I turned sixty this past week. I am one of the babies of the baby boomer generation. I don't get too hung up on numbers and aging doesn't really bother me, although I must say it's a weird thing to be starting my seventh decade of life.

I'm posting this picture so you can see most of my eleven grandkids and meet my granddaughter Remy. Those are her legs off to the side. Haha. She's a doll and I thoroughly enjoy her. She just doesn't always care to have her picture taken. Somehow her position in this photo reminds me how I sometimes feel.

The song "Silent Night" is a lovely tune, but I have to chuckle to myself when I consider the likelihood of Jesus' arrival actually being a silent night. The busy town was packed with visitors arriving for the census. They were in a stable with a bunch of animals who likely made their presence known. Mary gave physical birth. That's rarely a quiet event. Jesus was a baby. Babies cry. Yet somehow I get it.

Last Friday my husband and I spent a long morning in the ER after he had a little health scare. When a person has chest pain they waste no time!

Now, I'd love to tell you all about this Hallmark tradition of riding a horse-drawn sleigh into a remote little woods with nostalgic music in the background as we all lock eyes on the same beautiful fir tree which my husband Terry proceeds to chop down and then we carry it off into the sunset… But no.

After the shepherds came from afar to worship this baby she had just given birth to, it says in verse 19, "But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart." In other passages it simply says she treasured things in her heart, which likely implies that she pondered those as well. But what does it mean to ponder? I've been pondering that. :)

The picture is not me getting ready to clobber someone. It's just my pie baking day. But I'm taking a few minutes to share a sweet memory and thought with you all.

My husband and I married over 21 years ago, each of us bringing three wonderful children into a blended family of eight. Terry had been living in a small apartment and I was in a small three bedroom rambler at the time of our union. We obviously opted for my rambler, but when all the kids were with us it was definitely close quarters. So we began a house search. We wanted to be closer to our church, which unfortunately took us to a less affordable part of town. The houses for which we could qualify were not much bigger than the one we were in, so it became a…

A new Dollar Tree store just opened up dangerously close to my house. I get a little giddy about saving money, so I’m sure I’ll be a frequent shopper. Many of my friends know what a fan I am of Aldi–another place to save money. There’s that one aisle where you never know what you’ll find. I’ve purchased everything from a wall clock to an electric fireplace to lawn chairs to my very soft and cozy pajamas you see pictured. (I made the wise decision to not pose in them for the picture.) Believe me, none of those things were on my grocery list, but what a deal! Most of…

I glanced around to see how everyone was coming along and my eyes were drawn in shock to a little girl standing stark naked in the middle of the room. She apparently thought she needed to take everything off in order to put the costume on.