Kathleen Smith's Blog, page 23

A Snowless Winter

  I love snow! I mean I really love snow. I’m that mom who looks forward to snow days. Not only because it’s a day that we can to sleep in. I also look forward to snow days so I can go out in the snow and play in it with my kids. I love getting our snow suits, gloves, hats and scarves on. I love making snow men with my kids and using our sleds. I love it when we come back in the house, get all of that stuff off, put on a movie and have some hot chocolate. So when I was told that this Winter was going to be a mild Winter with not that much snow I started to pray. I prayed for at least one good snowstorm. Maybe two.

Then basketball season started. I was the one who needed to drive my son to and from basketball practice two – three times a week almost an hour both ways. All of a sudden I was praying for the snow to wait till after basketball season. This way I didn’t have to deal with driving in it. I don’t like driving in the snow. And the idea of driving in it for almost an hour didn’t sit well with me. So I asked God to let the snow hold off till basketball season was done.

Then February 1st came along. We only had one week left of basketball practice, but that day my husband had a heart attack. That Friday, February 5th my husband had his open heart surgery. So that week my oldest daughter and I drove to the Hospital to be with my husband. Again I was praying for God to hold off the snow so we wouldn’t have to drive in it to and from the Hospital.

Now we are in March and as of right now we have not had any snow storms this Winter. We have had flurries here and there, but nothing substantial. For the most part it’s been a pretty dry Winter. I have to say this is my first Winter being thankful for no snow. Coming from me the person who loves snow, that says A LOT.

Looking back on how this Winter has gone for us between my son’s basketball practices and games and my husbands heart attack and surgery…. It turns out that getting no snow was a blessing from God. He knew what this Winter was going to be like for our family. He knew about the driving I was going to have to do for about two and a half months. He knew my husband was going to go through a heart attack and surgery. God knew as much as I love snow I would have enough to deal with, without needing to deal with the stress of driving in snow.

So for the most part we had a snow-less Winter. Yes, a lot of people are thankful for that. Me being one of them for the first time. Yes, people think we are going to get an early Spring. Which is possible, but we also live in Upstate NY where it can and has snowed in April. Granted at this point I would prefer no snow this Winter, but you never know what’s going to happen!

 

Winning the Heart Attack Lottery

Last week I wrote about my husbands recovery from major surgery. The week before that I wrote about his heart attack and surgery through my eyes. Today’s blog is being written by my husband so he can share with you all his personal account of HIS heart attack. 

Two things i am disappointed with. First, the clock in the ambulance was broke. It was just a small wall clock hanging on the wall in the ambulance—but I noted the battery had expired. Second, I remained conscious on the way to the hospital. I had thought a major medical event would give me the opportunity to not be aware and awake during the event. But I was aware and awake.

Let’s start at the beginning. I knew I was going to win the cancer lottery or heart problem lottery sometime soon. I expected it to be sometime in my 40s or early 50s and hoped to catch it before it caught me.

Two months shy of my 40th birthday it caught me. I was sitting at work when I felt “awful” — I started sweating and the outside of my left chest down to my bicep began to ache. In addition my left arm felt “cold” — An older brother of mine had heart issues so I knew it was a possibility but the sign I always looked for was breathing issues. I took a deep breath, and it was no problem. I still had the other symptoms but I could breathe fine. So I decided to take a little walk— you know, “walk it off”

Perhaps here is where the less than optimal decisions started. Or perhaps it was earlier.

A little more than a year earlier I sat at a friends house on New Years eve and decided I needed to drop some weight before I turned 40. I had 15 months. I went from a high of 310 lbs in December of 2013 to 275 lbs by February 1st of 2015. That was exciting progress.

Let’s get back to the afternoon of February 1st. It didn’t go away when I walked it off. So next try— wait it out. I asked a good friend at work to stop over to my office because I wasn’t feeling well and wanted to make sure it wasn’t anything serious — I just needed him to sit with me for a few minutes. He kindly did this and I felt “better” (The sweating stopped and I just had the pain). My conclusion: I should drive home.

So I did the thirty minute drive home (one handed, because my left arm still felt odd) and considered multiple times just driving over to the hospital. I made it home, went in and lay down on the couch. I then suggested to my 20 year old daughter that perhaps we could go for a quick jaunt to the local emergency room. I really desired to just ‘push through it’ — but at some level I understood that wasn’t the correct course of action.

