HAPPY BIRTHDAY SWEETHEART! I saw this poem and thought of you! Wishing you a wonderful birthday filled with love, happiness and joy, but most of all, lots of presents!! What is a Daughter? An ally, confider, an on-your-sider; A lender, a sender, a generous spender; A worry inducer, a confidence booster; A life-enhancer, and knows the answer; A friend, a carer, a recipe sharer; A listener, a talker, a bathroom stalker; A cheeky borrower, a call you tomorrow; A dater, debater, a mess creator; A home lover, a needer of mother; A defender, depender, a cheeky rule bender; A company keeper, confessor and weeper; A shopping tripper and fridge dipper; A holiday taker, a happiness maker; A present buyer, a gentle white liar A joy bringer, a texter and ringer; A hand holder, a sympathetic shoulder; A secret keeper, a beauty treater; An honest advisor, a great trip organizer; A pride inducer, and a memory producer. Not a day has gone by that I haven’t thanked God for sending you to me.

* Already said goodbye to the first month of 2021! Can you believe how fast January went? * Actress Cicely Tyson recently passed away. I loved her as Sipsey in the movie “Fried Green Tomatoes,” and love the movie “Sounder.” If you haven’t seen these two movies, I highly recommend them.

THIS AND THAT * If I asked you to name all of the things you love, how long would it take to name yourself? * This is just my opinion, but I really don’t think we need chains or jewelry for our COVID-masks. * My summer body is never ready, but my winter body is always good to go.

* Just so you know Peyton Manning is one of the NFL’s 2021 Hall of Fame finalists! * This is so true of me. I don’t do and never have done Snapchat or Tik Tok, but I can write complete sentences with correctly spelled words in cursive, and tell time on a clock with hands.

* I read an Instagram post asking about when you were growing up if you went to bowling alleys, skating rinks or drive-ins for fun. Yes! I did! In fact I can do one better than just saying I went to these three places for entertainment since my parents owned 183 Lanes in Stockton in the ‘60s, so I have wonderful childhood memories of that place. We still frequent it often when our family has something to celebrate like birthdays or get-togethers, or just because we are hungry. As for the skating rinks, who remembers skating on Saturdays at Stockton City Hall and participating in the Limbo contest? And let’s not forget Saturday nights at the Park Drive-In Theatre! Whether you watched the movie in a car or sat by the concession stand with your friends, it was a great night out! Or how about those $1.00 family nights on Wednesday evenings in the summer when the movies were the “oldies but goodies” like Ma and Pa Kettle? Sometimes Dad would back in the station wagon and open up the back door, so we could lie down and snuggle up with our pillows and blankets to watch the movie.

THIS AND THAT * If you haven’t watched the TV series “Yellowstone,” I highly recommend it. And if you were fortunate enough to find out in time to record all of them, the entire three seasons were shown continuously on the Paramount TV station during the Christmas weekend! * As always, we had an AWESOME Christmas with lots of fun, presents and food! My kiddos put a lot of thought into what they got for me and were so excited when I opened up my presents! * Not going to lie, I love watching all the Christmas Hallmark movies— some over and over again—but once Christmas is over, and I mean that very day, I am done with them! That is until next year! * The bags under my eyes are Prada.

* “Kiss an Angel Good Mornin’” is one of the first country songs that made it on my all-time favorite music list. Country music star Charley Pride had such a melodic voice and now he can sing to all the angels in Heaven. My Mom will be right up front for that concert.

“And she brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling clothes, and laid Him in a manger because there was no room for them at the inn. And there were in the same country Shepherds, abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.

* Read this online….“If I yelled ‘Bingo!’ but refused to let you examine my Bingo card, would you still give me the prize money anyway?” * I wish people would brush up on their history because it looks to me like it is repeating itself, and not in any kind of a good way. * My great niece is doing her 25 Days of Christmas Sweaters on her Instagram page! I look forward to this every year! * When we turned our clocks back in October, I should have turned mine back to at least 1987.

THIS AND THAT * Who remembers hanging silver tinsel on your Christmas tree? You were either the family that strung it up one string at a time, or threw it on the tree in bunches. Both were acceptable because there is no wrong way to hang tinsel.