A Different Kind Of Christmas

Life is finally getting back to normal at our house again. Philip's encounter with kidney stones grew into a month long episode involving three outpatient procedures. Actually, he's still not well. He had two lithotripsies to remove stones that were too big to ever pass naturally. The last one ending up bruising his kidney and it was also bleeding. We've been married almost forty nine years, he's had two by-pass surgeries, and I've never seen him this ill. It will probably take him four to six weeks to fully recover.

At our home, we love Christmas with all the hustle and bustle of cooking, shopping, and being with family and friends. This year was very quiet. We managed to get our tree up and a few decorations outside. Mostly, we just watched Christmas movies while Philip lay in his recliner. I was just happy to be with him.

Our first-born son, Phil, had his forty-seventh birthday last week. Phil is such a fantastic person and I am so proud of him and his accomplishments. I love his sense of humor - he makes me laugh! He's helped me so much with my efforts at conquering the internet.

Our daughter, Kim, hosted a wedding shower last Sunday afternoon for Kathryn, Phil's oldest daughter, who's getting married in March. The photo above is Kathryn and her Yorkie Poo. We were blessed to have Kathryn's future mother-in-law, Denise, and several of her friends, my friends, Kathryn's friends and attendents, mom, grandmother "Bama", and a couple of Kim's teacher friends. It was such fun to help Kim decorate for it. I think it was a huge success! Afterwards, Melissa, who's doing Kathryn's makeup for the wedding, had a practice session with her. Just a wonderful, happy, afternoon.

Jimmie Roberson