Jeremy Herndon

My parents held a tree decorating party tonight.  They invited a lot of their family and friends over for a large buffet dinner and then we all drank hot chocolate (or hot apple cider) and helped to decorate the tree.  Of course we listened to Christmas music while we decorated.   I went over last night and put the lights on the tree first - what a job that always is!  My mother wants every light exactly perfect!  It takes at least two hours to do it and get it to her satisfaction!  But the party went very well and the tree looks great!  Everyone had a great time.  The only thing missing was a little bit of snow!

My parents asked me to go with them to the tree farm today and help them to cut down their tree.  That is something they have done ever since they were first married, and now that they are getting on in years they need a little bit of help to do it.  Since I live nearby, I don’t mind doing it for them, it has been part of my heritage, to always go along ever since I was big enough to walk.  Bringing our own saw and going to the tree farm, picking out the “best” tree from the hundreds of “perfect” trees,  It doesn’t take long to saw the tree down, pay the farmer and tie it to the top of the car and tote it home.  That is a family tradition that means a lot to my parents, and I’m glad I’m around to help them maintain that tradition as long as they want to keep doing it.

I was saddened to hear that a teenager that suffered from bi-polar disorder committed suicide, while broadcasting it over webcam onto the live website called Justin.tv.  From what I understand, hundreds of people watched him take an overdose of prescription medicine and lie down on his bed.  It was not until someone noticed that he stopped breathing that authorities were killed - all of the viewers thought it was a joke!  How sad is that?  I would have hoped that someone would have called the authorities the minute he put the pills in his mouth.  Society seems to be really sliding downhill fast!

A couple of my friends that I haven’t seen in a few months came over yesterday afternoon, bringing food and the DVD of the most recent “Hulk” movie.  We pigged out on pizza, sub sandwiches and soda and watched the flick while eating popcorn.  Not the healthiest meal, I know, but we don’t do that very often and we had a lot of fun joking around while we ate.

It was a rainy day, so none of us felt guilty about the leaves that needed to be raked, we just hunkered down inside and had ourselves a day off - a very well deserved day off at that!

I wanted to take a minute to honor all of the men and women who are serving, or have served in our military.  I cannot even imagine for a moment how difficult it must be for you to have been separated from your loved ones and put into battle.  You have my appreciation and respect forever.  And for those of you who are currently serving in a battle area, my prayers are that you return home safely and soon.  You are not forgotten.