A blessed Christmas Day!

Christmas Eve candlelight service last night at First German

My sister, Kerry, left early this a.m., but many of the rest of my family enjoyed the Christmas Festival Service at First German. (Last night Lori, David, and Dustin worshiped with us for the candlelight service but decided to sleep in this a.m. and not join us at church.) Lisa and her boys came up from Sheboygan this a.m., as well. The boys’ grandma, Lynn, was in the choir loft upstairs and they could see her when not holding her choir music. Alayna was in the balcony as well, joining the choir once more for the holidays.

Before this morning’s service, Mom pointed out to me in the service folder the proximity of the crying room---she knows me so well. I cried right there in the pew, like I always do! The hymns were so lovely, accompanied by the pipe organ and the orchestra (actually it’s a band since there are no strings) made up primarily of the grade school students. They play so well, it is hard to believe their ages! The music at my home church and school is excellent, and worship is done well. It just fills me up to overflowing worshiping there!

After church we came home to Mom’s, meeting Lynn here and joined by Lisa with her boys. We were expecting Lori and family to come over here once they finished breakfast at their hotel. Jill and Danny went to their apartment on the 2^nd floor and didn’t come up to Mom’s. The way it worked out, Lori did not show up until after Lisa had left and we had changed from our Christmas clothes! According to David, Lori and Dusty needed a nap after brunch, which made them later in getting here. At least she came bearing cookies and handmade candies so we forgive her late arrival. They had plans with David’s side of the family this afternoon and evening. If time allows, Lynn and I might join them at their hotel and enjoy a dip in the pool/hot tub. We shall see about that! I am getting used to these quiet evenings here at Mom’s but am also ready to spend more time with my sisters. I hope we can make that happen!

The “unopened gifts” Part II

The other day I wrote about the ‘unopened gifts’ which were being discussed on the radio program Justin and I subscribe to. The guest host, Joe Paggs, was talking about the sorrow of those parents in CT who would have to deal with the unopened gifts purchased for the children who would never again gather around the Christmas tree. Justin cautioned me not to listen to the first hour of the show (downloaded podcast) because of this discussion, knowing it would cause me upset. I also had to deal with unopened presents when Timmy died, his funeral being on his 5^th birthday.

Well, our family gathered tonight to open our Christmas presents in Mom’s community room. We were laughing and having a great time watching the kids unwrap their presents and so on. Then, after the two older boys were done and off playing with new gifts, Lisa helped Angelo open his. He is quite expressive and would oooh and ahhh over his cars and trucks. At one point, Lisa pulled an orange ‘Wiggle’ out of a gift bag and then a stuffed animal in a cardboard wrapper. Angelo grabbed the orange carrot-looking thing right away.

Lynn leaned over to Lisa and said, “That lion was Timmy’s…” She was presenting Angelo (Lisa) with ‘an unopened present’ which she had purchased to give to Timmy for his 5^th birthday. Lynn had had it on her shelf for these nearly 12 years and decided it was time to move it on to Angelo (Lisa) after reading my blog. Needless to say, many of us were in tears just like that (snap of the fingers). I am still so moved I can barely see the keys. Thanks, Lynn, for that wonderful gift, now opened and soon to be placed on Angelo’s shelf!

Collecting thoughts

The other night Mom and I watched “A Christmas Carol”, the version with George C. Scott as Ebenezer Scrooge. It had been years since I saw the story from start to finish, and it was good. I would see snippets of it portrayed at the Clay County Christmas but that hardly cuts it. Mom remembered seeing a much older version of this story when she was younger so I looked up the listing of men who had played Scrooge in the past. That is quite the lengthy list, including Henry Winkler and Jim Carrey.  Some of the stories were cartoon-style as well as the darker, spookier ones Mom recalled. This one with GC Scott went a long way to presenting the story of Christmas’s past, present and future. I am curious, though, what was done to help Tiny Tim and his illness after Scrooge’s conversion.

On another night the two of us saw “Driving Miss Daisy”, always a fun movie to watch. When the movie first came out in the theater, Mom and I went to see it. She did not often attend the movies otherwise, and saw more with me in Florida than she had in a long while. Sometimes others from church would join us for movie outings or just she and I would go. Besides seeing “Daisy”, we once saw “Fried Green Tomatoes” starring Jessica Tandy in each movie. As I told Mom the other night, the good news was “Daisy” was going be on. The bad news was it started at 9:00 pm when Mom is usually ready for bed. The two of us did manage to watch almost all of it before having to retire. It goes longer when there are commercials!

Not normally a fan of the Christmas-themed movies, I have seen a couple with Mom since I am here. She has already seen many of them, or variations of the same movie with different actors. The story is basically the same but the city or something is just different enough to make it a new movie. We did watch one or two together when there is simply nothing else to watch. They are alright, but nothing I can make a steady diet of. I so prefer my comedies or a good “Law and Order: Criminal Intent” to amuse me. But I am also a good sport and wish to be socialable with Mom. She also likes to watch “American Pickers” and “Pawn Stars” but those are on in the day time, I think.

