Happy New Year Glitter Pictures

CELEBRATING CHRISTMAS WITH FAMILY

Christmas Day was quiet at the house but we enjoyed the view out the bonus room window.
It was our first white Christmas in about 17 years.
I had forgotten to take pictures of the upstairs tree, so here are a few snapshots of some old ornaments. This one includes a "Peace On Earth" that my mother cross stitched while they were living in Georgia, a wooden angel that's been around a while, a red bell that is older than I am and a wooden angel that Kate painted for me last year.

Below is the rocking horse ornament that I paid more than I should have for it and handyman wasn't very happy with me --- so I ALWAYS hang that ornament where he can see it. The cross-stitch angel was one that I cross stitched for Holly in 1984. I made one for Kristy too. I'm not sure if I've given that one to her, or what has happened to it.
This angel was in a set that my dad bought back in the late 1940's. This was on my parent's tree every year while I was growing up.
Kristy and her family arrived on Sunday afternoon. The kids were so excited, but had to wait until Monday morning, when Aunt Holly got here, to open their presents.
Here's a picture of Nate "just hanging around."
We got the girls a new game MOO UNO. They really liked playing it and even got Aunt Holly to play with them.
Paw Paw & I both got to have special time with Kate on our laps. I'm not sure how much longer she's going to fit since she's getting so tall.
Gabriella went to sleep after lunch out a Mariah's on Monday. We passed her around, but she got in a pretty good nap.

Kate wanted to take a picture of her mother ---- it wasn't one of Kristy's better pictures!!
What would a visit at Gam & Paw Paw's be without a "pony" ride on Paw Paw.
I got a good picture of the Stace Family by the tree.
We really enjoyed our Christmas with all the kids! I am so glad that we got to spend time with all of them. They left this morning and we haven't done much since. It's been a lazy afternoon!
I'm not sure when I'll "un"decorate the house but I'm not in any hurry. I'm still enjoying all of the lights!

MERRY CHRISTMAS

HERE WE GO A-CAROLING!

Our Sunday School class has picked a Sunday night close to Christmas each year, ever since I can remember, to go caroling at nursing homes and homes of church members who are elderly shut-ins, have health issues or have lost a family member to death during the year. Our family joined in this activity when our children were in elementary school. It has been a wonderful tradition to have at Christmastime.

We have a few ladies that I can't remember when we didn't have them on our list to carol to. At the beginning, I guess we didn't have quite as many older people in our congregation so we just went to the homes of some of the church leaders. Now the average age of our church membership is a lot older than it was some 25 years ago.
At the beginning a couple of the young ladies in our class would have a marathon candy making event and they provided all of the food that we ate after caroling. Years later, we began having too many carolers to gather in a home so we started meeting at the church and everyone pitched in by bringing finger foods to share. As our children grew up and left our community, the number of participants dropped off. But there were still some of us who loved it so much that we continued every year. Handyman and I decided it was more cozy to have the after carol gathering in a home rather than in the fellowship hall at church so we began a new tradition of hosting this in our home. We really enjoy getting our house decorated and ready for all the guests. We've also bought extra dishes and cups so we don't have to use disposable plates, glasses and cups. Handyman also really gets into the food aspect ---he makes sausage balls, meatballs, country ham and biscuits and has started buying shrimp too. I made a couple of kinds of Christmas cookies this year.
This year was very special for us. Our daughter came back to carol with us, along with our son-in-law and grandchildren. Our 5 year granddaughter, Kate, had a wonderful time. Before we left the house, one of our friends tied jingle bells to Kate's shoe laces and I gave her a jingle bell necklace that had been bought when her mother was just a few years older than her. It was so funny watching her trying to get those bells on the shoes to jingle while she shook the necklace bell. She knew the words to almost ever Christmas carol that we sang. I noticed a lot of people watching her and they were amazed at how well she knew the songs. Our 3 year old granddaughter, Gabby, is very shy and she wasn't real thrilled to be around so many people (there were 37 of us) and she kept pulling her hood over her face so no one could see her. But she didn't whine and fuss. She was very good, but just wanted to be carried so she didn't have to mix with everyone else. We were concerned with how 1 year old, Nate, would do. Back in the day with our kids, we didn't have to worry with car seats. We just loaded the kids up and took off. Nate (and Gabby) had to be strapped in between all of the stops, even if they were only a mile apart. Kate can strap herself in, so she wasn't a problem at all. Nate got tired and sleepy, but he did so well. I was so proud of him. He was a real trooper! We had several other grandchildren join us this year. The kids just make it so much more fun. After about two hours of lots of ins and outs we returned home to enjoy all of the food that we had fixed and the others had brought in.
For me, it was the most fun I had had caroling since we first started caroling with our kids.
I am so thankful that the "Potpourri" class has continued this tradition for all of these years and that our kids and grandkids have all been able to be a part of it.
From "Hark the Herald Angels Sing, Glory to the New Born King" to "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer" to "We Wish You a Merry Christmas," it is wonderful to be a Christian and be able to celebrate the birth of our Saviour, Jesus Christ!! MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

JESUS IS THE REASON FOR THE SEASON

I love Christmas! Of course, as a child I loved the "getting" of Christmas. As I grew up, I loved the "giving" of Christmas. Today I try to remember more about the reason for Christmas. I like decorating our home for Christmas, but I like to keep more to theme of Christ, than Santa Claus. We have decorated a little more this year with colored lights, bright colored ornaments and Santa Claus because of the grandchildren.

