CHRISTMAS EVE AND DAY

 Hello, friends!  Sorry I haven't been around in awhile but I have not been feeling well.  Cold?  Flu?  Exhaustion?  I'm not really sure.  But I sure feel lousy.  We were invited to a party tonight for New Year's Eve, but I'm not up to it.  And to top it off Joe threw out his back at the grocery store yesterday.  We are a pair!

I'm going to start by telling you about Christmas Eve.  What a cold, COLD day.  When I got up it was 7*F (-14*C) with a wind chill factor of -11*F (-24*C).  It was so cold in the kitchen that I had to bring my breakfast into the living room where I had the fireplace space heater going to stay warm to eat.

We had to run some errands.  First the post office (it was up to 16*F (-9*C) by that time), then the bakery to pick up a Happy Birthday Jesus cake that we ordered, and finally to church to turn on the heat and set things up for the morning.  We didn't know what to do for lunch so while we were out and about we stopped off at Wawa and got some chicken noodle soup.  I am not a soup person, but it was sure good on that cold day.

I also wanted a snack, so I made some "Snowman" cookies from Pillsbury.  So easy to take them out of the package, put them on a cookie sheet, and bake them.

Christmas, of course, was a Sunday.  And I was running late!  I tried not to but...  Our pastor was away, and Joe was speaking.  And I had two people to pick up and get over there.  Donna lives about 10 minutes away so I went to get her first.  Then I picked up Rosemary who lives around the corner from us.

We got there in plenty of time, though.  Most of our regulars were there, with Rosemary as a visitor.  We had our cake and coffee and then started the service.  Midway through a visitor walked in who was looking for a church that was open on Christmas.  Some weren't.  And then towards the end there was a man who came in.

After the service some people went home and some of us decided to go to lunch together.  We planned to meet at the Ritz Diner.  But when we got there the parking lot was full.  The lines were long.  The place was packed.  We discussed it and decided to go to the Liberty Bell Diner instead.  It has been there a long time, but neither Joe nor I had ever eaten there.  It was a good choice.  We got seated right away and the food was delicious.  The service was great too.

Fish and chips

Fried scallops

Turkey dinner

Mahi mahi

I was very tired.  VERY tired.  I drove everyone home and then laid down on the sofa.  The next thing I knew it was 16 hours later and the next morning.  Wow!  I knew I wasn't feeling well, but I had no idea I would do that.

So that was my Christmas.  The next day was much better.  I went to visit my sister.  But that is a story for another day.

I hope you all have a wonderful New Year's Eve and Day.  I will do my best to be back here tomorrow with another post.

Until later...

Kathy

THE CHRISTMAS CAFE

 Hello, friends!  I am having a hard time keeping up with this blog.  I just don't have a lot of time.  I am running doing errands or I am sick and sleeping.  So please forgive me.  I'm also trying to keep up with my YouTube channel.  Vlogmas is not for the faint of heart.  But hopefully in the new year I will get better.  And I apologize for not getting around to reading all of your posts.  There just isn't time!

Last week I spent 10 hours one day just doing church work.  Between the bulletin, studying for my Bible study (the one I teach) and working with Joe on his sermon (he's preaching Sunday) and his elder work I was very busy.  By the end of 10 hours (I didn't even stop for lunch!) I laid down and slept for four hours.  Joe woke me up telling me he had made dinner and it was ready.  What a sweetheart he is!

Yesterday we were running around and I spent four hours in the car.  I was in a lot of pain by the time we got home.  Joe went to Urgent Care because he had a very bad cold.  It turned out he has a sinus infection.  Then we had to go get his prescription.  He is better today so hopefully he will be OK by Sunday.

Last Sunday we had our annual Christmas Cafe.  It is always a lot of fun.  I made a video about it so you can go to YouTube and see it.  But I also took a lot of pictures and I will show them to you.

This is the advent wreath on our communion table.  Four candles are lit.  Just the Christ candle to go for this Sunday.

We have lots of poinsettias around the sanctuary.

Candles on our windowsills.  So pretty.

Little Christmas trees on the tables in Fellowship Hall.

We had a guest soloist, Bekah Foster.  She sang and played four songs.  And she was so good!

At the end we had our usual Christmas Carol sing along.  So fun.

I have been meaning to take a picture of our beautiful wreath for weeks and finally did it.  It is in the hallway just inside the front door.  It's the first thing you see when you enter the building.

Thanks for coming along.  Christmas is coming quickly!  Too quickly for me.  I will be back soon.  Hope you are all having a wonderful Christmas season.

Kathy

I HAVE A GIFT FOR YOU

 

Hello, friends.  I hope all is well with you.  I had what I call a "wasted" day today.  I am so tired and I just could not make myself do anything.  I slept a lot and watched some TV and that was about it.  I did make a great dinner though.  I put some chicken thighs in the air fryer, mixed up a box of chicken stove top, opened a jar of chicken gravy, cooked some green beans and opened a can of cranberry sauce.  It was really good and I ate more than I have been eating lately.  I have been having trouble with my stomach and haven't been eating much.  Because of the pain the other day I had one blueberry pancake all day.  Tonight I actually ate a meal.

Tomorrow I will have to get up early and start cleaning.  We are having a friend of Joe's come over in the morning.  He is a handyman and Joe wants to see if he can do some things around the house for us.  I have to move some things out of the way of where he has to work.

The sanctuary at church is decorated so beautifully for Christmas.  But I never got to show you pictures of the fall decorations.  So this is how our windowsills looked.

I will have to take pictures of how it looks now.

