Last Wednesday I made three scrumptious bacon broccoli quiches. Later in the afternoon I met Lori at Hunter's school and gave two of them to her. I wish I had taken a picture of them. We enjoyed ours the next day.
They evening we had our soup and bread supper at church before our midweek Advent service.
On Thursday morning a group of ladies from church went to a nursing home to sing Christmas carols with some of the residents. It's a tradition we started several years ago. One of the residents is a member of our church and the mother of Debbie, one of my choir members. We had a wonderful time!
Here's Debbie sitting beside her mom Gladys.
I got to play a grand piano!
We had choir practice in the evening. Our cantata is over, but we have plenty of chances to sing before the season is over.
Saturday was a big day! In the morning we had a rehearsal for our children's program. A lunch of hot dogs and mac and cheese was provided afterward.
Then in the afternoon we had our gingerbread house decorating party. I was disappointed that Lori and the boys couldn't come because they had gone to DC for the weekend to be with friends. At the last minute I asked Sam and Steph if they wanted to come up so the kids could participate. But they were going to be decorating Christmas cookies at Steph's mom's house. But even without any of my grandchildren, our social hall was full!!
Pastor Jim dressed up like Santa! The kids had fun posing for pictures with him.
On Sunday morning the sanctuary was buzzing with excitement. As I sat at the piano waiting for the start of the service I took this little video.
The children led our worship with narrations and songs. They did a really great job. I had helped them to learn a few songs, but I was not in charge of the program. I admit I felt the "directing bug" that morning. All those years of directing children's programs at Manheim Christian. Sigh. There just isn't enough time to do all the things anymore.
After church Dick and I went for a drive to find an inn and bakery I had learned about on Facebook. It was 40 minutes away. One of the owners was from Portland, so I wanted to meet him.
It was GORGEOUS!!!
We might have gotten some of these goodies and eaten them in the car on the way home!
After we left we drove about 20 minutes down the road and stopped for coffee at a Sheetz gas station. When I got out of the car I realized I was missing an earring. I mentioned it to Dick. He said, "Well someone gave an earring to the owners at the bakery that was found outside." Yes!! Now I remembered that too! I called the bakery, described my earring, and they had it! So we went back to get it. Some of my earrings would not be worth the trip, but those were.
By the time we got home it had started to snow lightly.
I spent the rest of the day working on the music choices for next Sunday's service as well as our midweek service.
In the evening I went outside to take a picture of our house. Our little home sweet home.
We didn't get much snow, just enough to be pretty on Monday morning.
I was so excited to see a cardinal at the bird house! How perfect! Snow and a cardinal!
Last Wednesday started with a beautiful sunrise, and I took this picture through my kitchen window.
By evening, it looked like this.
We had been at our midweek Advent service at church and were surprised at the snow on the ground when we came outside afterward. I heard that windy, snowy weather was coming through the next day, and I started praying!! We NEEDED to have our last cantata rehearsal on Thursday evening.
And it WAS windy on Thursday. I took this picture in the morning.
As I worked on music prep and practice throughout the day I prayed again and again that the storm would blow itself out of here. I even prayed that the sun would shine. God heard my cries. The wind did become less and the sun did come out, and the snow stopped without amounting to much. And we DID have our rehearsal in the evening.
What a great group I have! Most of them attend our church, but we had at least five who do not. So much cooperation, commitment, humor, and support! I felt really, really good when I went home that night.
On Friday I made oven bbq chicken, mac and cheese, and brown butter broccoli for us and for Anthony and Lori's family. Of course I had to do a taste test. I don't typically take pictures of the food I'm eating, but my sister-in-law had posted a picture of cookies with the caption, "When you need to warm up your house, this is a good way to do it!" So I commented, "This is another way, lol!"
That was some really good mac and cheese, by the way. I am lactose intolerant, but I keep Lactaid close by.
I picked Hunter up from school and took him with me to get some groceries. He really wanted to come to my house because I had told him that we would be putting up our tree. So Anthony met me after I was finished at the store so he could get their dinner from me.
