Merry Christmas to You!

Hey, Y'all,
If I could sing it to you in the blog, I would! Here is wishing each of you, my friends, a Merry Christmas and a blessed New Year.

Yesterday was a kind of hanging around home day; we didn't go anywhere, but I kind of just schlepped around here, trying to get some loose ends tied up, and didn't even shed my gown and housecoat. Yeah, I know, it is just a lazy way to spend the day. I did work on a gift for someone, and just about got it finished. I'll do the finishing touches today. I used my new machine to make the gift. I will take a picture of my new machine after we get back from Mark and Allie's home and post it. Right now, I am charging the battery so it will be fully charged for pictures.

My neighbor, Laurie, very kindly let her daughter, Olivia, bring down one of her Barbie movies, the story of Rapunzel, and Olivia and I watched it while Olivia knitted, working on a gift for her mom. How neat was that! I had never seen one of the Barbie movies, and it was really entertaining. Of course, I have always loved fairy tales.

When I was young, and lived in Knoxville, (before the days of television's popularity) we listened to the radio. One of the programs on the radio came on on Saturday morning at 10 a.m. and was sponsored by Cream of Wheat. When I would hear the jingle, "Cream of Wheat! It's so good to eat, you can have it every day. We sing this song, it will make you strong,and it makes you shout - Hurray. It's good for growing babies, and grownups, too, to eat. For all your family's breakfast, you can't beat Cream of Wheat", then I knew "Let's Pretend" was coming on.

Each Saturday, the actors would present one of the fairy tales, and it was wonderful! That was my first taste of hearing fairy tales told orally. I think I probably envisioned it so clearly that the stories became real to me. I always thought it would be fun to be an actor and tell stories. That may be why I became a storyteller and why I loved to read so very much. I become a part of the story when I read. I am right there in the midst of it.

Listening to the radio and the reading of books is so much better than television. It has been proven that the brain is so much more active in hearing a story or reading one than it is in passively watching one on television or in the movies. It requires no imagination to just watch something, but when you have to envision it using the brain, you are activating brain cells that you don't use for viewing.

Ooops, how did I get off onto this subject? Oh, yes, fairy tales. Well, I do enjoy them anyway. Olivia and I had fun watching the Rapunzel fairy tale. I must say though, that the Barbie version is much different from the one I heard on the radio and read for myself later.

Speaking of reading, I have been enjoying my Sony ebook Reader that Tom and Teresa gave me for Christmas. She had me open it early so that she could assist me in downloading books, and also in downloading the program onto my computer. That little lady is a whiz! She is so computer literate that it simply amazes me. She makes me feel so much more comfortable at the computer because she is an excellent teacher. Thank you, Babe! Teresa, you would be pleased to know that I went through the steps this morning of downloading 3 more books and transferring them to the reader.
I hope you all are having a terrific time in North Dakota for Christmas. Much love to all of you!

Carol and Daryl are in Illinois right now with Daniel and Whitney and their children. I'll bet they are seeing plenty of snow right now, too. I know they are having lots of snuggles and kisses with the children. Much love to all of you, and to the grands who are still in Texas or wherever they are spending the holidays. Hope all of you are having a great time! Gramps and I were invited to come to Illinois, but I felt it would be too difficult for Gramps, so we are spending Christmas here in Tennessee. No snow here, but plenty of rain, I guess.

Later today, Gramps and I are going to Mark and Allie's to spend tonight and tomorrow. It will be wonderful to actually spend some time with them. They will be picking us up this afternoon and then bringing us back home tomorrow.

I still have to do a little packing of stuff we will need. Right now, it is only 6:45 a.m. but I have been up since 5:30 so I need to take my Nexium so that I can eat before long. Unfortunately, my stomach wakes up at the same time my mind does. ha ha

Well, this is Blabbin' Grammy signing off for today. More later. Much love to each of you. Be safe over the holidays! Bye for now.