What you give to grandchildren is never forgotten!

Jennifer loved Rapunzel this year so when it came to what to get for this precious grandchild it seemed like a no brainer and for once Gramma (and Papa) were right.

From what our daughter said - Jennifer loved her "Rapunzel" wig.  Jennifer - Gramma and Papa love you!

Merry Christmas!

Like a lot of you - we've been celebrating Christmas the last few days.  As a church musician it's my "busy" season.  I tried to make it fun as well as meaningful because I knew it would be a marathon of activity.

I want to thank my husband and my children.  They support what I do and my love of doing it.  My children know that unless they make the trip south, they'll see "Mama" in the Spring or Summer because "Mama's" busy playing for little shepherds and angels.  My husband keeps food on the stove for me as I buzz in and out - plus a vigil until I'm safely home after Midnight Mass. He also makes sure I'm up and ready to go for Christmas Day Mass.  I love you all and I thank you!

So - here's a recap of my Christmas Eve and Christmas.

I started with the 5 pm Children's Mass at St. Stephen First Martyr Catholic Church.  The children performed the "Christmas Story" and they did a marvelous job!

Next was the 7 pm Fort Stewart Christmas Eve Candlelight Worship at the Main Post Chapel on Ft. Stewart, GA.

Then - home for a brief rest and back to St. Stephen First Martyr Catholic Church for Midnight Mass.

A couple of hours sleep and back to St. Stephen First Martyr Catholic Church for Christmas Day Mass.

From our home to yours - Bill & I wish you a very Merry & Blessed Christmas!

Thanks for visiting!  Reia (& Bill)

Liebster Award - Thanks for the Nomination!

I have been blessed to be nominated by two wonderful bloggers.  My 1st nominator is Theresa from "She Waddles Like a Duck - my fitness journal, one waddle at a time".  My 2nd nominator is Renee from Blissful Days Ahead.  To both of you - I love your blogs & I thank you for the nomination(s)!

What a fun idea and great way to welcome new bloggers!  Looks like the "Liebster Award" is a "pay it forward" award that helps new bloggers with less than 200 followers.

"Liebster" is a German word for - lovely, kind, pleasant, valued, cute, endearing, and welcome.  As a new blogger I'm thankful for the help!  (This is long so feel free to scroll down to the bottom for my nominees.  I'm sure my answers are riveting but...)

Here are the rules if you choose to accept the award:

Answer 11 questions from the nominator.
List 11 random facts about yourself.
Create and answer 11 questions for your nominees.
Nominate 11 new bloggers.  (11 might seem like a lot so do the best you can - I only listed 8.  Reia)

11 questions from Theresa at "She Waddles Like a Duck - my fitness journal, one waddle at a time":

11.  What is your favorite book?  I love to read all kinds of books - my favorite would have to be my Bible though.
10.   If you could meet anyone in the world, who would it be?  YoYo Ma
  9.  What is your favorite color? Blue
  8.  How many brothers/sisters do you have? Two Sisters (both younger than me)
  7.  What is your favorite holiday? Thanksgiving
  6.  Do you prefer to shop online or in store? Online - definitely!
  5.  What is your favorite physical activity? Walking
  4.  Summer or winter? Our "Deep South" winter
  3.  What is your favorite type of music? Blues and Jazz
  2.  What kitchen appliance could you not live without? Coffemaker - hands down!
  1.  Do you have any pets? No but we dog sit - it's kind of like grandchildren - you enjoy them & then they go back to mama.

11 questions from Renee at Blissful Days Ahead:

  1.  What is your favorite thing about blogging?  I've discovered some amazing bloggers!
  2.   What is your favorite thing about yourself?  I'm an eternal optimist and always look for the silver lining in every person and every situation.
  3.  If you could have a super power what would it be? Love - Love conquers just about everything!
  4.  What state do you live in? Georgia - near the coast
  5.  What is your favorite childhood memory? Anything we did with the entire family.  My dad was a cut up, my mom was a Southern Belle and my sisters were fun to be around.
  6.  What is your biggest fear? That I won't be what my children/grandchildren need me to be in their lives.
  7.  If you could go on vacation anywhere, where would it be? I'd head to the mountains of GA/NC/TN/VA.
  8.  What is your favorite color? Blue
  9.  What is your favorite food? Pizza
10.  Do you do anything crafty? Tell us about it.  I love to quilt & cross stitch, I can sew & I'd love to be a better knitter. 
11.  Name the top 5 things on your bucket list.  The three that are most important to me are - Visit Niagara Falls, Publish a book, Document my Family Tree.  Looks like I need to work on my bucket list.  Hmm.......

