ready to begin a new year

**WARNING – this could be much longer than you’ll want to spend reading and could have way more pictures than you’ll care to scroll through. However, if you find it interesting at all, just take a break and come back later. :)**

There were other things happening in our lives other than harvest. I had to look back on the past couple of posts just to see what I have already told and how much I really do have to get caught up on. The last post was about what I learned about fall harvest. And it was plenty.

But there was more to the story than just harvest.

Birthdays

We celebrated Callie’s 21st birthday. Twenty-one years. (I’m shaking my head.) Goodness. Just goodness! In this picture, Nora and Eli are showing off their artistic abilities (and Callie’s gifts).

My mom celebrated her 77th birthday. Those of us who could make it, took her out for lunch to celebrate.

Taylor celebrated her 24th birthday November 2. Seems everyone was so busy doing life, we never even got together for a picture. She and Colten were involved with a wedding on her actual birthday so there wasn’t much time to do any celebrating. We’ll just have to do twice as much celebrating next year.

Our next birthday girl was Nora. Her birthday is December 5 and she turned 4. Birthdays are so much more fun when you’re four! We celebrated a few days earlier than her actual birthday. It also happened to be the same day as her dance recital. Needless to say, the kids were exhausted by the time the day ended. I’m certain Jamie and Curt were, as well.

On Nora’s actual birthday, she and I got to hang out together all afternoon. We even had lunch together at McDonald’s.

Jamie’s birthday was December 23. She turned 33. This was also the same day we got together with Jim’s sister and her family to celebrate Christmas. I guess we were all involved in the moment and didn’t think to take one picture. This is good and bad – good that we were just enjoying the moments but bad that we didn’t get a picture to mark the day.

Holidays

Let’s jump back to October with Halloween.

Jim and I were in the field most of the day. I was able to leave sooner than he was so I could get home before the little goblins started making their rounds through town. As I was headed home, I had to stop just outside of the town to get a picture of this beautiful sunset.

Thanksgiving came quite quickly. Both Jim and I were able to finish with fall harvest just a couple of days prior to the “eat-til-you-pop” celebration. Jim’s last day in the field was November 16. Mine was November 19. Thanksgiving was November 22 this year.

We took the afternoon of the 24th of November and went in search of the perfect Christmas tree. It was a beautiful afternoon – just prior to a snowstorm. So glad we got it when we did!

From pasture to our living room:

It never ceases to amaze me how a crooked tree from the pasture can turn out to look so beautiful. I’m certain that I could get deep with you about now and compare our lives to this tree – but I won’t.

The month of December seemed to zoom by and before we knew it, it was already Christmas. Jim went back to work soon after we turned the calendar from November to December. He’s back at Sapp Brothers in Omaha hauling propane. He’s been pretty busy ever since as winter swooped in early and hasn’t given us much relief since.

Christmas traditions are dear to my heart and I try to hold onto them as long as I can. The picture with Santa began when Jamie was nearly a year old. She was only two days old the first Christmas she joined our family in 1985. I made sure there was a picture with Santa every year after that until the final one was taken in 2011. We all have the best time looking through those old pictures (and I reflect on each one thinking, “how could this have gone so fast?”).

Jamie is now carrying on this tradition with her kids.

I’m not sure when the tradition of sleeping under the Christmas tree began. It may have just been something like one night the girls decided they wanted to sleep downstairs and watch TV. It became a tradition. We’re hoping next year, Ben will be joining us for this fun event! (Papa did not sleep under the tree with us – he opted for his own bed.)

Cookies were cut out, baked and waiting for the kids to come to Gramma’s house to decorate the afternoon of Christmas Eve. It was just always the day to decorate Santa’s cookies. Maybe it was procrastination on my part when the girls were young but it’s tradition now. It gives mom the afternoon to finish last-minute “to-do’s” or just take a breather. For me…it’s just FUN!

I suppose I’m being selfish when I say I don’t want to give up Christmas Day with my girls and their families. I think they understand my selfishness and try to make it the day we get together. I asked them this year if they would rather try to do it on a different day to eliminate stress and craziness and they said, “No”. So, I will hold onto this day as our time together…as long as I can.

It was so beautiful on Christmas Day. We made our way to the park to try out Nora’s new bike from Santa. And to get some fresh air. Eli was in charge of getting Ben’s “gator” to the park in the trailer he was towing behind his “gator”.

It never fails. It’s always the meal that I want to come out perfectly…it doesn’t. The ham had been in the roaster all afternoon and when everything else was ready…it wasn’t. The kids were so excited to eat and open their gifts. And it was put on hold again and again. I suggested to the older kids they open theirs after supper and let the little ones get a head start. Of course, Eli and Nora wholeheartedly agreed!

While waiting, the guys had a pretty good game of “high stakes” poker goin on.

Supper was FINALLY eaten and all the cleanup complete. Now, it’s the adults turn to open gifts. There’s so many of us, the older generation has opted to draw names. This is fine but it’s so hard for me to just give a gift to one kid. So, the stockings are filled with a few goodies for each one.

The next evening was spent at Mark and Candi’s house to celebrate Christmas with them. More food (to me, it was better than the night before), fellowship and gifts to open. I love Christmas!

I love Ben’s look of wonder as he looks at the snow globe.

It was pretty quiet on December 27th! So many gatherings with everyone just made my heart wish for more.

