Hello, friends! I want to continue on from yesterday and tell you about the day after Christmas.
After we all got up and got ourselves together we went to Cracker Barrel for breakfast. Joe and I had been given two gift cards so we treated Elaine. It was such a treat and so good. We loved our waitress. She said she lived in Pennsylvania and when we told her we lived in Philadelphia, she said she had visited and her daughter loved Philly. She was from East Stroudsburg and knew right where our church's campsite, Pinebrook, was. What a small world!
After we ate, we went to Marshall's for their after Christmas sale. Joe was able to get a new pair of sneakers for $20. And he bought me something I have been wanting all of Advent -- a sock advent calendar. But this one is the 12 days of socks, for the 12 days of Christmas. Since it was the 26th, I opened the first two days.
Here is the calendar before I opened it.
And here I am pointing to the first door which I am about to open.
The first pair of socks were crew socks with a picture of a nutcracker on it. So cute!
Then I pointed to the second day which I was going to open.
These were no show socks with peppermint stick stripes on them. I am loving this!
Thank you, Elaine, for taking these pictures for me. I will post each day the new socks I am getting. Such fun!
We had lunch before we left her house. There was lunchmeat, all kinds of cheese, different kinds of crackers, Hawaiian rolls and sourdough bread. It was great choosing what kinds of cheese to eat and what kind of meat to pair with them. Elaine knows I love Brie and had a big wheel of it sitting right in front of me.
Everything was delicious. Then she brought out a birthday cake for me. It was so pretty!
Elaine lit the candles and she and Joe sang to me. Then I blew them out. I missed one. Does that mean I don't get my wish?
I have the best sister ever.
We hung out for a bit, but finally it was time to leave. I wanted to get home before it was dark. And I was almost home before the night set in. But most of the way we were blessed with the most gorgeous sunset I think I have ever seen. Golds, reds, crimson and purples just filled the sky. If I hadn't been driving, I would have been taking some pictures.
All in all it was a wonderful Christmas. There is still more to tell and show to you so please come back tomorrow.
Have a wonderful day.
Kathy
Hello, friends! I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. Blogmas is over but the Christmas and New Year posts continue.
Christmas morning was not good for me. Just being honest here. I was totally not prepared to go away. I still had so much to do in the house. And I couldn't find things. I was trying to straighten up while throwing things around to find the missing items. I finally broke down and cried. It was not a good time. But we finally got everything wrapped and packed up and on the road an hour later than we had planned.
We had an easy trip to Northern New Jersey except for one intersection where a car decided to just cross the highway with oncoming traffic (including me) headed right at him. It was only by the grace of God that we weren't killed. You can't just stop the car on a dime when you are going 55 mph with a lot of traffic around you also going that fast. I was able to change lanes at the last minute and miss him by inches. Thank you, God! This is why we always pray before leaving the house.
But we got to my sister Elaine's house with no other problems and fairly light traffic. It was good to finally be there.
We arrived in daylight, but I have to show you a picture of her pretty house at night. The lights are perfect. The room lit up is the living room where Joe and I were.
Elaine made us the most delicious dinner of oven fried chicken, herbed new potatoes, asparagus and Hawaiian rolls. My mouth wanted more when my stomach said stop. She gave us some to bring home and we will have it for dinner tomorrow.
Of course we had our Christmas crackers. So fun, although the crowns, jokes, and prizes were not as good as last year. I got a magnifying glass, Joe a jumping frog and Elaine a spinning top. Here's a picture of Elaine and Joe pulling Elaine's cracker and one of Joe wearing his crown.
After dinner we opened gifts. Such nice things everyone got. Of course Elaine's dog, Ace, had to get in on things.
Elaine gave me a cookbook for my air fryer and a cool burlap bag that opens into a basket to hold all my cookbooks. I love it and know just where I am going to put it in my kitchen.
She gave Joe a shirt he wanted.
Every year Elaine gives us a treat for New Year's Eve. But this year was tremendous. She put a basket together for us with crackers, cheese, salami, chocolate, mints, nuts, tea and I don't remember what else. I love it so much!
Her tree was one of the most beautiful trees I had ever seen.
And she had a beautiful angel on the top.
Joe gave Elaine a decorated egg on a pedestal that when opened revealed a nutcracker. It was also a music box that played the Dance of the Flowers from the Nutcracker Suite.
A bag of goodies for Joe from Elaine.
Our friend, Chrissy, gave Elaine the cutest gift. It was a mug that said I love my dog, a box of hot chocolate mix, and a mug of chocolate with marshmallow dog chew toy. Adorable!
Another picture of me with the basket Elaine made for us.
Here is Ace with one of his balls. We got him three red and green balls for Christmas. Ace loves balls. I mean LOVES balls!
Ace wanted to see everything that was going on.
And he kept jumping into Joe's lap and licking his entire face.
We watched TV after we were finished and of course had to see our traditional movie -- A Christmas Story. Each of us likes a different part of it and waits for our special part to show up.
By this time we were all beat, so Joe went to bed first. Elaine and I stayed up and talked awhile but soon it was time for bed for us too.
