Preserving memories and sharing them as well!

If I was patient, I could sneak up and snap a picture of my tree! And I did it! Not all the presents are under it yet but for the most part, it was ready to go!

Our family friend, Olivia, had this lovely center-piece delivered to me on CHRISTmas Eve, only moments before we were to leave for church. The nice delivery man placed it on the counter in the kitchen and then asked if he could give me a hug....of course he can! I wore his aftershave all night...

The dining room table is dressed for the big feast. Lori went in to lie down for a bit and came out to find the table ready to go. Now that I have no cats to mess with things, I can work ahead and pace myself for later...slow but steady get the food made and table ready to hold the dishes!

Everyone----smile for the camera! Even those of us with our knees around the table leg could get into the shot. Sandy and I had to lean back and twist to be in the photo. On the far end is Lori, her hubby, David with the carving tools; their son Dustin; Joanne and her dad, Clyde; me and Sandy with daughter Olivia and hubby, Owen. Justin is taking the photo so missed being captured himself.

Dustin is smiling at Alayna as he opens his present from Justin and me, a black and white small checked shirt with narrow black tie. He said he "enjoyed" his gift....Is that the same as, "I really love this shirt and tie!!"??

Justin is leafing through a book given to him by me, by author Vince Flynn. Justin asked for some of Vince's books by name on the list sent to his family in WI but I had to omit these two as I had already gotten them for him! Bingo!

David presented me with an awesome present----a little stand-up cutout of Maurice Jones-Drew, #32 of the Jaguars. Earlier today on the way to church, I commented that I could marry this guy, MJD, because he is just my size and has big thighs. Something I admire in a person! And here, David had this gift all ready to go for me, from his company in Winona!!! Another Bingo!!!

David is opening one his presents from Justin and me, some GA Red Rub for meat, applied before it is barbecued. David is the king of the grille at his house and hopefully will "enjoy" having something like this for his next preparation.

As the old year is passing away......

Observations On Growing Older

* It's harder to tell navy from black.
* Everything old is new again, but if you wore it before, you're too old to wear it the 2nd time around.
* Your kids are becoming you -- and you don't like them, but your grandchildren are perfect!
* Yellow becomes the big color -- walls need paint, hair need tinting, teeth need whitening.
* Going out is good; coming home is better!
* When people say you look "Great", they add, "for your age"!
* When you needed the discount you paid full price. Now you get discounts on everything -- movies, hotels, flights.
* You forget names, but it's OK because other people forgot they ever knew you.
* The last 2 outfits you wore had spots on them.
* You ask your husband or friend how your outfit looks, and they tell you the truth.
* The five pounds you wanted to lose is now 15, and you have a better chance of losing your keys than the 15 pounds.
* You realize you're never going to be really good at anything -- especially golf.
* The things you cared to do, you don't care to do, but you care that you don't care to do them anymore.
* Remember when your mother said "Wear clean underwear in case you GET in an accident"? Now you bring clean underwear in case you HAVE an accident. Won't they cut them off anyway?
* You used to say, "I hope my kids GET married; now it's, "I hope they STAY married!"
* Who wants to wear 3" heels anyway?
* You miss the days when everything worked with just an "ON" and "OFF" switch.
* When GOOGLE, ipod, email, modem were unheard of and a mouse was something that made you climb on a table.
* You use more 4 letter words -- "what?"..."when?" and "where's my"
* Now that you can afford expensive jewelry, it's not safe to wear it anywhere.
* You read 100 pages into a book before you realize you've read it.
* Notice everything they sell in stores is "sleeveless"?
* Many of the people in People Magazine you've never heard of.
* Your concealer doesn't conceal.
* Your lipstick bleeds.
* Your mascara clumps, and your eyebrows are disappearing.
* You don't have hair under your arms and very little on your legs, but your chin needs to be plucked daily.
* What used to be freckles are now liver spots.
* Everybody whispers.
* Now that your husband has retired, you'd give anything if he'd find a job.
* You have 3 sizes of clothes in your closet, 2 of which you will never wear again.
* But old is good in some things -- old songs, old movies, and best of all -- old friends!

Sent to me by my oldest sister, Carol. This had my name written all over it!!! Except the retired husband part, of course....

CHRISTmas Joy!

