After 66 years this will be the last year that I can call this house “home.” This is the house where I grew up. Mother stayed there on and off until her last months. All the curtains and furniture look almost just like when I was a kid. I think I have answered the question, “If Mother isn’t around, will it still be home?”
This is the barn out by the road that has been there as long as I remember. We used to build tunnels in the hay that was stacked to the rafters. When I was in college my sorority had a Hoe Down party in the barn with a DJ, a hay ride and kegs of beer. Mother saw someone getting sick in the field and said, “Beth, I just don’t think these little girls are used to this beer!” I didn’t tell her any different.
This picture was painted the year my father died. He had Alzheimer’s for the last ten years of his life and died at 90. My mother took care of him at home though she was 87 when he died. This barn was built by my daddy. My daddy’s love for us reminds me of this verse that tells of our heavenly Father’s love for us.
When I was a child we had a wood fireplace that I loved so much. The heart of pine walls and floors are still in our house. The rocking chair that mother rocked me in is still there though I borrowed it for a few years when my children were babies. We always had a cat for chasing rats. I think this one was named Tom. We always had a real tree that we went and cut in the woods. Sometimes cedar, sometimes pine; I even remember one year that we had a holly tree with berries. This seems like the year we got a record player with LPs by The Chipmunks, Perry Como, and Bing Crosby. We danced around in our sock feet on those wood floors until we were dizzy.
More favorite December calendar images…
This one is a favorite—Mary’s Song from the first chapter of Luke.
Here are some of my favorite piano arrangements: O Come All Ye Faithful, Silent Night, While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks, Three Carols, Little Drummer Boy