Let’s be honest, there are more than two things I was disappointed with. The symptoms don’t match the book. (Or the “google”). I had no breathing issues—and one symptom of a heart attack is “a feeling of impending doom” — I did not have this symptom. Disappointment. I was wondering exactly how that one worked.

She drove me 20 minutes west to the nearest Hospital (we found the urgent care before we found the ER — so we went with it). It has always fascinated me to watch medical personnel react to symptoms and situations. When the number of personnel in a room starts to multiply it seems to indicate a raise in severity level. Nitro under the tongue, machines hooked up everywhere—it started to move fast. Within minutes I was being loaded into an Ambulance and taken to Ellis Hospital (Back near where I worked). The fine folks from GAVAC took great care of me. We had fascinating conversation on our rapid trip to the Hospital.

It may have been more direct to go from Work straight to the hospital.

Once at Ellis the fine physicians in the Cath Lab determined I had multiple blockages. I knew it had to be the extra weight I’ve had carried for the last twenty years. I’ve not smoked, drank, or experimented with legal or illegal drugs. To my disappointment (another one) the doctor informed me the amount of damage I had (3 arteries 100% blocked, plus one other also blocked) could not have been caused by weight. Or diet soda. Genetics appears to be the major culprit. Now don’t get me wrong— being overweight puts significant stress on the heart and does not help— but I would have been here eventually one way or the other — and it doesn’t seem like the timeline would have changed much.

The blockage was extensive so as my wife arrived at the hospital and we discussed what was going on it became clear that open heart surgery for a Bypass ( 3 or 4 ) would need to happen. I spent the next three days in the intensive care unit— i had great company from my wife and daughter and others and prepared for the eventual surgery.

On Friday, February 4, I went in for a “CABG” — Coronary Artery Bypass Graft — what ended up being a quadruple bypass. This part, thankfully, I was fully asleep for. By Friday evening they had me awake — and this was probably the most disturbing part of the experience for me. I was incubated so there was a tube down my throat and that was not at all comfortable. It was removed fairly quickly and by 6am the next morning the nurse had me out of bed and sitting in a chair. The average stay time for the surgery at this facility is 5 days. Because of my age and condition I was able to go home 4 days after the surgery.

My loving wife and tolerant children have been doing their best at taking care of me. Sometimes to my frustration—as they won’t let me do what I want all the time. However, I think I do need to learn to relax.

Perhaps my biggest disappointment is the lack of introspection. After an event like this I feel like I should have some serious introspection into life, purpose, and something. When I look at it as a whole—currently— I simply see the amazing hand of God taking me through a fascinating experience. I don’t recall being afraid, (other than that stupid breathing tube) but I do recall sitting back and thinking — “wonder what’s going to happen next”. I was concerned about my family if I didn’t make it, but I knew they would be taken care of and I recalculated my life insurance amount in my head to make sure they were financially safe.

Almost 2,000 years ago the apostle Luke transcribed these words of Jesus “And if God cares so wonderfully for flowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, he will certainly care for you. Why do you have so little faith?” — I know God has a plan for me and my family, I understand sometimes I throw some stupidity into that plan (optimal hospital route….) — but I am content to sit back and see how God is going to work it out.

Perhaps in a few weeks or years I will have some more introspection. Or perhaps it was just an opportunity to see this process through. The surgeon tells me I should live long enough to have more heart problems. So perhaps next time I’ll have some more introspection. Don’t get me wrong—I’d be happy if next time was thirty or forty years away. This is horribly inconvenient.

I’ll add one more item— My employer has been beyond amazing! Not just the “company” as a whole but the staff working there. I am looking forward to returning to work as soon as possible and am looking forward to working with all those there again!

Recovering From Major Surgery

If you read my blog last week then you know that on February first my husband had a heart attack. You also know about that days events through my eyes leading up to his heart attack. And you know about his quadruple bypass surgery and my feelings through out that entire week. Today’s blog is about my husbands recovery so far.

It’s been a little over two weeks now since he had his quadruple bypass surgery. We can’t believe all that took place a little over two weeks now, but it did. I am happy to say that my husband is doing well. The first week he was home he needed to learn how to sit down and get up from both our love seat and recliner with only using his legs and feet. This wasn’t an easy thing to do. He held on to the heart shaped pillow he was given so he wouldn’t use his arms at all. I am happy to say that he has mastered this technique. He is also doing very well at going up and down stairs. The getting in and out of bed is still a tiny bit difficult, but now he doesn’t need my help with that anymore.