My house is quiet right now but soon will be filled with activity as we hustle around to eat some breakfast before going to church. As I write this, I do not know if Justin is here or not because I had to go to bed before he made his final decision about running back home to pick up some stuff or not. Only Justin and I went to the candlelight service last night as the Schippers had attended the children's service with me earlier and just wanted to sit tight after their long car ride. The candlelight service was very nice, and had the special treat of having our dear member, Gordy, in attendance. I went to see at the hospital this past week, but he had been released to the nursing home. Gordy was the man of the hour, except for Jesus, at church last night!

*

Another special feature last night was that the four young men who basically grew up together were all in attendance and I was able to capture them in a photo. Mark, Justin, Robbie, and David used to all hang out around my friend, Cindy's, van between Sunday school and worship because she would go to her car to have a smoke and some quiet---right! Her sons are Mike and David, and the kids sort of congregated around 'fun' Ms. Cindy. The moms and grandma's of these fellas have asked for copies of the picture so once I get a spare moment will download the photos and print them off. Twila came to me after we took the picture and said it made her eyes tear up to see the four guys together again....I hope they cherish it as much as their families do! It likely does because Robbie was the one who told me the four guys were in church together...he knows.

*

Part of the candlelight reading and song service was singing "O Holy Night" as Robbie played the organ. On the 3rd stanza another man, Kurt, took over on the piano as Robbie sang so beautifully. Kurt does not sight read music, plays by memory and also played several more carols and hymns during the offering. For the children's service, I got all choked up when the little ones, dressed as shepherds and angels, came walking down the aisle, holding hands and singing. I could barely see straight after that, Daniel looked so absolutely darling and sings his little heart out. Such enthusiasm at this age! They truly loved to tell the story of Jesus and His love!

*

It was nice to see and hear the young people being involved in the services this year, with three young men doing readings or recitations in the children's service, and three older young men (huh?) doing readings during the candlelight service. Besides celebrating Jesus' birth, it was just a hoot to see folks I had not seen in a while and just plain greeting folks at CHRISTmas! Even my friend, Wendy, came to church and I got her to sit with us. I had tried and tried in November to track her down, unsuccessfully, so last night I got her phone numbers that work so she can no longer escape!!

*

It is time to move around in the house to wake my guests. Make coffee, that will work! My family and friends at First German are getting some sort of surprise this morning, and we are speculating that perhaps the former pastor might be stopping by for a visit. He is the man who sang to Mom last year at his going away party, "Now the Light Has Gone Away", in German, as a special tribute to her. No dry eyes in that house that night and maybe they will get to see each other again today! Only guessing that is what the surprise will be....I will let you know what it is when I find out!

*

Merry CHRISTmas!

Waiting, waiting, waiting

Justin has been here and gone already, having just about finished his list of things to do. There are a couple minor items which needed attention but he can do that even after the guests are here. The more labor intensive task of straightening and wiping the shelves in the tray base and lazy susan, is completed, already for cooking and baking. In fact, prior to his coming I did bake several dozen cookies using my dough from Papa Murphy's. One found its way into my mouth, the smallest one truthfully, because I had taken my fish oil pills and did not want to taste the fish flavor later. Just like my mom, I had to take a cookie for medicinal purposes!

*

Justin had plans to go bowling tonight with his friends even though his knee was still bothering him. It looks almost like Joanne's did when she banged hers up only she has a clotting problem. Bowling, yes. Kneeling to clean the cabinets out, painful! We sorted out the plasticware, too, while we were at it and disposed of the unmatched plastics so we will have only dishes and covers working together. At least for a while, that is! Oh, besides the chores, I gave him one of his CHRISTmas presents early because he was saying how he wished his car was cleaner for when he has his two cousins in the car....So, I gave him the car wash gift certificate I had picked up for him today when I got my car washed! His stocking stuffer, a day early!

*

Lori called this a.m. to report they were leaving Holmen just after 8:00 their time and expected to be at my house in about 20 hours. It seems, in watching the forecasts and such that they outran the nastiest of the foul weather, which was the intent. She called earlier this evening to report they would arrive about 3 or 4 a.m. if all went according to plan and I assured her I would leave my kitchen door unlocked for them to make themselves at home, in case I do not hear them come in. Their beds are all ready for them to climb into or onto once in the door and I will see them in the morning, I guess. Unless I hear them come in, that is! Justin said he will stop by in the morning then to say "hey!" to them before heading to his father's house. He will come back here for the candlelight service at my church and then sleep over for church on CHRISTmas Day. He can use 'Alayna's' bed since she will not get here until Sunday late afternoon.

