An Ode to Mom

I didn't know you when you were young

So many years ago.

Your life stretched out before you

Your cheeks bright and aglow.

So lovely on your wedding day

What wishes were in your heart?

Could you even imagine then

The times you'd spend apart?

As a young wife and mother

You walked hand-in-hand.

Down the streets of the city

Not knowing what God had planned.

A happy family picnic

You and your three little girls.

A Coca-Cola in your hand

Your hair swept up in curls.

The beauty of a mother's love

Is written in your eyes.

As you hold your firstborn son up high

Reaching to the skies.

By the time I came along

As baby number five.

I'm sure that there were days

It was all you could do to survive.

You didn't drive but you packed up kids

And traveled so far away.

To distant lands to make a home

Where kids were free to play.

Could you have imagined as a bride on your wedding day

You'd have two sons born in another land?

Your life would be lived so far from Wisconsin

Would you have said yes if you knew beforehand?

When we lived in Alabama

Your heart just wasn't there.

How much happier you were back in Kansas

An answer to your prayer.

As your children grew and needed you less

You reached out with arms open wide.

To embrace so many Girl Scouts

Taking life as it came in stride.

Your older kids moved out

Some moved far from home.

From time to time we all returned

From places where we'd roamed.

Grandkids soon outnumbered

Your family of eight little ones.

You gladly welcome each new baby

Granddaughters and grandsons.

Although you lived so far away

Wisconsin remained near and dear.

Your heart embraced your heritage

Wherever you lived on earth's sphere.

Some of your grandkids lived so far away

And others lived nearby.

You didn't whine and complain

Or get angry and ask why.

When all of us traveled home

The joy was etched upon your face.

Although the room was noisy

You handled it with grace.

What a massive group of grandkids

Your legacy to carry on.

None of us knew then that in so few years

Your work on earth would be done.

The children of your two youngest kids

What a blessing to behold.

Loved just like their older cousins

Treasures as though made of gold.

Of all the places you lived

And all the cities where you roamed.

There was no place better than your own front porch

For you, it was home sweet home.

When the weather was too cold

And your strength began to fade.

Your davenport was your place to be

Jayhawks and Snoopys all arrayed.

It's still hard to believe you're gone from us

But in Heaven, all things are made new.

As you wander God's streets paved with gold

Know how much we love and miss you.

"You take it as it comes"

One of your favorite things to say.

I know we'll all be together again

One bright and shiny day.

A Christmas Tree Walk Down Memory Lane

In the still of Christmas Eve morning, our Christmas tree brings light to the darkness. The tiny, brightly-colored lights twinkle and glow, symbolic of Jesus Christ, the Light of the World.


There's no unified color theme of red and gold, no movie theme with Disney princesses or Star War characters on our tree.


Each ornament on the Christmas tree holds a special meaning. Some celebrate the birth of a child or grandchild.


Some of the ornaments on our tree are reminders of trips taken to special destinations. Others are gifts from parents or siblings.


Among the most precious are those made with love by the little hands of our children or grandchildren.

There are many different ways to take a walk down Memory Lane. The scent of cookies baking, a few notes of a familiar melody or the taste of a longtime favorite meal all bring back memories of the past.


Each year, I enjoy a walk down Memory Lane while putting up and decorating our Christmas tree.


Theme trees are beautiful and a favorite among adults of all ages. But the child in me yearns for the joy found in
lingering over each of my favorite ornaments as I relive the memories they stir inside me.


Although I don't remember my first Christmas tree, the moment is forever captured in time -- courtesy of my Dad;s camera.


I slept through the excitement of that first Christmas morning. Since I was one of those screamy babies, that's probably a good thing.

Later Christmas mornings brought me baby dolls, stuffed dogs, a typewriter and my first camera.


They say you can never go back home and it's true in many ways -- especially for those of us raised in military families.


Home was many places, none of which is currently home to any of our family members.

The house I called home before I married and moved to Virginia 40 years ago is no longer home to the Atkins family since Mom's and Dad's deaths in June 2014.


The tall Christmas trees of my childhood were replaced with tabletop trees in recent years, and family Christmas celebrations moved from my parents' home to my younger brother's house as our family's numbers outgrew space at Mom and Dad's.


As I stood looking at my parents' Christmas tree on one of many post-Christmas visits back home, the sparkly glass ornaments took me back in time to the Christmas celebrations of my childhood.


