Family fondue, New Year's week

A week ago I most certainly was not sitting here at the computer in my robe and glasses.  We were on the road, our van packed to the hilt with food, cooking utensils, Christmas gifts, and overnight bags.   It was Fondue Day!  We started this Christmas tradition, probably in 1989, when our daughter Miki introduced it to us.  The young adult group she was in had had such a good time doing fondue that she wanted our family to try it also.  I still use the little recipe cards for the cheese and chocolate that she had hand written out for me.

We arrived at Grace Community Fellowship in Manheim (our home church) a little before 10 AM and began to unload.  Ray and RJ soon arrived to help us.  They had brought a cardboard house that the guys assembled for the kids to color!  Together we got the cheese and chocolate ingredients into the right pots to begin heating slowly, the oil pots started, the cords safely taped down, the tables and chairs set up, the food put into an assembly line.

Gradually the rest of the crew arrived.  Bjorn and Jess, Anthony (Lori and the boys were in New York with her parents), Sam and the kids, Alex and Destiny, Frank and Lauren with J'von, Nicayla, Jada, Alaya, and V'anni.  My sister Mary Ellen joined us too.  And last to arrive was Ashley.  She is manager of an AT&T store in Lebanon and could not take off that day, but she did join us for about an hour.  

We had SO MUCH FUN!!  

There was plenty for everyone to do after the meal, especially because the weather outside was sunny and relatively warm!  

They had so much fun with RJ's frisbee, except when it got stuck in a tree several times.  In fact, one time Ray threw a ball up into the tree to dislodge the frisbee and it also got stuck up there.  Eventually Ray had to climb the tree!

Before anyone needed to leave we ordered everyone outside for pictures.  What a blessing to be able to take them outside!  Here's the 2019 fondue crew (Ashley had already gone back to work by the time we took this one.)  We are such a diverse family, but we truly love it that way!

Family groups:  Ray, Ashley and RJ, Bjorn and Jess on top;  Sam, Bianca, and Sammy, Destiny and Alex on the bottom.

Frank's family on top; Mary Ellen and I, Dick and I on the bottom.

And the boys!  How I wish Jeremy could have been here too.  The first thing they did when I told them to stand together for a picture was compare bellies, hahahaha!  What a crazy bunch!

Of course the most popular person there was this precious baby!  Sweet V'anni Rose.  

It was so much work to clean everything up and put things back in place, but we worked together and got it done.  

When we left the church we took Destiny and Alex to Grandpa Stauffer's place to see the things that are being prepped for auction on January 18.  Destiny has fond memories of that place.  Alex and his dad love the show "American Pickers" so he was really interested in all the old stuff.  

I decided to play the old pump organ one last time!  Some of the keys stick now and the pedals squeak, as you can hear in the video.

Destiny found a wig!  Dick's mother wore a wig the last few years of her life because of chemo treatments.

Dick's parents built this house in 1977.  It was their dream come true after having rented Dick's grandpa's farm for almost 30 years.  Dick's mother was an artist and had lovingly painted this above her kitchen sink.  I took a last picture of it on Sunday.   She lost her battle with ovarian cancer in 1981, just a few years after moving into her dream house.  She was just 53 years old. 

When we left the house we drove through the Manheim Square to see their trademark Christmas lights.  The best anywhere around in my opinion.  

We went to Ollie's and had fun browsing the book section for a while, then we took Destiny and Alex home.  

From there we went to Sam's apartment in Duncannon to hang out with him and the kids and to sleep for the night.  I had plenty of leftovers from our fondue that I fried in a pan for our dinner.  

On Sunday morning I made eggs, ham, and home fries and we had a very relaxing time together.  Sammy claimed the lazy boy, complete with blankets and pillows and his tablet.  Bianca played endlessly with all her "friends".  Here she was lining them up.

Around noon we said our goodbyes and went to visit Grandma Mary.  Dick visited for a while, then went to the van for a nap while I visited with her for quite a while longer.  But I didn't take any picture of her or her place.  It was a very cloudy, rainy day.  But warm and comfy in her room.  She pulled out some embroidery patches that she has made for a quilt, and we were discussing what fabric would look good on the quilt with those patches.  

The drive home from there was HORRIBLE.  Rain, wind, fog, traffic!!  Finally seeing the sign for our exit was a very welcome sight.  But then there was the van to unload, and all the stuff to put away.  And last, but not least, those greasy fondue pots to clean.  UGH!!  Actually, they weren't that hard to clean, surprisingly enough.

Monday was a day to get caught up on some things.  I made Jamaican Rice and Peas and Brown Stew Chicken, two of Lori's favorites, thinking she and the boys would be getting home from New York that day.  However, she told me they were actually coming home Tuesday, but that she was going to tell me to make those things for their New Years Day party with their small group.  So we decided I would just keep them for that.  