*

Today Martie and I were planning to see a movie but when I called her this a.m., or she called me, we sort of begged off due to the early arrival of my family and her needing to take care of a few things yet before CHRISTmas plus she has her grandson staying with her these days. I think a two-hour plus movie not really intended for his age group might have been too long for Little Mark anyway. We will plan again for after the company is gone home. We planned to see "The Blind Side", a movie we had wanted to see for some time. Instead of movie watching, I had to go pick up my ham and sweet potatoes from Honey Baked Ham Company. As I was heading out, Twila called to see if I wanted to have lunch since she was already in that area. Sure! We met for soup and salad at the Olive Garden before I went to get my ham.

*

In the morning I found myself on the phone quite alot because of two separate prayer chain requests, making it necessary for me to call my people twice within an hour! Pastor asked me the other day to include him when I make my calls so he is "in the know" on things. When I spoke with him, he indicated all things were under control in the office, since I offered to come over to lend a hand if needed. The secretary had been out due to illness and even though I am hustling here to get ready for company, the service folders and such still need to be ready for worship. He told me his in-laws were in town and he could press them into service if needed. Great! Lynn, his wife, had successful surgery removing cancer from her breast last Friday which is why her folks are in town. Bet they are so glad to be out of WI for that nasty weather going on!

*

Once home with my purchases from HBH and Winn-Dixie, where I got David's beer and box of wine, I got busy making my cookies. At the same time, I made a kettle of chili to have on hand for tomorrow in case anyone expects to eat when here! During the day I intend to put together as much of my feast foods as possible so there is less to do on Friday. Rick called to confirm they would be coming, and Olivia is coming but is not sure about Owen yet. Olivia called to make sure I would be around Thursday between noon and three as a delivery is coming for me, from her. That rascal! She is always doing some thing like that...sweet girl! My downstairs neighbor said he could smell my cookies baking but that was likely because my oven still smelled funky from the cleaning the other night! I had my door open and the ceiling fan to move the smell around, but drove Jeff nuts with delicious aroma of cookies baking!

*

Justin had to use my printer this evening when he was here, evidently something related to my CHRISTmas present. I had to stay out of the room while he did this but did have to help him locate a decent envelope to use. Hmmm....I am curious now! Oh, I am getting so sleepy, I think out of respect for Lori and family driving through the night. Is it the honorable thing for me to go to bed now or is it more honorable for us all to be without a decent night's rest? I opt for one of us sleeping, that being me!

The excitement is building!!

More since Lori let me know they are coming sooner than originally planned, due to the bad weather heading their way. Snow, sleet, and other wretched winter weather might hamper all the CHRISTmas plans being made in my hometown and in Sheboygan, where Lisa lives. While Lisa is glad for me, she is sad because the Schippers were coming to her house before heading south to mine, and now, they will not see each other until after Schippers head back up. Lisa is thinking only the four of them will enjoy their CHRISTmas feast if the weather gets as bad as predicted. Certainly I do not want Mom and Lynn, Jill and Danny, and Alayna on the roads if they are treacherous....I do 'express concern' for all their traveling safety!

*

When I let Justin know about the plans change, he sent me a text message basically saying how fun it will be to have to put tables together for the feast. I had decided to have a feast on CHRISTmas Day anyway, even if Kerry was not coming and had made arrangements for others to join us around the table. My greatest pleasure is having my table full and now it might be two tables full! The feast from Sunday will be combined with Thursday's and I will make as much of the foods ahead of time as possible. Oooh, I am so 'cited about all this!

*

Since we were not expecting people now until the 26th, some of the tasks will not be taken care of, which is really fine. The endless dust continues to plague me and my home but it is the worst in the early morning, which Lori won't see! There is no need for getting up except on church days so why not? She is on vacation! David might be up earlier but not notice the dust....There still is time to take care of that if I get at it. Justin was coming over last night but once again had to reschedule, at least not because of doing something with his father this time. He had fallen when bowling on Friday night, throwing his first ball, and banged up his knee. I just thought of this----like father, like son! His father was always running into something or banging something up when he was younger, and now Justin is always hurting himself one way or another! I will have to tell Lori about this revelation! After working all day on Monday, Justin claimed his knee was too sore to bend down into the cabinets (his project for that night) and it was no biggy for me. It still is not but just a task I had wanted taken care of at some point, and that point is getting closer!

