Thoughts and stories, by Pal

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL YOU DEAR FRIENDS!   I am making a decision as to my blog!  I appreciate all you who have read it over the years.  I've tried to find things that would be interesting or inspirational, or both!  In the beginning I mostly told stories of my husband Wayne's, and my own ancestors, and about our family.  Then when I had run out of stories from the past, I began using many things from other writers, which I always labeled to show where I got them from, and to rightly give credit to the writer. I am going, from this point on, to write about my own experiences, especially with Family History, and life in general.  I am now 86 years old, and hopefully have through many life experiences, learned a bit about life. I have always loved stories about ancestors, and from this point on I plan to write and document my experiences about them.   I had a tremendously exciting experience this last week as I researched the ancestors back from my grandson's wife's paren

 I'm reposting a story that I've mentioned each year since I've done my blog! This true story about my Christmas when I was 5 years old, is truly a favorite.  Reposted from:  #  555. A Child's Christmas Prayer Answered -- first written on December 1, 2013, on blog # 21. This a true Christmas story, from my childhood. The Christmas of 1939, here in St. George, Utah, was going to be quite humble at our house. My father had been in World War I and had suffered off and on with "shell shock", which now is called Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome. He had been in the Veteran's hospital in Salt Lake City during the year, and my mother, Ruth, had given birth to my sister, Mavis, on December 1st. In those days, mothers stayed down much longer with a difficult birth. My mother had been allowed to turn over in bed on the 10th day, and got up on the 17th day, so Christmas found her very weak. My grandmother, Ruth’s mother, was living with our small family, and helping aft