Special Gifts?

Did everyone enjoy Christmas? I don't know about you, but I'm kinda pooped from all the activity! We had a busy but great couple of days.

I hope Santa Claus was good to you. Of course Christmas is not just about the gifts, but sometimes they can be pretty fun.

I enjoyed one thing that was probably not intended as a present, but I received it as one - my husband in a very jolly mood! It's harder for me to be all stressed and grouchy when hubby is happy happy happy and enjoying Christmas like a kid. Thank you dear!

I also received a very fun gift from my mother-in-law. It's a fancy digital photo frame. Something like the one at this link.

Have you ever seen a digital photo frame? It's a nice frame (mine is 5x7 size) you can put on a table top or hang on the wall. But the back contains electronics that let you load in a bunch of digital pictures and it alternates showing the photos like you would see a slide show on your computer. You can set it for how frequently the photos should change, etc. This one is supposed to play music and videos too if you want.

I haven't had a chance to open it up and play with my new toy yet, but hopefully will have a chance to do that soon. Then I will tell you more about it.

Of course giving gifts can be even more fun than receiving sometimes. For example, we got my mother a silver heart-shaped locket with a promise to provide a photo of my dad to go inside the next time we visit. She loved it.

How about you - did you give or receive any special gifts? If so, don't be shy, tell us about them in the comments!

Mom's Leg / Neighbor Helps Again

My mother is having a problem with a wound on her leg. Unfortunately we don't have any idea how she got the injury in the first place. It looks sort of like a burn, but she wasn't close enough to anything that hot.

I first learned about her wound last Thursday when she told me my brother-in-law said I should look at it. I looked, and was alarmed because it didn't look good to me. I called her doctor's office Friday and from the description they said she should be seen the next day. I took her to a walk-in clinic on Saturday where we learned that the wound was indeed infected. They gave her antibiotics and her wonderful neighbor Susan is cleaning and changing the dressing daily.

I looked at it yesterday, and I'm just not sure if it's getting better or worse. It's a good thing I didn't go into medicine. The walk-in clinic doctor had said she should have a follow-up visit this week anyway, so I made her an appointment for tomorrow morning. Keep her in your thoughts and prayers. Hopefully we can get this thing healed up like it never happened.

Merry Christmas

I'm going to take a short blogging break to enjoy Christmas. I hope you, my readers, all have a wonderful Christmas with your families and friends.

Merry Christmas!!

Busy

Life has gotten unexpectedly busier here. That means I have more to report and post on, but less time to post it! I will be in Olympia tomorrow so hope to get back to post on Sunday. In the meantime, I hope everyone is having a great time enjoying the Christmas season.

Nikka and Family

As promised, here are some pictures I got in the mail as part of a Christmas greeting from my friends Wayne, Michelle and Nikka. You can click on the photos to see them larger.

Nikka is the little Christmas angel, and Wayne and Michelle are her Mom and Dad. What a beautiful family.

Thanks for the pictures!

Power Is Back

I have really great news. My Mom finally had power restored to her house! She lost her power on Wednesday evening during this area's big windstorm. Mom has been staying with my friend Sue for three nights waiting for the electricity to be turned back on.

Sue took Mom home about 11:30 today so she could get a few things done this afternoon, with the plan that if the power did not return she would pick her back up after work and take her back to her house again. But when they got to Mom's house the power was on and the house was warm inside. Yay!! I'm sure they both danced a jig of joy.

Clay and I owe a huge debt of gratitude to Sue who took my mother into her home in her time of need. It was such a relief to know that Mom was warm and safe with Sue. Sue is accustomed to living alone, and I'm sure she had to make adjustments in her lifestyle to accommodate Mom. We really appreciate it. Thank you Sue!!

Pictures Coming

One of the things I love about this time of year is getting envelopes in the mail with Christmas greetings and those wonderful family pictures. I plan to post some of the contents of my mailbox here on the blog. Watch for the first one beginning Tuesday evening.

In the meantime, did you hear we made Person of the Year at Time Magazine? That is all of us who contribute to "user generated content" on the web. That means bloggers, people who comment on blogs, anyone who posts photos or videos online, writes an online review, or contributes to the many social networking sites. The buzz is that it's a controversial choice since all of us are not "a person," but I thought it was a cool idea. You can read more about it here.

Friends and Neighbors are Awesome

The last couple of days I've been worried about my mother because her home has been without power for almost two full days now, ever since Thursday night's storm. Mom is 82 years old and hesitates to take help from others because she doesn't want to be "a bother" to anyone.

Her wonderful next door neighbors John and Susan offered repeatedly for her to come to their house where they have a wood stove which keeps them warm without electricity. She kept declining their offer, and last night we all had a sleepless night because Mom insisted on spending the night in her own cold home as the temperatures dropped below freezing outside. John had seen electrical crews working nearby and we all hoped that meant her power would be on soon.

