Wonderful Days, that was what Christmas week was for our family.
Well, yes, there was wildness, after all I was PMSing for three days straight, aggravated by lack of sleep, a continual need to wrap presents and the nagging empty shelves in our fridge because bad weather kept me at home instead of grocery shopping! My husband said I was just not myself for a few days and he was right. I even told him, “quit bugging me” when he was twirling my hair while I was working on the computer. But, he quickly forgave me as that is what keeps our marriage going!
One of the new things we added to our Christmas this year was going to see Rick’s Aunt Ruth who is in the local nursing home. She looked so good and was so sweet as we hugged her and gave her our gifts. She is in the Alzheimer’s wing with about 15 other patients and they were all seated for dinner so the girls and I sang a few Christmas carols for them. These precious folks can hardly remember their names, but almost all of them joined in the carols hardly missing a word. I am so thankful that we could go and see her that day.
We celebrated Christmas Eve at my In-laws. Matthew and Jeni were driving up in horrid weather so we did not even see them until we arrived at church for the Christmas Eve service. I was so relieved to see Jeni as we had been praying for her all day. She looked beautiful but when the five sister got together the goofiness kicked in. Somehow, their joy at being together always causes loud, fun, rowdy laughter and behavior, Christmas Eve was no exception.
You do have to understand one thing; our church is not at all a stuffy church. You know what I mean. We are a family church, we are about celebration and fellowship. We are an old fashioned full of joy church. But, now and then we do have a quieter service, as in our Christmas Eve service, some funerals, and Sundays when we are just plain tired from life! 
. Evidently someone forgot to give our daughters the memo!
I was starting to play the first carol, Joy to the World, singing along, when what did I hear? I heard our daughter’s voices from the front pew as they were chatting back and forth in-between lines of this carol. I gave them a loud SHHHHHHH which they obeyed for a few moments, but then would start whispering again! It took about 3 carols, 4 darting eyes, and about 5 SHHHHHH for them to settle down. At least they were quiet during the special numbers.
We sang our song, Hallelujah, Light Has Come (by the Barlow Girls) and all went well. I have to add a note here that God is so good, we only got to run through our song two times before the service and it still came together! Anyway, they sat down and after all the readings and special numbers, and recited scripture was done, Pastor preached. It was a short sermon and the girls were good during that part. Then we started the traditional Silent Night singing while two leaders do down the center aisle lighting candles which folks in turn go down the row lighting each others’ until the church is aglow from candlelight. It is beautiful, usually, but it seems Mandy could not get the light passed to Jeni because Jeni kept breathing heavy on Mandy’s candle, therefore blowing it out. Mandy would lean across the aisle and re-light her candle and try again. Remember, they were in the front row! They finally were able to get all the sister’s lit before the end of all the verses on Silent Night! Everyone was in a joyful mood and so when our worship leader stood to close the service there were lots of giggles as he forgot that the candle was not the microphone and he started to talk to the candle…….. well, you know what happened. The candle went out and the whole front row of blondes (plus many others) started to laugh and so the service ended on a joyful note! The laughter continued as the night went on. I went to bed reasonably early to the sound of their laughter in the living-room.
Christmas morning we had fresh home-made monkey-bread, poached eggs, bacon and fruit for breakfast. The children opened their stockings which had new toothbrushes, toothpaste, floss, socks and unders!
Then, off to the bigger gifts. It was so sweet to watch the children each open their gifts from each other. Each gift was thought out and I can honestly say that every gift was a blessing because of the love behind the giving. It was a blessing to my heart to see and feel the happiness of each of our children that morning. It was wonderful to see Matthew so happy and looking great after being so sick this past fall. PTL! After hanging around together for most of the morning we headed to Rick’s Uncle and Aunt’s home for dinner. We had a nice time visiting with the family and Rick’s Grandmother who is 94 and sharp as a tack even though she is blind. It was a sweet time.
So, the days have flown by with lots of visits from friends, and continued celebrating. One night recently the girls all arrived home from their various parties and they ended up in the sitting area by our office. They got louder and louder as they each talked and it woke Rick up. He did not want to yell from our room as it would have woken me up, what a sweety! So, wise man that he is, he texted Jeni from his cell phone, telling them to be quiet. She texted back, Yes Sir Captain! They did quiet down after that!
Yesterday after church we celebrated Jeni’s 24th birthday. She wanted a red velvet cake and so we made that for her along with the cooked frosting which turned out beautifully, yum! We watched the game together with lots of comments from our Leader about the Packers. Jeni even piped in about all the negativity against the team. Of course there were lots of comments directed toward Al Harris because I like him and he was not having his best day. I am just glad they won, it would have been really wild around here if the Packers had lost to the worst team in the NFL.
This morning we celebrated Jeni’s b-day again with all of her friends who were home from school. I made an elegant breakfast with fresh rolls, baked eggs and fruit all served on my fine china and depression glass. We had such a sweet time of fellowship together. I have watched these girls grow up and they are so beautiful in my eyes. I love them so much and as they shared around the table the blessings that God had given in the last year my heart was filled with thankfulness for each one of them.
Jeni left today, mid-afternoon and is just now arriving at Jason’s parent’s home. It is quieter. Things will we be slightly more subdued without her but most of all we will miss her.
Life does not slow down. We are in the midst of planning our annual New Year’s Eve party. There will be 37 for dinner and over 45 for games and fireworks later in the evening. We are excited to celebrate with so many whom we love.
I will not post till after the party, unless I can get someone to help me up-load some video.
Blessing to you
Joyce
