A low key "day before Thanksgiving" morning

He loves those boots!
playing with Uncle Josh

Lawson said "emmaabbyjohnbrady" (which is exactly how he says it) do this. He watches every move his older cousins make!

The Nativity

The Lawson Long version

The blow mold nativity figures were in the grand kids playroom. John had the almost finished the manger stable in the front yard. Lawson wanted to know when we were putting baby Jesus in the manger. So....before Lawson left Berry I told him he could place the figures in the manger. Oh....he loved doing this. I wish you could have heard the conversation while he was placing them in the manger.okay...this looks right
Lawson informed me that this was a "walk-fly angel"




He said that this wise man needed to be where he could see over into the manger so he could "throw" his gift to the baby Jesus



He would have nothing but that.......the angel be in the front looking in

at this point Lawson informed me that "they said there was no room" but "it looks like there is plenty of room" so...... this wise man got to be by Mary and Joseph

he decided that he didn't like where this wise man was standing

So....all the wise men are inside now and the angel gets the side view

That is my lamb he is swinging around. As he was walking to the manger with it he informed me that "the shepherd watched over the sheep" after a pause and looking around for a shepherd (hopefully, one will show up on ebay)....he said "well, I guess they can look after a lamb , too."

So, there you go. The story of Baby Jesus by Lawson Long. Not too bad for a little guy!

A Sweet Roll Tide

I asked John Brady to draw me a picture. It was "Tuesdays with MeMe" and I was helping the girls with their homework. John Brady loves to draw at his Mother's computer desk. So.....I asked him to draw me a picture. This is what he brought me.
This is a innocent 6 year old drawing. John Brady was born into an Alabama family. He lives in a home with 3 Alabama degrees on the wall. He comes to my house where there are 3 more Alabama degrees on the wall. He will likely be an Alabama fan all his life.
He knows this game is important but I doubt he really understands...why.
I love his rendering of the stadium, the people in the stadium, the players on the field, and the yard lines. Good Job, JB3. MeMe loves you........oh, and ROLL TIDE!

Thanksgiving 2011

A few glimpses of Thanksgiving

Building a Manger

I try to add a new Christmas decoration every year and introduce it to my Grandchildren at Thanksgiving. Many times it is something small that I decorate with inside but sometimes it is something bigger that I use in the yard.

I have wanted a nativity scene for years. I drool over the nativity figures that they have at Hobby Lobby...but alas...a little out of my price range for a Christmas decoration but I still cling to the hope that I might get the beautiful nativity scene some day.

So....a few weeks ago I made a trip to Birmingham to buy my newest decoration. I was going to Garden Ridge to buy some reindeer for the front yard. Last year while shopping with some friends I saw these deer but had already bought a new decoration for that year. I had not forgot about those deer so away I went in the big "MeMe Mobile" to get my deer. While I was shopping around..after I had found my deer....I came upon a Mary, Joseph and Baby Jesus. It was plastic blowmold. This is not what I had pictured in my head but it dawned on me that it might be my only chance to have a nativity scene. So.........Mary, Joseph, Baby Jesus and the Angel came home to Berry, Alabama. That was all the figures available. Reindeer are back on the list for next year....again! I have since then bought 2 wisemen and a lamb from Ebay and hope to get the rest of the scene by Christmas Day.

So, since Dave and Josh were at our house....Pops recruited them to build a manger. Poor John...he knew I had bought these figures but I failed to mention to him that I needed him to build a manger stable. He found some old wood and I googled an example for him to build. The manger is not finished.....we need a little more wood but John captured exactly what I wanted.

Melissa

Here we are looking all "Sex and the City" during a 2006 Christmas visit to New York City. We were walking over the Brooklyn Bridge. Melissa Greene, Teresa Mobley, Joy Lawson, Courtney Lawson Long ( 4 months pregnant, when she was working in NYC) Daphne McCabe

CONGRATULATIONS MELISSA!

I met Melissa Greene back in 1986. She had just graduated from Livingston, got married and took a job at Berry Elementary as the PE Coach. Brady was in the 6th grade, Courtney was in the 3rd grade and Josh was in the 1st grade. I volunteered at the school and Melissa was a personality that you couldn't miss. We became good friends through school and I helped her out at school as much as I could. Melissa stayed at Berry Elementary four years. My math may be off on that but it's close. So....she had Courtney and Josh for several years. Melissa took a job at Fayette Middle School so she could be closer to her family and be around for things that her boys were involved in.
After Melissa left Berry we saw each other in passing but the feeling of a life long friend never left. AND THEN....in 1995 our family visited at the newly established, about 2 months, Central Church of Christ and there was my friend smiling at me and I felt like I was home.
Let me tell you that we will never be far apart again. She is a friend and sister. We have shared so many things over the course of our 25 year friendship that will keep us together a lifetime. We have been together for the good and the bad and we have had a good share of both.
Melissa retired last week. I wanted to be there for her as she walked out the door for the last time. I did the only thing I seem to be good at. I documented those last minutes for her.
I love you , Melissa. Look out .....Here she comes! Blowing her whistle for the last time!

We laughed as she gathered up the very last things she had needed that day and put them in a plastic bag

Look out Wallace State and the WORLD.......here she comes!