BLOGMAS DAY 17 -- THE CHRISTMAS CAFE

Hello, friends!  It's the middle of the week already and I still have not told you about the Christmas Café we had last Sunday evening at church.  It is always a fun time.

That afternoon I made some lemon bars to take.  I haven't baked anything from scratch in so long and it was good to do that again.  (Although mixes are so much easier.)  They must have been good because I had only four pieces to bring home.

There was so much to eat.  Everyone who came was very generous.  Even the Veterans group that Joe belongs to donated two boxes of cookies.

I really enjoyed all the different cheese and pepperoni and salami they had.  You can see my lemon bars in the left hand corner of the picture above.

The tables were decorated so cutely with little Christmas trees and ornament candles.

The lights were turned down and Christmas music was playing as we ate.  Then at 8:00 p.m. the lights went on and we started our Christmas carol sing-along.  Everyone joined in and we had so much fun.

Carolyn played for us and Pastor led the singing.

Even Joe who can't sing sang along.  Here he is with our friend Walt.

Even the Youth Group showed up.

At the end we had a guest soloist.  Selena, a friend of Rick's, came and played her violin for us.

It was a great night and I'm glad I could bring you along to enjoy it.

Have a great day!

Kathy

SO MUCH TO DO

I have so much to do today and what have I done so far?  I spent the entire morning putting the Christmas Cafe video together.  But it turned out beautiful and I am so happy with it.  Here is the link for it:

It is about 13 minutes long, but well worth the time to watch it.  You will get a taste of our 2 hour musical event.

The coffee table is almost cleaned off.  I can't wait to decorate it and show it to you.  There is no way I can get everything done in four days so Joe suggested we pack things away and put them in the cellar until the new year and then deal with all the papers and items we need to sort through.  I hate to do that, but in this case I think that is the thing to do.  Then since I am not working outside of the home I can take a certain time each day to go through things and get rid of them.  I figure I can throw more than half of what I have in here out.  How do we accumulate so much?

I have a few errands to run.  But first I will get myself a cup of hot chocolate to boost my energy.  Just to keep myself going you understand.  And I will put it in my favorite mug that my sister gave me for Christmas several years ago.  It is always my hot chocolate mug no matter what time of year it is.

Hot chocolate and marshmallows.  Yum!
 

All I want for Christmas is peace on earth and really cute shoes!  Actually I just want to find the mates for all my shoes.  Some people lose socks.  I lose shoes!

So as I said I have tons to do so this is a short post today.  Hope you have a good day and stay warm!

Kathy

Sunrise:  7:18 a.m.

Sunset:  4:38 p.m.

9 hours and 20 minutes of daylight

Sunny

Temperature:  34*/27* 

CHRISTMAS CAFE 2016

It's coming way too fast for me.  I still have so much to do.  I will be more organized next year.  Forget that I've said this for the past five years.  This time I really will.  What do you mean you don't believe me?

I am making up for having no pictures for a few days with picture overload today.  I took so many pictures and videos yesterday.  Unfortunately the message was broken into three parts because my battery kept running out.  I had forgotten to charge either of my two camera batteries and so I would charge one and use the other and then have to switch.  Then that one ran out because it wasn't charged enough and I had to switch again.  Oh my!  But I got most of it.  I'm uploading it to our youtube channel now so that I can publish it.  I'll have to splice it all together.  I'm getting good at that.  Can you tell it's not the first time I've forgotten to charge the battery?

After the service the men got up the tables and the ladies moved the chairs and we set up the sanctuary for the Christmas Cafe.  Everyone helped.

Elder Sean and his wife Sunny came to visit us.  They are from our Sinking Springs, PA church.  Sean filled the pulpit for 8 months this year when we had no pastor.  It was good to see them again.

 Joe wasn't feeling so well so he did not go to church this morning.  That was a shame because our former pastor gave the message and he was very good.  It was great to hear him again.

