THE LOWE FAMILY NEWSLETTER VOLUME 118 DECEMBER 2017

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL MY FREADERS!

Dear Children, Family and Friends,

I spent the first weekend in November with the Remsburgs in Orlando. I was met at the airport by Leslee-Ann in her brand new car - which I had no hope of recognizing by make or color - so I was hoping that my eyesight was still good enough to spot my daughter among the throngs of drivers crawling past me. If Leslee -Ann had to honk her horn to get my attention I knew I would be berated all the way home about what sort of a mother is incapable of recognizing her own daughter !

Since my flight didn't arrive until after Ray's bedtime I missed seeing him that night: Ray likes to stick to his routine so plans are carefully made around his meals times, nap time and of course bedtime. One morning before nap time we headed out for a shopping trip. Once at the mall we went into Home Goods where Ray proved to be very good about sitting in the shopping cart (unlike another little boy I know) but once Craig saw the super long lines at the checkout he promptly offered to take Ray to Best Buy, just a few stores away where Ray loves to watch the big screen TV's apparently while daddy is into the gaming section.

Once our shopping was done we stopped at a fast food place for lunch.I was eagerly devouring my spicy chicken sandwich and french fries when Leslee-Ann declared that Ray was finished with lunch and wanted to go home for his nap. For a horrible moment I thought I was going to have to pitch the hearty portion of my remaining lunch in the garbage - fearing that eating food was not allowed in their brand new vehicle but I was told to pack everything up to eat on the way home. Hallelujah!

As you may recall Leslee-Ann and Craig purchased a sewing machine when it was decided that I would be spending the Christmas of 2015 with them sewing monkeys, bumper pads, a crib skirt and blanket for Ray's nursery. It has come out of the closet virtually every trip since. This time Leslee-Ann wanted me to shorten a floor length dress for her by about four inches. She tried it on with the shoes she anticipated wearing with it, so I pinned it to her perfect length, just grazing her toes, and since it was a knit fabric I knew I could just cut off the excess fabric after stitching the hem because it would not fray, and I also knew that Leslee-Ann would try in on yet again once the new hem was finished to check that my effort met with her approval and if she deemed it too short I would not have to add a false hem …. She tried it on, perfect. So I laid the dress out on her dinning room table and snipped close to my hem stitching to remove the excess fabric but somehow I accidentally cut into the fabric above the hem. A hole in Leslee-Anne's dress! This is a sewing mistake I have never made before in all my years of sewing. My blood turned cold, my brow was sweaty, my stomach was queasy. Options raced through my brain as I gave silent thanks that Leslee-Ann was not watching me. Fortunately the snip was about an inch from the side seam so since this part of the dress was very full I opted to take the side seam in enough to encase the hole .Of course I leveled with Leslee-Ann about this calamity and much to my amazement she was very laid back as she tried the dress back on and saw that the repair was not noticeable at all!

Ray enjoys being outdoors, swinging from a tree in his front yard, or chasing lizards in the enormous screened in patio that occupies most of the back yard. He loves animals and finds birds fascinating, he loves to hear his parents complain about the bird poop on the patio and happily points out any that he finds – which is promptly hosed off by his diligent parent.

On a previous visit I had given Ray a wooden table and bench that he uses for crafts and he indicated that he would like to do something on it so Leslee-Ann ran inside and came back with two huge storage bins filled with art supplies. The boxes were unpacked and Ray selected the items that spoke to his creativity that day and with a few strokes of marker he was done. I applauded Leslee-Ann's patience in unpacking and repacking two storage containers for so little enjoyment time for Ray.

I have to say that he was very into dancing while I was there and seems to have inherited his mother's musical ability as he can already repeat note sequences! When ever he feels like dancing he grabs you by the finger, points at the nearest electronic device that can provide the up tempo beat he craves like Bruno Mars for instance and then he points at the floor and expects a Janet Jackson performance which Grandma delivered on a Sunday morning in her nightie, fresh out of bed without even a cup of coffee.

We took a stroll around the neighborhood to see all the new million dollar homes being built around St. John's Lake, the housing market has definitely rebounded there, took Owen to a park where he had the most fun chasing a crow and then we risked life and limb on a walking/biking trail with spandex bikers constantly screaming on your left or right as they furiously peddled past. At least the peacocks we passed were beautiful!

Ray chasing a crow under the picnic table.