WHY did I not take any picture of Hunter putting ornaments on the tree?? UGH!! He was enjoying himself immensely. When Lori came to pick him up she said quietly, "You know you're going to have to space those things out." Of course! He was putting most of the things all on one side of the tree, but I wasn't going to squash his joy.
On Saturday I finished the tree and all the other decorating too. I came across this origami box that Austin had made last year, and it occurred to me that it would make a perfect candy dish!
I actually got a new tree this year, a Black Friday special on Amazon. The lights come with a remote, and we can choose colored lights or white lights, and all varieties of blinking.
Sunday morning was a busy service for me. In the afternoon I might have gotten a 15-minute nap. Our cantata was at 4:00, followed by a potluck supper.
Here are some pictures taken from the video. I'll try to make some video clips.
We started with a prelude of four songs by our instrumental ensemble.
The cantata was one I had led six years ago at the Fillmore church. Some of my current choir members had also been in that choir. "Come, Let Us Adore" is the title of the cantata, and six of the songs are from Chris Tomlin's Christmas album titled "Adore." Absolutely beautiful, worshipful songs!
When the cantata was over they presented me with a huge gift. I'll show that to you later.
Anthony, Lori, the boys, and Lori's mom came. That meant so much to me. As soon as the service was over, Austin came up to me and said, "May I please play your piano?" I told him he certainly could. He made quite an impression!
We had a great time eating and talking. And again, I didn't get a picture of Hunter. It's good he doesn't read my blog or keep track of my picture-taking, haha!
So here is my GORGEOUS GIFT!!!
Those ornaments have music scores on them!
I will treasure this for years to come!!!
Monday evening Dick and I finally got our icicle lights up on our front porch. We were going to do the greens and bows this evening, but it's raining. I also want to figure out a way to put light on the wreath.
Meanwhile, in Florida a new granddog has joined the family.
But I just looked back, and I don't think I told you that Lisa and George had to put Nilla Bean down during Thanksgiving break when Sophie was home. She was 14 years old and her health was really declining and she was in pain. I knew that was a possibility when I took this picture of her in October as I was leaving their house.
It was sad for all of them, but for Stella it was saddest. They even had Stella there when Nilla Bean was put down to help her somehow comprehend it. But she has been SO SAD. No interest in going for walks. When they take her outside she looks back at the house, then she keeps sniffing the ground for Nilla Bean's scent. She even lost interest in eating. Last week Lisa went away for three hours, and the camera showed that Stella stood at the door the entire three hours.
Now the good news! They contacted a shelter and found a male puppy named Prince whose owner has died, and he has been mourning. Lisa and George were picked for adopting him! He is a big boy!! So different for Lisa and George! Here are Stella and Prince. She is already a happy girl!
George has a boy! Does he look a little bit happy too??
Time to share about our Thanksgiving week before we get any closer to Christmas!
Last Wednesday I spent the most ridiculous amount of time in the grocery store. There were so many things I needed to search for. But I found everything eventually.
In the evening we had our Thanksgiving Eve service at church. I found out afterward that Destiny and Ozzie were going to be driving here during the night and arriving in the wee hours of the morning. I had thought they would be leaving Indiana in the morning and getting here late afternoon. So after we got home from church I got busy dusting, vacuuming, and getting the guest room bed ready.
When that was all done I got the turkey ready for the oven. I slow roasted it overnight. First at 400 degrees for an hour (breast side down) then 225 overnight. It's so easy. But if you're a person who likes to see a whole roasted turkey on the table, this is not the way to do it.
On Thanksgiving Day I woke up to the wonderful aroma of turkey. I checked Destiny's location on my phone and yes, they were here! I was happy. I had not heard them at all. I found out later they had arrived at 4:30 am.
I made all the things in huge amounts, even though we would be having just six people for our Thankgiving dinner. I knew that everyone loves the leftovers.
Here's the line-up:
Starting at the other end: stuffing, baked corn, turkey, green beans were still in the oven, sweet potato pudding, gourmet potatoes, and gravy. Across the room on the other counter were the rolls and butter and the cranberry applesauce. And in the fridge were an apple pie and a pumpkin pie. I bought them this year.
