CHRISTMAS EVE

Merry Christmas!  Welcome to our home.  You can see I changed the wreath on the front door.  The jingle bell one was really too small.  I finally found my wreath that I made two years ago on the day I got out of the hospital.  It looks much  better.
 
It was a very slow day at work.  Almost no one came in.  Of course not, everyone was getting ready for the holiday.  Finally at 1:30 we got the word that we could leave at 3:00.  Yay!

I had to stop at Shop Rite on the way home and get some things I needed.  There it was like a mad house.  You would have thought they were giving the food away.  I got just a few things and it took me over a half hour.

 We had our Christmas Eve Service at church tonight.  Pastor Justin and his wife are away visiting family.  At first we weren't going to have a service at all.  But the elders fought for it.  About 35 people showed up tonight.  There were more out tonight than there were for Sunday morning worship yesterday.  The elders were in charge.  Bud chose all the music and played the piano.  Shaun led the singing, prayed and led the responsive reading.  Two of the congregants read the Old Testament passages.  Joe gave the message.  He was great.  The difference between his first message a year ago and this one was like night and day.  He has really grown in his preaching.  It was as if he did this every week not just once in awhile.  And I'm getting really good at setting up and breaking down the sound system and the video camera.

We took our friends Debbie and Rusty home, got some gas for our long trip tomorrow and went home.  Joe and I had decided to open our gifts to each other tonight since we will be at my sister's tomorrow.  Here is Joe with the four gifts I gave him.  I told him it was a low key Christmas this year, so he was overwhelmed when I loaded him down.  I know how to shop and only one of the gifts was over $10.



The first thing he did was open the card that I gave him.  I always look for special cards.  (If you look, you can see that I found my Christmas pillows and put them on the sofa.  They are kittens in Christmas stockings hanging from a branch of a Christmas tree.)



This was Joe's "big" gift.  Every time he went into Home Depot he was looking at this 15-in-1 tool.  He wanted it so badly, but never thought I would actually buy it for him.  He was really surprised.



He's also been wanting this winter hat.  Why?  I don't know.  But I do know that when he opened it he had a huge grin and kept saying, "I love it.  I love it."



Joe also said that he wanted a package of K-cups from Wawa.  They have his favorite coffee and just a few weeks ago started making their own K-cups.  Again, he said it would make a great gift but didn't expect me to get it for him.



This is the gift Joe handed me.  Because of his hands shaking he is not able to wrap gifts, so he asked one of our neighbors to do it.  She did a beautiful job.  It was almost too pretty to open.  Almost.



It was a beautiful butterfly necklace made of aquamarines and peridots in a sterling silver setting.  So beautiful.  He knows how much I love butterflies and when he saw it he knew it was for me.  I love it!



Here's a closer, if not better, view of it.



Under the tree is loaded with gifts for friends and family.  (Yes, Elaine, you can see your stocking.)



I still have to put Joe's stocking together and then I am finished.  It's been a long season.  So glad it's done and I can enjoy the rest of it.

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE FROM BOTH JOE AND ME!