I am also pleased to say that the incision on his chest is healing nicely. I have to admit when I first saw his incision in the Hospital it gave me the shivers. I couldn’t get rid of those shivers either. Every time I either thought about it or looked at it I started shivering. Then I felt bad about getting the shivers and started apologizing a lot. Thankfully my husband understood. I am happy to say that those shivers are almost gone now!

Right now I think my husbands biggest “thing” is how much he sleeps. Since his surgery he has been sleeping a lot. This doesn’t bother me any. I figure since he did have major surgery he’s going to be tired. This being tired and sleeping a lot isn’t something he likes though. From the sounds of everything he has read, this is not an uncommon thing. We figure in a couple of weeks that tired sleepy feeling will go away.

This past week to help with his recovery we went to the Mall almost every day. This might sound like a strange thing to do after a person has had major surgery, but it was the easiest and best way for my husband to get his walking in. We managed to get one – two laps in the mall each day on both the upper and lower levels. He did very good with his walking. We stopped when he needed to and moved on when he was ready to walk again. By the time we got back to the car for me to drive us home he was tired. While I drove home he slept.

If anyone remembers me talking about his snoring in last weeks blogs and how I missed it while he was in the hospital and how I realized to be thankful for the little things like snoring,well… A couple of nights this past week was a bit hard on my sleeping with my husbands snoring. It was louder then usual and when I say louder, I mean LOUDER. I wasn’t sure what to do about it. I didn’t want to go against what I wrote and start being annoyed with my husband again. So I decided to wait it out and I played some games on my iPad. Once his snoring became quiet enough I got some sleep. When I told my husband his snoring was keeping me up at night and why I didn’t do anything about it we both got a good laugh out of it. He did apologize for his snoring, but I knew he couldn’t help it.

So, Yes I am very happy to say that my husband is doing well from his surgery. We are both looking forward to the recovery part being done and over with so we can get back to normal. Although I don’t know if things will ever be a completely normal again, we certainly can do our best to try. I am so, so thankful for my husband and do love him with all my heart. I am so thankful that his recovery is going as well as it is and I pray that God continues to watch over my husband and his recovery from this major surgery.

 

 

When Your Husband has a HEART Attack

Two weeks ago today Monday February 1 started out like any ordinary Monday. When my husband was ready to leave the house for work he gave me a kiss good-bye. I told him I loved him and he told me he loved me too. Then I asked him to be careful driving to work. He said he would. Not long after he left I started to get myself ready for that day. I got my kids lunch ready for school that day. I took my kid to school came back home. When I got home I started doing my usual. Take the dog out to use the bathroom, get my breakfast ready to each and eventually open my laptop and do my normal Monday cleaning.

That Monday I did my normal routine with promoting my books, checking Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and all those social media sites. I also did my normal chatting with my husband while he was at work. It’s always nice for me to be able to chat with my husband while he’s at work and I’m at home doing my thing. As the day went on everything went as usual. When it was time for me to pick up my daughter from school and take my son to basket ball practice, I let my husband know like I always do. He said his usual “okay be careful driving” and I said my usual “I will”.

That afternoon while my daughter and I were waiting for my son to finish basket ball practice I received a text from my husband. He told me he wasn’t feeling good so he was going to leave work early. I knew his ankle was hurting him that Monday morning so I didn’t think anything of it. I just asked him to be careful driving home. He told me he would. When practice ended I received another text from him. That one said “Where are you ?!” My husband never sends me a text like that so right away I knew something was wrong. How wrong I didn’t know, but I knew something was wrong.

So I called him to find out what was going on. My husband told me he was heading to Urgent Care at a local Hospital and that our oldest daughter was driving him. He told me to meet them there. Again I asked him what was wrong. He told me he wasn’t sure, but he might be having a heart attack. A HEART ATTACK, what do you mean a heart attack was all I could think. So I got my kids into our car as fast as I could and told them what was going on. Half way home I got another phone call from my oldest daughter. She told me he was being rushed by ambulance to another Hospital. At this point I was scared. I mean I was SCARED!  At this point I needed to get me and our other two kids home so my husbands brother, wife and mom could get me to the Hospital to see my Husband.

When we finally got to the second Hospital, Ellis– my sister-in-law helped me get from one part of the Hospital to the part where they had my husband. After a few minutes they finally let me see my husband. There he was laying in a bed with one of their Hospital gowns on and some tubes in his arms. I practically ran over to him crying asking him what happened. He told me he had a heart attack. I asked him why he did that and no I wasn’t being serious, it was just something I did. He told me didn’t know. We stayed there for a few minutes till the were ready to put him in his own ICU room.

