Wonderful Christmas

We have had a wonderful Christmas for many reasons.

The whole foundation of Christmas is the fact of the birth of Christ. Without His coming to this earth as a baby along with all the other prophesied events that happened, there would be no point to our lives--live, eat, sleep, procreate, die. But to have our Creator Who deserves all our praise and service gives purpose to our lives.

All my family was home for Christmas. It's been great to have them here. I've appreciated having Jen here to help with cooking and cleaning up. And everyone is so appreciative of my cooking and planning. We cooked, ate, unwrapped gifts, played games, watched movies, and talked. Good times.

Several of our church people and people at work were very generous to us.

I'm off work for 12 days counting weekends. I only have to use four days of vacation because the rest are weekends and holidays. Yay!

I get to buy some new clothes.

Momentous, Monumental Occasion

Well, I had my 50+ birthday on Friday. At least that's what I'm calling it. A lady at work calls it a momentous birthday and my daughter calls it my monumental birthday. Humph!

I did have a wonderful birthday. The ladies at work decorated my cubicle and gave me a gift certificate to the Bible bookstore. My boss provided a cake (it was her birthday too). My husband brought me beautiful flowers in person (and gave me a kiss in front of other people at my request). That evening we couldn't celebrate the birthday any further (we had a wedding rehearsal in Denver and also had to pick up Jen at the airport), so after the wedding on Saturday, we went home and the kids had the living room decorated with great beauty (purple and black crepe paper, signs, balloons), and I got a necklace with the offending birthday number all around it. Humph!

After we got home, I opened the gifts--nearly everything I had asked for--all good. Then we all went out to eat at Chili's--my choice, and I got the fajitas. Good stuff!

It was a very memorable birthday. I think I will remember it for the next 20 years.

My family was and is wonderful. Very thoughtful, and really too good to me.

Christmas Program

My church's children's Christmas program was last night. It was very good. The children sang mostly traditional carols plus a couple of others while a Power Point slide show of the drawings the children had done was presented on the screen behind them. It turned out really well. Between songs, the kids took turns reading the Christmas story from the Bible.

Everyone enjoyed it. The pictures were amazing: some were very funny and some were cute; others made you ponder many things like the length of camels and donkeys (there was a "stretch" donkey in one picture), turtles, fainted shepherds and sheep, a duck, the balancing of a large urn on the hump of a camel, alien-looking donkeys and camels, a large curlicue on the top of Baby Jesus' head. It was all very entertaining, and definitely a wonderful presentation of the truth of Christmas.

My husband and I are happy with the results, but mainly we are relieved to have it finished.

13 Thursday Christmas Favorites

1. Christmas carols

2. 12 pounds of Christmas at work

3. Buying gifts for my family

4. Having both of my kids home for the holidays

5. Seeing other family members

6. Having the house all clean

7. Seeing Christmas specials/movies on TV

8. Hearing Christmas messages at church

9. Seeing the decorated Christmas tree with the gifts

10. Christmas Eve reading of the Christmas story from the Bible

11. Opening gifts on Christmas Eve

12. Guessing what's in most of the Christmas gifts for me and being mostly right (it kind of irritates the family)

13. Working on Christmas music for church in September or October

The Nitty Gritty

You know, life is made up of the the nitty gritty, unimportant details and what appear to be random events.

We got a new dryer today. I had to take off work from 11:30 because it was going to arrive between 12:00 and 5:00. It came about 1:30. Yay! And we didn't have to pay for it. Another Yay!

We're still looking for a new pickup. Gary was looking at a BMW SUV. It was $2800. That seemed just wrong. G asked the seller by email if that was the real price. Return email said yes, that he was trying to get rid of it soon. Trouble is he lives in Scotland and we would have to send money to a third party. As has been said, if it looks too good to be true, then it probably is. Oh, well.

I went to Christmas party last night for the ladies in my church. It was very nice. I won a prize for a game about Christmas songs. I probably had an unfair advantage. Oh, well.

I have another party at work on Friday. It's a white elephant game and we have pizza.

Our Master Club for our children at church is presenting its Christmas program Sunday night. G and I have quite a bit to do to get it all ready this week.

I have a wedding to play for on 12/20 and a rehearsal on 12/19 in Denver. I still have to practice quite a bit. The bride wants a lot of classical music. Well, I don't practice much on classical music even though I really like it. So I really need to get busy on it.

At work we are decorating a door in the department to enter into a contest with other county departments. So I am working on that with several other ladies. It's kind of like doing a bulletin board. In most of the past years, the commissioners have come personally to judge the doors, but this year we have to send electronic photos, and I guess all county employees will vote.

I don't have my Christmas tree up yet, but I will, Jen. It will be amazing, or at least it will be pretty.

Secrets -- Memed by Julie

1. When I was really stressed out (teaching) a few years ago, I tore a towel in half.

2. Once my mother slapped me when I was a teenager, and in reflex I drew up my fist as if I was going to hit her back. She didn't see me do it. I was horrified that I responded that way. ( I think my kids know about this one.)

3. When my dog growls, I am a little bit afraid of him. (G and A know about this.)

4. Even though I love/like a lot of people, I don't get close to very many. Maybe everybody knows this??

Moms

My daughter Jen misses her mom, but she'll be home in two weeks.

I miss my mom. She's been gone for 11 years today. She's having a wonderful time. I wonder if she's in charge of anything or just praising the Lord.

Update on My Husband's Vehicle

The truck that was in the accident a couple of weeks ago has been totalled. That seems to be bad news. The reason it's not is because the insurance company is giving us more money than we paid for it several years ago because of the low mileage. God is good.

Gary is now looking for a new vehicle.

We'll miss that little white truck.

Personals

Jen, let's talk tonight if you can or tomorrow night.

Nathaniel R., are you doing alright? I keep looking at your blog. I know you have been having a hard time. I would like to hear from you.

Robin had her baby. I'm happy.