Many of the same ornaments that hung on the Christmas trees of my youth adorned the small tabletop trees of Mom and Dad's later years.

In a similar way, the Christmas trees of my children's younger years -- filled with handcrafted paper ornaments -- have given way to Christmas trees with a mixture of memories from our kids and grandkids. Ornaments made with pride by our grandchildren hang side by side with baby's first Christmas balls from our grown children.

The first Christmas trees of our blended family years were filled with questions.

Should we have a real or artificial tree?

Which ornaments would make the cut and which would stay in the boxes?

How and when would we decorate the tree?

And who would decide where to hang which ornament? 

As the years passed, kids helped decorate the tree or not, as time permitted. Some years, they chose favorite ornaments other years, nearly all of the ornaments fit on the tree.

This year's Christmas tree brings back memories of ballerinas and soccer players, 

tiny babies and little toddlers, 'tweens and teens and excited grandchildren. 

The joy and wonder of Christmas is mixed with the sadness and sorrow 

of Christmas without our parents, now all together in Heaven.

Kid-friendly ornaments and Nativity scenes hang side-by-side on the Christmas tree. 

The reason for the season, the birth of our Savior.

Tomorrow morning, the excitement of Christmas will fill the air as our younger grandchildren open gifts here while our older grandson and his parents celebrate Christmas in Ohio.

Across the country, some of the Atkins siblings will gather together, 

celebrating the joy of Christmas past and the treasure of time with family. 

Merry Christmas from our family to yours! May your Christmas be filled 

with joy, wonder and the gift of Jesus' presence in your life!

Halloween Past and Present

Do you remember when Halloween was an evening of candy and fun for kids? 

Children of all ages dressed up in costumes and walked from house to house to get candy.

Your costume may have been a hand-me-down costume in a box, one worn by older siblings in previous years.

Maybe your mom made your costume or you may have pieced together your own creation, something unique like a bum with a beer can bag for candy.

Maybe your school had a costume parade where the kids all wore costumes or masks and walked the school halls or on the track so all the kids could see one another's costumes.

At school, you probably made a construction paper witch or ghost to bring home and hang in your room. Maybe your mom even hung it on the refrigerator for a day or two. 

You carved pumpkins, scooping out the guts with your hands. Who could forget that squishy feel of yuckiness on your hands or that toothy pumpkin grin.

Who could have imagined back then that one day there would be pumpkins that were already carved? No guts, no glory.

Or Pinterest pages filled with ideas of 10 perfect ways to carve a pumpkin or 30 unique costumes or 101 Halloween party foods.

Or stores filled top to bottom with Halloween decor and costumes -- mostly for adults to enjoy with maybe a tiny corner of costumes for little kids.

After dinner on Halloween, parents walked with little kids or older kids took their younger siblings through the neighborhood while mom and dad passed out candy at home.

You may have seen a scarecrow or two in someone's yard. There was always that one grown-up who made you do a trick like a cartwheel in the yard to get your treat.

There weren't any tricked-out yards filled with graveyard scenes or inflatable spooky things.

Maybe you had a little party at home with a few Halloween treats before you went out trick-or-treating if there was time.

You might have watched "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" before trick-or-treat on Halloween. Did you feel sorry for Charlie Brown when he kept getting rocks instead of candy?

Trick-or-treat was all about the candy -- and the little candy bars were the best of all. What was your favorite Halloween candy to find in your bucket?

Older kids sometimes bypassed the candy and helped others with Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF, gathering money to send to kids far away instead of candy to eat.

You were supposed to wait until you got home to eat any of your candy, but who could resist one or two treats from your bucket while you walked from house to house.

What happened to Halloween? When did Halloween change from being about an evening of fun for little kids?

When did Halloween become a night of spookiness for adults instead? 

When did Halloween become all about huge inflatables and yard decor instead of walking from door to door collecting candy?

What would it be like if you could go back in time to the Halloweens of childhood? What was your favorite costume?

Maybe that's why truck or treat events have become so popular. Parents are trying to recreate the Halloweens of years gone by.

I don't know about you, but all of this over the top Halloween stuff makes me feel a little bit like Grumpy Cat. 

Halloween has changed a lot through the years. But for many of us who are young at heart, Halloween is still all about an evening of fun for kids of all ages.

Blogging Grandma Sandy, signing off for now with Happy Halloween wishes for one and all!