Once they had him all settled they let me see him again for a little while. I couldn’t believe my husband had a heart attack and was now in the Hospital. To me my husband always seemed like the type of person who couldn’t be touch by something like that. He was to stubborn of a man in my point of view for something like that to happen. We talked to the doctors and found out what his best options were. We also wanted to know what caused this heart attack. Was it him being over weight? Was it the foods he was eating? No, none of that did it to my husband. The doctor told us it was basically family genetics. Because there are heart problems are both sides of his family he was at high risk to have a heart attack at some point in his life. We were told he needed to have a quadruple bypass surgery. That’s a lot of bypasses!

I wanted to stay with my husband, but I also have three kids and a house that need taking care of. So reluctantly that Monday night two weeks ago I went home scared and lonely. When I got to my bed room that night I looked at our bed. My husband wasn’t in it waiting for me like he is every night. I didn’t want to sleep in our bed by myself. I knew I had no choice. I also didn’t want to sleep in the dark with out my husband. So for one week I slept by myself in our bed with our closet light on. I slept curled up in the middle using my husband pillow while our dog slept at the end of our bed.

That week my oldest and I spent every day with my husband in the Hospital while my other two kids were in school. And that week I cried myself to sleep alone in our bed missing my husband something terrible. Thanks to technology I was able to text with my husband that week and I even go to facetime with him a couple of times to say good night. I had decided the easiest way to keep our family and friends in formed with what was happening each day was to post it on Facebook. With each status I asked everyone to keep praying for my husband with the Bible verse 1 Thessalonians 5:17 Pray with out ceasing.

My husband and I were seriously over whelmed by all the people letting us know they were praying for a safe surgery and speedy recovery. We were over whelmed with how many people came to visit him in the Hospital before and after his surgery. We were even more over whelmed by the love and support his job showed to us. Everything had us in tears. To the point sometimes that we couldn’t even read the replies from our family and friends on Facebook.

I am very happy to say that my husbands quadruple bypass was a successful surgery and he was allowed to come home one day early. He does have to take a bunch of meds now, but that sure does beat the alternative. He is recovering faster then anyone anticipated I think. Yes, he will have his bad days. That is to be expected,but so far he is doing good.

I have to say before his surgery there were things that he did that annoyed my like snoring. Now after his heart attack and surgery, I’m thankful I can hear it. It means he’s there next to me in bed sleeping. Where he belongs. My husband’s heart attack taught me not to take the little things for granted. It taught me that stuff like snoring isn’t important. What is important is that HE is alive and with me. He is healing. He is my everything and I love him. We are in this marriage for better or for worse and I am doing my best to make this worse part better. Maybe not better, but I can make the best out of a bad situation. I love my husband and would do anything for him. His heart attack scared me. I am beyond thankful that God watched over my husband and spared his life through this heart attack and surgery.

I pray that we get to spend the next fifty plus years together in good times and in bad times.

 

 

 

Getting My Books into a Bookstore

A couple of months ago my husband and I went to a Christian bookstore not to far from our house. We were actually headed somewhere else when we noticed it. We decided to stop there first and check it out. We found it to be a very nice store. It had lots of books, some videos, t-shirts and all the other usual things you would find in a Christian book store. As I was looking at the books I noticed there weren’t any on miscarriages. At least none that I could see.After we left this book store I told my husband we/I should get a copy of my miscarriages book and see if this book store would be willing to carry it.

So here we are months later and I FINALLY got some copies of my miscarriages book. I had decided to wait longer then I was going to because I was in the middle of getting my second book self published and I figured why not see if the store would take both books. I did finally get a couple of copies of both books. I asked my husband if we could go to the book store and see what happens.

This past Friday morning January 22nd we went back to that Christian book store. I have been a self published author for six years now and I have always had the confidence I needed to talk to people about my miscarriages book and what it’s about. However Friday morning I was completely NERVOUS. I have no idea why, but I was. I think I was scared the man was going to turn me away with out even talking to me.

Well, it ended up going very well. My husband and I went into the store and asked to speak to the man in charge. It turned out to be the man we first saw. I explained to him how I’ve been an indie author for six years now and how my book on miscarriages has helped many women in those six years. I also gave him a copy of my Brooklyn/Upstate book and explained what that was about.

The man started to tell me that he already had a section for local self published authors, but those books weren’t doing very well. I asked him to give my books a chance and if it didn’t work out my feelings wouldn’t be hurt. I was pretty much holding my breath the entire time. Finally my husband chimes in and I was very grateful that he did. Between my husband and myself the store owner agreed to take both my books and see how it goes. OH, yeah he did also ask me how I promote my books. So I told him. I also told him I would gladly promote his bookstore as well and let all my local family and friends know that my books are in his store and to go check it out.