Here is how the communion table looked.

Wait.  What are those books on the table?

They are pocket sized Gospels of John.  We are giving them out for free to anyone who would like one.  I have three in my purse right now.  I have had a chance to give out only one.  Several people have given out four or five copies.  The idea is to get the gospel into the hands of anyone who wants one.  We never force it on people.  My offer to you is...  If you would like a copy, or multiple copies, of this little gospel for yourself or someone else, please email me with your address and I will mail it to you.  This is absolutely free.  No strings attached.  I won't ask you any questions and I won't be bothering you with a follow-up (although if you want to share a story with me, I won't say no).

And now I have to go to bed.  Tomorrow is going to be a long day.  Have a good one everyone.

Christmas is coming quickly!

Kathy

YES, IT'S REALLY ME

 

Hello, friends.  Yes, it really is me.  I know I have been missing for quite awhile.  The truth is I have been extremely busy and just have not had the time to get on here.  Let me catch you up a bit.

I have been busy with church.  I am doing a four- part Advent series in Bible Study on Tuesday from the first two chapters of the book of Matthew.  It is really interesting, but I have never really checked all the background before and it is taking a lot of study before I can teach it.

In addition to that, I started an online college course on C.S. Lewis' writings.  I am so far behind on that and have to catch up this week to get the credit for it.

My sister came to visit me this past week.  It was so fun to be able to go out and have lunch with her.  We went to the local pizza place and she got a real Philly cheesesteak (not what the rest of the world calls Philly cheesesteaks).  She said it was like "eating heaven."  You just can't get a good roll outside of Philly.

We also went to Lidl's.  I was just going to show the place to her and pick up a couple of things we needed, but ended up spending $50.  I can't go into that store without buying something.  One of the things I got was a cute gnome doormat for the front door.  It is so cute.  I also got a snowman shower curtain that I can leave up all winter.

Lots of packages have been coming to our door.  Most of them have Joe's name on them, but there are a few things that I have ordered too.  While my sister was here, her Christmas gift came in the mail.  I was very casual about it and said I would just open it later.  Whew!  I have to go through all the gifts I have, see what is there, and figure out if I am finished or if I have to buy anything else.

Decorating is going very slowly.  I'm just not into it this year.  I have a few things up, but not much.

I went to my cardiologist this week.  It was a lot of talking about "where do we go from here" with my afib and not being able to take blood thinners.  It looks as if surgery might be coming in the new year.  *sigh*

I am enjoying my Advent calendar that Joe bought me.  It is all Walker's shortbread.  Yum!  Each day I get a new cookie.  I loved the big "thistle" cookie I got the other day.

I have to start my holiday baking very soon!  This week in fact since I need cookies to bring to the Christmas Cafe next Sunday.

The trees outside of my kitchen window look more like Thanksgiving than Christmas.  They are so pretty.

The temperatures sure don't feel like Thanksgiving though.  We have gotten down in the 20s some nights.  (-1 to -6 C).

I have been trying to keep up with my YouTube channel (Kathy's Happy Home) so if you are missing me, you can go there.  But even there I am falling behind.  I guess because I really don't feel well, I'm in a lot of pain, and I sleep a lot.  I am just not myself these days.

But...  there are so many people in the world worse off than me.  God has blessed me so much.  I am so thankful for all that I have.  And Christmas will come whether I am completely ready for it or not.

Hope you have a wonderful day, and I will talk to you when I can.

Kathy

AND THEN IT WAS DECEMBER

 Hello, friends!  Welcome to December.  It's the end of the year and I don't know where the time has gone.  But here it is.

I have so much to do around the house to get ready for the holidays, but I have been in so much pain that I don't do much of anything.  No matter what, I have to get something done tomorrow.  I didn't sleep well last night and it looks as if the same thing is happening tonight.  *sigh*  I think things are weighing on my mind.  But that doesn't help me have the energy to do what I need to do.

I started my Vlogmas today on YouTube.  The link to it is right here.

Tonight after dinner we had our Advent devotions.  I am reading a book by Billy and Ruth Graham called "This Christmas Night: Reflections from Our Hearts to Your Home."  Really good.  I'm also reading Max Lucado's new Advent devotional "In the Manger."  Not as good, but still thought provoking.

We also began to burn our Advent candle.

I got the same kind as I had last year, although a different pattern.  Having a pillar candle that I don't need a holder for is a great help.  We burned through number 1 today and will continue each day until just a small amount at the bottom remains.

Tomorrow I have cleaning, cooking and studying to do.  I am taking an online college course and I got an email from them asking why I haven't begun the course.  No time!  But I am going to make the time to do this.  It is a survey of C.S. Lewis, one of my favorite authors.  I think I've read everything he has written.  So that is a priority.

Last year I had bought an Advent calendar for myself with different teas.  I thought it would be fun to try them.  I asked for black tea, but most of it was green tea.  Or peppermint tea.  Or some other things.  I hated every single one that I opened.  Finally, around the 15th I stopped torturing myself and threw the whole thing out.  

I then bought Joe a coffee one.  He liked most of them.  But because it was so late in the month, he never finished it.  He is going to try to finish it this year. 

This year instead of tea, Joe bought me a calendar with Walker's shortbread in it.  I love shortbread so I know I am going to love this.  I opened the first one today and it was a chocolate chip.  Can't wait for tomorrow's cookie.

I am going to try to get some sleep.  I hope I have the energy to do what I need to do tomorrow.  Have a good night (or day if you are reading this in the daytime).  I will see you soon.

Kathy