On Tuesday Sam and the kids came up here for New Years Eve.  I made homemade cheeseburgers with all the fixin's for our early dinner.  The guys watched football for a while, but I wanted to get out of the house.  We had hoped to go to the First Night activities in downtown State College, especially the ice sculptures, which we have not done in a few years.  BUT again, the weather.  GRRR.  Windy, rainy, sometimes flurries.  I do remember going to the downtown festivities in near zero weather with Destiny one time.  Apparently we were a lot younger back then.  

So instead we took a drive across town to see a light show at someone's house.  It exceeded our expectations.  I wish I had taken more videos, because they played the coolest songs.  But I was just too cold to stand outside long enough to do that.  I got these pictures and one short video. 

Then we went home to watch what was going on at all the New Years Eve celebrations on TV.  We made some pizzas and I had wings from Walmart's deli.  Everyone fully intended to stay awake till midnight, but one by one Bianca, then Dick, and then Sammy gave up and went to bed.  Only Sam and I stayed up to see the ball drop in New York.  

We slept in New Year's morning.  Then I made pancakes and sausage for our brunch.  Bianca had brought her "friends" along, and she wanted to introduce them to me.  All 29 of them, haha!  So we took a long time doing that.  I had to give some of them fist bumps and others a high five!  She has the greatest imagination and makes up stories about them.  The kids also did some coloring, and we all watched a couple of funny movies.  

For dinner Dick and I ate the pork and sauerkraut and mashed potatoes I had made all by ourselves.  Not exactly what I had had in mind, but it was still really scrumptious.  Not very attractive, is it?  Looks are deceiving, lol!

On Thursday I was back at music prep again after a little break.  Praise team prep for Sunday and choir prep for the month of January.  We had a good choir practice on Thursday evening.  Here's a really beautiful recording from the publisher's website of the song we'll be doing on Sunday.  Enjoy!   

https://www.lorenz.com/choral/church/jesus-emmanuel

Friday evening we took Austin and Hunter to the church's spaghetti supper.  But I didn't even get any pictures of the boys, just this one of the spaghetti crew enjoying their meal after all their hard work.  What a fun group of friends.  Many of them are also in the choir. 

Well if you've read this whole thing, have a good weekend.  And Happy New Year!

Our Christmas week

Wow, I'm running out of time to write about our Christmas week. Hmmm... sleep or write???  We'll be leaving early in the morning with our van packed to the hilt, headed to Grace Community Fellowship in Manheim where we are having our annual family Christmas fondue.  And after that I'll have even more to write about, so I'd better get this done tonight!

Last Saturday, after blogging in the morning, I think I probably shopped for groceries and cleaned my house and Dick wrapped our gifts.  (No pics, so I can't be sure, haha!)

On Sunday we had some down time after our service at GBRV.  There was no regular service at Calvary to go to because of their Christmas Eve service schedule.  I made a big pan of lasagna, and later in the afternoon Sam and the kids arrived.  Dick and I were soon leaving to go Christmas caroling with a group from GBRV, and the kids wanted to go with us.  Sam wanted to watch football, so that worked out!  What a GREAT time we had!  The kids did so great singing along with us each place we went.  Here's a picture I took.

Afterward we all went to Peg and Bill's house for some food and fun.  The kids enjoyed their little Lenny, although they found out he can be a little temperamental!

At home again, they opened the gifts that the GBRV Sunday School had given them.  Squeals of delight!  And so much candy, lol!!

Somebody stole my glasses!  But how cute is she???

On Monday morning the kids had fun with a balloon bubble bath.  

And I had fun putting a French braid in Bianca's hair.  

We went shopping at Target for a few things.  Sam got Bianca a few more "babies" to add to her collection.  Sammy couldn't find anything he wanted, but later he searched online and decided on a Smithsonian planetarium projector.  We had a great time with it, but I guess I didn't get any picture of it.  

Then we all watched the new Lion King movie and LOVED it!!

On Christmas Eve morning I made some Pillsbury cinnamon rolls and we had them with hot chocolate (coffee for me) and an orange from their GBRV gift bag.  Of course Bianca's babies were at the table with us!

Then it was gift giving time, because they would be leaving to go to their other grandma's house.  We gave Bianca a Magic Sketch Pad and a Barbie Doggy Daycare, complete with several doggies.  

We gave Sammy a Singing Machine.  

We all had fun with that.  It connects via Bluetooth with other devices, and we had so much fun singing. 

Later in the afternoon Sam took them to Jenn.  Her family has some long-held Christmas traditions that they really look forward to. 

Dick and I went over to Anthony and Lori's in the evening.   Lori and the boys would be leaving in the morning for New York (her parents).  We had a wonderful time as they gave each other gifts and we gave the boys our gifts.   