All the other stuff

I was approached by Nebraska Wheat to once again haul their mobile baking lab to the Tim Horton’s Owner’s Convention. This year, the event was in Orlando, Florida. I felt I should get the “go ahead” from my boss before I could say yes. I really wanted to make the trip again..if it could work out.

I was reassured the family I was working for was flexible and I would be able to make the trip happen. Callie would be able to make the first leg of the trip but couldn’t make the trip home. Harvest was just barely getting started. I was finding it difficult to find anyone to make the second part of the trip. I asked my sister-in-law, Maureen, if she thought she could get away. She didn’t know but would check with her farmer husband.

I figured I could make the trip back on my own. But, in the event of a flat tire or any other issue, it sure would be better to have someone with me. Several days went by before I got the thumb’s up from Maureen.

The details were pulled together and we were on the road once again.

I was hoping we could get to Nashville (half-way point) early enough to get Callie in the Ryman Theater before it closed. That wasn’t going to happen. We got a later start that first morning than we had hoped but we did make it to Nashville that night.

By the time we found the hotel and dropped off the trailer, it was about 8:00 PM before we made our way to the “Honky Tonk Highway“. I had been there several years ago (thanks to MacDon Industries) and knew there was one particular bar I really enjoyed. Once I saw the band and the inside of the bar, I knew this was the one. This place is like stepping back into the days of Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard, Hank Williams Sr. and the other classic country singers. I absolutely loved it and knew Callie would too.

Callie turned 21 earlier in the month but it was still weird leading her to a chair in the balcony of the bar. And ordering a beer for the two of us. We sat there for a couple of hours listening to the classics before deciding we should make our way back to the hotel.

Cal and I were spoiled with the scenery of last year’s trip (Part 1 and Part 2). We didn’t make many stops on the way down mostly because we didn’t know of anything that would be worthy of pulling off the interstate with a trailer.

We made it to our destination about 7:00 PM the next night. Our hotel was almost directly across the street from Universal Studios. With free parking at the resort, we dropped the trailer and made our way to Universal for supper. Even though we weren’t going to be riding rides, it was still so much fun being in the park. The place was almost empty.

Before we left, I talked Callie into stopping at Pat O’Brien’s (a remake of the one in New Orleans) for a hurricane and to listen to the dual-ling pianos. Again, the place was “dead”. Maybe 6-8 others in there with us. It took us a while to drink our hurricanes but we had a good time and laughed a lot.

Next on our schedule was lining up with the detailer the next morning to get the trailer headed in the direction of the convention center. Once we passed the torch, we had a few hours to kill before our flight home later that afternoon.

So we headed to the beach for a couple of hours – New Smyrna Beach.

Neither of us wanted to leave. And when we were back in the Omaha airport, it was hard to believe we had just been at the beach three hours earlier.

A week had passed and it was time to make the trip back to Florida. By the time Maureen and I arrived in Orlando, the sun was setting. It was completely dark before we made it back to the same hotel Callie and I had been to just a week ago.

We decided to make our way back to Universal Studios that night for supper. The place was packed! A whole lot different than when Callie and I were there.

It took us a while to finally get on the road after picking up the trailer the next morning. Everything that could go wrong…did. Once I realized it was going to take us three nights on the road home, rather than just two, I didn’t push. We took some time to venture off the interstate a couple of times to see the area’s agriculture.

Maureen and I made it back with no issues. The most difficult thing we dealt with was acclimating back to the cold Nebraska weather – and snow. We had a great time with plenty of snacks, conversation and good laughs!

On the 12th of December, I texted Taylor and asked her if she wanted to ride with me to the Open Door Mission in Omaha. I had a bunch of coats and stocking caps I needed to get rid of. If we hurried, we could still see the train that transported President Bush from Houston to College Station, Texas.

We made it! WOW! So very cool to see such a beautiful train. And to know the importance of engine #4141.

Taylor and I did some Christmas shopping and ended the day in Ashland at the Glacial Till Tasting Room. I thoroughly enjoyed my day with Taylor and wondered why in the world don’t we do it more often?

Just hanging out with Papa and Gramma.

I took the three to McDonald’s and play putt putt golf. Now that was fun! It really was. Jamie went Christmas shopping. I think I had the better of the two experiences!

Getting a family picture takes a whole lot more planning that it ever used to. This one was taken at Nora’s birthday party. I thought it turned out pretty good for being a spontaneous thing.

A few days later, Taylor texted us all and said she had a time and a day scheduled for us to get a family picture taken. The result of that appointment is the following pictures. This means more to me than they will ever know! Thank you, Taylor, for making it happen.

This is a Nebraska sunrise. So often, you’ll see me post a sunset. This is because I’m not usually very active yet when the sun is rising. 🙂 I felt this was a good way to end this post.

As the sun sets today on 2018, the year will be history. The year was a challenging one! But we have our health. And to me, that is more important than anything.

Tomorrow, the sun will rise on a new year – 2019. As the new year approaches, so does the hope of what the future days will bring.

We all know there will be valleys to march through and mountains to climb. And…it will go fast. As others have said, the years go faster the older you get. It’s true. Take one day at a time. Enjoy the sunsets AND the sunrises. And remember the One who has placed us here for such a time as this.

Happy New Year from the Z Crew! Thank you for continuing to be a part of our journey.