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!

FOURTH SUNDAY OF ADVENT

On the fourth Sunday of Advent, we are reminded of God's love. It was God's love, Jesus Christ, that came into our world so many years ago. We didn't deserve Him. We weren't ready for Him. When He came, we crucified Him. But still God's Love came into our world.

So strange to realize that this is the last Sunday of Advent and that in two days it will be Christmas.  This week is going to be so busy.

I got up early and made my final cookies for church.  I made chocolate chocolate chip.  They are good because I had some.  Tasted a lot like brownies.  I packed them up and gave them out at church -- a dozen to a dozen people.  Everyone loves getting them.
 
After church Joe and I went to Walmart to finish up our Christmas shopping.  I am finally done!  Now I just have to find the three gifts I am missing.  I know they are in the house somewhere.  I just can't find them.

Most of the gifts are wrapped.  Just have a few to go.  So I am making progress.  I got a lot done while Joe slept.  His ribs are still hurting him, but his hip is a lot better.  It's only been two weeks, so he still has a way to go.  The doctor said six to eight weeks to heal completely.

The house is a complete shambles.  It is so messed up I can't stand it.  I had it all cleaned up and now it is terrible again.  That's the only bad thing about the holidays.  There is so much going on that you just can't keep things picked up.

My sister's stocking is full to overflowing, but I had almost nothing for Joe's.  So I ran over to Rite Aid tonight and got a lot of little things to fill it up.  Now they are both nice and full.

Back to work tomorrow.  I hope they let us out early.  That would help me so much.  Last year we closed at 3 p.m. and we are all hoping that it happens that way this year too.  I have to finish wrapping the gifts, clean the house, pick up some friends and get to church by 6 p.m.  I've given up on getting cards out this year.  Maybe New Year's letters. 

O CHRISTMAS TREE

Tonight we finally got our Christmas tree up.  I wanted to use my old ornaments for it, but they were not where I thought they were.  So I just grabbed the purple and silver ones from last year and the new red and white ones I bought this year.  Last year on the day after Christmas we had bought a lighted star that was on sale for the top of the tree.  We got it out and put it on and it was so heavy that it just fell off.  After three tries we gave up and put on our angel.  She is so pretty that I don't mind a bit.

I didn't start out with any idea of how it would turn out, but as I put the balls on I realized that they had snowflake designs on them.  And I had lots of snowflake ornaments.  So in spite of myself it turned into a snowflake tree.  We are delighted.  It is so pretty.



The finished tree.  So pretty.



Three different kinds of snowflakes are on the tree.  One...



...two...



...three.



I've loved the purple and silver combination ever since I saw it in Williamsburg, VA last year.



The angel is so pretty.  All feathers on the wings and fur on the robe.  Best yet, the lights show through her skirt and make her glow.

  I'm giving out cookies at church tomorrow and I haven't finished them yet.  But it's after midnight and I'm tired, so I will get up early enough to finish them and pack them up.  So much to do tomorrow... shopping, wrapping, cleaning and finishing the cards.  Only two more days to Christmas!