Celebrating the reason

December 27, 2006 (7:22am)
23º F, Almost daylight, W wind 4 mph.

Good morning,

Have no idea where yesterday went. Seems like I just got up, late, and the day was already over. It does seem strange for it to be dark at 7:30 A.M. and then gets dark again at something after 4:00 P.M. again. The days should be on the getting longer side of things now though. The clouds yesterday made it seem to be a shorter day too. Clouds all day and should be around for a day or so yet.

So we have finished our celebrating for Christmas. Well there are some leftovers, so we will continue to celebrate a bit more for a couple of days yet. It was a very nice Christmas this year - even without any snow on the ground. It really started with church twice on Christmas Eve. Our two normal Sunday morning services became one at 9:00 A.M., then another at 7:00 P.M. as a candlelight service. Both were nice services, but the morning was lighter in numbers than I expected. The evening service, while more folks attending, was also smaller than past years.

After the evening service we were invited to one of our friend’s home, Charlotte, for soup and sandwiches with her "kids" and families came home for Christmas. Another gal, about our age, was also invited. We really had a nice time and enjoyed the fellowship greatly. Oh yes the food was good too. Being old, us old folks were pretty well served by the younger crowd and their kids. I made the remarked that is was pretty nice to be old while the four of us old folks were sitting at the table chewing the fat after the meal was finished. Charlotte’s kids did much of the preparation and serving - all of the cleanup. We liked that. And we enjoyed! We have done this almost every year for the past few years. It really is a nice tradition for us to take part in and pleased to be asked.

Christmas Day again started with church, albeit only one service at 10:15 A.M. Again the turnout was very light, but it usually is on Christmas Day. The service was also shorter than normal and one of the members brought a birthday cake for Jesus to be shared after the service. It wasn’t planned, but was well accepted and we had an unplanned time of fellowship. After church it was time to go home and start our own celebration of the birth of our Saviour.

The roulade was excellent. Still is actually. Margriet out did herself in making the meal. I had a hard time trying to elbow my way into the kitchen to help! But she did let me make the sweet potatoes (No Yam-yam lady, Brenda, to do it) for the meal. They too were good. The roulade was perfect and we didn’t eat as much as I had sliced. Margriet also made a bunch of appetizers for us to chew on before the meal. As usual, she made those too good and tempting, filling me up before the main meal. Didn’t even have room for dessert! That is unbelievable for me at least. We were forced to have some of it yesterday. Might even have some for breakfast this morning - as dessert.

Another "tradition" I started a few years ago was giving my Woman a small Christmas tree ornament everyday for the 12 days preceding Christmas (yes I know the 12 days of Christmas really follows Christmas) and putting one a day somewhere in the house for her to find. I really had to work to get her to find the last one though. She gets a kick out of it and so do I. I also have made it a tradition to buy a candle w/holder every year for Christmas. Her first Christmas present from me was one. This year I didn’t wrap it, but left it in the box, putting it under the Christmas tree way back next to the wall, making it look like something was dropped there and then over looked. I got her to water the tree and then had to help her to see the stray box, convincing her to get it out. She couldn’t figure out how it got there or what it was. Even opening it, she couldn’t figure it out - until I said "Merry Christmas." The look on her face was priceless, even though her arm was up, threatening to hit me. She then insisted it was time for us to open our presents, since one was already open.

We decided this year to buy each other a single present we both can enjoy. So ..... I bought the right half and Margriet bought the left half of a DVD player. The right half has the controls. We picked up a few DVD’s from the library and are finally able to view the DVD my brother sent almost a year ago. We really didn’t have much need for the player in the past, since we didn’t have any and the public library had video tapes we checked out on occasion. Unfortunately, the library was discontinuing the VHS format and replacing them with DVD’s so we were without some viewing capabilities. Since we have picked up several and have enjoyed them. More to check out

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Today we will be going to Green Bay. We didn’t have Bible study yesterday, but didn’t go to avoid the "return gift" folks swarming over the stores and roadways there. We really don’t have that much to buy, but there are a few necessary things to pick up. Today also looks like it will be the last "nice" day for a few days. The weatherman is predicting rain and possibly freezing rain. Possible to get a few snow flakes too.

Time to get a-going. Have to burn the trash now since the wind is down and it is not a holiday or Sunday today.

In Christ My Saviour,

Chris <><