Story Behind the Ornament #2

The blue beaded ornament called "Message in a Bottle" was made by Melany. It is beaded around the neck of one of our granddaughter's insulin bottles. And, in the bottle is a rolled up message...this one reads Merry Christmas from Melany, Wade, Erin & Alex. I know because Graham got it out when we were decorating and read it and then struggled to get it back in...but back in he did get it! The sweet baby Christmas ornament is our granddaughter Erin Elizabeth. She is a Type I diabetic. So I think of her (and others with this disease...praying for a cure) when I hang this on the tree. I also have a "Message in a Bottle" necklace. I believe that message is "I love you" signed Erin. Hard to believe that sweet little baby is now a sweet college freshman. My time does fly!

'Tis the season! I can't believe it but I can say that all our wrapping is done. The menu for Saturday is planned and ingredients needed are on the grocery list. I machine embroidered a name on one of the gifts that Kathy & Nathan are giving. With that Christmas sewing is finished. At the moment I have batteries charging for the cameras so I will have full charges on extra batteries so hopefully I will make it through the evening without camera batteries giving out. (If they give out when I start with them fully charged then I have taken enough for the evening!) Woody and I will be heading out for The Night In Bethlehem: A Living Nativity in less than an hour. Woody is a greeter this year...so good to see that he feels well enough to once again do that job. I will be attempting to get pictures of some of Bethlehem until it is time for The Dazzling Dorrell's shows and then I will go in and find a spot in the church balcony to take pictures of them. The rain quit early today so things should be in pretty good shape...unless all the wood for fires is wet and causes smoke...then I won't be outside very long! But tonight should be a good night for the outdoor activities. Now tomorrow...well...we are due for storms most of the day so rain free evening is iffy. But then Friday is supposed to be nice once again...we are always glad to get at least two good nights for the Nativity. I used to do costumes...and rainy nights are terrible on the costumes and the costumers...lots of costumes to take home and wash and dry for the next day. Memories! Glad that I'm just taking pictures these days.

Woody walked his four-mile route this afternoon due to the fact that it rained this morning. He has done quite a bit of reading today and some TV watching.

I'm off to get ready to head out the door shortly...need to dress warmly, etc. for the outside activities at the Nativity...not as cold as some years but still chilly...'tis the season!

Come to the Manger!

It's that time of the year once again for me to issue an invitation to any of our blog readers who live close enough. Please come to The Night In Bethlehem: A Living Nativity. I am sure that you will be blessed if you are able to attend. Once again Nathan and his family will be performing. I believe that they have a new Christmas story to share this year. They will be performing twice each of the nights. The first night is tomorrow and it will run through Friday night (Dec. 21,22,23). It starts at 6:30 and is over at 9pm each evening. Lots to see in the little town of Bethlehem (be sure to register at the gate so you will be counted in the census!) and there will be musical performances...different ones different nights. All that and lots of cookies and hot chocolate. I plan to attend at least the first two nights and attempt to get some pictures both inside and out. I didn't get very many good ones outside last year. It was cold and very windy. I couldn't hold my camera still even with it on a monopod. We'll see what the conditions will be this year. Today has been rather balmy...the calm before the storms. We are due for rain to start some time this evening and we are praying that it will be through here by tomorrow night. Rain seems to be the norm for our three nights. We are always glad to have two dry evenings!

Woody stayed busy reading. He is happy I brought home a box of books from the church library for him to read and decide if we need them in the library. He walked to the library this afternoon as I left to get my hair cut and run an errand or two. I woke up this morning with menu plans running through my head for our family Christmas lunch. I think that I have made up my mind what we will have...now to get items needed on the grocery list so Woody can shop for them! This evening when it was almost dark I headed next door to ask Nathan and Kathy something and noticed that a truck pulled up in front of our driveway and stopped. I called Woody from next door to alert him to the fact that it looked like we had some workmen here. They were here to install our gutter helmets. Once I approved the color for them, they continued on and installed them right them even though it was just about dark and was dark by the time they finished. So one more thing done on our repairs due to hail damage.

That's a LOT of Groceries!

Here's what the stage area at the front of our church looked like last night after everyone brought their bags of food forward. There was already a lot of food back in the fellowship hall too. This morning Woody went down to the church to help pack and deliver boxes of food to those in need in our community. Nathan and the children went to pack boxes. After packing boxes, Woody went with Nathan and the children to deliver boxes. I'm not sure what the count of the number of boxes we packed. But I do know that the goal was over 150 and I am pretty sure that they went beyond the goal.

