Looking To The New Year

Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness. 

I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for Him.” 

The Lord is good to those whose hope is in Him, to the one who seeks Him; 

it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.
Lamentations 3:21-26

Christmas With Mom and Dad

The first Saturday of this month my side of the family got together to celebrate Christmas. There were 27 of us total. Four generations. Everyone was there (except a nephew who was taking the SAT test), sisters, brother, in-laws, nieces, nephews all the way down to my parents' six great-grandchildren.

This was a Christmas celebration that I both looked forward to and dreaded. This was the first Christmas since my mom's stroke. One thought that went through all of our minds after Mom's stroke, I think, was that Christmas will never be the same. Mom always made Christmas special. Always. From the traditional foods (Spritz, Potato Bologna, Fruit Cake, Pecan Dreams, Swedish Brown Beans, Swedish Rye Bread, Mashed Potatoes, etc...), to decorating every single room in their house, to the mantel with 29 stockings, to the schedule for the evening: everyone assigned jobs to help get the meal on the table, eating a wonderful, abundant meal, washing the dishes and cleaning up the kitchen (this added much to the drama of waiting, but we did it this way all my growing up years), then finally getting to open presents.

My dad was able to reserve some nice rooms in the home where my mom is living right now. We did our best to carry on with some of the traditions, namely the Christmas stockings. We were able to hang them all up across the bar in one of the rooms. They were quite the sight:

My oldest niece is a cosmetologist. She and her mom (my sister) picked out a pretty Christmas sweater for Mom and put some make-up on Mom and fixed her hair very nicely. I thought she looked so very pretty. Here is Mom and Dad together:

 I love that Mom is able to give a full smile and not the half-smile she gave three months ago.


We all enjoyed lunch and dinner together. 

I brought some Swedish Potato Bologna for Mom. She has made it for Christmas every year for as long as I can remember. One of our local grocery stores makes it and sells it through the holidays.

 It's so good to see Mom feeding herself. She manages a lot with her left hand and is able to eat mostly regular food. Dad helps her with each meal.

This little one (one of my niece's twins) was being kind of fussy, so Hubby took her and sat down at the piano and starting playing. She sat there for the longest time listening. It was sweet.

My wonderful, dear, sweet husband prepared his own gift for his mother-in-law. He spent a month looking through his piano music picking out hymns to play for my mom.  Mom has occasionally hummed along to a familiar song and he wanted to gift her with well-loved hymns to trigger that part of her brain.

We gathered in one room and sang together.

As we were singing some Christmas songs, I watched Mom. At one point I saw her mouthing the words to O Come All Ye Faithful!!! Mom doesn't say any words. She readily shakes her head "no" and with some effort can nod her head "yes", so to see her forming words was just amazing! I was so taken up in the moment, that I didn't get a picture or video. Nevertheless, I will never forget that moment! Never.

O come, all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant,
O come ye, O come ye, to Bethlehem.
Come and behold Him, born the King of angels

I am so very thankful that my mom is one of those Faithful.

Merry Christmas, Mom and Dad. I love you both!

The One About Thanksgiving

Backing up to our Thanksgiving weekend...

Our kids invited us to come to their house in Kansas City for the long weekend. We eagerly accepted. (All four kids are currently living in the same house, so it makes visiting pretty easy!)

Our daughter, Megan, and daughter-in-law, Amanda, put together a very yummy Thanksgiving dinner.

Charley (Megan and Zach's dog) got in on the celebration with a Pupcake to celebrate his third birthday.

Charley also enjoyed watching the dog-show on television. Grin.

The week before Thanksgiving, I hunted around on Pinterest (yay Pinterest!) to find an idea for a craft we could all do together. I found some directions for a folded fabric star. In my head I thought, "Fabric? I can do that!" This craft didn't cost me anything! I cut and pressed the fabric strips at home and packed everything up to take along with us. I wasn't sure everyone would want to participate, but we all sat down around the table and dug in. It turns out that the directions weren't very complete, but between all of us, we figured it out (and had some good laughs along the way).

I really loved how they turned out. I gave the red/white candy cane one to my mom to hang in her room. I've since made several more stars in different fabrics to give to people over Christmas.