But this morning I called to see how she was doing, and the tone of her voice told me without my having to ask that her power was still not on. She was freezing and miserable. I was determined that she would not spend any more time alone in that cold house. She promised me she would eat something and then she would go next door to the neighbors. When she got there the neighbors said she was pale, very cold and crying - it was a little frightening.

Shortly after she arrived my good friend Sue (different Sue from Susan the neighbor), whom I had called the night before, arrived to check on her. She reported to me that the neighbors were taking very good care of Mom. She was sitting bundled warmly in a blanket next to the wood stove sipping a cup of tea. She was starting to feel a little better. My sister Jozi had planned to pick up Mom about 1:00 and take her on some errands and out to eat to get warm. Sue arranged that later in the day after the errands were done Jozi would bring Mom to Sue's house to spend the night.

I got a call a few minutes ago letting me know that Mom had arrived at Sue's with her bag to stay overnight. Sue has a spare room and was more than happy to have Mom come stay with her. Sue said they are "going to party" so "don't call too early tomorrow." :)

The neighbors will help Mom get her house warmed back up once the power comes back on.

Mom lives about an hour and a half away from me, and I would have been glad to go get her myself. But Clay and I do not have room in our apartment for guests, so we would have had to look for a hotel room for her.

It's such a relief to know that Mom's neighbors and my friend Sue and my sister Jozi are watching out for Mom and she's warm and safe. Thank you!!

Thank You Elena

Check out the beautiful holiday greeting Elena made for me. Thank you Elena!!

I meant to mention it earlier, but Elena's mom Kristina recently started a blog for her. You can find it over here and I've also added a link to it on the sidebar appropriately under "Friends." It's called Elena's Montage.
If you visit you will see lots of pictures of Elena and hear all about her adventures. Thanks mom Kristina for setting up the new blog!

Do You Have Power?

Are you getting tired of me talking about the weather yet? Yes, we had another bad storm - this time the biggest component was high winds. The bulk of the storm happened between yesterday afternoon and this morning. This morning there were over a million households in Western Washington without power. Utilities are saying some in outlying areas may wait days or even up to a couple weeks to have power restored.

I hope everyone reading has their power by now. My mother in Lacey is still without and tells me she is "freezing." I hope to convince her to visit the next door neighbors if her power doesn't return soon. They don't have power either, but they have a wood stove for heat.

Today I'm thinking about all the people who endured damage or hardship from the storm. Just some of its effects:

• Lots of planes grounded. The airport recorded a record gust of wind at 69mph. Power was out in some areas of the airport and the wind actually blew in a window on the B concourse.
• Over 1 million households without power.
• Major bridges closed (Hood Canal; 520).
• Freeway (I-5) closed at one point because the water was so deep cars were stalling out in it.
• All schools in King County closed today; most schools in other counties of Western Washington closed or running late.
• Roads blocked by fallen trees.
  
• Four people killed. Some died when their cars were hit by falling trees. One woman drowned in her basement when there was a sudden flood and the water pressure wouldn't allow her to open the door.

It's hard to believe we've had so much severe weather already and winter isn't even here yet.

I hope you and your loved ones are warm and safe.

Photography Tip for Holiday Lights

A few days ago I promised to post a picture of the two beautiful large Christmas trees in the lobby of my office building. Since then I have repeatedly taken pictures, but the lighting just wasn't right. I tried flash and no flash and different times of the day, but the pictures came out either too dark or too fuzzy.

Today I received a newsletter from Microsoft which included a link to some quick photography tips for this time of year. I decided to try Tip #4 which suggests that to capture the warmth of holiday lights or candles you should use the night shot feature of your camera with the flash. I tried it, and this picture was the result. You can click the photo to see it larger. It's a tiny bit fuzzy, but I think that's unavoidable due to the long exposure. That's what makes the lights show up. I like the way you can even see the lights reflected in the marble floor.

As you can see, there are two of these beautiful trees in the lobby. Note the person in the far right of the photo for scale - those are some really large trees. Of course these are artificial trees, and I don't know what they use to make them smell so wonderful, but from the incredible scent you would think they are real.

Doesn't it make you want to sing? O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree...

Reflections...

As you can see in the tag line above, one of the purposes of this blog is for "reflections."

At this time of year I like to reflect on many things. Family, faith, friends, and so many things I have to be thankful for. This is a good time of year for reflection.

It is also a good time of year for reflections of another kind! There's so much sparkle and twinkly beauty. One of my favorite views of our office Christmas tree is this reflected one. I hope you enjoy it too.

What are you reflecting on this season?

Another Sunset