*

This morning I was true to my commitment of not turning on the computer until certain items were taken care of, and I did it. I did have to sneak one peek at the laptop when looking up the zip code for Two Rivers. But, that is all, I swear! The last, I think, of the CHRISTmas cards went out when I went downstairs to get the mail from yesterday. I had a parcel from Marian and Biff plus a couple more cards. Good thing I had some leftover! At one point I was going to make a phone call and when I picked up the phone, saw it was only 7:45 a.m., and I have no idea what time it was when I got up. Fox and Friends was on already so that is my gauge for when I got up and took my shower. I have no clocks in my room except the cell phone and the computer, and, with the computers off, I had no time!

*

After the cards were done, I got busy with the present wrapping. At first I was going to buy paper and boxes but then remembered seeing my gift wrap Rubbermaid tower in the back room where the ornaments are kept. There I found tons of paper and enough boxes to even have leftovers. Lots of kids' paper, likely from Timmy yet. As I said, normally my presents are wrapped in Manty so it has been a long time since I tapped into that stockpile. It was trip down memory lane. I found a gift tag where Roger had written "MAMA" on the back, evidently for Timmy to copy. Oops, I was doing good up until this point....I can be sad if I want to...for a little while, anyway.

*

By the way, I finally read through the anthem Rachel had sent home with me a couple weeks ago. It is a hymn intended to be sung when a child dies, a choral arrangement, using a more "carol" melody. I do not read music so cannot even hum it, but there is a paragraph on the sheet music explaining the reason and such for this piece. Rachel was right, better to be read in the privacy of my own home.

*

Yesterday I went on several errands, starting with Winn-Dixie for a few more grocery items needed for the dinner. When I checked a recipe, it seems I need whole kernal corn besides the creamed corn and some corn bread. At WD, I got their last mini-tree to use at the cemetery, since neither Justin nor I could find our usual tree. I am wondering if it blew away last year when I was gone and I just simply do not remember. This mini tree will do and I will simply need to get a new one after the holidays and redecorate it. I stopped next at the post office to mail some shut-in CHRISTmas booklets for the folks in Keystone Heights.

Next stop was the hospital to visit Gordy, where I found a handy parking place. As I was getting out of the car, a golf cart pulled up behind my car and this kindly older gentleman offered me a ride to the door. How nice is that? When I got inside, the lady at the information desk told me he had left the hospital but had no further info for me. Back to the car, on foot, where I sent a message to Terri, his daughter, to see where he was. It seems he was back at the nursing home so I will try again another time to catch him. His family is in now town so he will need our visits once they have left.

*

From there I headed toward Blanding Blvd. where the long long ride began. The traffic was bumper to bumper all the way from Kingsley Avenue to the freeway for some reason, perhaps Mall shoppers? But really, this was way too far from the Mall to be a problem, you think? I had to stop for gas part way down the road and feared being able to get back into line. No worries, nice people let me back in so I could continue. Thirty minutes later I was pulling into the cemetery. Justin was on the phone with me part of the time and he was hoping I would get to the cemetery before dusk, but I did. It happened to be quitting time for my "boyfriends" so I got to wave or chat with some of them on their way out. The guy in charge of the cemetery portion of the place, Mike, stopped to talk and said he hardly gets to see me anymore. I explained I no longer come every day, which is good, and he said, "Well, I know, but when you do come, the guys will say, "Saw Ms. Day today"..." I asked if they were keeping an eye on me, jokingly, and Mike said, "They think the world of you, Ms. Day, and so do I!" Wow! Mike was one of the two guys who had to jump into the hole to lower Timmy's casket into the vault, so it seems he has taken a special interest. I think the world of them, too, and it seems odd to not see them daily any longer. A good odd!

Ugh! Is this mess really worth the savings????

This morning, having no set plans, to look more presentable during the upcoming holidays, I decided to remove my silver. Well, if anyone saw me while I was doing this, I would have to yell, "Look away! I am hideous!!!", like Kramer did in "Seinfeld". Sorry, David, I had to throw in a reference to make my point....Such a mess! My first mistake was forgetting to put baby oil around my face edges, or ears and neck. Now I look tattooed, could join the circus if I wanted to! Even though I take nearly every precaution to prevent a mess, I still end up with one, including a few spots on the ceramic tile floor in my bathroom. And my sink! And the faucets and the light switches! A comfort is that my hair is short which limits the amount of the product needed, or it could be much, much worse! What costs about $40 at the beauty shop only cost me a tenth of this amount at home, minus the cost of ruined towels and cleaning products to remove the stains!

