Wish I had more memories of Pappy.

Today has got to be a hard day for my dad. Today is the anniversary of his father's death.

We called him Pappy, but his other grandchildren called him Poppy. I sure wish I had more memories of him. I do know he was a wonderful man with a shy kind of smile and a warm heart. He spent his time worshipping Jesus and loving his wife. He was a very loving husband and loved Grandma with all his heart, so it was sort of a shock when he took on another wife a few years after Grandma died. It was sweet too to see the Pappy we all knew and loved with a new lady. She was nothing at all like Grandma and it showed in Pappy. I even saw him kiss her a couple times.

He died a few years later on December 15. I got a call from Mom that Pappy had a heart attack and if I wanted to see him, I should go to the hospital since it didn't look good. I got to the hospital and was with him at his bedside, along with my parents and aunt and uncle, when he died. It was so peaceful. I remember thinking it was so sad that I would never see him open his eyes again, but on the other hand when he did open his eyes he would see Jesus and Grandma. What a wonderful feeling to know 100% that this sweet man was going to Heaven.

I sure wish I had more memories of him. I was a wacky teenager when my mom and dad married and I just didn't' have the time for stuff like that. As I sit here writing this with tears in my eyes, I realize I was stupid. I wish I could have gotten to know him on a grandaughterly level. I know that he could have taught me so many things. I wish he could have gotten to see my children. I wish my children could have known him too. What a positive influence that would have been on me and the kids.

Regrets cannot be bought back after someone is gone. I know that now, so, Pappy if you're able to see this from Heaven, I Love You and I'm sorry I didn't get to know you better.

I treasure the clock that I have on my wall that was yours. When I wind it, I think of you. You were an awesome clockmaker. I do remember one time when I spent the night at your place with Grandma (a funny kind of memory.) I was sleeping in the guest bedroom with like a million clocks hanging on the walls and I was having a hard time sleeping. I guess in my dreams I was annoyed that the clocks were so loud and in my sleep I got out of bed and took something off of one of them. When I woke up the next morning there it lay beside me on the bed and I was terrified that I broke all your clocks. It's funny now but I was sure that you and Grandma would be so mad at me. I don't think I ever told either one of you that story. Cat's out of the bag now.



I'm sure Pappy understood the whole situation with me and I'm sure he prayed for all of us. He was quiet, but you knew he was a good man.

He drove a big ol' green Cadillac - he was not a fancy man, but he had a fancy car. He took good care of that car too.

He died on December 15 and was buried on my mom and dad's wedding anniversary which is December 18. Not a happy anniversary.

Not many years later my dad's sister died on the same date and she was also buried on Mom and Dad's anniversary. Mom and Dad have since changed the date they celebrate their anniversary.

Dad, on this day I hope you know that your dad was lucky to have you for a son and you were so lucky to have him for a dad. I'm sure he's smiling down from Heaven with joy in his heart for you. I love you and am thinking of you today.

Love,
Your daughter.

Here's a picture of Pappy and Grandma Ogburn. It's a very old picture, but it's the only one I have.

Pass Go and Collect $2

Kelsey wanted to play a game so I told her OK, but let's play a quick one. I really didn't have time to sit and play a long game. So she comes in with Monopoly Junior. Not the quickest game we have either. Sometimes that game seems to go on forever - not quite as long as the original but when you're busy Monopoly Junior is a long game. I was winning for awhile, feeling kinda bad about it but I wasn't gonna cheat so I would lose either. She's too old for that. The game went on and on and ya know what? She ended up winning. She had more property and money than her momma. Ha ha. She was surprised to.




Just a ordinary day with not much to write about, but I want to keep up with this so that's it for now.