Anthony and Austin were the only ones from their family. Lori had taken Hunter to Universal Studios for a few days. Austin couldn't wait to come, and Anthony wasn't ready yet, so Dick went over to pick him up. Guess why he was so eager to get here! To play me his latest song on the piano, of course!
Destiny had told Alex that he could keep Elizer for Thanksgiving day, so we actually had a meal with uninterrupted adult conversation, haha!
Destiny could hardly wait to teach me how to play Rummy 500.
I REALLY didn't get it!! I am a word person, not a number person. But I had fun anyway!
Dick had put a lot of the food away while I played. When Anthony was ready to leave I got containers of leftovers ready for him to take home, then I cleaned up all the messy pots and pans. I was REALLY ready to get off my feet when I went to bed!
On Friday afternoon Destiny and I took some of Elizer's outgrown clothes to Kid 2 Kid, a consignment store. Destiny had about $40 credit there, plus the $35 more that they gave her for the things we brought that day. So we were able to get a nice amount of size 5 clothes for him, including a winter coat.
Dick and I left around 5:00 to go meet Alex and his dad to get Elizer from them. Elizer was really sad to say goodbye to his daddy. It broke our hearts.
But on the way to our house he got in a happy mood and talked up a storm.
When we got here Destiny and Ozzy were starting Free Willy 2. They had just finished watching Free Willy. Our old VHS videos that were some of her childhood favorites!
Elizer gave his mommy some love then got busy in his kitchen! He was in his own little world for the rest of the evening playing with all the toys he hadn't seen since September when he was last here.
On Saturday morning I made a pot of chicken tortilla soup. I put Lion King on for Elizer. He had not seen it before and was semi interested. It used to be one of Hunter's favorites at his age.
Sam, Steph, Sammy, and Bianca arrived around 1:00 for lunch. As always, it was so fun to have them here!
After lunch we all went to Get Air. Anthony also brought Austin. The cousins had such a great time and the adults had fun talking and watching the kids!
Sam and his crew left for home from there. They wanted to be ahead of Penn State football traffic.
We came home and I made our favorite burgers for dinner. Then I filled the big tub with water and bubbles for Elizer. He had a grand time playing with all his tub toys.
Destiny and Ozzy watched Black Beauty, another one of her childhood favorites. I just love the way she still wants to watch her old favorites when she comes here.
We were so delighted to have Elizer with us for church on Sunday morning. Our church family really misses him, and they were so glad to see him. Of course he had to ham it up a bit before the service started.
I just love this sweet face.
We would be having our Hanging of the Greens service.
Here are some screen shots I took from the video.
When we came home we hung out a bit more with Destiny and Ozzy and helped them to get things packed up in their car. Ozzy almost forgot his "hippy" sunglasses that he loves so much. I told him that if he left them here I would start wearing them, hahaha!
They left around 1:45 and were home around 10 pm. They are having terribly cold temps. We are too, but theirs are even worse. But no snow, thankfully.
Dick left for the Stauffer hunting cabin and I was suddenly here by myself with just a messy house and a lot of good memories!
I sat at the computer and piano the rest of the day working on music for the next week. Oh, and I restored some order around here!
On Monday I made turkey tetrazzini for Anthony and Lori and for us too. I picked Hunter up from school. It was fun to hear all about his time at Universal. He tells things in great detail!
In Portland they were celebrating Brennan's 9th birthday! He's been doing really well this school year. They got him a beta fish for his birthday.
And now I'm caught up! This coming Sunday is our cantata performance at church and our last rehearsal on Thursday. And there is snow in the forecast for Thursday. LORD!!!
We will be missing three memorial services this coming weekend that we would have definitely attended if it weren't for the cantata. Grandma Arlene's brother Robert, also our beloved pastor Dennis at Grace Community Fellowship, and a dear woman named Catherine who attended church with us at Grace Community Fellowship.
The date for the cantata was planned months ago. I'm trying to stop fretting about it, but it's hard.