My sister, Lynn, has been having treatments done with lasers on her eyes, first the left eye one week and then the other the next, in order to ease pressure in her eyes. She has the early stages of glaucoma and in order to avoid having to instill the drops for the rest of her life, she opted for this treatment. When she was in for her 2^nd eye this past week, the doctor measured the pressure in her first eye and determined the pressure was down, which is great news. It worked! 

We are all urged now to go have our eyes tested in case we have it too. My plans are to do that in January as I am sure I need glasses anyway. I hope my pressure is okay. Mom has been using the drops, various types of drops twice a day for years now, and what a blessing this type of procedure would have been for her, and others like her.

Kerry and Alayna agreed to babysit for the boys last night, at Grandma K’s apartment. I was making dinner which included a roast my sister, Jill, provided. At one point we had 9 people including the kids in Mom’s house. Good thing the boys are so well behaved or it could have been hairy! 

Besides the roast I made sweet potatoes and mac ‘n cheese purchased at Wal*Mart in the microwaveable containers plus cooked up the head of cauliflower I’d bought a few days earlier. Oh my, what a tasty meal it was! Angelo ate on the run, not wishing to sit down to dine but he did fairly well. He'd rather play than eat, it seems.

All three boys are getting over being sick, which caused them to miss their Christmas program at the church school they attend last Sunday. That is the 2^nd time I was here but not able to see the boys in their program. Might have to wait until they are in high school to see them! Gabe mentioned being sad about missing out on it, but he couldn’t come up with the song they were going to sing. It was a different melody of “Angels We Have Heard on High” but without the music, he could not sing it for us.
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Kerry, Jill, and I went shopping a bit yesterday afternoon. I hadn’t meant to tag along but needed the ingredients for making the pretzel torte. Justin wanted me to make it ‘for the family’ so I will try my hand at it in the morning. Instead of using the Jello and fresh berries on top, I am taking the short cut of using a can of pie filling. Should do the trick nicely, I am sure. 

Justin asked me to borrow Linda’s blitzhacker from Pampered Chef but she suggested another tool from PP which would do the same or better job. I did bring it along from her house but Mom offered her rolling pin and I might use that instead. This is a major job---crushing the pretzels! One recipe I looked up said to pulverize the pretzels while another cautions against such a thing. Must find that middle ground! Wish me well on this!

A very good day

I just said to my mom and sister that I had a very good day today. Excellent, in fact. It started with worship, the last Sunday of Advent. We had a guest preacher at FG this morning, Pastor Schaefer's dad, who serves a congregation in Milwaukee. His sermon was about Mary, the mother of the Christ-child. Instead of singing the Song of Simeon after the sermon, we sang The Magnificat. The Order of Service was Divine 1 from the CW Supplement, printed in the folder as they do not yet use the CWS in the pews. The singing and the music is so wonderful in this church building---I could almost melt!

But today no melting was going on, and, in fact, the contrary was true, due to a problem with the boiler. I was so glad to have my coat on both during church and Bible study, which took place in the church basement. If I could have written while wearing my gloves, I would have tried. The congregation did get extremely wonderful news in the past few days as a generous donor has allowed them to worship this day entirely debt free! Wow! That warmed a few hearts if not our hands, and wet a few cheeks in joy.

Alayna, my niece, had gone upstairs to the school to obtain a Diet Coke for me which did not help to warm me during the Bible study. Pastor’s dad sat across from Linda and me, as did the new grade school teacher, Jennifer. We had several good chuckles and solid discussion during the class with him. The study was based on Romans, now at chapter 8, which talks about how the Holy Spirit knows our hearts and can express our prayers to the Lord when we cannot put our thoughts together. Also, the Lord will not allow anything more to happen around us outside His guiding hand and management. Great comfort in those passages---GREAT comfort!

After the class we came back here and got things ready for watching the football game. I had a little bite to tide me over until lunch because I had not eaten anything at church during the fellowship portion of the morning. We were going to have a buffet of our leftovers from previous meals but Kerry had also picked up Old Wisconsin brand Polish sausages which were simply delicious. I managed to squirt some of the juice from my sausage onto my red sweater but Kerry worked some magic with Dawn dish soap and cold water, and saved the sweater. Oh my! I was being careful and yet, it dripped!

 Go Pack Go!

A group of us watched the Packer game, Mom included, and what a grand game it was! The Packers just about shut out the TN Titans but in the last moments of the games, the Titans managed to score, the final being 55-7. Mom felt sorry for the poor Titans so got her wish for them to get a touchdown. The Packers even played their 2^nd string players which is likely how the Titans managed to get the TD they did!

The Titans are the main rivals to the Jaguars, both teams being formed in the same year. The Jags did not fare as well as the Packers did today, but at first gave the NE Patriots a run for their money. Justin was at the game and said I would have been cold there, but for the most part, it was nice. His seats were in the sun which certainly helps to keep the chill from the bones.