I stayed home and started getting things organized to start wrapping presents. I have set up a wrapping work station on our dining room table. But so far haven't wrapped anything yet. It was also a day of catching up with friends and family on the phone. I am a part of a couple of sewing groups on the internet. On one of the groups we post pictures of things that we have made. I was way behind in posting my Christmas sewing so I did that today too. I would say that this was sort of a wind-down day before I need to get wound back up for all that will be happening this week. We will have our family Christmas on Saturday so I will be needing to get ready for that before long...as in planning a menu! I decided to do things a bit differently this year and want to change up our menu...but haven't settled on anything yet!

Woody stayed busy today first packing boxes and delivering them, then he ran an errand this afternoon that took a while. He and Abigail and Joy walked his four-mile route after they came home from packing White Christmas boxes. He came home after that and relaxed a bit. Graham came over to read. He is really wrapped up in the Chronicles of Narnia. He has started on the second book. He is anxiously waiting to get to watch the first Chronicles of Narnia movie (his reward for finishing the first book). Joy and Esther came over late in the afternoon. Joy helped Goosey make some Tahitian Treats...a yummy confection. Esther came upstairs and did art work and also helped me work on a couple of pictures in the computer. Well, guess it is time to go wrap a few presents...'tis the season to be doing such!

Baby Booming Right Along!

Well, Woody has joined the rank and file of baby boomers who have turned 65 this year. I'm very happy to be able to announce this birthday since three years ago it didn't look very likely that he would be celebrating this one. I made a banana cake with cream cheese frosting. He decided that he wanted Butter Pecan Ice Cream. We carried both of those items over to the neighbors this afternoon and celebrated in grand style. Woody was treated to presents and a "floor show" after we had cake and ice cream.


We both went to the early church service and then to Sunday School this morning. He taught his sixth grade Sunday School class and I taught my ladies' class (last minute substitute). When we got home, we got busy making a new soup recipe, Cabbage Stew. It was very easy to make and is very tasty. It has salsa in it and Woody chose the hot...so it is very spicy...maybe we will use the medium salsa the next time! I'm posting early tonight as we are heading to church in a few minutes to hear a special missions speaker and have our White Christmas ingathering of food items for those in need in our community.

Story Behind the Ornament #1

This is a brass ornament representing George Washington's home, Mount Vernon. The year that we visited Mount Vernon it was very hot and you didn't want to stay any place very long since nothing was air conditioned. It was so hot that the guides were not encouraging anyone to linger very long on the tours. I know that I passed up getting an ornament that day due to it being so hot and not wanting to stand in a line to purchase it. I had always wished that I had gotten one as I try to get something to represent trips to special places to hang on our Christmas tree as a memory. Well, some years later when Nathan became a US-2 missionary in the Washington DC area, I told him that if he ever went near Mount Vernon that I would like him to get me that brass ornament that I had passed up (or at least one similar). (Southern Baptists assign people interested in becoming career missionaries to different posts around the country and the world for two-year periods of time. This lets them see if they are "really" interested in becoming a missionary full time. In the United States they are called US-2ers and on the foreign field they are called Journeymen.) One Saturday morning Woody and I were getting ready to go to Melany and Wade's and I just happened to go up to Nathan's room for something before we left and I got a VERY big surprise. Nathan jumped out from behind his bed and about scared me to death (Can you imagine my reaction?)! He had made a surprise trip home and had snuck into the house during the night. He couldn't sleep in his bed as it was a water bed and the heat was turned off since he wasn't at home to use the bed. He had slept on the floor between his bed and his dresser. I was so glad that I had gone into his room at that time or we would have left without knowing that he was there and would have missed part of his visit! As it was he got up and got ready and went to see Melany and family with us. He gave me this ornament on that surprise trip. So this ornament has a double memory: first of our trip when the four of us stopped to tour Mount Vernon and second as a memory of Nathan's surprise trip home to see us. One of the funny things about Nathan's visit that time was that he prayed that we wouldn't notice his car parked in front before he surprised us. I did notice the car...a very distinctive Ford Mustang...but my thoughts were when I saw it that the neighbors across the street had someone visiting who had a car almost identical to Nathan's. And, went about my business never dreaming that it was Nathan's...so I guess Nathan's prayer was answered as he surprised us before we realized that it was really his car! Well, that is just one of many stories behind the ornaments on our tree.