I will tell you about the next day tomorrow and show you what Joe gave me. I still have not had time to photograph them. I am so tired today that I have done nothing. But we have a Christmas party to go to tonight with Joe's veterans group so I have to get myself together for that. At least I don't have to cook!
I'll see you later. Have a good night everyone.
Kathy
MERRY CHRISTMAS, EVERYONE! I will see you all tomorrow.
Kathy
Hello, friends! Thanks for hanging in there with me. Both Joe and I are feeling so much better and ready to get on with our holiday. So let me catch you up with a couple of days and then we will take it from there.
On Sunday it was my day to bring something to Fellowship Time before church. I wasn't even sure I could make it through the service because I was still sick, but I gave it a shot and stuck it out. I have been so lax in making my cookies. In fact, these are the only ones I have made. But they turned out so good. I got a mix that had red and green jimmies in it. It was early in the morning when I headed to the kitchen to mix them up. I lit a candle to make it cozy. It is still dark here at 7:00 a.m.
I bought this small ice cream scoop in Lancaster County this past summer and it is perfect for making cookies.
They baked perfectly and were so delicious! They were called Christmas funfetti cookies and that was just what they were.
Joe was still not feeling well, so he did not go to the morning service. I picked up Debbie and Rusty and we headed for church. The traffic was crazy that day. And I do mean crazy with people just turning in front of you and all things like that. Everyone was impatient and honking.
Part of the way there the low tire pressure light went on. I told the pastor and after church half the congregation was at my car saying, "This is the tire." "No, this one." "It's the sensor, there's nothing wrong." Finally, I left to take Debbie and Rusty home along with a can of Fix-a-Flat from Pastor with me. Along the way we stopped at 7-11 and Rusty put air in the tire that we were told it was. It didn't seem to make any difference, though.
This was the fourth Sunday of Advent and Rick and Carole lit the candles and read the scripture.
Sunday night was our candlelight Christmas service. Only a few people showed up and that was a shame because it was the most beautiful and meaningful service I have attended in a long time. And the church looked so nice!
Joe had felt better and come with me to the service but now Debbie wasn't well and Rusty had come by himself. Joe and I drove Rusty home and the light was still on indicating the tire was low.
Knowing I had a couple of long trips in front of me this week, I took the car into the garage first thing on Monday morning. It turns out there was a nail in the passenger rear tire. Everyone was telling me it was the front tire and that's what Rusty put the air in. I had to wait for 2 hours while they fixed it, but it was inexpensive and now safe to drive. While I was waiting I kept looking at their one and only decoration, a big snowman in the corner. Well... it was about three feet high. I just had to take a picture of him. It was so cute.
Fortunately I got out of there in time to get Joe and Rick and the three of us went to the nursing home for our weekly service. There weren't a lot of people who showed up, but did they ever enjoy singing "Silent Night." They weren't even looking at the song sheet -- just loudly singing and smiling. I have to find some non-Christmas songs that they know just as well. These people like to sing!
That's days 17 and 18 down. Now on to today for day 19 -- Christmas Eve. The day dawned beautiful. I just wish it dawned earlier! It doesn't get light until after 7:00 a.m. But here is a picture of the sun rising over the Commodore Barry Bridge.
It has been a very busy day. You might even say hectic. There is so much to do and not nearly enough time.
Here is a picture of the blanket I made for Joe's sister, Mary. I think it turned out so pretty. It's hard to believe this is all made of left over yarn.
I gave it to her tonight and she loved it! She said no one had ever made anything for her before.
We did a lot of running around this afternoon. We had to go to Shoprite and then headed for Rite Aid. And if we've forgotten something, well... it's too late now.
We didn't even have time to eat. We haven't been eating well for over a week now. Just a quick breakfast, a snack or nothing for lunch, and a grab whatever for dinner. Hopefully that will stop now. Tonight we headed over to Joe's nephew's house. Each year he throws a party for the family on Christmas Eve. Usually we don't go, but this year we did.
Here is Joe with his nephew, Jerry, who is the son of his older sister.
Christmas Eve is the birthday of the lady of the house, Colleen, Joe's nephew Stephen's wife. Stephen had bought a cake for her and we all sang "Happy Birthday" to her.
Then Stephen cut the cake.
I didn't take any cake but everyone was saying it was good.
Joe was so happy his sister, Mary, showed up. She is his youngest sister and the one I know best. This is the Mary that I made the blanket for. I was able to give it to her before we left.
Joe with his nephew, Greg, and his niece Jen's fiancé.
Here's Mary with Joe's niece Jackie.
The best part of the evening was when Jackie brought out gifts for all the kids there and they were allowed to open them. Oh, the smiles and excitement of these little ones. Ken, the husband of Joe's niece Chrissie was sitting next to me and he said this was the best seeing the kids. I agreed!
We stayed only a couple of hours because I still have gifts to wrap. The cookies are going to wait until tomorrow morning -- if then. And I still have to pick up the floor and straighten up a bit before we leave for my sister's tomorrow.
And now I must end. I will probably not be on here tomorrow, but I'll definitely be back after Christmas. I hope you all have a wonderful time with your families and friends. I'll end this post with a picture of Stephen and Colleen's house as we were leaving. Merry Christmas!
Kathy