3rd Annual Christmas Piano Recital

Today was the girls' piano recital and it was great. The day started out fine, but then I realized I was running out of time to get everything done that I needed to get done. Like usual, I wait around till the day and then I have to rush. I was PMSing. Yeah, I do that from time to time and it's not pretty. I was not in a good mood at all. My mom and dad showed up and I had Mom help Sara and Kelsey with the cookies that needed baked so I could go get my shower. (Wait, lets back up a minute...) I was running on schedule thinking we had all the time in the world to get everything done and out the door and be at the church on time by 2:00. Sara heard me tell Mom what time the recital started and then she says to me that she thinks it starts at 1:00. NO, this just can't be. Remember, I am PMSing! I still have cookies to bake, Kelsey to get dressed and her hair put in a bun. My clothes are still in the dryer AND I haven't gotten a shower myself yet today. So with the news that I had to be out the door in like 15 minutes, I panic. Oh my God we are gonna be late for the recital. How embarrasing that would be for the girls. So I start giving orders out. Mom, help the girls with the cookies; Mikey, are you dressed? Do you have your shoes on? Mom, can you put Kelsey's hair in a bun? I fly up the steps to get my shower then realize I have to call my Mother in Law and let her know it starts at 1:00. Back up the steps. Fling open the bedroom door and wake Kevin. I get in the shower for maybe two minutes. Tell Kevin it's his turn. Poor guy was driving all night. Put my makeup on, fly back down the steps, down the basement steps to the dryer. Pants are damp, Damn. Oh well, put them on anyway. Back up the steps. Dry my hair like a mad woman. Grab the warm cookies that mom and the girls finished, (Thank you Mom!) Grab my camera and fly out the door. Drive a little too fast and finally get to the church by 1:01 and the parking lot is.......................Yep, you guessed it. Empty. I was right afterall. It didn't start until 2:00. But, you know what? My bad mood instantly lightened to almost an internal laugh. I almost felt like laughing. And that was ok with me.

The rest of the day was wonderful. Having my family there to see my beautiful girls play the piano was just GREAT! Sorry it had to be so rough getting there.

this is the lonely piano that the girls started with. Now it's out on the deck covered in snow and is shivering so much it's falling apart. Poor thing. I feel sad for her.

The girls had a lot of time to practice before the recital began since we were an hour early. They were practicing their duet and were laughing because they kept messing up.

Ok, a little more serious now.

Mom was there,

Nan was there,

Dad was there with Momma,

Missy was there,

I was there,

Kevin was there,

And we all came to see these beautiful little girls:

I know I might be partial, but my God she is sooo beautiful.

and she's so precious and amazingly cute.

Dad got the video camera all set up so let's begin the recital.

Martha begins the program with a few words.

Kelsey watches as Tad is the first one up. He's the only little boy student of Martha's.

When it was finally Sara's turn to go up to the piano she played "Angels We Have Heard on High", and "The Little Drummer Boy" She did an excellent job.



and then Kelsey came up to join her for a duet of "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" and I must add that they did it perfectly. Not one mistake.

Kelsey's turn next. She played "Chorus of the Bells" and "Joy to the World"



And then Martha sat down with her and played a duet with her. It was the "Chipmunk Song". So cute.

Martha was so proud of all of her students. She is a wonderful lady and friend and she is the BEST piano teacher around. She really loves each and every one of "her" kids.

Here's a shot of all the kids after the recital. They are all happy and relieved it's over, but they all did such a nice job. Good job kids. Till next year keep practicing


It was a great day and at the end there was great food. I forgot to take pictures of the social hall because I was starving.

Christmas Spirit, Where are you?

Exactly twenty days from now ten children and 6 adults will have already gotten up at the crack of dawn, opened their presents and gotten some breakfast and I have no Christmas Spirit to get me there. The house needs cleaned, the presents need bought, the cookies need baked, etc. Heck, I didn't even get a tree yet. What in the world is the matter with me? Really, I think there must be something wrong with this old broad.

I love when we have Family Christmas at my house. Both my sisters and their families, my brother (sometimes), my parents and sometimes even my Aunt Judy come here Christmas Eve and spend the night and we all wake up Christmas morning and have a big family Christmas. It's awesome. I really love it and can't wait for it again.

Here's some photos from years past:
Sara checking out her stocking

Dominick looking at the Hermit Crab that Mikey found in his stocking

Isis looking on as Ben finds a Nerd's rope. He is a little nerd.

Everyone got to see Kelsey open the big box that held her kitten that she named "Angel".


The nieces and nephews will remember the Christmases at Aunt Bobbie's house and want to do that with their own kids and siblings some day, hopefully. My children will always remember these special days with love in their hearts for home.

It's so much more special when you can wake up in the morning, as an adult, and still get to spend Christmas morning with your siblings and parents. The memories it brings out of when you were young and running down the steps to shake the presents and trying to guess what's inside each package. One year, my brother and I carefully unwrapped one end of one of our presents and peeked inside. To this day I don't remember what was inside, but I remember the excitement of peeking. I think Mom would have been so pissed off had she only known.

In my memory, there was always Christmas music playing in the background too. I remember when April was little and I was a teenager by then, but we all got generic Cabbage Patch Kids from Grandma and Pappy Ogburn and Aunt Judy and John Porter. We struck the mother load!!! We must have each gotten like three of these ugly dolls, but we loved them just the same as if they were the expensive ones. They were the "tickle me elmo" of the old days. Even though they weren't the real thing, we didn't care. Here's a picture of Sherry, George, Apee and Me around that time:
Sherry was 10 1/2, George was 12 1/2, Apee was 6 1/2 and I was 15.