So if you live in or near Latham, NY or even if you are an hour or less away from Latham, NY please go check out Living Word Parable Christian Store and check out all they have. I personally would love it if you bought a copy of my books there. They also have a FaceBook page you can like.

 

 

Mall Walking

My new favorite thing to do is mall walking. What is mall walking? For those of you who don’t know, it’s simple. That’s when my husband and I drive to the mall. We park our car in the parking lot. We then walk into the mall and we start walking. 

We’ve found that if we get to the mall before the stores  open we can get one complete lap done around both the upper level and the lower level. We love doing this. It’s great exercise and we love each other’s company. 

Once the stores open we go to the ones we want to look in. We don’t necessarily buy anything, but we enjoy looking. We have found though lately we love looking at luggage. (The reason for that will be in another blog a couple of months down the road.)

My husband and I have been using this nutrition app on our phone lately. Among other things it counts how many steps we take when walking. We love using this app to see how many steps we can get in while walking in the mall. This app also shows how many calories we’ve walked off and how many we can eat after our walk around the mall. Let me tell you walking around the mall does make a person hungry. So when we are done with our walk we find something simple and tasty to eat. We also try to make it healthy. Lately we’ve been buying one thing and splitting it in half.  My husband says this means we are getting old. I don’t mind that as long as I’m growing old with him.   

  

VERMONT

Hey there! It’s Monday which means today is blog day! On today’s blog I decided to share about my weekend. More specifically the day that started my weekend. That day was Friday.

My husband had Friday off from work so we decided to go to Manchester, Vermont. It was a nice drive from our house. And some what scenic. We went to some outlet stores that are in that area. Normally we wouldn’t want to walk around outlet stores in January, but since it’s been unusually warm here we didn’t mind.

I do believe we went into just about every store we saw. The clothing stores were nice, but I don’t need any new clothes so I didn’t buy anything. What we did find was a cute country store that sold chocolate covered pretzels that are made in a nut FREE facility. Well that made my day! We bought a package of that for me and something for each of our kids. I almost bought two packages of the chocolate covered pretzels, but I controlled myself (hahaha)

There was also an all natural gourmet snack that caught my attention.They are called Jan’s Farmhouse Crisps. The flavor is Cranberry Pistachio. Now for anyone who knows me well enough, knows I’m not into all that natural food stuff. At the same time it isn’t easy for me to find snacks that are peanut free anymore that I like. So my husband and I decided to buy them and give them a try. He didn’t like them, but I loved them.

If anyone is interested you can purchase the chocolate covered pretzels on line at www.vermontnutfree.com  and the Cranberry Pistachio Crisps at jans farmhouse crisps

The best part of Friday wasn’t buying snacks or looking at clothes. The best part of Friday was spending the day with my husband and walking up and down those blocks together, hand in hand. I had a great time with my husband. Walking and talking and laughing.

OUT with the old IN with the new – Clothes that is

So I started reading this book a year ago about having a perfect wardrobe. At least I thought it was a year ago till I looked at the year it was published which was February 2014. Apparently it’s taking me a lot longer to read this book then I thought. Granted I stopped reading it for a very long time, but still.

So the name of this book is — 10 Commandments for a perfect wardrobe by Lawrence Zarian. If you’ve ever watch Live With Kelly and Michael you know who this guy is. I wanted to read his book because I thought he was going to give women tips on what to wear and how to wear it. What colors would look good on different women and all that kind of stuff.

I got way more then what I bargained for with the book! The author starts his book out by telling his readers to take off all their clothes look at themselves in the mirror and tell themselves they are beautiful. The readers need to believe it when they say it to themselves as well. In all honesty I did my best to do this. I figured if I was going to read his book I should do what he tells us to do. It took me weeks and months to go from telling myself I look okay to not bad to pretty and then finally beautiful while looking at myself naked in the mirror. I actually meant it too! I think hearing my husband telling me how beautiful he thinks I am helped, but for me to be able to say it to myself was something else for me.

The next step that took me forever was getting rid of the clothes in my closet that I don’t wear anymore. I felt guilty for getting rid of them and I have no idea why. I FINALLY took those clothes out of my closet a couple of weeks ago. I didn’t feel guilty either. I felt refreshed. I knew all those button downs in my closet weren’t my style anymore. I replaced them with some tops I had in my drawer that I love and should be on nice hangers. Oh yeah, I bought nice hangers for those tops too, just like it was suggested in this book.