*

A couple things passed through my brain today and of course, I developed a leak so some escaped. One thing which stayed was an advertisement on the radio about buying underprivileged children admission to a sporting event, using the prod of "giving back to the children" who may never experience a major sporting event. That burns my biscuits! If I want to treat someone to an event, that is entirely up to me, and my own motivation. NOT about 'giving back', I really dislike strongly this type of thinking. If the children are truly underprivileged, a bag of groceries provided by a generous person goes further than a sporting event. Anyone??

*

The late night/early morning vote that took place gives me the creeps and I do hope when the elected officials are in their districts over the CHRISTmas break they hear from their constituents regarding this horrendous not-yet-completely-read health care plan. It will certainly compromise our futures, financial and liberties, privacy, all that. Even the CBO thinks it is a bad idea economically and determined folks will still fall through the cracks after this fiasco goes into effect. I am so sad about this, 'let me be clear'!

*

Ready for more complaints? I am loaded for bear this afternoon! Because my fingers are stained from the hair silver remover, nail polish was required to disguise the ugliness. Since my favorite bottle leaked all over the inside of my travel bag, I had to use a different one from the drawer. As I attempted to stroke it on my nails, the polish was nothing but gummy strings, having outlived its usefullness. Somehow I even got some on my desk and I hope some remover will take care of this stain. But, I got enough on the nails to cover up the other mess and deposited the bottle in the trash, right alongside the remnants of the silver remover. Waste is going on over here, lots of it, seemingly!

*

The temperatures outside are in the mid-40's with the lows overnight in the 30's, as predicted. My room is snug and warm with the heater on and the doors closed to bottle it up. A bit of sun shines in, not a whole lot, but at least it is not gloomy. It seems the water level is going down after our deluges last week, which wreaked havoc at Twila's house. When the water level is too high, she had troubles with her septic system and drainage so hopefully she is now able to shower and use her dishwasher and washing machine again. My feet are dressed in fuzzy slippers and I am sporting a sweater gotten at CJ Banks when at Lori's house. Counting the days until she comes here to spend the holidays!!!

*

Saturday night I cleaned my oven, using, of course, the self-cleaning feature. One thing about that is not all the soil, burned-on foods turn to ash in the cleaning process. I ruined a red dishcloth by wiping the black stuff off the floor of the oven and the door, but it did not all come off. I was thinking of my friend, Tarren, when the oven was creaking and groaning during the cleaning process, as just prior to their last visit I had heard about an oven door exploding, one just like mine! This was my excuse for not cooking at that time, but I sort of got over it, until I remembered when the oven was making funny sounds when cleaning itself. I can just visualize shards of black glass stuck in the ceiling and cabinets from the explosion!!!

*

Everyone I meet is now treated to my saga of shopping on Saturday morning/afternoon. That entire episode took nearly three hours, going first to Wal*Mart for the non-food items and then Publix for the rest. In total it was four trips from the car to bring it upstairs, plus the bag I found in the car yet, in the front seat, Sunday morning. I knew I had bought nacho chips and dip for David plus a half-loaf of bread. By the way, I think selling half loaves of bread are the best thing since sliced bread. Not being nuts about refrigerated bread, having only half on my counter at a time better sense to me, if I eat it before it turns green! My premise of making bras grey to start with, saving me the trouble, works for making bread green, saving me the trouble of looking for mold---right?

*

Judy C. was asking me about the shopping last night at church, when I explained it is incredibly rare for me to buy in quantity like I did on the weekend. I even got to use a $5 off coupon for purchases over $50! I wish I'd had a purseful of those coupons! The plan was to make sure I had plenty of stuff on hand for my guests so no last minute store runs would be necessary. Once when Alayna stayed a few weeks in the summer, her mom called to ask if she was eating something other than French fries. Alayna told her mom that the only fruit Kim has in her house is either wax or wood. Okay, Alayna, get your shoes on, we are going to the store and you can pick out whatever you want to eat....That child used to eat peppers like apples! Ew! I have some fresh cut green peppers in case she wants a snack, from the pizza bar at Publix! Yes, I do have the Pampered Chef blitz hacker for chopping veggies but when they come already chopped........

