Simply Practical: Christmas lights

After the whirlwind of seasonal activities, I'm trying to get back my sense of 'normal'! Since I wrote my last post, I've celebrated a birthday, gone camping, made holiday goodies, wrapped presents, been to family gatherings, celebrated Christmas! And the girls have been here several times. I'm sure you all have done the same! I just can't seem to write blog posts when I'm so busy, like most of you all do. I'm not that talented, I guess. There were some whirlwinds around here, in the natural too. We had severe storms one day when I was driving to a Christmas lunch, and the sky was so dark at 11:00 in the morning! It immediately gave way to light and hard rain! The wind was so strong, I thought I might have to pull off to the side of the road so I wouldn't be blown away! That subsided quickly, thank God! Now the weather is so nice with sun, clouds, and fifty something. We have such variable weather here!

I exchanged gifts with my longest follower, Jacky, from http://dickybirdsnest.blogspot.com/2014/12/thank-you-felicia.html. She sent me so many nice things, that I'll show you in a photo below. Randy got me a Smartphone, so now I can keep up with things better. I am writing this from the laptop since it's easier to see, but the phone makes better photos than my camera so I hope to be able to download those here. I'm really slow at learning tech things, so it might take awhile to change my ways! (I didn't get the photos downloaded from my phone!)

I hope you all are having a wonderful holiday season with your loved ones, and staying safe and warm! I send you hugs, warm thoughts, and Blessings from Bama!

A wreath I made for my Mom.

Ornaments for others.

This tool helped to make the ornaments a lot easier.

Animated lights we took the girls to see.

This tree was so pretty in motion.

The girls were in awe of the beauty!

The alligator's head moved as did the dinosaur's head.

Sweet girls and guy!

The dinosaur.

The turtle snapped it's mouth all of a sudden and made the girls scream!

The Ferris wheel at the Island in Pigeon Forge.

Isn't this a beautiful carousel?

These are puzzles at a puzzle store at the Island.

Paula Deen's restaurant is coming to the Island, yay!

Me and Randy at a restaurant.

The Smoky Mountain Opry. We didn't go this time.

Wonderworks Mansion. We didn't go there either.

Dolly's Dixie Stampede. A great place for entertainment, but we didn't go there this time.

This is why they call them the Smoky Mountains!

Up here at Newfound Gap, it was a winter wonderland of ice!

Another beautiful view!

Skylar leading the way up the icy trail.

It was so pretty here!

I enjoyed visiting this place.

It was fascinating watching them throw the clay!

He made an apple baker.

I love the rivers here!

At the other end of the bridge, there was a sign warning about not feeding the bears. It was surreal thinking we might actually see one!

My Mom and Dad went on a short hike with us.

These rocks are ginormous!

Look how water cut these rocks after flowing over them for many years. The river doesn't flow through them now.

One of our favorite restaurants.

I like this photo except for my chub. I hope Zumba takes care of this soon!

Another potter performing his magic.

It will be a nice bowl after being fired.

Here are the items my friend sent me: a bottle of maple syrup, a beautiful angel pic, a tree she made, angels, hankies, a felted pin made by Jacky, and local snacks from her state of Wisconsin!