Category Archives: Holidays

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Valentine’s Day 2013

. Holidays . , ,

In the late 1990s, an article appeared in the Diario de Yucatán (The Yucatan Journal http://bit.ly/12jViAi). It was my favorite newspaper when I lived in the Yucatan in 1994, but I used the electronic version frequently from 1995 to 1999 when I was teaching English as a Second Language. The students I was teaching were all Spanish speaking, so I would use the articles to translate into English. The article that appeared one Valentine’s Day during those years was absolutely spectacular. It covered the three Greek loves: eros (sexual), phileo (brotherly), and agape (self-less).

The lines about eros were not illicit, but very appropriate for that passion a person has for a boyfriend, girlfriend, or spouse especially on Valentine’s Day. My students and I appreciated the lines regarding the phileo due to the fact they were all pre-teens or young teens who had absolutely NO USE for eros. The Mexicans use the term “day of friendship” embedded in Valentine’s Day, and it’s nice to remember our beloved friends on February 14. For me, the most touching part was when the columnist wrote that Jesus Christ was the perfect example of agape on Valentine’s Day!

Okay, so folks, be sure to tell your significant others you love them today. Folks, tell your friends you love them today (Friends I love you!!!), and please tell Jesus Christ you love him today as well.  There is no price tag on love, and it doesn’t cost one cent to say, “I love you.”

Happy Valentine’s Day, everyone.

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Rudolf and Gene Autry

. Holidays

Christmas 1971

What a haul that year! I was 5 years old. I am forgetting quite a bit, but I got a Hot Wheels Track set, a cat clock that wagged its tail and blinked its eyes, a portable record player, and records just to name a few things. One of my records was the album you see today, Gene Autry: Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer And Other Christmas Favorites. Several days ago I heard Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer by Gene Autry, and my heart sank a bit when a wave of childhood memories of my father and Christmas flooded my heart and soul. My father truly loved giving us presents and seeing us enjoy our Christmases during childhood. He loved cowboys, and he loved Christmas, so it was natural and a pleasure for him to buy me this album. My heart still misses him so much especially during Christmas.

It just so happened that Carter and Ammon heard Gene’s version with me, and I told them about my album and a few words about their Papa Caylor. He would have such fun with these two!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ara3-hDH6I

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“Christmas Waltz”

. Holidays

When I went out with the hounds last Friday morning, we had such a picturesque frost on the ground. Mother Nature and the art that she creates is incredible: the ice crystals on the clover or the feathery, ice designs on the sheets of ice on our pond. The frost was so heavy that there was still frost on the ground in the shaded areas at 10 o’clock that morning.

The frost reminded me of the opening lines of “The Christmas Waltz” song. I never really appreciated the song until one of my favorite singers/actresses, Kristen Chenowith, sang it on her Christmas album from 2009. I want to share the song with you all. Enjoy and have a blessed Sunday.

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Wrapping Up New York for December 2011

. Family, Family Travel, Holidays . , , , ,

We had a great and safe time in New York City. We finished up with our 2nd Annual trip to Toys R Us for a ride on the Ferris Wheel with our picture taken.

Nana, Carter, & Sean: December 5, 2011 at Toys R Us, Times Square

If I can, I will try to make a copy of last year’s photos to you all can compare 2010 with 2011.

Haven & Ammon: December 5, 2011 Toys R Us New York, Times Square

Sean and I had seen “Priscilla Queen of the Desert” last May, and we knew then it would keep Ammon and Carter’s attention. It did not let us down. All 5 of us went to see it Sunday evening, and the children did, indeed, enjoy it.

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“Peace be unto You”

. Family, Holidays, Jesus Christ Follower . , ,

Jesus the Master Teacher: Lladró

John 20:26

“…Then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in their
midst and said, ‘Peace be unto you.’”

As I said a few days ago, I wanted to introduce you to my
favorite piece of Lladró. In 2000, I landed in Spain June 7, and I returned
about June 27. For almost three weeks, I searched from Madrid to Málaga to
Santander back to Madrid for the perfect piece of Lladró that fit my budget and
my life. My next to the last day I found it: Jesus the Master Teacher. Not just
Jesus the Master Teacher, but Jesus my friend, my brother, and my Lord and
savior. I also got several other pieces.

Jesus sat on my Nanny’s sideboard until 2004 when we moved
into the house we live in now.  He then took his rightful place over the fireplace mantel that is in our living room which is situated in the middle of our house. No matter what season of the year it is or what seasonal decorations are in the living room Jesus doesn’t leave his place. All decorations as well as the entire house have Jesus as its center. It is symbolic because he needs to be the center of my peace and my life. I hope this picture helps you  fix yourself for a few moments on Jesus, and I
hope the words I’ve written fall upon your hearts  and help bring you peace today.

