Lovely Holidays...

I hope every one had a lovely Holiday season. Hope you got spend it with family and friends. Its always nice to have the house full with family and everyone enjoying themselves. Brings a big smile and a nice warm feeling inside.

Went by rather fast for me. I spent my Christmas season being very busy. Doesn't help that I work in retail right now and that sucked away a lot of my free time. The days off were put to good use though. 

I was able to get the tree put up on the first weekend of the month.

 

 

Putting up the tree and decorating has always been my job since... Honestly I have no idea why I'm always the one to do it. I think I just started doing it so my parents didn't have to take time away from their days off to do it. My little gift I guess. Plus I seriously enjoy it. Make a day of it. (Even the little things in life are worth enjoying.) Took a little time to find all our decorations, because the storage room is full with all my stuff. I was able to organize a spot for all the Christmas stuff to go though. Once the tree is done its time to get the other decorations up.

 

 

I love finding all the hand made items. That to me is what I love most about putting out the decorations. The ornaments we have made over the years and the ones that were bought on our births. Things like that make a family. Mom made all our stockings, including hers and Dads. She even made one last year for my newest cousin Liam. Those make a deep personal touch. 

 

 

Since I like to remake the wicker wreath in my room every season I tend to have left over items from previous designs. I was able to repurpose last years Christmas decorations in my window bottle display.

 

Of course I needed to do a new design for the wreath, so I did that at the same time. Did a little more traditional and nature look this time.

 

 

Was surprised I had time to get any Christmas cards out, let alone make them. I made stamped cards last year and so I thought I would do the same, but with a little more flare of the season.

 

 

 

I love giving things with a more personal touch, so this is a nice little thing I can do that makes brings out a smile or two.

 

 We did get a white Christmas eve and Christmas day, which was nice. My brother stayed over on Christmas Eve because he thought it would be easier drive wise. Made for a fun night of cards and sitting by the fire.

 

Christmas day was a bit hectic for us. We all opened gifts and joked around. Put out a ton of food too. Then Andy picked up his girlfriend and her daughter and they opened gifts at our place too. Was a nice full house. Love that.

 

 

There were cookies (tons), snacks, chips, ham and turkey and laughter all day and night. Just perfect.

 

I hope your Holidays were just as lovely as mine. 

Not ready for Good Bye

My family learned some depressing news this morning. My grandmother called to try and get a hold of my mother, but she called my phone instead. She sounded so stressed out and urgent that I ran the phone to mom.

My grandfather was in the hospital the other day for a regular check up, which he has been getting since his second stroke a year and a half ago. For some reason, and mom can't even figure why (she is a Nurse Practitioner, so when I say she knows this stuff I mean it), they did a chest x-ray and found an aneurysm in his heart. Its literally a time bomb just waiting to go off. If he goes into one of his coughing fits he could rupture it and he will die almost instantly. There is an option to have surgery to remove it, but its a very small percentage that he would live through the surgery, let alone the recovery after. He doesn't breathe well right now and this surgery would have him on a breathing tube during recovery and they don't think he would be able to fully get off the machine. His health has dropped considerably since his last stroke and no one thinks he could recover fast enough or fully to leave the hospital with out help, either by a breathing tube, or by a wheelchair. If he even gets recovered enough to leave the hospital at all.

My grandfather had VERY specific wishes when he was in the hospital the first time. He does NOT want to be on a breathing machine, or kept alive. He does NOT want to be resuscitated if he should die. He doesn't want to have to live his life like that and he doesn't want his family to have to care for him or see him that way. His parents went that way and he hated every second of it. It's a horrible thing to see people you love slowly dieing and you can't do anything.

The doctor told him the options and the first thing my grandfather said is, "Oh good, so I'll die." There is no doubt that he is ready for it. My grandmother on the other hand is seriously not. She called to ask mom to tell the doctors to do it. Mom told her she can't do that. He is still alive and perfectly capable of deciding this for himself. If he doesn't want the surgery there is nothing she can say to make it happen. My grandmother has power of attorney over their legal affairs, but grandfather put mom is change of his medical power of attorney because she would know better about what would have to be done. Mom was not thrilled about this gift 2 years ago when she saw him in the hospital from his first stroke. I think mom is terrified that some how grandmother might convince him to do the surgery and it will end up being  mom's decision about what happens after. I know she would not waver from his wishes because she is a nurse and she knows what its like, but its not easy being the one to have final say in something like this.

My grandfather is an amazing man and I love him so much, sooo so much. I don't want to lose him. I'm terrified I'm going to get a call in the middle of the night, or at work, saying he is gone. I'm just not ready to say goodbye.
Sweetest man ever. Funny and kind, always there to make you smile. Best hugger alive. Just huge full bodied hugs. Sarcastic, but adorable in every way possible. Hopelessly devoted to his family. Beloved by his friends and family, more than anyone I have ever known. Just a sweet hearted man.

Grandmother and Grandfather Spaight at my Aunt Trish's wedding in 2006.

My Grandfather with my two cousins Maddie and Olivia.

I just not ready to say goodbye. Just not yet.

Grace giving me help

I'm almost done with my friend's baby blanket that I am knitting. Grace, our cat, loves to sleep in people's lap, but she has a habit of doing so at rather unhelpful times. Like.....

while I am knitting. I was in the middle of knitting a row. I finished the row, but Grace was content with her position. She started to get so comfy she was using my knee as a pillow.

I love how our pets can be so loving and yet so incredibly annoying at the same time. Love them so much.

sleepiness is spreading

Stella, the kitten my parents got me for Christmas had a pretty intense cold. She has since gotten over it for a few months now, but we are starting to think she might have given it to Stu and Grace. Stu was sleeping for days on end, he ate and cleaned, but he was sleep pretty much the rest of the time. He wouldn't play with the others and didn't even want to be around them. Normally they are all sleeping together.

Grace and Stella playing on my rocking chair seat

Hell, Stu was even getting to the point of hissing at the other cats to get them away. He just wanted to be alone, but he would let us pet him and he would sleep with us. However, he is starting to be more playful and a little more energetic.
Grace, on the other hand,... is now sleeping all the time. She doesn't meow, which is VERY odd for her, because she is our vocal cat. She meows to find the other cats, she meows to find us, she meows when she wants to be petted, she meows just cause... I call her squeaker, because she has a tiny meow most of the time. She is sleeping all the time now like Stue was. She just looks so sad. She has been sleeping close to us most of the time.

I think we give off heat and she is cold, so when I see her sleeping some where else I wrap her up to keep her warm. Poor little ones. Stella likes it when I wrap her up too... actually they all like being covered by blankets.

 I believe we will be dragging them (that's how they will see it) to the vet to get a check up. They REALLY hate being in their carriers. Well everyone but Stella, she has no issue with the carrier.

Sometimes it strikes us how alike Stella and Stu look. The only big difference is Stella has white boots on both back feet and they go up to her "knees". Also she has a white 'hook' that is on her chin. Other wise size is the only real difference, but when they are together its sometimes really hard to tell.

Stella is on the left and Stu is on the right. In this picture you can't really tell which is which, cause of the angles they are sitting. Stu and Stella love sleeping on that rug by the front door.

Little hard to see the two of them, but Stu is on the right and you can clearly see his head, but Stella is stretched out, as you can see by her white boots. Her head is next to Stu's head, but they are so close together its hard to see without really staring. They are so cute together.

I really hope that they all start to feel better and stay that way. Its so strange to not hear them or see them playing together. Stella is really the only energetic of the three right now and I think she is getting bored of playing alone. She tried to play with them in bed, but they tend to just walk off, or just ignore her.

Poor little ones.