Cycle 6, Day 14--half-way through Cycle 6

Living Nativity--2009 at First Baptist Church, Tullahoma, TN

A bit late in posting tonight. I spent the evening at the church taking pictures and enjoying the variety of activities that were presented.

I spent some time wandering through the Bethlehem village and then stopped for a bit to listen to our choir sing various Christmas songs, then went in to warm up a bit and watch the jugglers(aka our son Nathan and family). I thought it interesting that I got to the Nativity scene just as they were placing the first set of actors (we rotate Mary and Joseph and the kings and the angel throughout the evening so they can go inside and get warm). Anyway, the first set of kings wore the costumes that were made for the very first Living Nativity back in 1997. I made the king's costume on the left. Glad to see that it is still holding up!

Woody walked to get his hair cut this afternoon. I took off in the car and finished my Christmas shopping. Hip-hip-hooray! Woody has read, watched TV and DVDs, and relaxed today.

A Night in Bethlehem: A Living Nativity

Everyone, who is in a close proximity to Tullahoma, (and those who aren't who want to drive the distance!) is invited to come to First Baptist's A Night In Bethlehem: A Living Nativity starting tomorrow night (December 21) thru Wednesday (December 23). The pictures above are just a sampling of what is offered. These are pictures that I have taken over the past years. It begins at 6:30 each evening and goes till 9.

I'm blogging early today as I will be heading off to church in a few minutes. The children's choir is doing a Christmas musical this evening and Graham and Abigail are in it...so Grammy needs to get to the church to claim a spot for herself and her camera! Another highlight to the evening is FBC's White Christmas--an ingathering of non-perishables that will be distributed to families in need tomorrow.

Woody got up early and walked around the block...in the cold. He came in saying that there was heavy frost on the car...later when it grew light enough to see better, he discovered it was snow...very light snow rather than a heavy frost! We both went to Sunday School this morning. Woody taught his class. We came home to rest and relax.

Christmas Nostalgia

This afternoon I sat down in the living room across from the Christmas tree and just let the memories surround me. I decided to get my camera and capture some of the ornaments that we have had the longest. The angel on the top left my parents sent to me my first Christmas at Cottey College in Nevada, MO...so that dates back to 1966. The ball, angel in the tree shape, angel on the shooting star, and the egg ornament were hung for the first time on Woody's and my first Christmas tree in 1970. We married in 1969...but the first Christmas we didn't have a tree, as we went to our parents' homes to celebrate Christmas...first to Woody's parents in MO and then on to my parents in AZ...a long trip...and I was pregnant with Melany. We had some not so great snowy road conditions on our return home and decided that it best not to travel between TN, AZ, and MO at that time of the year! We moved to California in 1971 and that year and 1972 we did celebrate with my parents...one year in AZ and the other they came to CA. So in our 41 Christmases together we only celebrated 2 of them away from our own home. And, it became a tradition to exchange ornaments among family members each Christmas...one of the reasons that we have so many ornaments! The little choir boy with the yarn hair is also one of our early ornaments...it is one of the first Hallmark ornaments. Anyway, I just sat for a while this afternoon and enjoyed memories that different Christmas ornaments brought back to me. The ball and the egg are probably miracles that they still exist considering that they are quite delicate...one of the balls met its demise some time back when Melany was very little...she pushed too hard on one and broke it (she didn't get cut). Three of those balls survived...I gave Melany and Nathan each one to put on their trees when they married. The box of balls was purchased at a store in Tullahoma...long out of existence...Big K...long before the existence of K-Mart and to my knowledge no relationship to K-Mart. I still have the original box for those balls too...and a price sticker is still on the box (not much money by today's standards...but I'm sure that I felt that they were rather expensive back in 1970 (and probably got them on an after Christmas sale)!). The egg ornament still resides in the original box that it came in when not on the tree. It is a snowy scene of two people walking towards a church. The angel on the shooting star has had her wings hot glued back on and the little angel that hangs in the tree no longer has the pieces of wheat that were once attached to the top of the tree. Anyway...such are the ramblings of my memories tonight.

Woody and I went to Lowes this morning. Then I went to the grocery store and Woody went to the library. He has been reading and watching DVDs and ball games on TV this afternoon and evening. I'm still having a lot of problems with congestion...got "desperate" and made some Rotel queso dip this afternoon to try to open up my head! Verdict is still out...but it tasted good...and, that's saying a lot as most things don't have much taste to me at the moment.

Bob the Builder

What a fun day. We started it out at the neighbors (aka Nathan, Kathy, Graham, Abigail, Joy, Esther-Noel, and Elijah's house) with a breakfast of French toast and ice cream! Ice cream for breakfast is a birthday tradition at their house and today we were celebrating Goosey's (aka Woody) birthday. A birthday we were very happy to be celebrating...because as Woody said..."I wasn't sure last year at my birthday, if I'd be here to celebrate this one!" He related the story about coming home from the hospital as a newborn...no baby bed...so they put him in a dresser drawer to sleep!