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July 4th 2011 (Reflection)

. Holidays . , , ,

What a great evening!

Celebrating the independence of our country was a real treat
yesterday: Great fellowship, great food, and great fireworks. I doubt very
seriously that Carter and Ammon will remember the day, but it laid a foundation
of events that I hope they will always be able to experience and hold dear to
their hearts.

First, we celebrated our country, and I hope my children
will always be proud of this country. Second, we, as a group of Christians,
were not meeting to worship, but we were able to assemble without the fear of
being persecuted as a group of people with like-minds and purpose, and that is
such a blessing to celebrate here in the United States of America.

The food   
(always a  blessing) was delicious, and there
were people there who enjoyed taking care of Ammon and Carter while we
socialized with adults. It was such a treat for all of us.

The fireworks were beautiful. Carter LOVED them, and kept
saying , “More?”. Ammon enjoyed them, but she complained about the noise. Even
with the noise, all she talked about on the way home was, “We saw the pretty
fireworks. They shot up in the air. The fireworks popped!” LOL That’s all she
talked about until bedtime. I hope you and yours had a blessed July 4th.
For our family, our country’s 235th birthday was its best ever!

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Happy Independence Day!

. Family, Holidays . , , , , , ,

Every year during our holiday of Independence Day (July 4th),
I think of my Caylor ancestors. They had come to the colony of Pennsylvania in
the 1750s from Germany. They were Caylors (Kahler & Humbert were two of the families I know for sure) I am not an expert on the genealogy of that group, but
knowing linguistics like I do, I doubt those that came in the 1750s were very
good with the English language by the Revolutionary War; however, their teen-age children who were born in the colonies probably did quite well with English. The Caylors
must have been visionaries. They first came here to get away from over-population,
land shortages, and food shortages in Germany, and when they arrived, they
arrived to a group of disgruntled colonists who were tired of Great Britain’s
tyranny. In their vision of the future, they could see the importance of the
colonists (British, German, or French descendants) working together for freedom
and for making their own country, so they did it. They fought with all the
colonists, and they won the United States Revolutionary War. In a few years, the rest of the world looked upon
these rag-tag freedom lovers who ousted an empire and bestowed them the name “Americans”.

What an honor it must have been. They weren’t German -Americans, or
British-American, or French-Americans. They were AMERICANS equaling a group of
people of different nationalities, languages, and cultures that had come together to make the United States of America. My German ancestors knew they were doing something special, but they had no idea that they had laid the ground work for the
greatest country this world has ever seen or will ever see again. I am so proud
of my ancestors, my country, and my freedom. I am so looking forward to Carter
and Ammon knowing the love of freedom and of country and understanding their
proud heritage. God bless you all, and God bless the United States of America. Happy
Independence Day!

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Father’s Day

. Family, Holidays . , , ,
Georgie Caylor, Oliver Haven Caylor, & Haven William Caylor

Georgie Caylor, Oliver Haven Caylor, & Haven William Caylor-Brown -March 1982

Father’s Day

I’ve got to convert the pictures of my father to JPGs so I
can put them on the computer. I will write just a bit about my father today,
and hopefully you all will see him in the very near future. He was Oliver Haven
Caylor (September 19, 1939 to May 28, 1982). He died three weeks after my 16th
birthday. This is my 30th Father’s Day without him. He was such a
wonderful father and Christian example. He had a wonderful sense of humor, and
he was always making up words or changing arrangements to popular songs:
something I’ve found myself doing the past 30 years too.

He enjoyed hunting, but his passion was fishing. While most
of my friends spent family vacations at the beach or going to the mountains, we
spent family time while bass fishing around North Georgia and Southeast
Tennessee lakes. My absolute most precious memories of my father are of him and
me raising two Black and Tan Coonhounds (Copper and Chief) and teaching them to
hunt squirrels. He and I had the same love of the outdoors, and we combined it
with my hound dogs to spend our “father and son time” together. I dearly miss
him, but it is such a blessing that the healing love of God and the Holy Spirit
coupled with time heals and fills the empty spaces the death of a loved one
leaves.

I was so blessed to have a father who taught me love and
respect for myself, my family, the environment, human-kind, and most
importantly love and respect for God through Jesus Christ. My Daddy was
absolutely wonderful, and I love him very much. Happy Father’s Day up there in
heaven, Daddy!