I remember a certain Christmas when I was sixteen and a boyfriend of mine gave me a tan rabbit fur coat. He didn't know that I didn't like fur, but I accepted it anyway without telling him my feelings. He was so excited to give me this beautiful coat and I didn't want to hurt his feelings. In my mind I thought he must have really loved me to give me something so extravagant. For a young man (18), he really had a lot of Christmas Spirit and I remember loving that about him.

Another Christmas memory I have is when Grandma Stair would come to our house and give us our Christmas Eve present. She was an Avon Lady and would give us a little white Avon bag with samples in. I think she put money in there, but don't remember for sure. I just remember loving those little tiny tubes of lipstick samples and perfume samples. Ha, now thinking back, she got off cheap, but she gave me wonderful memories and that's what's important. (*note that the Christmas Spirit is creeping into my soul as I sit here typing.)

When I was still fortunate enough to have all of my grandparents living, Christmas was the best. All the cousins, aunt and uncles, and parents and grandparents would all go over to Great Grandma and Pappy Shrader's house either Christmas Eve or Christmas night. I can't remember, but all I know is that it was always dark. The house would be so full of people and it smelled so wonderful. Grandma would hand out her Christmas envelopes. Tucked inside the bank envelope would be a brand spanking, new, crisp one dollar bill for me. The great grandchildren got a dollar, the grandchildren got two dollars, the children got 5 or 10, I forget. I loved getting that from her and sure do wish she was alive to tell her that. It was only a dollar, but it was always given with so much love. (*note, more spirit sneeking in.) She always had the best Angel food cake that gave me hiccups, ha ha. For some reason I remember her having these oranges for decoration that had cloves poked all through them. They smelled really good. Gosh, I miss her. Pappy died when I was 5 or 6 and Grandma died when I was 13 I think. She was such a wonderful woman and beautiful too. Here's a picture of Grandma and Pappy in 1957 (way before I was born)


The only things I remember about Pappy is that he loved her with all his heart and he loved me too. He was a tall, strong man. He took me to Park City Mall when I was 5 at Christmas time and I still hold those memories near to my heart. The magical scenes I saw there can never be topped. Little miniature scenes of Christmas everywhere. The way they decorated back then was pure magic. Looking down and seeing the ice skating rink right in the center of the mall with all the people skating. In my mind they look like Dickens Carolers, but I'm sure it wasn't like that, but memories have a way of becoming more romantic as the years past. (*Wow, Christmas Spirit overload here.)

When I was four my brother and I got a visit from Santa. He was just a toddler and didn't understand any of it, but I sure did. I heard the reindeer on the roof of my Grandma and Pappy Honeycutt's house. I heard the bells. Oh, the bells! The excitement just can't even be written. Too much for words. Santa came in with his big red bag and had a present for each of us, my uncles included. Poor little Georgie sat there looking up at Santa the whole time with his arm stretched upward. He finally did get his present, a Fisher Price or Playskool Ferris Wheel. That year the tree was swallowed up by all the presents. The picture just doesn't give it justice. In my memory the presents were all the way to the ceiling.
Here's a picture from that year:


and a newer one of my brother and me


The following year, my uncles who are only a few years older than me told me that Santa is not always real. They said that the only way you can tell is to pull his beard. Mom took me to the Santa Shack on the square of Littlestown. I remember this like it was just yesterday. I stood in line with my mom, freezing, waiting to see if this was the real Santa. Finally it was my turn. I stepped into his little wooden shanty. He said, "Ho, Ho, Ho" and asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I think it tickled him when I, in my pretty little, white tights and black patten shoes told him I wanted to be a football player. (you see, I grew up with my uncles and they were always playing football but wouldnt' let me play. They always made me act as the cheerleader, but I wanted to play.) So anyway, then he asks me what I would like for Christmas and if I was a good girl. I quickly told him I wanted a baby doll called "Baby Alive" and then I proceeded to pull his beard. He was not the real Santa afterall and my uncles were right. Well, I was given an orange and a candy cane and sent on my way. I bet "Santa" shared my story later that evening with "Mrs. Claus".
me around that time.

an earlier picture of my uncles and me

Back to present day and time I sit here at my computer listening to Kelsey play "Joy to the World" on the piano and I'm beaming with Christmas Spirit. Thanks to all my family and friends, past and present who have given me these memories. It has filled me with a joy of Christmas.

I hope that by having Christmas at Bobbies, I will be included in my children's and my nieces and nephews wonderful Christmas memories. I can't wait for you all to get here. I love you.