11 facts about me:

11.  I love open skies.
10.  I love a good hot cup of coffee or flavored tea.
  9.  My "comfort" movies are Miss Marple/Marple, Poirot and Midsomer Murders.
  8.  I enjoy "people watching" - anywhere.
  7.  I'm looking forward to Season 3 of Downtown Abbey.
  6.  I could stay in a library for a week or two if given food, water and a restroom.
  5.  I love solving puzzles and my family tree is the best puzzle I've ever worked on.
  4.  I love to quilt.
  3.  I enjoy my FarmVille farm(s) on Facebook.
  2.  I'm a piano instructor and church musician.  While I can sing and I can play the keyboard - I can't do both at the same time well.
  1.  I try to find something good in everything I experience.

11 questions for my nominees (along with my own answers):

11.  Favorite Activity when you have a moment of spare time - Listen to music
10.  Favorite Place you've traveled to - Gettysburg, PA
  9.  Favorite Restaurant - Fuddruckers
  8.  Favorite Websites - Amazon, Classics for Kids
  7.  Favorite Activity to do with Children?  Explore (parks, stores, museums, etc.)
  6.  Favorite "Natural" food?  Flax Seed
  5.  Favorite Holiday movie?  Christmas in Connecticut
  4.  Favorite Crafting activity?  Anything with Mod Podge
  3.  Favorite Animal (pet or found in a zoo, etc.) - Peacock
  2.  Favorite Item(s) to Collect - old Pfaltzgraff and silverplate spoons
  1.  A Favorite Quote - “An optimist is a man who spends his last dollar to buy a new billfold.”

Before you read my list of nominees - let me say...I've been following these blogs and they are truly amazing.  I hope you'll become a new follower also.  They continually uplift me and share their lives with their readers.  To my nominees - thank you for your time and your words.  Please take this nomination as the compliment it's meant to be.  Please feel free to continue passing the nomination forward or not - it's totally up to you.  Reia

(I love them all & I bet you will too.)  My 8 Nominees for the Liebster Award:

  1.  In the Sweet Sunshine
  2.  Much Ado About Somethin'
  3.  Rustic ReDiscovered
  4.  Writing My Dreams
  5.  Walking in My Shoes!
  6.  Mommy Unwired
  7.  Henry's Mom Blogs
  8.  Let Go and Flourish

#9 & 10 - well, I know them & just love them.  #11 is my 3 part list of blogs I follow - so far.  (I didn't want to leave anyone out.)

  9.  Literally Inspired (This is my daughter's blog.  She is my inspiration to blog plus she has the cutest pictures of my grandson, Landon, on it.)

10.  Creative Carmella  (Be sure to read the marvelous work she's doing providing coats to school children in her area.  The post about her giving is here.)

11.  From my South Country Sides blog - here are 3 lists of amazing blogs I've discovered over the last few months.  Some of the wonderful 8 above are found in Part 3... Bloggers and Their Amazing Blogs - Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3.

Thanks for visiting!  Reia

Before Downton Abbey - From Time to Time

The year before Julian Fellowes gave us Downton Abbey... 

...he directed "From Time to Time".

It has Maggie Smith as the grandmother (in 1944) and Hugh Bonneville as the father (during the Napoleonic war time).  A little bit of Time Travel between the two eras makes for an interesting movie and I really enjoyed it!

The synopsis - "In times of war two centuries apart, two distinct worlds are linked by a single family and the house in which they live.  It is 1944 and thirteen year-old Tolly Oldknow is sent to spend Christmas with his grandmother, whilst his mother searches for news of his father in wartime London.  In the old house, he becomes a witness to events during the Napoleonic wars and finds himself slowly drawn into participating in the drama."  (from www.clicker.com)

*  You can find "From Time to Time" on Netflix Streaming or for rent on Amazon, iTunes and Vudu.  A trailer of the movie can be found here.

I'm working on the results of my daughter's Cookie Exchange and what I mailed as my contribution.  Hopefully it will be ready by tomorrow.

Thanks for visiting - I appreciate each & every one of you!  Reia

Santa Claus, Georgia

Recently I took Mama for a Saturday drive.  We decided to check out "Santa Claus, Georgia".  It's located near Vidalia, Georgia (yep, the home of the Viadalia Onion but that's another post).  

So we visited Santa Claus, GA & it was a couple of blocks of wonderful!

My absolute favorite part of visiting Santa Claus, GA was "Santa's Mail" box.

I really must write a letter to Santa and post it here!