Nothing makes this boy smile like cash!  

Hunter is totally into Lion King these days, so he was thrilled with these animals.  

Christmas morning was VERY lazy!  I slept until 9:00!!  Later in the morning Dick and Sam went over to Anthony's place and did some hiking in the woods.  Sam took this picture of Dick in one of his tree stands.  They also helped Anthony with a project while they were over there. 

Then we did something we had never done before.  We went out to eat on Christmas day!  Sam had remembered that at the end of A Christmas Story, after the neighborhood dogs had come in through a door that had been accidentally left open and stole the just-roasted turkey right off the kitchen table, the family had gone to a Chinese restaurant to eat.  I called College Buffet, a Chinese restaurant in State College, and sure enough, they were open!   I have heard now from so many others who have either eaten out at a Chinese restaurant or have gotten Chinese take-out on Christmas day.  I don't know where I have been all my life, but I never knew it was a thing!  

But let me tell you, it was GOOD!!!  I was so hungry when we got there, and it just looked like the promised land, hahaha!!  

It was just perfect for the three of us.  We had hoped Anthony would join us too, but his stomach wasn't feeling well and he declined.  

Then we came home, and guess what we watched?  A Christmas Story, haha!!  I have seen parts of it many times, but I don't think I have ever sat down and watched it from beginning to end.  We got so many good laughs.

On Thursday morning Dick and Sam left early and drove to Manheim.  They were helping some of Dick's brothers to get things ready for the auction at Dad Stauffer's place in January.  There were SO many interesting stories from their finds.  One of Dick's jobs was to get things running.  Like this old tractor from his childhood!

Here are some of the things they were going through!

Meanwhile, I was shopping for FOOD!  Food for our fondue tomorrow.  

Today (Friday) Dick and I went to the memorial service of Heather Hamby, a friend from our Houserville House of Hope years.  Sadly, breast cancer won a six-year battle. What a girl she was!!  Many of her Penn State co-workers and also her two sisters shared significant insights into her life that made us both laugh and cry.  

Our praise team played together for the first time in a few years and it was as if no time had elapsed - we fit together so beautifully.  Carol, who played violin with the team, also plays harp.  Here is her beautiful harp solo at the end of the service.  

And now to bed I go!!  I did this so fast, didn't even take time to make collages.  But at least now I will remember what I did this week!

Have a great weekend!

Messiah, Heaven's Glory

This is my second of two posts this morning.  Please don't miss the first one with all the fun pictures and activities from this past week! 

This post is all about our cantata.  As I usually do, I chose Brentwood Benson's newest cantata in their Ready to Sing series.  Messiah, Heaven's Glory was the name of this year's.  I love how they always include old Christmas favorites as well as newer songs.  The newer songs in this cantata were "What a Beautiful Name" which we have come to know and love at Calvary's services, and "He Shall Reign Forevermore" from Chris Tomlin's Christmas album a few years ago.  There's also a song called "Praise Is Rising" which was a favorite at Houserville.  It had an Easter message.  Well, this arranger took that melody and changed the lyrics to fit the Christmas message.  So that song "Emmanuel" is included in both the first and the last songs of this cantata.  

First of all a picture of the choir.

And now the videos.

Our soloist in this song is Rev. Cheryl Houser.  She recently retired from the ministry and now attends GBRV.  We are so blessed to have her and her lovely voice!

Our lead singer in this song is Melanie Fisher.  She is actively involved in another church, but has been joining our choir for special things like this for over ten years!  We're so very fortunate to have her!

And here's the last one.  Unfortunately, the camera shut off before the song was completely finished, so it has a very abrupt ending.  And I did the dreaded thing TWICE!  I turned two pages at once and lost my place.  Ugh.  I hate when that happens!

And that's a wrap, folks!  Have a very wonderful Christmas!

A Wonderful December weekend

'Tis the Saturday before Christmas!  Can you believe it?  But before I look ahead I need to look back and share all the fun we had last weekend.

Saturday, December 14
On Saturday afternoon Sam and the kids arrived.  I was busy cooking because I didn't want to have to cook for the rest of the weekend.  I was making cream of tomato soup to go with the grilled cheese sandwiches we would have for dinner that evening.  I was also making sloppy joe meat for a quick Sunday lunch.  And for the potluck we would be having at GBRV Sunday evening, I was making Thai Peanut Chicken Noodle Salad.  

I could hardly wait to show them the guest room so Bianca could see that I had taken care of her "kids" like I had said I would when they left two weeks ago!  Before I knew it they had stacked those "kids" at the head end of the bed and called me back to the room to see it.  How fun is this??

Sammy immediately showed me all the new books he had brought along.  That boy!!  His head is filled with facts and trivia!  At one point I told him he is like a walking encyclopedia.  He wondered what that was!  So I changed it to, "You're a walking Google search!"  

