Good CHRISTmas morning

I woke up very early this morning even though we didn't go to sleep until after two am. Last night after everyone else was in bed we gave each other our gifts. I was so excited to give him mine to Pops.
Pops is so musically talented. He can pick up any instrument and play some kind of tune on it. He really has an ear for music. He got that talent from his mother. So as we were driving through the state of Tennessee a few weeks ago we passed a music store and I got an inspiration for a good gift for him. I immediately grabbed my phone and looked up Amazon.com and ordered the gift.
As he unwrapped it I could hardly contain my excitement. I had gotten him a set of harmonicas in 7 different keys. I have always loved hearing him play the chinzy little harmonica that one of the kids had a long time ago. Well, he grabbed one and began to play, "Silent Night." I love this gift. I know I will get much enjoyment out of it as we drive the miles away.
When I was a little girl there was a game show on TV called, Truth or Consequences. It was hosted by Bob Barker. I loved that show and often one of the prizes would be, "An elegant Ladies Watch by the the famous Elgin Watch Company in Elgin, Illinois." I alway thought they looked so sophisticated and expensive.
My mom bought me my first Elgin watch when I was 16. I loved and cherished that watch. Pops has bought me several of them through the years and I still have and wear all of them. So last week when we were making a delivery in Elgin, Illinois; I sneaked away and bought Pops his first Elgin Watch. I thought it was so cool that I got to buy it right where it was made. I have been busting trying to keep that secret all these days. So he opened that last night too.
He got me a very pretty necklace with my sister's birthstone. No, he is not simple. Her birthstone is amethyst which is PURPLE, my new favorite color. I love the necklace and he also got me a tiny pair of amethyst/diamond earrings too. I love him so much.
When I got up this morning I got all the food going in the oven and crockpots. Then I remembered the boudin that I had brought home from Louisiana. Oh great, we'll have that too. It's going to be so good!
Starla and Bill got up and left the house to go to Bill's mother's house for a visit and then to his grandmother's too. While they were gone Pops and I were sitting around the island in the kitchen drinking coffee and I got an idea. I wanted to make fudge, a new kind, something different. Do we have the ingredients or had we used everything already? No, we have everything I need. I made a batch of Chipotle Fudge. It is so good. I love the dark chocolate candy with red pepper. I thought why not fudge? When making a new flavor it is trial and error until you get it right so I added some chipotle powder and thought that should do it for the entire batch and I added another ingredient as well to enhance the flavor. It smelled so good. When it was ready I poured it into the pans and then I had to clean up. I thought I would taste it. Somebody needed to, right? Oh my, it took my breath away, but it was good. It will be okay. It will be better than okay once it cools. The flavors are always stronger while still warm. I know 2 people besides me who will love this flavor.  I really like to make fudge, did you know that? I would love to own a fudge shop, maybe someday.
It is a little after eleven am and we are eating at noon so my family should soon be here.
I am enjoying my time with my family so much. It is so good to be home with them. I hope that all of you are enjoying those who you are with today. Love them with all of your heart and don't take anyone for granted, people aren't around forever even though their memories will always be with us.
Last night while talking to my good friend/like a brother, Jeff, I shared a story with him of my mom's last days before her last Christmas. I was shopping with her and telling her to pick out something she liked and I would buy it for her for Christmas. It was early December of 1996 and she had been so sick lately. She picked out a really cute pair of 10K gold heart earrings. So I bought them and wrapped them and put them away for Christmas day. My mom got sick again and passed away on December 18th. We had always gone to Mom and Dad's on Christmas eve so we decided to continue even that year when no one felt like it. I remembered the earrings I had bought Mom and could not bring myself to return them to the store so I opened them and wore them that night. Imagine the surprize when I saw that my sister and sister in law also were wearing the same earrings! Mom had each of us buy the same earrings. We all believe that it was her gift to each of us that Christmas. We continue to wear our heart earrings on Christmas Eve. I love you, Mom and miss you so very much.