Thanks for visiting!  Reia

Movie ~ Crazy for Christmas

First let me say - I LOVE Yannick Bisson from Murdoch Mysteries

and I LOVE Andrea Roth from Bridal Fever

 so...I enjoyed "Crazy for Christmas".  It was light-hearted, with a touch of heart-warming.  If you have 1 1/2 hours and want something to watch, it's not a bad choice.

After that I'd head to Murdoch Mysteries and Bridal Fever - they're really good choices.

*  Crazy for Christmas is available on Netflix Instant Streaming.

Thanks for visiting & this wasn't the post I had planned - guess that will be tomorrow after all.  Reia

DIY Christmas Card by My Daughter

Sunday is a big day in my life - working and otherwise.  I'm out the door in 10 minutes to play for my first church service and then it's on to play for the next service.  After that a change of clothes, quick bite and then I take my mother to Kroger for a few things.  The rest of the afternoon is teaching piano.

So - my daughter, Ginger from www.literallyinspired.com just posted a great DIY for Christmas Cards and I think you'll enjoy it.  I have something in mind for tonight or tomorrow morning depending on when my day ends today.

Happy Sunday everyone and "Here's........Ginger!"

DIY Christmas Card

Thanks for visiting!  Reia

Comment Problem Update

Happy Friday everyone!

I was trying out a comment program this week so I could "reply" to comments.  I've heard that others weren't able to comment on the blog at all.  I deleted the program from my template/layout.  Hopefully this solves the "comment" problem.

I'm still learning.  I appreciate your patience and especially that you were kind enough to want to leave a comment.

When I need to relax and regain my peace, I've found that looking at pictures of lakes helps me.  I found this picture through the Creative Commons license content website as described in one of my earlier posts - here.  I wanted to share it with you (the picture most of all but the post too because it solves a lot of picture posting problems).

Please let me know if you still have problems commenting and thank you SO much for the help!  Reia

More Christmas Movies...

I've added 2 more Christmas movies to my always growing list of favorites.  Have you heard of them or seen them?  I'd love to hear what YOU think about them.

The 1st is Santa and Pete - James Earl Jones recounts the story of Christian bishop St. Nick.  I found the movie to be a heart warming story of how St. Nick became St. Nick with his reindeer, red suit, etc.

Streaming availability:  

Amazon Prime Instant video - Amazon 7 day $2.99 rental - Digital purchase at Amazon or iTunes for $9.99 - also the entire movie is on YouTube.

The 2nd is Holiday Engagement - my favorite part was "Angels We Have Heard on High".

Here's the Hallmark trailer (thank you, YouTube).

Also - I love Jordan Bridges.  Since he played the hired fiance, it was even more enjoyable to watch.  (He was also in "Samantha - An American Girl Holiday".)

"Jilted by her high-powered fiance just before Thanksgiving, and terrified of disappointing her demanding mother, Hillary Burns hires an unemployed artist to pretend to be her fiance over the holiday weekend."

Streaming availability:  

Netflix Instant Streaming - HuluPlus - iTune rental

Thanks so much for visiting!  Reia

Samantha - An American Girl Holiday

I've been wanting to see what the American Girl movies were like.  This weekend I watched Samantha - An American Girl Holiday on Amazon Prime.


It was sweet, loving and several times brought tears to my eyes in a good way.

Netflix - there are 5 DVDs available on Netflix but they're not on Instant Streaming yet.

Amazon - Amazon has Samantha - An American Girl Holiday and Molly: An American Girl on the Home Front available on "Prime Instant Videos" and all 5 American Girl movies are available to buy as DVDs.

If you don't have "Amazon Prime", Samantha - An American Girl Holiday and Molly: An American Girl on the Home Front are available for $2.99 as an Instant Video rental for 48 hours. 

Thanks for visiting!  Reia

Bloggers and Their Amazing Blogs - Part 3

I've discovered more Amazing Blogs and their Bloggers.  Thank you for your words, your pictures, your recipes, etc.   You enrich my life!

La Dulce Vida ~ The Sweet Life

Writing Dreams

She Waddles Like a Duck

Life in the Simple Lane

Rose Tinted Traveler

Much Ado About Somethin'

One Fine Wire

White Collar Crime in Georgia

Mommy Unwired

SoCal Family Fun

In the sweet sunshine

Let Go and Flourish

laceysmiles84

I'm still busy finding new blogs and will post more as I get them.  If I've forgotten anyone that I'm following, please let me know because it's not intentional.


Please visit Bloggers and Their Amazing Blogs - Part 1 and Part 2 for my previous "finds".

Thanks for visiting!  Reia