The day after Thanksgiving did not find any of us out shopping. None of us really like messing with the crowds of people. (Although, the hotel Hubby and I stayed in was next to the Country Club Plaza shopping area and there was a big turning on the Christmas light celebration there that weekend and that made the hotel very crowded with people, so we didn't avoid the crowds, totally!)  We did, however make a little road trip over to Lawrence to go to an arts and crafts show going on there. Several of Hubby's relatives were selling their creations and we wanted to see them and their goods.

The December Hodgepodge

Here goes my one and only December Wednesday Hodgepodge! Head on over to Joyce's at From This Side of the Pond to read other blogger's answers.

1. Do you believe in miracles?
Yep. I think I don't even realize the number of miracles that occur around me and in my life. I need to pray for God to open my eyes to those things, so I can praise Him for those miracles.

2. What's a recent fad you admit to trying?
Is putting a bright color in your hair a fad? Probably. I sneaked a little bright pink in my hair at my last appointment. It's not terribly obvious but I love it! (Might need to make it a little more obvious next time. ha.) 

3. Peppermint-are you a fan? If so, what's your favorite food or beverage containing peppermint?
Yes, yes, yes! I love peppermint any time of the year. I splurged today and bought some peppermint ice cream. I am usually strictly a chocolate girl when it come to ice cream. My exception to that is peppermint ice cream. (Although if I can drizzle some chocolate syrup on, even better!) Last weekend I bought some Peppermint Joe-Joe's (kinda like Oreos) from Trader Joe's.  I've had a couple and now am trying to forget how amazing they are. Writing about it isn't helping much... 

4. Break the ice, on thin ice, as cold as ice (emotionally, not literally)...which phrase have you run into most recently? Explain.
Sorry, but all I can think about when I read those expressions is how cold is has been here in the north-land. Can winter be over now please? A Facebook friend wrote last week how he was tired of winter and it wasn't Christmas or even technically winter yet. Hubby commented and said, "I'm sick of next winter and we haven't made it through this one." (I know that doesn't really answer the question...Oh Well.)

 5. Have you ever broken or spilled something in someone else's home? Still friends?
Many, many years ago when we lived in Missouri, our family visited the new home of a new engineer that worked with my hubby. They gave all of us some cans of pop as we looked around their house. One of the kids (I think it was a kid...yes, let's blame this on a kid...) dropped their can of pop all over the kitchen floor. I don't think it damaged anything, but it was embarrassing to leave a mess in someone's house we barely knew. Interestingly, years later, this same engineer, who is now in upper management in the company, was Hubby's boss for a few years! He never held it against us. 

6.  'Tis the week before Christmas...are you feeling more like Buddy the Elf or the Grinch before his heart grew?
Well, I never thought I would be one of those people, but I am feeling like the Grinch. (The reasons why are not going out into the world wide web.) Hopefully that will change over the next week. 

7. Share a favorite quote relating to Christmas.

"...with the dawn of Redeeming Grace."  

Last week Hubby and I went to a Mannheim Steamroller concert and I was caught up in worshipping while they were performing Silent Night and that one line stood out to me.

I am so grateful for that redeeming grace. 

8.  Insert your own random thought here.  

Hubby took this picture at an art/craft show we went to over Thanksgiving. I would call this creatively weird and random.

Turkey Day

I am thankful for...
...having Thankksgiving dinner with my family
...turkey
...a loving husband
...pumpkin pie (my mom's recipe is the best)

On The Road

I am thankful for...
...traveling with my husband
...listening to Louie Armstrong while I drive
...a detour to get a Peppermint Chocolate Chip Shake from Chick-fil-A to share
...an evening with my kids
...being all together as a family

Lists

I know when I'm on the edge of feeling swamped. How? I start making lists. I got 3/4 of the things on my list DONE today! Tomorrow's list consists mostly of things to do in my sewing room so that should be a fun day!

I am thankful for...
...old family recipes that are still favorites (I made my grandma's Butterhorn Rolls today for Thanksgiving Dinner)
...new flannel sheets
...sleeping 6 hours straight last night (I rarely do that)
...listening to Hubby play the piano (he's practicing some pieces to play for my mom)
...this verse:

From the fullness of His grace we have all received one blessing after another.  John 1:16

Even better in the Amplified Version:

For out of His fullness (abundance) we have all received [all had a share and we were supplied with] one grace after another and spiritual blessing upon spiritual blessing and even favor and gift [heaped] upon gift.