January 2, 2010

Savannah love the feel of freshly dried clothes.	We got in from Hartwell about 2:00am Sunday morning.  I got up at 5:00 and studied to teach my youth Sunday school class.  Ina Sue and the children slept in.  The children were so sleepy that Ina Sue stayed home with them while I went to church.  She had a wonderful lunch of ham, gravy & puff dressing, and carrots waiting when I got home.  We all took nice long naps in the afternoon then went to church for a candlelight song service.  After we got home we had a snack of shrimp spread on crackers and mocha shakes.
The children enjoyed the leftover snow in Virginia.	After all the food I ate during the weekend, I fasted on Monday.  Ina Sue had a busy day with the laundry.  It was very cold and wintery.  Savannah is still not feeling well and was pretty grumpy.
Papa took them "sledding" behind the four wheeler.	I continued my fast on Tuesday until late evening then jumped off the wagon.  I spent the day at work while Ina Sue did some sewing, sugared pecans, and ironed.   Carolyn Heatwole came over and very kindly washed and vacuumed our car.  Then in the afternoon Betty & Carolyn took the children with them on a shopping expedition.  Poor Savannah is really suffering from teeth, ears or something.  She cries and cries.  We held her from most of the evening.  I brought cheap chicken burritos from Taco Bell for our supper.  After Savannah finally went to sleep we played some Dutch Blitz with Carolina.
A ladies brunch at the McMurrays.	Wednesday was another busy day trying to get everything ready for us to leave again.  Ina Sue worked around the house while I went to the office.  I came home for a supper of sausage gravy & cornbread, kale and tropical smoothies.  After we played with the children I went back in to work for several hours to get everything done so that I could feel good about taking off.
The grandchildren in their new pajamas.	Ina Sue missed this Thursday in her journal (The only day in the 20 or so years that she did not journal)  Since I am about 2 months late in updating this page we no longer remember what happened.  I can surmise though that we drove up to Virginia because we were in Virginia for the 1'st.  We also remember that we bought a BarBQ chicken and BLT pizzas in Bridgewater and took them to the Showalters for supper.  This was the last day of 2009.  Time goes so fast!
"Christmas" lunch on Saturday	Friday was the 1'st day of 2010.  We got up in good time and Grandmother Showalter made us breakfast of puddins over hominy.  Ina Sue abstained because she was invited to a brunch at Becky McMurrays.  She enjoyed being together with all her old crowd of ladies.  I stayed at home with the children.  We went with Papa to New Hope to help Robert with a little wiring project he was working on.  Keith and Jeanne showed up in the late afternoon.  Grandmother Showalter kept all the children while Keiths, Roberts, Marsha and we went to Weavers church for the annual Harmonia Sacra singing.  We enjoyed it a lot but didn't think it went as well as some years.  When we got home Grandmother had all the children lined up in their matching pajamas & nightgowns that she had made for them.  They were all pretty thrilled!  She also had stromboli, apple salad and cookies waiting for us to eat.  Yum!
Carolina & Sara Lynn with their new matching doll clothes.	Saturday was a big day.  We celebrated our Showalter Christmas today.    I left for a little while in the morning and met James Groff at the Dayton Farmers Market for tea and a nice visit.  It was good to catch up with him again.  Mother fixed us our traditional Christmas dinner of Louisiana Gumbo, hot ham sandwiches, cheese ball, cranberry salad, angel food cake and other goodies to numerable to mention...  In the afternoon we had a little gift exchange for the children.  Oh the chaos and noise! There are 10 grandchildren in the family now with all but two under 6.  They can really be something when they all get together.  We had a light supper then played some games in the evening.