Just recently I bought a new dress. I would never have bought a dress like this before reading this 10 commandments book. However when I saw the dress it caught my eye and I decided to try it on in the store. I was amazed at how it fit me! It made me feel beautiful. I mean this was the first time in a long time I looked at myself in the mirror wearing a dress and thinking “wow I look beautiful in this dress”!  I know for a fact if I had not read this book by Lawrence Zarian I would never have considered buying let a lone trying on a dress like that.

I really need to get back to reading 10 commandments for a perfect wardrobe . I’m also really thankful that I now have the courage to buy new clothes that I wouldn’t normally wear. My husband loves the new styles I’ve been picking out. My friends and family think the new clothes look great, but most importantly I like them and I think they look really good on me.

 

 

Winter Weather

Winters in Upstate New York are COLD. That is really the best way to describe them. Since I love the cold weather, this isn’t a problem for me.

I love it when it snows here! Call me odd, but I really do love the snow. I love watching the snow fall from sky. That first snowfall of the season is always exciting to see.

Then there are the snowstorms. These are the days when the kids get to have a day off from school. I like these days. We get to sleep in and in the afternoon we go outside and play in the snow. Even I get my snowsuit, gloves, hat and scarf on to go out and play in the snow. I have many great memories of playing in the snow with my kids.

Of course, there is more to winter than just the cold weather. At the beginning of winter we celebrate Christmas.

I love Christmas time here in Upstate New York. Yes, it’s cold. Yes, we usually have snow. But there is more to Christmas than that.

My family has a tradition. Every year, on the first Saturday in December, we buy our Christmas tree. We always do our best to get the fullest-looking tree we can at the lowest price.

After we pick it and pay for it, my husband and our son secure it to the roof of our car. We bring it home and get it set up. After my husband makes sure the tree is secure in its base, we all gather around to decorate it.

As we put the decorations on the tree, we reminisce over Christmases past. We look at the different baby ornaments and I do my best not to cry.

When we are all done with the decorating, we all have a cup of hot chocolate. It always makes a nice end to a nice day.

Christmas for me, growing up, was completely different. It was as different as night and day. Coming from a large, Roman Catholic, Italian family made for a big Christmas celebration. At least on my dad’s side of the family anyway.

Every Christmas Eve we would wait for my dad to come home from work. After that my family would get ready for the big Christmas Eve gathering at my Great Aunt’s house.

When I say big, I mean big. My sister and I were the only grandchildren at the time. However my dad had a lot of aunts and uncles who were married. Some had kids, some didn’t.

This was also the only time of year I got to see my second cousins who lived in Ohio.

We all got together on Christmas Eve and had a twelve course meal. Literally twelve courses. It was so much fun. Eating until I couldn’t eat anymore. Getting attention from all my great aunts and uncles. Getting to spend time with my cousins.

Then, when it was time for the christmas presents, we all gathered together in what we called the “store.” We waited patiently for “Santa” to come walking into the room, bearing gifts.

It was so much fun. Hearing all of our names getting called numerous time for a present, then getting to open each one with excitement.

I think we stayed at my great aunt’s house until at least 1am on Christmas Eve. Having a blast.

The next day, Christmas Day, was spent with my mom’s family. She had a big family too, but in a different way. My mom was one of five children.

So, on Christmas Day we celebrated with my aunts and uncles and their kids, my cousins.

It was a completely different atmosphere with my mom’s family being Irish Catholic, along with some English and Italian. The Irish tended to come through more than anything else.

So Christmas Day was a one course, meat and potatoes kind of a meal, with dessert to follow later in the night.

There was no “Santa Claus” on Christmas Day. Instead when my aunt was ready, she would hand out the present to all the nieces and nephews. We all usually got a pair of pajamas or a top and jeans. It was always a nice Christmas Day, but I have to say, growing up, Christmas Eve was the day I looked forward to rather than Christmas Day.

I am amazed at how Christmas time can change for a person. As much as I miss my Christmases past, I love all the Christmases I’ve had with my husband and our children. I love the memories we have made as a family.

The above is from my book — Brooklyn Raised / Livin’ Upstate — My book can be read on all e-devices and paperback.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Taking a Sick Day

Not feeling good today. Was going to write a blog, but since I don’t feel good I’m taking a sick day. Please feel free to check out my other blog posts and video’s. You can even take a look at my books page. Have a good week!