On Friday evening Sam, Jenn, and Sammy, along with Destiny, were the first to arrive. On Saturday morning Sammy was the first to come to my kitchen looking for breakfast.
I was planning to do pancakes and sausages for breakfast, but they were in the mood for eggs. So Destiny got her dippy eggs, Sam his egg sandwich, and when Anthony and Austin came, Anthony ordered over easy eggs with sausage. I felt like a line cook! Austin's order was easy - a Weight Watchers popsicle!
It was snowing lightly and blowing ferociously outside, but Destiny wanted to go outside. I had bought her some enormous snow pants two years ago that she had never gotten to use, and now they fit her perfectly! I discovered she came without a winter coat, so she put mine on, and she was good to go. (Frank gave her a new one for Christmas the next day.)
Sam could hardly wait to dress Sammy up in his snowpants!
The wind was too strong, and he soon brought Sammy back inside. But Sam and Destiny played outside for quite a while. I just love how Sam is such a kid at heart.
Later in the afternoon Jeremy, his friend Mike, and his dog Molly arrived from DC. We had his favorite meal of Middle Eastern curried stew with Naan bread. Even Sam liked it, which says a lot, haha!
Destiny was delighted to have Mike and Jeremy to play Clue with her...
....while the other guys looked on....
......and Molly just tried to stay warm!
Here's a picture of us after church on Sunday. Dick's shirt and tie were Jeremy's gift to Dick, and I decided to dress to match him!
Ray and Thyda and their dog Leo arrived just in time for our Sunday lunch of vegetarian lasagna, meatballs, garlic bread, and Caesar salad. We were expecting Frank and Lauren to arrive for lunch too, so some ate in the kitchen. They love how I always snap pictures while they are either talking or stuffing food in their mouths.
Frank, Lauren, and Jada arrived around 2:30, and of course Jada was the main attraction since most of the family had never seen her in person before.
Jada and Leo even got acquainted!
In the evening the young adults went out to eat while Dick and I babysat the children and dogs. It made my heart happy to think of them all having a chance to enjoy being together.
Destiny was a huge help with the babysitting, especially with the dogs. We probably couldn't have done it without her. She endured a few episodes of Thomas the Train for Austin's sake!
Dick treated Sammy to a slide show on the computer, then sat on the recliner with him till he fell asleep.
Jada sat in her little seat and watched Thomas and then the beginning of The Sound of Music. When she got fussy I took her out to the dark kitchen and carried her around as I sang to her. When I sang, "The babies on the bus go 'Waah, waah, waah,' " she giggled!! Eventually she fell asleep.
Then it was Austin's turn. He had a lot of trouble tuning out Molly's occasional barking episodes. So once Sammy and Jada were both asleep, Destiny held Molly, Dick sat by Leo, and I was able to go back to our bedroom with Austin. He had just dropped off to sleep when the "middle generation" got back home! I think we passed the babysitting test!
Frank and Lauren were planning to drive back home to Pottsville since he had to work on Monday, but it was so late we decided to blow up our queen size air mattress, push the dining room table to the side, and have them sleep right there in the dining room. Ray and Thyda had the sofa and love seat; Sam, Jenn, and Sammy had our guest room; Jeremy and Mike went to Anthony and Lori's house; and Destiny always sleeps on a cot at the foot of our bed when we have a houseful. I think I counted eleven people and a dog here Sunday night. And five people and a dog at Anthony and Lori's! We're getting pretty good at packin' em' in!!
It was so precious to watch Jada wake up in the morning. She's like a little bug in a rug.
And it was very sad that they needed to leave. We were having our annual fondue meal that day, and it's always been one of Frank's favorite traditions, especially if Ray was there and they could compete with how much food they could put away! I took Jada back to our room to say goodbye to Destiny. What a sweet way to wake up! Beautiful sisters.
All bundled up for the trip.
Sammy says, "Don't leave, Jada!"
Ray slept through it all, thanks to these cool eye covers
I gave the children their gifts, but somehow, Sammy is the only one I got pictures of. For him I got these stacking wooden blocks with shapes, numbers, etc.
Destiny wanted the game Mancala, which she and Sam played for a while. I love that she loves to play board games, etc. I will also be making some doll dresses for her this week hopefully. For Jada I got a hard book that plays music with every page turn. And for Austin I got these straws and connectors for him and Anthony to get creative with.
We decided this year to do our fondue at Houserville House of Hope since there were so many of us. We needed to have room for the little boys to run, and it was easier to do it without dogs around. The cafe area of the church was just perfect.