Unfortunately I didn't get TSA pre- approved status on my return flight so I had to wait in incredibly long lines with my fellow second class citizens. Just as I reached the check in point with my boarding pass and driver's license in hand they announced that they were going to be holding us in place for awhile until the congestion ahead cleared. I nervously asked the agent how long this wait might be - she estimated at least twenty minutes. She grabbed my boarding pass and handed it back saying I should have arrived at least an hour earlier than the almost two Lesee-Ann had assured me was sufficient. I explained that my daughter and son-in-law were frequent fliers and felt comfortable with the amount of time for me to clear security. She said “well I work here and would definitely have given myself another hour.” People all around me were saying that they had never seen a complete slow down like this. I tried to keep my mind off the minutes ticking away and gave my attention to one man who seemed to think that despite having left his driver's license on his kitchen table that he still should be able to travel. He pulled out every card in his wallet but of course none of his many cards were acceptable alternatives despite his claims – I have to say the workers were very patient and tolerant. Hungry and needing to pee I was finally allowed to inch into the security line where we were subjected to some spiel about signing up for a program that would allow one to bypass all this chaos and endless waiting in line.To my amazement a number of people broke out of line to join the promoters who guaranteed that they would only need five minutes of their time, a sizable fee and guaranteed that they would make their flight. I whipped out my phone and saw that I had forty five minutes until boarding began. I was tempted but knew it did not make financial sense for me to do it as I don't fly often enough to justify the cost. I willed the lines to speed up. Way ahead of time I took off my high heeled boots, precariously balancing on one foot whilst clutching my suitcase handle for support praying that I didn't collapse into a fellow passenger. – quite a challenge as I was packed in on all sides but I didn't want to hold up the line once I got to the conveyor belt. Once my bags, boots and I were through security I zipped my feet back into my boots and tottered as fast as I could on my three inch heels for the tram that takes you to your terminal. A lucky break here as my gate was very close to the tram stop so I was able to run into the toilet, grab a sandwich and make it in time to line up for boarding! Thankfully the flight went smoothly and I arrived back in Kansas City, boarded the shuttle bus to the economy parking lot and found my car immediately for once – even in the dark – and drove home to a nice cup of tea, a good nights sleep and a day of rest before Ava Claire and Owen arrived to spend Wednesday with Grandma. I woke up on Tuesday with a cold that has plagued me ever since.

Thanksgiving was at my house this year and it was one of the easiest ever from my point of view as I only had to roast the turkey (which only took two and a half hours in my convection oven) and make a cherry crumble for dessert. Kay spent her first ever Thanksgiving with us as she usually returns to Washington DC to spend the holidays with her parents but in view of the high cost of airfare and the hassle of holiday traveling she decided to stay here and just travel home over the Christmas break.

Josh, Coryn, Jeremy, and Kay all contributed to the meal, many of them fixing multiple dishes so all my stove burners and both ovens were roasting, baking, boiling and sauteing. Coryn had made a pumpkin pie so I was hoping that my dessert would not be needed but I ended up throwing it together once Coryn reminded me that she didn't like pumpkin pie anymore than I do – the boys all love it – and Josh loves cherry crumble which he claimed was my duty to provide as promised. Fortunately I had made the topping the evening before so I popped it in the oven while we were enjoying out turkey and mounds of salads and side dishes. Sean and Sarah were missing from our celebration as they were on a long planned trip to Minneapolis to attend a basketball game. Ava Claire loved helping set the table and was very into glass clinking with our sparkling non alcoholic grape juice! She asked everyone if they would like red or white, quite the hostess! Owen slept through the meal!

Once Thanksgiving was over I threw myself into Christmas preparations, a full week earlier than usual since Leslee-Ann, Craig and Ray will be spending Christmas at Grandma's house and Leslee-Ann has plenty of plans for her mother – I think of myself as her personal Santa elf as she has me receiving, sorting and wrapping gifts, making sure that Ray will be as dazzled by my Christmas decorations as he would be by Disney's in their home town! Leslee -Ann has outfitted every member of the family celebrating Christmas here with an appropriately themed pair of PJ's to wear for a family Christmas picture! Sort of a re- enactment of the days when you were were all so adorable in your coordinating Christmas outfits!

