First Cousins' Christmas Luncheon

I have several first cousins living in Elba now, and my brother Perry. I decided to have a special Christmas luncheon and invited all of them to come.

We are all pictured here in our den, after lunch.
My brother Perry Wilson and his wife Carol live in Elba. My 5 sisters live in MD, NC, and FL so none of them could be here.

The first cousins are all children of my father's sister. One cousin, Billy, lives in NC and he and his wife Lorrie could not be here with us.

The table was set with our Christmas dishes and a pretty Christmas table cloth. I plann the luncheon to include things we had for Christmas when we were growing up on the farm. We usually had chicken instead of turkey.

Our menu included chicken keiv (breasts), butterbeans, fluffy white rice, broccoli salad, apple & cranberry casserole, French rolls, tea and coffee. The most nostalgic item was the Lane Cake, made by my Mama Wilson's recipe and flavored with lots of blackberry wine.

Everybody enjoyed their meal and several had to hurry back to work. We got to visit longer with some of the cousins. I should have been standing on a stool in the back. I think I am the shortest of all at 5'.

Some of us will be gathering at Kathy and Bobby's home for Christmas Eve, after we go to communion at church that evening.

As you get older, it's so important to keep in touch with your family. We are enjoying being with our cousins since our boys and their families won't be coming for Christmas this year. We recently spent a week with each of them so we are staying home for Christmas.

We have been busy going to church cantatas (3 last Sunday!), dinners, and other events. Today we went to a Christmas Open House and later to Lowe's to look at dishwashers. We seem to always have one "ailing" appliance.

Today was a great day - lots of sunshine for a change. But also very cold. It's one of those days that you go about thinking "it's good to be alive and well, and enjoying life".

Oldest Granddaughter graduates from College in TX

We drove to Austin, TX recently to be there for our oldest granddaughter Elizabeth's graduation from the University of Texas on Sunday, Dec. 6, 2009. She got a B.S. in Marine Biology and plans to go on to graduate school in a year. Liz is almost 26. She took 7 years to earn her 4-year Bachelor's degree. Her dad (our son Ron) took the same amount of time to graduate so he couldn't say anything to her! She changed her major from Architecture after her sophomore year when she went to California for a year. She came back to UT and decided to major in something she enjoyed - the water. While in CA she took up surfing and she has always enjoyed camping, hiking, scuba diving, and fishing. I am pictured above with Liz and our son Ron.


We're so happy she completed the first phase of her college. She wants to go to graduate school and can't apply until next Dec. so she plans to work for a year. She will be looking at schools that offer graduate study in Marine Biology. We would like for her to go to a school on the east coast (Woods Bay,MA or Charleston,SC) but I think she would like to go to Hawaii). We'll have to wait and see where she decides to go. In the photo, I am presenting

her with a graduation gift from Jim and me.


On Sat. before graduation we spent the day watching football on the big screen TV in their spacious den with a fire in the fireplace. It was extremely cold while we were there, unusual weather for Austin. We watched AL beat FL, and later TX beat NE. Both were such good games. Our other granddaughter Allison came home from North Texas Univ. for the week-end but we didn't see too much of her. She had to go to San Marcos to get certified for her scuba diving class at school. She hopes to graduate next Dec.


Liz came over on Sat. and made tamales for dinner - from scratch! They were so good, and especially so since we didn't eat until the game was over, almost 9 p.m. Her friend Chad cooked the chicken on the grill early in the afternoon and then she pulled it apart and put some on the tamales and then steamed a big pot for dinner. She made her green verde sauce from scratch. Yummmmm.....


Ron and Cindy have a beautiful home in Glen Lake area, on top of one of the many hills surrounding Austin. The Colorado River and Lake Travis are located at the foot of their hill. Ron is taking a break from work and enjoying being at home. He has a big home office and enjoys his 3-screen computer monitor. He has a deer lease with 2 other friends and spends a lot of time there at their cabin. His wife Cindy is an accountant and her office is nearby, near the bottom of the hill.

We went to the large UT arena for graduation on Sunday afternoon at 2:30. The ceremony lasted about 2 hrs. They had graduation on Sat. also for other groups. After graduation we went with Liz and some of her friends to eat at a place students go to eat. Food was great.

On Monday, Elizabeth came to take me shopping - just the 2 of us. We had a good time. She spent a lot of time with us in the summers when she was growing up. Then we left on Tuesday to come back to Ala. It takes us 2 days to get to Austin. On the way out there, it snowed all morning in LA and the Houston, TX area. When we started home a few days later, there was dense fog and rain. It was a tiring trip but we had a wonderful visit with our son and his family. Just wish we could be with them more often.

Cindy loves animals and they have 4 big dogs and 3 pretty cats, who all stay inside. They have pet doors to go in and out. They took the 2 biggest dogs to the kennel while we were there (great dane and dalmation). Pictured here on the back porch with Cindy are Liz's dogs Luna and Marley. The white/black spot dog is Lily, Cindy's dog. Their animals are all very well behaved. Pictured is Lily carrying her dish to the kitchen which means she wants something to eat. Cinnamon (cat) likes her perch so she can look down on the other animals, and so they won't bother her!

Advent and Hanging of the Greens

Last Sunday was a special day at Elba United Methodist Church. It was the first Sunday of Advent and the Jackson family lit the purple candle. At the close of the service, we sang one of my favorite hymns, "Emanuel, Emanuel".

We returned to church at 6 P.M. for the Hanging of the Greens service. The Hanging of the Greens is a service for the first Sunday in Advent. It is based on the English tradtion of decorating the home with wreaths, garlands, a Christmas tree, and evergreens for Advent and Christmas. In a church setting, it readies the sanctuary (and church members) for the season.

