Our COLD Christmas week

 And just like that, Christmas 2022 is history!  Our week was fun, COLD, and a good bit more laid-back  than we had anticipated.  

Destiny and Elizer stayed here from Thursday night till Monday.  Alex usually has Elizer on the weekends, but because the weather on Friday was absolutely frightful, with severe cold, high winds, and more snow, I was delighted when she told me that he had told her to keep Elizer till next weekend.  

FRIDAY

On Friday I did a lot of music prep for our Christmas Eve and Christmas morning services.  I had some HELP, haha!!  He wore his snow boots most of the day, often running races through the house like they were track shoes!  I made chicken corn noodle soup for dinner that evening.  PERFECT!!

As you can see in the picture above, our temp went down to negative two during the daytime!!  With a windchill feel of negative twenty-two!  Our heat pump was absolutely worthless in those temps.  It was blowing cool air out the vents.  We were tremendously thankful that our house already has baseboard electric heat, which we seldom use since we got the heat pump.  But on Friday I turned the heat pump off and we used all our electric baseboards.  We also have the electric fireplace in the media console in the living room.  And in our bedroom we have an electric fireplace too, which we almost never use.  But we were really thankful for it.  AND we were very, very thankful that we had power.  It went off briefly three times before lunch, and I was scared.  But it always came right back and we stayed really, really warm over the very cold days we had.  I'm trying to not think about the next electric bill!

In the evening we bundled up and went to Wegmans for groceries.  Dick was glad to drop us off right at the door, then he stayed in the van to keep it warm while Destiny and I (and Elizer, of course) shopped.  We were GLAD to get back home. 

CHRISTMAS EVE DAY

Saturday was Christmas Eve day - another bitterly cold day!  And also our son-in-law's birthday.  This picture that Jeremy posted is Mike to a tee!!   When he sits in that recliner, the dogs come right over, and they are perfectly content! Watson is the little dog, and Lily Mae is the big "puppy."

I made pancakes and sausage for our late breakfast.  

I just love this video Destiny took across the table.  You gotta hear him say, "I lub you."

After breakfast Destiny gave Elizer his stocking to unpack. They also finished his Advent calendar. 

In the afternoon we went to Walmart and Sam's Club for some last minute things.   We were keeping an eye on the time because of the Christmas Eve service at 7.  But alas, just as we were leaving Sam's Club, I got a notification that both the Christmas Eve service, as well as the Christmas morning service, had to be cancelled due to the condition of the church parking lot - a sheet of ice!  I first of all felt relief that we did not need to hurry, but I soon felt very, very sad.  I had put so much work into the music for those two services, especially the Christmas Eve service.  And of all times, Destiny was off work and was planning to come along to church.  Yes, I was more sad than relieved.

A friend had given Destiny money for a gift for Elizer, and she decided on this little Blues kitchen set at Walmart.  She set it up for him after we got home.  

There was time to play with the new play doh that had been in his stocking.  He's such a silly boy!

Then I made a JibJab video for him.

Destiny could hardly wait to set up our Charcuterie spread!  Now we did not need to wait until after the Christmas Eve service as we did last year.  She did such a beautiful job!

And we enjoyed every bit of it!  Well, not quite.  Destiny does not like olives.  Dick and I DO!  So she always tries at least one olive thinking maybe she will like them after all.  But she ate one and said, "Not this year."  Hahaha!

After we were finished eating and cleaning up it was pajama and picture time! Destiny's and Elizer's were Grinch-themed.  How CUTE are they??

When we moved the dining room table out of the way for pictures we found a red stain on the carpet.  So I got out the peroxide and cotton swabs and worked on it.  Then Elizer wanted to clean too!

These are some of the pictures.  Elizer started out with his Santa hat on, but then he thought it was funny to take it off and throw it at the camera. So he cried after Destiny said he may NOT do that.  But then he smiled again.  And then we kissed!

CHRISTMAS DAY

Another bitterly cold day.  Christmas morning was WAY more laid-back than I had been anticipating, since we did not need to get dressed up for church.  Destiny had stacked the gifts around the tree the night before.  

I made French toast and bacon for our late breakfast.  Elizer had fun playing with his kitchen set.  

Then it was gift-opening time! 

