Merry Christmas from the Coles

Here is wishing your family a very Merry Christmas!

Blooper

I was so excited about getting our Christmas cards this week. I know I waited till the last minute. I don't know why I seem to work better under pressure! The pictures turned out great. They were a…

Sorry, I got distracted by Granny telling Grace her cap (that she is crocheting) looks like a titty. Yes, that is Granny for you.

Back to the point.

I couldn't wait for my cards to arrive this week. Only to open them and find I missspelled San Francisco. I spelled it San Fransisco. I cannot believe I did that! I am trying really hard not to worry about it. I joked around that most of my friends and family are from the South and probably won't even notice! HA! My dear friend Juanita, who is writing a book and gifted in editing, let me know "darling, that is how God keeps us humble." I laughed.

Isn't that the truth!

Long week

It has been a long, but not long enough, week here at the Cole house. My Grandmother passed away last Monday, after a a few long years of liver failure and lung cancer. She was a legend in my eyes. The epitome of class. I will always remember her being the most classiest lady I knew.

With her passing all of her four children (my Father and Uncles and Aunt) and their families gathered around to celebrate her life. Four families ended up including 18 grandchildren and 7 great-grandchildren. We had a lot of people in town this weekend from Israel, Germany and across the state and Atlanta areas. Who knows when we will all be together again, but it was a bittersweet gathering. I truly love my family with all my heart.

I know my Grandmother is so proud of the legacy she left: we certainly are.

Marcus and Grandfather

My mom hearing that Terry and Aunna are pregnant.

Part of family at my Uncle's house

More of family

Aunt, Sister in Law, Sister, myself, and Sister

Little Tori, the 5th addition to my Uncle and Aunt

Beautiful Cousins

Rachel popping….stuff.

My brother and Kimmie embarassing cousin Russ!

Calgon Take Me Away

I got no pictures today.

HA! Did that make you laugh? I hope so because that is certainly not how I talk…or write!

I have been working a lot this week on a research paper I have due in a couple of weeks. The paper is not so much the problem. Turning in all the notes, in the correct, highlighted form is what is stressing me out. It doesn't help that this is from my only online class; which I am happy to report that I will not have to take next semester. I lucked out and got all my classes on campus and during the kid's school hours.

I am done next week with classes. I am pretty excited to have a break and be able to get some things done around the house, like decorating for Christmas. We haven't done any decorating yet. We haven't even opened the attic to get the boxes down. My dream garage will have shelves lining the walls so I can store all that kind of matter in there. It makes it so much easier to get to.

Life is still hectic and I can't tell you the last time I had a "quiet time." I don't mean just reading my Bible or praying; I mean a real quiet time to just be still.  My friend Angela and I were talking yesterday about her upcoming leisure trip to New York. She is going alone to visit her best friend, for 4 days, alone. Did I mention ALONE,  as in, without her 3 year old and 9 month old. Can you tell I am excited for her? She mentioned one of the things she is most looking forward to is sitting on a plane for two hours with uninterrupted reading. I can totally relate to that. For once I didn't have to wait as long as I usually do at the Dermatologist clinic today. I had my book - that I cannot put down - and I was ready to read. I maybe got three pages read, ugh.

Such is life, right? What do you do to "get away" but not really away. Yes, like the silly commercial used to say, "Calgon take me away."

If only it were true, just for a minute, right?

Shutterfly Christmas

I was looking at this card today and love the idea.

 I typically like letters at Christmas to get caught up on other's lives and fill family and friends in on ours.  I remember my mother and father always made Christmas letters. I loved that each of us kids had our own short paragraph that was all about us! I have tried to do letters the past several years and usually send along a photo in the envelope. I love that this card does both with the letter and the pictures!

I found this card on Shutterfly and thought it was a great idea. I can't wait to take some candid pictures of the kids this next week to create our card!

You can go here (www.shutterfly.com)  to shop for all kinds of photo gifts for any occasion. I also got a cute birthday invitation in the mail this week from Shutterfly!

If you are looking now for some great Christmas cards…go here.

For calendar gifts, another great gift idea for family, go here.

Thanks Shutterfly for giving lots of choices, great quality and the newest styles!

Shutterfly Deal!

I am not one for spending lots of money on Christmas cards.

Don't get me wrong, I love receiving and preparing our own family's cards, but I do not spend lots of money on them. Honestly, I usually buy them after Christmas for the next year and pay very little because they are on clearance!

Shutterfly has an awesome deal going on for bloggers. Go here and see about how you can receive 50 free cards! I have heard they are the better quality cards, not just the cheap, glossy ones, which I have done before too!

Here are some of my favorites!

I love this letter idea!