Each year we try some new things. This year we added tilapia. And soft pretzels. I think they were the biggest hit! Deep fried soft pretzels dipped in mustard. Yummmm!! I invited our guitar player Kael to join us. He's in the foreground of the picture on the left.
After the peanut oil fondue was finished we also had cheese fondue to dip chips, pretzels, bread, etc into. And then, of course, chocolate to dip strawberries, raspberries, and peanut butter crackers into. So much deliciousness and so much fun!!! Thanks to Miki for getting this tradition started probably twenty-five years ago. I do hope and pray she and her family can once again join us from Sweden some Christmas.
After we got everything cleaned up, aired out, and deodorized (there would be a Christmas Eve service there in a few hours, and we didn't want people to think they were walking into a restaurant!) we went to Lori and Anthony's house nearby. Sam, Jenn, and Sammy had already left for her folks in the Harrisburg area.
We had a very important appointment to keep - Face Timing with George, Lisa, and Sophie! Anthony, our techie pro, had it set up so that they showed up on his TV screen. It felt like we were all sitting in one living room together! Sophie opened her gift from me as we watched - the doll dresses. She even put them on her American Girl dolls so I could get to see them on a doll! We had so much fun together. I love technology!
That's the end of my pictures, but not the end of our Christmas. That evening at 9 pm we had our Christmas Eve service at Houserville. Because our lay leader Ralph was sick and unable to be there, Pastor Renee recruited Ray and Jeremy to do some of the scripture readings. We had a number of specials - Breath of Heaven sung by Pastor Renee, my alto vocalist Marybeth, and myself in three-part harmony; The Mystery sung by Destiny and two of my teen singers, Ashley and Sarah; Pastor Renee played Ave Maria on her trumpet as I accompanied; Renee and my flute player Amy played a duet version of Angels We Have Heard on High as I accompanied; Marybeth sang a cool version of What Child Is This as her son Steve accompanied her on guitar. As a congregation we did O Holy Night, O Little Town of Bethlehem, Paul Baloche's Christmas Offering, and of course, Silent Night as we did the candle lighting. But my absolute favorite musical selection of all was Jeremy's rendition of Joseph's Song as I accompanied. Oh my word. If anything, his voice is better the older he gets. And he didn't even learn the song till a few hours before the service!! (He specializes in giving me fits over things like that, but I should know by now that he always pulls it off with great success.)
After the service we went back to Anthony and Lori's house for ice cream cake in celebration of Mike's birthday. As we sat downstairs in the family room and had cake, our conversation somehow got onto things of a geographical nature, and Anthony pulled up Google Maps on his TV screen. We had a WONDERFUL time visiting all the places in the world that Jeremy, Ray, and Thyda have been. We even saw the Ashley Furniture store that Jeremy designed in Amman, Jordan! Ray showed us exactly where his ship was when they took down the Somali pirates. It was truly educational and fun!
On Christmas morning I did not wake up until 8:30! I didn't even know I could sleep that late. But there was no Sammy alarm clock in the house. )-: Our special activity of the day was a trip to the movies. We went three ways. Lori took Austin and Destiny to the new 3D version of Monsters, INC. Dick, Mike, Anthony, and Ray went to see the Hobbit in 3D. Jeremy, Thyda, and I went to see Les Miserables. This blog is already too long for me to go into all I want to say about Les Mis. It is POWERFUL!!!! Not only the acting and the music, which were supurb, but the message of redemption. I can hardly stop thinking about it, and certainly not without tears. And it was especially wonderful to watch it between two people who were sniffling and trying to hold in their sobs just as I was.
Everyone eventually left for home after that, except Destiny who will be here till New Years. We spent time with a jigsaw puzzle Ray and Thyda gave her. I also set up my Barnes and Noble account for my Nook which they gave me. My first purchase? Come to the Table by Neta Jackson, the latest in her Souled Out Sisters series. I am so happy to finally have a Nook!! It's so easy to hold, I can make the text so wonderfully large, and the book was cheaper than buying the real thing. Yes, I love technology!
I was nursing a sore throat all last evening too - lots of tea, Zicam rapid melts, and Halls Defense lonzenges. I think I chased those germs away, because my throat does not hurt this morning, thank you, Jesus!
3 comments:
What a full, fun time! I'm glad you got to spend all that time with family, and what fun to have them all overnight! Love the pictures.
I always enjoying hearing about the fun times that your family has together! And thanks for mentioning the Neta Jackson book - I just went on-line and reserved it from the library.
You had a full house! Looks like you had a good time. That baby is so cute! And Sammy, oh my.... What a cutie too. How nice of you to keep the kids while the adult kids could go out.
Have a good week with Destiny!
Post a Comment