One of Elizer's favorite gifts was a tool box.  He immediately got to work on his tractor!  So cute!

We stayed in our new pajamas all day, but I DID get a shower and do my hair and make up just as though we would have been going to church.  I even wore earrings with my pajamas!

Destiny's gift to me was this Willow Tree figurine - With My Grandmother.  I LOVE it!!

Her gift to Dick was this handy dandy phone/glasses/watch holder for his night stand.  

We gave Destiny a weighted blanket and also a Mini Mart to add to her Mini Brands collection.  She had fun putting it together. 

I had bought a ham to make for our Christmas dinner.  That morning I started thinking about the ham loaf I used to make.  I told Dick, "I'm half in the mood for ham loaf.  But we don't have a meat grinder anymore."  He said, "I might actually have one out in my shed."  He went out there and came back inside with an antique meat grinder just like we had for years, but got rid of when we downsized.  I said, "Where did you get that??"  He said he had gotten it at a yard sale for 25 cents, hahahaha!!  So I cleaned it up good, and Dick ground up that ham!

I made the ham loaf, baked corn, and sweet potato casserole for our dinner.  Anthony and Austin came over in the afternoon to bring gifts.  Their hill and private road were also a sheet of ice, but he and his Jeep are used to navigating it.  Lori has had a few bad scares on their hill, so she wasn't interested leaving the house.  And if Mamma's scared, Hunter is scared.  Besides, Lori's sister was here from Atlanta.  So it was fun to have Anthony and Austin hanging out here for a while.  But I totally forgot to take any pictures of them!  

After we had eaten dinner (a very informal affair while Anthony was still here) Dick fell asleep on his recliner, Destiny fell asleep on the couch, I was sitting on the love seat with Elizer, and he fell asleep too.  But it was 7:00 pm!!  So we were in trouble if he would nap at that time of day!  So I announced to Dick and Destiny that we were going to be leaving the house at 7:30 to go look at Christmas lights, as we had planned to do.  

I had a list of addresses I had gotten from our local newspaper, and we found some really great displays!  This first one was CRAZY!!  I think they had things on every square foot of their lawn!

This one, right in Bellefonte near Talleyrand Park, was the BEST!!!  This is the back of the house!!  We drove up the ally beside it, and the front of the house along the street was gorgeous too.  As were the sides of the house.  Absolutely spectacular!

MONDAY

Monday was a day off for Dick.  For Destiny too.  She actually has had several weeks off (with pay) because of Penn State's break between semesters.  I didn't take many pictures.  We had Mr. and Mrs. Cardinal at the bird feeder.  

I had to work on the song choices for this coming Sunday.  I decided to use a few of the ones we didn't get to do on Christmas Eve.  No one will mind.  

Later in the afternoon Destiny collected all their stuff and carried them to her car.  After Elizer's nap they left for home.  I spent the evening wrapping gift boxes (cash in each) for the grandchildren who will be coming to our fondue on Friday.  I used some of the meticulously made gift tags from Miki.  I also have some beautiful cards she made.  

TUESDAY

Tuesday was our after-Christmas cookie day.  I made the cookies and decorated a few.  Destiny decorated most of them.  One of her friends was here for a while and decorated some too.  They both were amazing!!!  I just do not have the gift or calling for cookie decorating, hahaha!   

Elizer napped the whole time we were decorating, so he was in awe when he woke up and saw them!

We had choir practice Tuesday evening.  The parking lot was in better condition.  We usually have choir practice on Thursday evenings, but Dick and I will not be here that evening.  My brother-in-law Elvin's memorial service will be that day.  We'll be staying at my sister Mary Ellen's Thursday night, and then on Friday we'll have our family fondue for the first time since 2019.  As we did the last few times, we will hold it at Grace Community Fellowship, our home church in Manheim.  

WEDNESDAY

As now it's Wednesday.  It was sunny and in the mid-thirties!  Absolutely balmy!  I went grocery shopping this morning for our fondue supplies.  WOW!!  It was always expensive, but this year was major sticker shock!!  Elizer took his nap here this afternoon while Destiny had a chiropractor appointment.  I did our laundry and worked on this blog update.  And now Dick and I need to make all our lists and check them twice for the next two days!  We'll be leaving in the morning.  

We had the most beautiful sunset this evening!