Now, to explain tonight's blog title. As I mentioned in yesterday's blog, Woody wrapped presents much of the day yesterday. So this got the interest of the grandchildren...wanting to check out what had been put under the tree and for whom. They have found some strange name tags...one is to Bob the Builder. When Graham found that tag yesterday, he didn't know exactly what to make of it. I told him that I guessed that Bob was going to be here to celebrate Christmas with us. And, Graham told me that he was sure that Bob the Builder was just on TV. So we had to figure out who Bob might be. Finally, Goosey reminded Graham that sometimes he calls Graham "Bob the Builder" because Graham loves to build with K'nex so much. So Graham was finally convinced that probably the "Bob the Builder" gift was for him.

This morning the children presented Goosey with cards that they had made from him...and one of them was to Goosey from Bob!!! Graham finally told Goosey they he had started to write Graham on the card, but that there wasn't enough room so he crossed it out and wrote "Bob!" Good for several chuckles!

Just before we headed back to our house after breakfast, Woody told the children that they needed to come over sometime today and check out the presents under the tree. They had to go practice this morning for their juggling performance at First Baptist, Tullahoma's Night in Bethlehem so couldn't come over then. About 11:30am, we got a call, they were home, and Joy had her boots on (it was raining) and wanted to come over to find her presents and shake them. She is in the picture on the left. She got a call to head home when their lunch was ready. We got a call from Abigail, when she finished her lunch, asking if she could come over like Joy had to find her presents. She is on the right...checking out a tall stack of packages that are tied together. She finally discovered that those were hers! She had fun trying to figure out what might be in them. She has decided that the red package has an umbrella in it and she is going to open that one in the stack first. After Abigail had been over for a while, the phone rang again and this time it was Nathan wondering if Graham could come over with Esther-Noel. So Abigail traded places with her big brother and littlest sister. They are pictured in the middle. The only one who didn't come over was Elijah...and he isn't too much into shaking presents at 5 1/2 months!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, WOODY!

Cycle 6, Day 10

Woody has been wrapping presents most of the day. Who do you suppose gets this one? Nice to have grandchildren with Christmas names...easy to find cards, ornaments, etc. that are already personalized! I have sewn most of the day...I'm on the last doll dress. That will be the end of the secret sewing...then on to "friend sewing!" We'll have our Christmas one week from today (24th)...I feel like I am ahead of the game...but doubt that I will have the same feeling Tuesday or Wednesday of next week! Woody is also looking through recipes...we're trying to finalize plans for our family Christmas dinner.

Cycle 6, Day 9

It has been a cold day here in Middle Tennessee. Despite the temperature, Woody decided to go for a walk. He walked to the library...returned some books and DVDs and checked out some more. He did say that the walk tired him out a bit. Woody has read and watched TV and the DVDs this afternoon and evening. A call from my doctor's office awakened me this morning...but there was good news on the other end of the line...my lab work came back okay and I don't have to go back for 6 months...sounds good to me! After the call, I headed into the sewing room. This afternoon before heading to the church library, I finished up one of the doll dresses...two to go.

Tonight's picture is one of the several butterfly ornaments that adorn our tree. This one is made of shells. Melany brought it back to us from a trip to Hilton Head Island. We have ornaments that remind us of our trips and of other's trips too.

There's lots of Christian symbols on our tree. The butterflies remind me of Christ's resurrection: the butterfly emerging from its cocoon represents the resurrection of Christ from the tomb. The butterfly can also represent our new life in Christ: as the butterfly comes forth with a new body, those who trust in Christ come forth with new life.

Cans for Lottie Moon

Lottie Moon, an early Southern Baptist Missionary, was born and died on December 25. Due to her many years of dedication to the mission work in China, Southern Baptists named their yearly offering for foreign missions in her honor. For many years our church has recycled aluminum cans to give the money earned to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for International Missions. For quite a few years our garage has been the storing place for the cans brought to the church for recycling. Throughout the year Woody gets the bags, boxes, etc. of cans out of the garage and takes them to the recycling place. Ever since Woody broke his arm last year, Nathan and family have helped to get them to the recycling place. Today, Nathan brought over his empty trailer and he and Woody loaded it up...they even had to put some into the back of Nathan's van. Then Nathan and Woody headed off to get the last recycle check of this year to give to the Lottie Moon Christmas offering.

Woody has had a busy day wrapping presents, watching TV, and reading. I have kept plugging along on the Christmas sewing. The major project that I have been working on was completed an hour or so ago...now for a several dollies that need new dresses! But shhhhhhhhhh...don't let the dolls know...still secret sewing!