.

I am having trouble jumping in to Christmas this year. Everybody knows that is very strange for me. I think I know why. I really miss my Dad. He loved Christmas, no I mean really loved it. He would get depressed because the day was over. He was a kid at heart and Christmas really brought it out in him. He wrapped every present. Mom didn't wrap any. We would joke because he taped every side of the box and put half a role on each present. A Christmas would never go by without someone opening a gift marked for them and it was really intended for someone else. Frilly night gowns opened by one of the boys was a common ocurrence. And pictures, did he take pictures!! I would be posed with a new hat and mittens and the camera wouldn't work - he had forgotten to turn it on. Unfortunately I'm noticing that I tend to be filling that role in the family now. I guess the best thing to do is to remember, remember him fondly and thank God for the memories.

I just wrote my words of sympathy to the Hymes family. First the mother to cancer, now the beautiful daughter to a drunk driver. Life isn't fair. So, I opened up my book of "words" that I am collecting. If you know me at all, they are mostly words from songs. But I have read these words in many situations so once again, I read:

"There is hope in the midst of hopelessness. Death is not where we lose; the onset of hopelessness is the great defeater. So allow hope to rise up within you. And when it seems that hopefulness is the least appropriate response in this situation, let it rise up even more. Whisper your hope when you lie down at night; scream your hope when you wake in the morning.Live your hope as if it is the one and only thing that sustains you in this ravaged world. You will not be disappointed."
Palmer

Here's to hope!!

I got up this morning to some horrible news. A couple months ago I went to the funeral of a friend who died of brain cancer. She was a beautiful woman and a mother of three. Last night her middle child Nikki, died in a car accident. Her husband has been coming to church every Sunday with their youngest daughter. They have looked so sad, but she has been there by her Daddy's side every week. She is in middle school and I'm sure she was looking to her older sister to somehow fill in for the mother she had lost. This man has buried his wife and now will go through it all again with his daughter. I don't understand, I just don't understand. There are no answers.

I can't stand it. When one of my little ones hurt, I can't stand it!! I look forward to Monday nights. Kerri and the boys come for dinner and we just hang out. Last night we had spaghetti and meatballs and the boys played Wii. The night was winding down and it was p.j. time. Evan was doing his naked dance and the next thing we knew, he had fallen face first into the hearth. We even had pillows up because Papa and the boys had been wrestling earlier. One pillow had shifted and that's all it took. My little Evan had oral surgery today and had all three busted teeth removed. He called me today to tell me how brave he was. I love this little boy.