This might be his last game as a season ticket holder as his buddies and he decided to invest in the NFL package from Comcast for next season. Two of the group will be living in the same house by that time, as Justin will soon be moving in with Ron and Sarah. Their closing is in January with Justin expecting to be moved out of my place by February 1. He had better start his packing in earnest now in order to be ready to go by then!

Anyway--back to our day--aside from the spot on my sweater, it was a great way to spend my Sunday. Kerry likes to cook and is making a version of stuffed chicken breasts for our dinner. I did a little bit of dusting in preparation for the Christmas gathering tomorrow, even though most of the activity will take place in the community room downstairs. Dusting the furniture and such at Mom’s is quite a bit different than tackling that project at my house. One-two-three and I was done. Things are ready for the festivities!

Delicious treats!

Here is a picture of my knee cap, a.k.a. patella, from Silver Valley Dinner Club last night

These packages were delivered to my door at the condo and were rescued by Justin. My neighbors are so kind to us there! I wonder what's in the bag???

The unopened presents

Watching the news, one of my favorite things to do, has been difficult these past few days with the coverage of the funerals for those lost at the school in CT.  Seeing the sobbing parents and the balloon launches are so evocative for me. At least it appears that all those who died had some sort of church affiliation which provides great comfort for those witnessing from afar, as I am doing. Only the Lord provides the Great Comfort that the world cannot even begin to offer those in mourning.

                 

The other day at lunch, with Linda and Angie, we were talking about Justin, of course. Angie had heard nice things about him from Linda and I wasn’t about to argue with her. As we talked, my phone rang and it was Justin calling me. He wanted to caution me about listening to the first hour of our favorite program as the guest host was talking about ‘the unopened presents’ those parents who lost children in the rampage will be facing. This means it affected Justin, and he well knows how things like this affect me. And did affect me for many years after Timmy died. His presents, some wrapped already and some not, were moved from home to home with us, until I at last decided to share them with others. My great nephews got the ones I had bought for Timmy’s birthday and I gave the wrapped ones to the preschool at church for those students to enjoy. Gulp….sniffle….It warms my heart how Justin watches out for mine like that, and that he is moved by the sentiment of the ‘unopened presents’.

A pajama party at Linda’s

Today I am spending the afternoon and evening at Linda’s, even staying over night! The terrible snow storm mostly fizzled here along the lake shore but inland, they got hammered! My friend, Yvonne, who moved back up here after living in TX for over 30 years has gotten bitten by reality in a big hurry. This a.m. she wrote on Facebook about being minus electricity for a couple hours that morning already, having several inches of snow, and having her smoke alarm reacting to the wood heater. She challenged her TX friends to give it to her and get it over with because she knows what they are going to say! Her dogs aren’t used to pottying in the snow either so that requires some getting used to.

 View out Linda's back doors

Linda and I went to Harborside for lunch, meeting her friend, Angie, there. It was very nice to meet Linda’s friend and she was nice enough to treat us! Speaking of nice, the kitchen staff was able to dig up some perch for us ladies so we all three enjoyed a perch plate lunch, with a shared order of onion rings. The snow was not snow but slush at this point yet and included some deep cold puddles along the curbs. Yech! From there, we went to Linda’s house to schnudder.

We watched a Christmas special she had recorded, while I piggy-backed on her Internet. No Blue Screen of Death there at all which means I am getting that only when using the Internet via Verizon and the little card they put in. Rats! Then we had dinner which she prepared---sloppy joes and cole slaw. Oh yum! Tommy wanted to watch a certain “Seinfeld” episode which his son in the Chicago area sent to him. We watched the episode about Festivus, the made-up holiday the Costanza’s celebrated. Next we watched the episode called “The Chicken Roaster” which is one of my favorites. Love it!

                                            

Linda and I are watching a movie called “Letters to God” which is about a young boy in the process of dying from cancer. He would write letters to God and mail them, and the story goes on to show how the letters affect others who read them. It is basically about the faith exhibited by this child and those around him, helping them to understand things like the sudden loss of a husband and slow dying of a son. The mailman came to faith and is turning his life around through this boy and his family (the Holy Spirit, of course, doing the work). It is a moving story and uplifting, just what Linda and I enjoy.

More entertainment was provided by their two new kittens, brothers, Zeke and Zach, who are most playful. Everything is a plaything to them, and Tommy showed me video he took of them terrorizing the Christmas tree when they put it up. He had even sprayed it with something meant to deter them, but it did nothing it was trumped up to do. Eventually Tom put the tree up on a table with sticky substance under the tree which the cats avoid. But that video was a hoot with them climbing up inside the tree and then back down again.

Linda took a picture of me all bundled up on the sofa with her Snuggie over me and two cats on my legs to help keep me warm. Fortunately the area where she lives was spared the horrors of the storm but periodically the snow and wind did come. Tom blew the snow tonight to keep the driveways clear so the ice wouldn’t form under the snow. I don’t miss that business one tiny bit and while it does look pretty from the window, it does not look so pretty when one is pushing a shovel!