Scary?

I don't know if this picture is as scary to you as it is to me! This is what our upstairs hallway looks like and this doesn't really show it all! Plus all the boxes aren't out of the closet yet. Some of these boxes are still full of Christmas decorations and ornaments and some have already been emptied and filled back up with regular every day decorations. The scary part to me is that my Sunday School party is just a little over a week away. Finally this evening I have started doing a bit more of the decorating...but I really should be sewing another doll dress as that present has to be sent to AZ. I got all the ornaments that I have been working on over the last several months to their next step. The next step is to put on their hanging cords. This afternoon I made cookies for an event at church in the morning. So I have been busy...just not making much headway in the decorating department. Woody walked his four-mile route this afternoon. It has been a beautiful day. The temperatures were in the upper 20's early this morning, but the day warmed up into the 60's...very nice! On Woody's walk he counted eight houses getting new roofs. A while after he got back he got to oversee Nathan's roofing crew as they arrived rather late and Nathan and family were away at the time. They got the garage shingles taken off and started getting the tar paper on and then it was getting dark so they put a blue tarp over things and went on their way. Woody came in quite pleased as he had been able to communicate successfully in Spanish. Woody said to one of the workers, "manana" and the worker replied, "si." Too funny!

Now for an explanation. One of my blog readers asked about our Deacon-Widow banquet as to why the banquet had that name and what the name meant. Twelve years ago Woody and I were visiting Nathan in TX while he was in seminary. He had an engagement at a church to juggle as the entertainment for a banquet. The person who asked him to do the program found out that we were visiting and we were invited to the banquet, too (perks of being the juggler's parents!). It was a special banquet where the widows at their church were honored and it was given by the deacons of their church. Woody came back and made the suggestion that we start this tradition in our church. The deacon's (and their wives) had for years and years had a banquet at Christmas so it was decided to invite the widows of our church to the Deacon Christmas banquet...and thus it became the Deacon-Widow Banquet. The widows really seem to enjoy being our guests at this banquet each year. Last night, I believe that we had close to 25 widows in attendance. Each deacon in our church is assigned to 12 or so families and is responsible in keeping up with their needs. It is called the Deacon Family Care Plan. Most deacons have at least one widow in their Family Care Plan and they are responsible in seeing that "their" widow/s get invited to the banquet and offer to pick them up to take them to the banquet. Last night it worked out that Woody and I were able to sit at the table where "his" widow sat. The deacons serve the food at the banquet to their their widow/s and any other guests (pastoral staff, deacon's wives and entertainers for the evening) (and themselves eventually!). There is always entertainment after we eat. At the end of the banquet there is a gift given to each widow...this year a poinsettia. It has become a very nice Christmas tradition. I'm very glad that Woody took the initiative to get this started in our church.

Back to a little decorating...preparing for putting angels on top of our china cabinet...lots of up and down on the step ladder!