Nowhere else to be

It feels so wonderful to be home this evening, connecting with my heating pad, my laptop, and TV remote control. Even if the Packers lost in the last moment by one stupid point, one point!!!, I am glad to be here. Checking the calendar and schedule a couple times just to make sure I did not have to be somewhere else, the decision was made to get comfortable in my nightie. If it was summer time, the sun would still be out and fun going on, but since it is winter, well almost anyway, wearing ones nightie at this early hour is more than acceptable. Between the Packers and the Jaguars, my heart is taking a beating (get it???). What a wild ride these teams have taken us on this season!

*

Today required a great deal of standing as our second Advent Song Service took place at Victory, with rehearsal beforehand. Kathy B. rode with me to the church, leaving her car parked at the dog track. Rachel, the director, sent me a message overnight asking if we could bring a music stand with us so Kathy stopped at church to grab one on her way to meet me. We tossed it in the back of my car and away we went. The freeways were clear and the two of us arrived in good time, with extra spent in the car talking until more choir members began to show up.

*

It was wonderful to see our brothers and sisters again, and combine voices and hearts with them. Suzanne played the viola beautifully, having to dash between the organ and piano to accompany, as Rachel asked her to do. She is the one who should be lying down tonight after all the miles she put on. It would have been bad form to cut across the front of the church so Suzanne had to truck it around back each scene change---whew! The piano, played by Bonnie, was lovely and with Rachel on the organ, it was almost heavenly. For one of our anthems, Rachel's brother, Joel, sight-read the music and played the bells, adding much to the background. Justin was the photographer for me, and got several nice shots of various people, including me. Someone after church said it was like Justin was taking pictures at his mama's wedding, ready to shoot the picture every time his mama was up front! Afterwards, Janet came to the narthex where I was "greeting", took my hand and lead us up front so Justin could take a photo of the five of us ladies from G. S. Rick P. had already left or he would have been included in the shot. Only six of our choir members were able to be there this morning, as illness or travel prevented others from being there.

*

It was great to see so many people I know, including Anne's parents, visiting from Sarasota, and Carol, a friend of Linda O's whom I had met a couple years ago at Linda's condo in St. Augustine. Linda had a gathering one year after her husband died to thank the ladies in her life who had helped her get through and there I met Carol. It was amazing that she remembered my name and was so fun to see her again! Linda had invited me to come to her condo on New Year's Eve for a bonfire and to ring in 2010, even having a sleep-over. Unfortunately, or rather, fortunately my family will be visiting me yet at that time so had to take a rain check. I couldn't make it on ThanksLiving Eve either because I was in WI and if I do not watch out, the invitations might stop coming!

*

Justin had plans for after church so four of us ladies went to eat lunch at Mimi's. We were told there was a 45 minute wait but we pulled up chairs at the party bar and were able to order from the bar room. Cool! Time was our enemy a bit because we had a full day ahead of us yet with the tree decorating, caroling, and then the chili supper at our own church. Others were taking care of putting up the tree and I was in charge of the caroling. Kelly T. had left the beautifully done CHRISTmas card booklets at church for us to hand out when caroling plus a gift bag for me. Inside the bag were two Packer towels for attaching to the oven door, two Packer hot pads, a gorgeous blue candle she had made, plus two dishcloths and a dish towel. She really outdid herself and I cherish the hand towels! Presently the CHRISTmas scene towel is hanging on my oven door which was her gift to me last year but will be replaced by the Packer ones when my family is here! Awesome gifts from an awesome friend!

*

We have one member at a nursing home in O.P. so that is where we headed. There were only five adults and four kids who went caroling, with Nancy being delighted to see us. Before I could introduce us, Nancy said she knew who we were which was very good. She had a stroke and is recovering from it, but her memory is strong, so much so that she could attempt to sing along with us on the carols she knew. The little ones really sang out nicely as some of the songs are part of their program for the 24th. I was so proud of them! As we were leaving, we sang "Joy to the World" going down the hallway as the kids handed out the booklets. We found a roomful of people in the dining room so we sang a song or two for them as the kids gave away the rest of the booklets. Even though I was so terribly weary, it was truly a blessing to be able to go there to sing for these folks and wish them Merry CHRISTmas!

*

Back at church, the fellowship hall was aromatic with the scent of chili which those who had not gone caroling prepared for us. Three types of chili, three types of corn bread, crackers, cheese, onions, and kidney beans......wow! My first helping was delicious, Cincinnati chili, but my eyes were bigger than my stomach (really????) and I simply could not finish the next type of chili. Oh, it was such a wonderful day today being with two of the church families, preparing for Jesus' birthday and sharing the Word in song and booklet. And there was nothing else on the calendar for today besides that!