After a week of decorating inside and outside of my house I was confident that it would meet Leslee-Ann's criteria but then I saw Sarah and Sean's house. Think of our styles as Martha Stewart versus the Griswolds Christmas. I have one huge inflatable snowman (thanks Marc) on my deck, they have three plus a polar bear,a fully decorated outdoor Christmas tree; and icicle lights hanging off all their gutters. I had a giant lighted Wreath, and a miniature Christmas tree on my front porch. True I have a very cute bear themed Chrsitmas work shop display but ...I stopped at Hobby Lobby on my way home and picked up some pre lit garland. I grabbed one of my many tomato cages and wrapped it to look like a Christmas tree and topped it off with a homemade bow. Better .

They had set up another Christmas tree in their living room and around the base they had a running train set (I have masses of white tulling to imitate snow )but as Ava Claire and Owen were with me I could see that this was a winner with them and doubtless Ray was going to be equally as enthralled. I looked at the Yeti on top of the tree and asked Sarah how she could possibly allow such a thing but she said she actually liked it! Could this be the same girl that picked out the decorations for me to make her front door wreath – definitely one of my Martha looks

I was shopping at Mennards recently and spotted some strobe Christmas lights, I grabbed a red and green one which would throw a kaleidoscope of seasonal color across the front of my house. I rushed home, plugged it in and felt I had the decorating edge – until Josh came over today and said that they had two of them at their house now! Bah humbug!

A few paragraphs ago I mentioned that Ava Claire and Owen were with me when visiting Sean: this was because their parents were spending the weekend by themselves in Branson , Missouri – that's right the place people my age like to visit – so they were spending Friday night with Grandma and Saturday with Sarah, Sean and Josh. I was already invited for lunch that Saturday before I knew we would be babysitting so it worked out well. We all had lunch together and I left early in the afternoon as it was a nice day for them to take the kids to the park and hopefully help wear them out for bedtime. Sean and Sarah came through the door with the kids the next day shattered claiming that they had hardly slept a wink – the kids snored, coughed or seemed in dire danger of rolling off the bed!I had my tale of woe with the children too.

On Friday night I took them to McDonald's for supper and ordered two happy meals, fries and a hamburger for myself and decided to indulge myself in a vanilla milkshake. A big mistake. Once our food was ready I grabbed our food laden tray and headed over to get napkins and straws. Ava Claire asked to hold the straws which I handed to her, Owen immediately made a grab for them so I gave him the napkins but he was not happy – in a split second I knew he was going to throw them on the floor so I held my tray with one hand as I reached to save the napkins only to have my milk shake fly off the tray. I managed to grab it but squeezed so hard that the lid popped off and sprayed milkshake all over me and the floor. What a mess. An elderly couple sitting close-by bore witness to this tragic scene and shouted over to the workers that I needed some kitchen towels to clean myself up, I dripped my way over to the serving counter apologizing profusely for the mess I had made and started cleaning off my clothes and boots , grabbed some more napkins and tried to soak up big blobs of milkshake from the floor. My guardian angels promptly told me to stop my efforts assuring me that the employees would be bringing a mop out to take care of it – they shouted out another order to the serving counter and urged me to find a table with my grand-babies and enjoy our food while it was still hot. I had just got to a table, organized the food in front of the children when this lovely lady approached me bearing another milkshake. I thanked her profusely and offered to pay her for it but she explained that she had told the workers that since I had dropped mine accidentally they needed to replace it! I would never have asked after the mess I had created! Such a kind couple who were obviously regulars at this McDonalds to take us, complete strangers, under their wings. A great learning experience for Ava Claire and Owen too.

Marc Andrew is now in the house, he flew into Kansas City around midnight, was met by Sean, spent the night at his house and this morning called me to pick him up at the crack of dawn. He was freezing at his brother's house – they keep the thermostat at a cool 62 degrees. Marc will be here for almost two weeks and is already complaining about his dry skin and sinuses! I may have to up my dose of Zoloft to ensure my sanity as I deal with his hypochondria, bowel and bladder issues- that always leads to at least one of my toilets needing new parts.

Marc has just mentioned the possibility of my making a batch of Oreo balls - I told him that if he mentioned the idea in front of his brothers that I would personally take care of his balls and hang them on my Christmas tree! This afternoon I have to take him Christmas shopping as he doesn't seem to have heard of on-line delivered to your choice of destination shopping. At least my presence will ensure you all get a decent gift this year! Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and the Healthiest and Happiest 2018, love your all in the spirit of the holiday(much needed with Marc Andrew around) Mother. Cheers!