Woody went to the library this morning. I slept in for a change...I think catching up on some much needed sleep. I was sleeping so soundly that I didn't hear the workers tearing down Nathan and Kathy's back porch. Hail damaged the roof of their porch and the work was started today to replace it. I managed to get started on wrapping gifts...still a lot to go...but each one done makes the job a bit smaller! I will be so glad when I can see the top of our guest bed once again. Right now it has wrapped gifts from AZ on it and also lots of unwrapped gifts along with wrapping paper and gift bags, etc. 'Tis the season!

This afternoon we had all the neighbor grandchildren filter in and out at one time or another. Some played dolls in the tea party area of our upstairs hall, some read, some helped me cook, etc. I am in the process of making a birthday cake. I will go down and make the frosting and then frost it after I finish the blog. You'll find out tomorrow about this monumental birthday for someone in our family!

Ya Gotta Keep on Top of Those Sheep!

I asked Graham to set up the Fisher Price manger scene just before my party last week. This is how he set up the shepherd scene...with one of the little shepherds balanced on top of one of the sheep.

Today has been a rather rainy day...at least the first half. Woody got his exercise in grocery shopping. He took Esther and Elijah with him to WalMart and Kroger. I'm sure an adventure for all! Last night before I went to bed I had the five gifts that I was working on all finished. Today I have spent sewing out names and the years to put on the ornaments for Nathan and family. I got those finished and got them applied to their ornaments and then put hanging cords on all the rest of the ornaments that I have made for gifting this year. I also made a stocking with Elijah's name on it for their advent calendar. I should have made this last year but didn't have any red felt. So now Elijah has a stocking to hang when it's his turn (Monday). Their advent calendar is the one that Mother made us when Melany was two and Nathan was a baby. I had made one for Melany's family just like this one so when Nathan married we gave Kathy and him "ours." It is a tree and each day during December there is a different ornament to snap onto the tree. Each of the children have a stocking to hang on the tree the last days before Christmas with the star to be the last ornament to be put up on the 24th. After my little sewing projects, I started cleaning up the mess in my sewing room that has accumulated during the last week or so and watching some old Christmas movies that I have on CD's. Last year Nathan and Kathy and family gave me a collection of lots of vintage Christmas movies and cartoons. I have been viewing them keeping in mind which ones that I think that their family might enjoy. One that I watched today was Santa Claus conquers the Martians (or some such). I figured that this would be one that I didn't recommend...but Graham came over and it caught his attention and watched part of it and he thought that it was funny. I think that probably out of the children, he would be the only one who would enjoy it. It was funny. It was made in the early 60's and there was talk of rockets and space...a far cry from what a movie about such would be today! Woody watched his favorite Christmas movie today: Miracle on 34th Street. Woody headed next door a few minutes ago leaving me here to blog. I will head over as soon as I post this. We are kid sitting while the parents go stocking stuffer shopping. Pretty much time for jammies and some stories.

'Tis the Season!

Woody woke up really early and headed out on a walk. He knew that it was supposed to rain so headed out before the rain started. Today was the last day for school for this year/semester for me. We had a good day. Elijah came over first and enjoyed his time and then Esther and then Joy. Joy opted to read her reading book assignment to Goosey today. So I ended up starting sewing early with Abigail which let her finish her last placemat. So as of noon today she had made six placemats for her family this school year. She did a very good job and has learned a lot about sewing while doing them. As soon as I ate lunch I started in on some Christmas sewing and pretty much stayed at it all the rest of the afternoon. I did stop long enough to go pick up something that I needed at the quilt shop. After supper I talked to Melany for a while. Wade picked up Erin Tuesday so she is home from college for the rest of the holidays. Alex finished school today. So looks like it is 'tis the season for everyone's school to be winding down. After I talked with Melany I went back to my sewing project and got to a good stopping place and decided to take a break. I sat down in the recliner in our bedroom to read...well, I guess I dozed off and just woke up a few minutes ago...guess I needed a power nap! We've had a little over a half an inch of rain so far today. Guess it is time for me to head back to the sewing machine...'tis the season!