Our Christmas week

Can you believe that we are now entering the last week of 2020??  I read somewhere of the tradition of opening a window to let the old year out and the new year in.  The suggestion was to open ALL the windows and doors this year, hahaha!!  Good idea!  

Before I go back to Tuesday, I want to show you this most beautiful display of Christmas lights in our community.  It's too bad that this house is on a street that most people never need to travel.  We would not even know about this display if we had not happened upon it when Christmas caroling a few years ago.  

Now back to Tuesday morning.  Last week Dick was around someone who wasn't feeling well, and then on Sunday Dick was informed that the person had gotten a positive COVID test result.  UGHHHH!!  So on Tuesday morning we went to Med Express, arriving at 7:20 AM for doors that would open at 8:00.  We were the first ones there.  It was a cold, windy, sometimes drizzly morning.  I waited in the truck part of the time.  The line just got longer and longer and longer as we waited.  We were so thankful when we could finally go inside.   They took our info, sent us back to the truck to wait, and then called us when they were ready for us to come inside for our test.  We were not having any symptoms a whole week after Dick had been exposed, so we were not worried.  Just wanted to be sure before being around anyone else.   We were very thankful to be informed on Thursday morning that our results were "NOT DETECTED."   We had things to do and places to be!

I was delighted to notice one evening that at 5:04 PM it was NOT DARK!!!  Woohoo!!

On Christmas Eve morning I Facetimed with Destiny.  Elizer was his usual adorable self and I kept snapping pictures as we talked.  

Remember all those cookies I made last week?  I actually made more on Wednesday evening - this time, peanut blossoms with Hershey Kisses that had caramel inside.  They are the best ever!  Apparently I forgot to take a picture of them, so I just took a picture of the last two we have left in our cookie container, haha!   Gotta have a picture of them, or I never really made them, right?  I had put the Hershey Kisses upside down for easier packing.

As I said before, I had mailed some to Lisa's family in Florida, to Destiny and Alex in Florida, and to Jeremy's family in Portland.  On Thursday I packaged some for Sam's family, for Ray, for Bjorn and Jess, for Grandma Arlene, for Pastor Lynn, for Frank's family, and for Anthony's family.  

 

Just in time I had received these handmade gift tags from Miki in Sweden!!  You can see them hanging from the sides of the cookie containers.  Perfect!

I had also bought individual Christmas cards for each grandchild and wrote in them, signed them, and put cash gifts inside.  I had taken a long time to pick them out, trying hard to find ones to fit each person.  There are so many things we can't do this year, so I tried to make up for it in other ways.  

On Thursday evening we had our Christmas Eve service at GBRV.  Again, it was just our "skeleton crew" at the church, but many others joined us via Google Meets.  There were also some in their cars in the parking lot.  We had planned to go outside for our candle lighting and "Silent Night."  We had NOT planned on rain!  Cold rain!  But we went out there anyway with our umbrellas and we lit those candles and sang all three verses of Silent Night.  It was a Christmas Eve service we will not forget!

After we came home we got into our matching Christmas pajamas!!  First ones we ever had in 49 years of marriage, hahaha!!  

On Christmas morning we packed up and left on our "Cookies, Cards, & Cash" tour!

Our first stop was in Duncannon.   We visited outside for a bit.  Sammy and Bianca had gifts to give each of us, and in the excitement of gift exchanging and picture taking, I discovered later in the day that I had forgotten to give them their cookies, hahaha!!  So we stopped there again on our way back home later in the day!  It was fun to see them twice!  

Next we went to Lebanon and met up with Ray in his apartment parking lot.  We chatted with him for about 20 minutes. 

From there we went to Jess's parents near Manheim where Bjorn and Jess were.  By the time we got there it was starting to get much colder, so we had a shorter time of picture taking and chatting and laughing.  We see each other on FB all the time and chat from time to time, but I honestly don't know if we have seen them in person since our fondue last Christmas.  That seems impossible, but I'm afraid it's true.  

Next stop was Pleasant View Communities to see Dick's stepmother, Grandma Arlene.  We did not want  her to come outside, so we sat with her in a lovely sitting room right inside the door.  We were the only ones there.  We had a lovely visit for about half an hour.  She was telling us about a widow who lives in the next door apartment whom she has become friends with.  They really enjoy visiting with each other.  She said lots of people never come out of their apartments, and all social activities have again been curtailed due to the rising COVID numbers everywhere in the area.  We're so thankful that a year ago we got all the work done of moving them and having their auction.  We had no idea what was ahead!

From there we went to Frank and Lauren's in Reading.   We had a fun visit at the back door!  

Like I said, we made a second stop in Duncannon to drop off Sam's cookies.  We had brought plenty of snacks along for ourselves, but by 5:30 pm we were getting hungry for more.  We stopped at the Duncannon Sheetz, but only one kiosk was open for ordering and there were so many people there.  I said, "Let's just go through the McDonald's drive-thru at the next exit."  When we got there, it was closed!  There was a Giant supermarket in the shopping plaza across the parking lot, but of course it was closed as well.  I said,  "You are kidding! We can't get food anywhere??"  Then we spied this lighted sign!!

Of course the Chinese place was open for take-out!  Woohoo!!  We ate our scrumptious food in the van in the parking lot.  Lots of people came to pick up their orders while we were sitting there.

  

Our last stop was Anthony and Lori's.  But alas!  There had been a light, slippery snow during the early evening, and we could not make it up their hill!  So we Facetimed from the bottom of the hill, haha!  They'll be stopping by later today to pick up their Cookies, Cards, and Cash!  

Destiny sent me a lot of pictures.   Here are a few of my favorites.  

This one cracks me up.  He looks like he's thinking, "She said WHAT??"

I Facetimed with Lisa after we got home, and I got to see and talk with Sophie too, but I didn't think to snap any pictures.  George's family was there and I got to say "Hi" to all of them.  I told them that they all looked different from the last time I saw them.  I had spent a wonderfully fun day at the beach with them on Mother's Day weekend 2019.  

Here are some of our lovely Christmas gifts.

A beautiful ornament from Bianca.

A sweet magnet from Sammy.

A cool keyring for Grandpa from Bianca.

A special pen for Grandpa from Sammy.

This adorable ornament came in the mail from my sister Doris.  It is called "Chillin' with my sister."  I LOVE it!!

Dick got me a new radio for my van.  I did not have Bluetooth capability before.  I'm so happy I can listen to my beloved music from my phone now. 

Here are two last pictures from our Sunday morning.   Pastor Lynn at GBRV.  A wonderful message, "The Joy of the Lord Is My Strength."

And at home we tuned in to Calvary's service.  They gave the production team and musicians a weekend off, so the service was a more intimate time with Pastor Dan and his wife Lynn.  I snapped this picture because they were showing the new masks someone had made and given to them.  His was a beautiful Christmas plaid, hers was probably the reverse side.  He took his off right as I snapped the picture.  

And that was our Christmas week!