When I got home I made a couple of sandwiches for Joe but I wasn't hungry.  So I just snacked on some pea crisps.  Then I did what I really did not want to do.  I went to sleep.  NO!!!!  I was going to make a stew for dinner and needed to put it on at 2 p.m. so we could eat at 5 p.m. and get out of here to head back to church by 6 p.m.  I woke up at 5:30 p.m.  So no dinner for us.  We just got ready and Joe and I headed back.

Of course there was lots to eat there.  And I took advantage of that.

I had gotten up at 5 a.m. to make a gluten-free pear cake.  I had also brought some candy.  I made GORP (Good Old Raisins and Peanuts).  Quite a few people who came were gluten-intolerant, so I was glad I had used the rice flour.  It turned out good, too.  You would never know it wasn't wheat flour.  I did add a little extra lactose-free milk in the batter though.  Joe and I are lactose-intolerant so that's the only kind of milk we use, even in baking.

I took a lot of videos which I am going to put together into one coherent film which I will share with you hopefully tomorrow.  In the meantime I will share the photos with you.

 This is a group from our Wallingford, PA church who came to help us out.  They led us in a Christmas carol sing-along.

 Here's Joe looking so much better than he did in the morning.

 On the right is our former pastor, Pastor Wayne.  He started the Christmas Cafe and he stayed for this one.  He was having a wonderful time.

 Joe and Pastor Ralph (our current pastor) serving punch that Pastor Ralph had made.  It was good.  Of course no one spilled theirs on the tablecloth as she went to drink it and had to use everyone's napkins to sop it up.  No, no one would do that.  Especially no one named Kathy.  Never!

 Jim and Walt were having quite a conversation.

 The beautiful centerpieces that Pastor Ralph and Carolyn provided.

 Pastor Ralph sang "O Come All Ye Faithful" in Latin (Adeste Fideles).  He asked anyone who knew it in Latin to sing along.  Carolyn's mom, Joe and I were all singing.

 Carolyn put together a chime choir.  A group of volunteers learned to play the chimes and did several carols for us.  It is played a lot like handbells, but sounds different.  Joe said it sounded like a glockenspiel.

It was a great night and we had so much fun.  When we got home we were hungry so I opened a can of vegetable soup.  It was not the dinner we expected, but I will have the stew for tonight.  It all works out.

Kathy

Sunrise: 7:17 a.m.

Sunset:  4:38 p.m.

9 hours and 21 minutes of daylight 

Partly cloudy

Temperature:  32*/21* 

THE SECOND SUNDAY OF ADVENT AND A CHRISTMAS CAFE

The second Sunday of Advent symbolizes Faith with the “Bethlehem Candle” reminding us of Mary and Joseph’s journey to Bethlehem.

On Sunday morning we had the installation of our new elder and our new deacon and deaconesses.  Joe was still sick and not able to make it.  It's a shame he misses out on so much.  The new officers were at the front of the church with the pastor and elders...

... when I see a movement out of the side of my eye.  I look over and see...

... Miss A standing next to me.  I didn't have my camera with me so took this with my phone.  Sorry about the glare from the window.  I waved and smiled at her and gave her my surprised face that always makes her giggle.  She was smiling then turned around, said "Dada" and...

 

... started walking down the aisle.  Here she is looking at Alice as if to ask permission.  Her mom grabbed her and the service went on, despite her tears.  She is just so adorable!

In the evening we had our 5th annual Christmas Cafe.  We had live music by the professional musicians in our congregation and lots of Christmas treats and coffee, tea, hot chocolate, water, etc.  Again, Joe got up and dressed to go and just couldn't do it.  This is the second year that he's missed it.  That was a shame because we had so much fun.

Each table had this candle and poinsettias on it.

Bud is on the piano and Jon on the guitar.

Lots of treats

 

 

Joe A. sang four songs for us.  He has a wonderful voice.

Here's Bud on the mandolin and Jon on the guitar.

Quite a few people came out for the Cafe

The church looked so beautiful

 I brought a few cookies home for Joe. He was feeling a little better so he got up and we did the devotion for our Advent wreath.

Then it was time for bed.  A long day, but a good one.

Kathy