Happy New Year!!
Well Christmas is over, and I waited till the last moment to finish the shopping. We discovered years ago the best way for the kids not to find the presents and unwrap them was to buy them at the last minute. However I promise never to wait again! On Christmas Eve we drove to Austin, unpacked the car and left the younger kids at my oldest son and daughter's apartment. Off we went merrily to do our last minute shopping. We had 3 hours till the gathering was to take place, so we anticipated no problems since the stores were only blocks away...HA! We drove and drove around WalMart's parking lot wishing someone would leave so we could park. Finally we parked far far away. Of course we knew what we wanted, but it took forever to make our way through the crowded store. We had electronic gifts so we had to buy them in the electronic section. The line to check out looped down and around two aisles. I waited in line for over 45 minutes while Craig continued to shop in other areas of the store. He kept bringing items and placing them in the basket. Finally we checked out, and did not attempt anymore lines in that store! Craig had great dreams of buying a large gift for the family. He saw advertisements from 2 stores that had it one sale. After going to both stores we discovered the item was sold out. We drove around the mall, but I pleaded with Craig "Please, let's not fight anymore crowds!" I spotted a store with hardly any cars, so it looked like a good place to shop. We bought some clothes, which is always a needed item in our family. I got in line and Craig said he would go next door to see if they had the special gift he wanted to buy. The lines were not long but of course I choze the line that had a lady exchanging items. I watched the other lines move and people leave, and I waited, and waited. Craig waved to me from outside, letting me know he had finished his shopping, and I still waited. We were already late for the party and we still had to go to the grocery store to buy dinner for Christmas Day. (Everyone knows stores are closed on Christmas Day!) There was lots of food to buy for we had to stock the kids pantry just to cook one meal. With their busy big city lives they just pick up a burger and forget the cooking. They always hated doing dishes!! When we finally got back to their apartment everyone, Mom, Diana, Linda, April, Chris, and all 7 of our kids, were waiting on us. Life was easier when my greatest Christmas fear was the kids finding the gifts, now it's shoping on Christmas Eve! My days of procrastinating are over!.
Last year our yard was awarded 2nd place in the outside lights contest in our little city of Cottonwood! The kids and I were really excited. This year I let them do alot of designing and decorating. The garland is very low, but I would not redo them as Jamie had so much fun and she was very proud of her work. Jennifer came up with the idea of putting Lew's little (one man) boat in the front yard and placing a little santa on the boat seat. The back of the boat is full of bags of toys. We bought a green spot light to shine on it, lined it with green lights and then I dragged out our beautiful Beacon of Light sign with the lighthouse on it, and placed it behind the boat. The top of the wedding arch (from the bridal section of our once upon a time store) is lined with lights with our manger scene under it. I really paniced the night of judging. One whole side of the yard's light went out. Since the first string totally burned out I had to find a new plug and completely rework where all the lights went. Just when I finished 200 green lights from our everlasting Life tree burned out. I had to climb the tree to change the fuses. Just as I finally finished I happened to walk past the electric meter and saw it whirling around and around and my mind had visions of dollars, and a very large electric bill! Is it worth it I wonder, then Jamie says as she smiles "We have the best decorated yard in this town!" And I realize it really is worth it. Every year I get out and decorate the yard I remember my Dad, and feel his spirit, remembering the Christmas' as a child helping and watching him decorate the yard. Memories is really what Christmas is all about. We all had lots of fun decorating and making memories even if we don't win!
Then we had to decorate our Just For Kids Magazine website for the Christmas monthly issue. We went to Burnet two weeks ago and visited their Main Street Bethlehem. Every year they recreate how it was in Bethlehem the night Jesus was born. We really had fun. So we decided to write a story about the kids traveling back in time to Bethlehem in a hot air balloon. So if you would like to see our Magazine - Click on the hot air balloon. 
If you are receiving this by mail, the URL (web address) is www.geocities.com/EnchantedForest/Tower/9438/dec.html. I recently finsihed internet training school at Geocities to be a community leader, and I am having alot of fun creating and designing webpages. I am also write and design the Lighthouse Letters in my Beacon of Light Ministries site. Craig's uncle Bobby sends us some really wonderful inspirational stories that I sometimes use for the monthly letter. The December Lighthouse Letters is full of wonderful heartwarming stories. You can view it at http://www.geocities.com/Eureka/Enterprises/3056/decletter.html .