Below are pictures of the Nativity that we have around our house.
I love this ornament, it has so much detail.

I purchased this clear ornament back in 1978 for our daughter, Kristy, to give to her grandmother on Kristy's 1st Christmas. It was on my mother's Christmas tree(s) for nearly 30 years. I should probably pass this ornament down to my daughter.


This white nativity has graced our house for a long time. I don't remember the year I purchased it on clearance after Christmas from CoachHouse Gifts in the mall. Only after closer examination, I discovered that I had received 4 Wisemen and no Joseph. The Wiseman that I use for Joseph is smaller than the other Wisemen (no doubt from another set) and closer in size to Mary. Fortunately most people don't look too closely at it and no one is the wiser, except for me. (and you). Lots of years ago, Handyman took some slab wood that we had bought to burn in the woodstove we had at the time and made the stable for us. It gave it more of an old, weathered look. Then in 1996 our foreign exchange student, Sie, made the gold star for us. I love taking this out of the box every year and remembering the time that she was with us.

Last year, Handyman and I were looking for some Christmas decorations to put in our plant nooks. They're about 10' off the floor, so you don't see much detail in whatever is up there. We found these at Pier 1. I liked the simplicity of Joseph, Mary & Jesus. They're made of metal and very unusual. This year they had the Wisemen made out of the same material. I meant to go back and check their size to see if they would go with the Holy Family, but I've never made it back and by now they've probably sold out.


Luke 2

The Birth of Jesus

1 In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. 2 (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) 3 And everyone went to his own town to register. 4 So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. 5 He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. 6 While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, 7 and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

May you have a very blessed Christmas!

A HOMEMADE CHRISTMAS

I've been trying to come up with some different ideas for Christmas presents for the grandkids besides just buying toys or clothes. When I was growing up, at some point, I really don't remember how old I was at the time, I received a bath towel with my name printed on it. I thought it was really neat at the time. I've looked at some of these towels recently and when I saw that they were running $20 - $25 each, I decided that there was no way I was spending $60 for three towels for the grandchildren. I'm sorry, I love them, but, no! Too much -- way too much.
So....I went to Walmart and bought some material - Sponge Bob for Nate and Tinkerbell for Kate & Gabby

and some towels.

Then I proceeded to trace the letters of their names (using some stencils I already had) onto the fabric and cut them out. Oh, yes, before I cut them out I got some old "Stichery Witchery" or "Wonder Under" and pressed it onto the back side of the fabric. This was supposed to stick the letters onto the towels plus keep the raveling down. I don't know if it was because it was old and had been in the attic or whether it was because of the texture of the towels, but they didn't stick. I ended up having to hand baste the letters on the towels, then took them to the sewing machine and zig-zagged them on so that, hopefully, they won't ravel (much).

I hope the girls like theirs. I don't think Nate will care at this point, but that's okay. At least when he gets older, I will have kept a picture around so he knows he wasn't left out!! BTW - Kate's favorite color is purple and Gabby's is pink. Nate doesn't have a favorite color! And if you're wondering, "Why Katie and not just Kate?" When Kate started printing her name, she like the "i" in the spelling, just not in the pronunciation. So I write it as Katie, but say it as Kate!!

THE GRAND TREE

This has been a busy week. I’ve traveled over 450 miles in two days for work, had two nights of choir practice, and worked at the office three days. Decorating had not been a priority for me, but yesterday when I got home from one of my traveling days, handyman had put up our big tree in the living room and put the lights on it. Even though I was tired, I wanted to get it decorated. I spent a little time before supper, then a little time before choir practice and finished it up when I got home from choir practice. I added ribbon to the tree this year. I had tried it a few years ago but just didn’t like how it turned out. I went on the internet and found a video telling how to put ribbon on a Christmas tree. I like it so much better this way than just wrapping it around the tree like I had tried before.

Here it is without the lights on.

And with the lights.

Here are some of my favorite ornaments:

This ornament was brought to us by our Danish exchange student back in 1996. She couldn’t have brought another ornament that would have pleased me more. This one just fit in so well with all of my other gold ornaments.

The details didn’t show up well in this ornament of Jesus, Joseph & Mary, but it is a beautiful ornament.

The three wise men.

A Church

And of course…angels….

Angels

And more angels....at last count there were almost 100 angels on the tree!