I pulled out the beadwork that was still here from Destiny's younger days.  Bianca found a new passion!  She had trouble putting the string through the tiny beads, but she loved choosing the design of each bracelet and pulling the string out the top when I would put it up through the bottom of the bead.  

Another fun thing we did was make Christmas decorations for Sam's apartment (bottom right picture above.)   Dick cut many, many green and red strips out of the colored computer paper we had.  My plan was to make chains.  But Bianca had an even better idea - stars!  So she and Sam made a star chain while I made the regular chain.  

After dinner we had the best time of all - making cookies.  Bianca thought unwrapping the Hershey Kisses was so much fun.  She unwrapped the entire bagful - way more than we needed for the cookies.  Don't even ask how many she may have eaten in the process, haha!!  Sammy helped me mix the batter.  They both helped to roll the dough balls in the sugar and later to press the Hershey kisses into the freshly baked cookies right out of the oven.

There was time for making one more necklace and then a bubble bath, complete with some of Bianca's "kids."  I was one tired grandma when the kitchen was all cleaned up.  And THEN I remembered that I still had two hems to do for the things Dick and I would be wearing on Sunday.  UGH!!!  So I did not have an 11 PM bedtime as I had hoped for.  But I knew I would have plenty of adrenalin to go on the next day!

Sunday, December 15

On Sunday morning Dick and I went to our service at GBRV without the kids.  I didn't want them to get "churched out" with all that we would be doing yet that day.  I took this picture of the beautiful way they display all the donated poinsettias.

Sam and the kids went with us to Calvary's service.  For some reason the kids don't choose to go to the children's ministry anymore, but would rather sit with their dad.  If they have something to draw on, such as the back of the bulletin or the little post-it note pads that I keep in my purse, they are fine. After the service we got our official Christmas pictures in front of the beautiful tree in the lobby.

Then we went home for some sloppy joes and a little bit of down time.  My cantata at GBRV was at 4:00, but I wanted to get there early, so Dick and I left at 3:00.  The choir gathered to pray before hand, and they gave me a card with a very nice monetary gift that brought me to tears.  I love these people so much.  They are a truly caring community for us.  

Here they are, ready to go!

The place was not as full as it was last year.  It's hard to get people out for services other than Sunday mornings.  I remember when I would have the musicals at Grace Community Fellowship there used to be standing room only!  But the people I cared about the most were there - Anthony, Lori, and the boys and Sam and the kids.  Anthony took videos of each song.  I will do a separate post after this one with all the videos.  

Afterward there was a potluck supper.  Our family had fun together at the back table.  So much good food and so many amazing desserts!!!  My favorite was the strawberry pretzel crust dessert.  I gotta get that recipe. 

Hunter has become obsessed with the songs from the new Lion King movie.  Here's a really silly video of him doing some of the singing and talking in "Hakuna Matata" with some prompting from Lori.  He is just the cutest!  Austin, however, did not think he did a good job, as you can hear later in the video!  

Monday, December 16

There was a chance of snow in the forecast, so Sam decided to stay over for another day.  It wasn't a big snow however.  I laughed when I saw it the next morning - snow on the road but not the grass??  I always order it the other way around, hahaha!

We had another fun day.  Bianca just couldn't get enough of making bracelets.  Sammy loves my new super vibrating heating pad.  He put head phones on to listen to music on his tablet and said he felt like he was in heaven, hahaha!!   

They left for home in the afternoon and I've had a very quiet house all week.  

The rest of the week

On Wednesday we had more snow, but it still did not amount to much.  However, there were bands of heavy snow with wind from time to time that actually created white-out conditions.  There was a huge pile-up of trucks and cars on Route 80 north of us.  

That evening Dick installed my Christmas gift from him - a new tall kitchen sink faucet!  Ours was coming loose and could no longer be tightened.  I love this thing!!  The sprayer is right on the faucet and retracts all by itself after I use it.  And there is a dish soap dispenser right beside it!  Bring on the big pots and pans!!

On Thursday I had the most fun lunch at my friend Peg's lovely home.  She used to teach exercise classes, and she invited all of us who were in those classes.  I had not seen some of these ladies in months!!! We had so much catching up to do that sometimes we were all talking at the same time.  There were often several conversations going on simultaneously and I wanted to hear them all!  Such a dilemma!  The food was all so delicious and everything was beautiful.   Just a wonderful, heartwarming occasion.

As always, my Christmas shopping waits until my music programs are over.  So finally on Thursday afternoon and Friday I did that.  With lots of texting and picture taking as I shopped, I got the job mostly done.  Now the wrapping will be Dick's job.  He has always been our gift wrapper.  Much better at it than I am!

Well, that's all for this post.  As I said, I will do another post with all the videos from the cantata.