All this internet activity started when I began searching the internet for genealogy on our ancestors. Last November we only knew what Craig's grandfathers name is....Now we manage the largest Gandy one surname study site on the internet. Anyone who ever had a Gandy in their branch can submit or find information on this site. We have been successful in making connections for many Gandys, but we are stuck knowing who the father was to our James D. Gandy who was born in New York in 1796. I started monthly newsletter on the Gandy Genealogy site, but my internet school has caused me to miss a few issues, but I will be back working on our genealogy next month. Now of course I did not leave my family out. I have created a site about my parents and I have included all the Davenport and Guthrie history that I have been given on those pages. Margo McBride, (my grandfather's sister's granddaughter) has helped me tremendously with sharing all the hard work she has done on tracking down who our ancestors were. We have been in contact with the Davenport's who are researching the Davis Davenport line....which is OURS!! I have placed all the newsletters that I have received on my parents site. We have found great relatives on the internet on Craig's mother's side (Brown), his dad's side (Gandy), and my Dad's side (Davenport). But nothing on my mother's branch. SO please can't one of you (Guthrie's) get on line!!!!! HINT HINT!
I no longer write letters through the snail mail. Even this Christmas letter is written on one of our websites. I will simply print them for the friends that I do not have emails for. It is just so easy and fast to type and send on the electronic waves. And you can not beat the cost! So I hope you all get on line. It wouls\d be a great Christmas present to yourself!
Lew is still manager at a Money Box Cash Checking Store in Austin. Actually he advanced to a bigger store in Cedar Park. He has an apartment in Austin. At first Lew and Robert (Bobby) got the apartment together. Then Christina moved in with them during the summer after she got her Associates Degree from Cisco Junior College. She got a good paying job at Dillards and a brand new red mustang. So she decided not to continue her education for now. However baseball season has not started yet, and I know that it will be hard for her when everyone else is playing Softball. Her boyfriend (Joe) is playing football at Arkansas University. She may go to school there next year. Robert decided to move to Bay City where his Dad is. He is now working at a golf course and spending his spare time getting his game perfect! He says he is very HAPPY, but Mom (me) really misses him! He use to come up to see us every weekend that he could get off.
Brad is doing well in school and working at a nice restaurant close by. Jennifer, Jonathan and Jamie are still being homeschooled. This is our fourth year of homeschooling and really like this new lifestyle. Craig started working full time during the week so I got to quit my part time job at the Church. For awhile I worked at the Family Crisis Center during the weekends. I would work all day (12 hours) Saturday and 12 hours on Sunday. Finally Craig said I did not need to work, and it has been nice having weekends together again.
We got a call from my Mother on the morning of
Halloween. She and my sister had just escaped out of the house before
it burned down. My sister's room and the dining room was totally
gutted. Mom had gone outside to get the newspaper around 6:30 a.m.
When she came back inside she heard an alarm, and thinking it was the
kitchen stove alarm walked back there just in time to see my sister
coming out of her room screaming "FIRE" they rushed outside to a
neighbors to call 911 because their phone lines were already out. They
did not have time to get anything, and were still in their nighgowns.
The fire department got there in time to save the front part of the
original house, but the smoke damage was so severe that she lost
everything except the pictures in a corner case in the living room.
Diana and I took turns spending days with Mom to help her get everything
situated. She has a great Insurance Company and the
house is now being rebuilt. Lew has helped her move everything that could
be salvaged to a storage unit. It has been real hard to see a whole life
time worth of "things" destroyed in a moment. But we are so glad Mom
and Linda were not hurt. Linda spent the morning in the hospital, from smoke damage to her lungs, but
she was released. The fire started in her room, and she lost everything. Mom is having fun
shopping for new furniture and we found her a nice apartment close to
the house. This is the first Christmas in 49 years that their house
will not be decorated for Christmas! But of course Mom put up lights in
her apartment. Dad always had the best lights in the area, and Mom has continued to tradition - you just gotta have lights for Christmas!
Well I guess this concludes the yearly news in a nutshell from this nutty Bunch. God Bless you and HAVE