Hymns were sung as various things took place. There were several presentations including, hanging of the greens, lighting of the candles, bringing in the large red poinsettias for two tall stands near the altar, and placing the creche figures on the altar table. The big chrismon tree stands on the left side of the sanctuary near the front. The tiny white lights were turned out and the many white christmon symbols were glowing with light on them.

At the close of the service, all who were present were invited to the fellowship hall for a youth sponsored chili and baked potato supper and lots of desserts. It was a great ending to the special day.

Celebrating Thanksgiving at the beach in NC

We spent Thanksgiving at the beach in Emerald Isle, NC with several of my sisters and their family members.


Gathered there to help Chris and Al celebrate their 50th anniversary - 6 months early.
They weren't sure what they would be doing on the actual date in July and wanted to celebrate early with all of us there.  Chris made an interesting cake which we ate mid afternoon, after the big turkey dinner.

It was fun being together with our family and warm enough to enjoy walking on the beach.


We also celebrated my 75th  birthday (again) while there.

My 75th birthday party

We arrived at our son Bill's home in Florence, SC on Sat., Nov. 19th after spending the day in Lexington, SC, attending our granddaughter Caroline's Mock Trial competition. Her school made it to the final (4th) round but didn't make the final cut. This was the state final so there were so many middle school students at the courthouse that day. Caroline won a very nice award as "The Most Effective Lawyer" in the 3rd round. She was so happy.

We got to spend some time with the other granddaughters on Tues -Fri. On Wednesday afternoon, they planned a big birthday party for me before taking me to dinner at the Outback Restaurant. Bill and the girls decorated the table and put the gifts in place while I was getting ready to go to the restaurant. They wanted to surprise me; and they did indeed. Even had a birthday cake for the event.

I received two big packages. One contained a floor lamp with a reading lamp, which I had told Jim I wanted. The other package was something I needed also, a new portable mixer and a new can opener. When you get older you ask for things you need to replace instead of diamonds!!

Then we all (6 of us) went to the Outback for dinner. We enjoyed a large blooming onion appetizer and then steak. The waiters came and sang Happy Birthday to me and brought me a big ice cream dessert (which I shared with my family).

It was a great birthday celebration and somehow I don't feel like I'm 3/4th of a century old. On Thanksgiving Day at the beach, I was honored again when they sang Happy Birthday to me.

This year I received a lot of cards and had fun reading the messages in them.

And Ladies of the Club

In the 1980's I remember reading an interesting book "And Ladies of the Club". It took the author 50 years to write the book and she was in a nursing home when it was finally published. I remember that some ladies started a book club and they could only have a limited number of members. You couldn't join without an invitation, and you had to wait for an opening (someone moved away, died, etc.). I remember the book had about 1400 pages and I thought I'd never finish it.

My book club that I belong to is not that restricted. We don't even have a name. We meet the 3rd Tuesday of each month downtown at Just Folk Coffeehouse.

We select 3 books at the time and each person talks about the book selection for the month when we get together. This month it was a good mystery by Michael Connelly. It always so interesting to hear each person's comments. While we agree on lots of things, we also have differences. My comments about the book and the main character, a lawyer, were that I hope I never have to have a lawyer representing me in court! Others in the group had the same comments. It was an easy book to read, read it in one day.

I love to read and usually just for fun. But when you read a book club selection, you take notes about things you would like to discuss, etc. I was so anxious to find out the meaning of the title "brass verdict" and didn't find out until the end of the book. That's probably why I didn't put the book down until I finished it (a rainy day so I didn't feel guilty for taking the entire day to read).

Now I'm reading "The Help" and we aren't discussing this book until next spring. I haven't read the Dec. selection yet since I will borrow a copy from one of our members. Sometimes I get my own paperback copy of the selection of the month, or borrow a copy from the library.

The atmosphere of the coffeehouse is great for sitting around a big table, drinking latte or expresso coffee, eating a sandwich. I ate before I went today because I thought they might think my sandwich a bit strange - a pineapple sandwich. I grew up eating those. I even saw one on a menu at Sprayberry's Restaurant in Newnan, GA once.

Next month we will have a little fun. Our leader suggested we each wrap up a book we no longer want to keep and we will exchange them. I already have in mind one I will take.

I suggested we read Julia Child's biography and each prepare one of her dishes to share for lunch. Didn't have any "takers" for this!

For the past week I have tried to read in the evening and I get so relaxed I fall asleep before 9 P.M. I read best early in the morning when I can stay awake. So, my advice for people who have trouble falling asleep - get a good book to read and get comfortable you'll be asleep in no time. Good night zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Doing My Civic Duty

Last Saturday Jim and I were volunteers - selling tickets at the main gate, at the big Barbecue Bash at the old football stadium in downtown Elba, working 2-4 P.M. This photo was taken just before Jim was stung by a yellow jacket on his right hand that was full of money. He saw the bee in the act of stinging him!

This was the 2nd year for the big barbecue cook-off and there was a big crowd of people coming all day long (10 a.m. to 5 p.m.). Winners of the cook-off (professional and backyard) were announced at 5 pm. The cooks came from all over SE Ala, GA and NW FL. They came a day or two early and camped near the stadium and set up their cookers. Lots of smoke coming from the campground on Saturday morning, and ahh... the smell of barbecue cooking was great.


The event was sponsored by Elba Chamber of Commerce and we were recruited to work by my cousin Stevie Sauls wife Denise. We couldn't turn her down. She's such a hard worker for the chamber. Besides, we had fun seeing all the people (and eating barbecue).


There were lots of inflatables at the back of the exhibits where children could play, and a stage set up near the stadium seats for music groups as well as an amateur hour where local people perform (and they were all great).