Christmas Week 2019

Christmas 2019 was all I could have hoped it would be.  It was so great to be with so many of our children again after a two-year absence. (although, having Kirsti, Ryan, Alice, and Sarah with us in Phoenix last Christmas was pretty awesome!)  We enjoyed a Bethlehem dinner on Christmas eve followed by the annual watching of Scrooge.  Sarah, Elise, Steve and I went to Rainbow House (a children's shelter) Christmas morning to cook them breakfast.  Due to the nature of the facility, the number of children in residence varies day by day and even hour by hour so that morning, we only had one 16 year old boy to feed plus two workers.  He was a real sweet kid and he wanted to cook the scrambled eggs.  Beckie drove over from St. Louis about 3:30, Tamara came at that time too but Steven had to work at the station so we didn't see him until 5:00.  Emily, Joe, and kids arrive about 6:15.  Since Christmas Day dinner was just ham and salads and all kinds of finger foods, we didn't have a "formal" sit-down meal.  Oh, Sarah's friend Aaron Barnard and our family friend Patrick Layton also joined us.  That evening, my musician heart was full as we had singing around the piano!  Noah, Lucy, and Quinn also played their Christmas carol assignments from piano lessons. 

The Southerlands and Beckie stayed with Steven and Tamara (Sarah and the dogs were in our basement) so we were able to all hang out together on Thursday, the 26th, too!  Again, poor Steven had to work.   But, he joined us as we had fun in the evening playing games.  During the day, Steve, Sarah, Emily, Beckie, Elise, and went to a mid-day showing of "Little Women".   

Bethlehem Dinner and reading from Luke

Elise and Sarah Christmas morning in "matching" shirts

playing celebrity

Other activities during the week:

Sarah and I and the dogs enjoyed a walk Monday morning.  We went along the Bear Creek and even went off trail a bit and found a shelter made by some homeless person!  Good thing it wasn't occupied at the time or, if it was, he/she didn't have a gun!!!!  Steve and Sarah and the pups went on a different walk Tuesday morning.

Steven, Sarah, Steve, Patrick Layton, and I saw "Star Wars" Monday night.  LOVED it! 

I have been feeding my friend Elizabeth's cat, Smokey, all week. 


The St. Louis family left for home Friday morning.  For lunch, Sarah, Steve, and I ate at Bankok Gardens Friday and then she left for a visit to Julina in Indiana for a couple of days.  Steve and I kept the dogs. 

They are good dogs but the current situation at our house has made caring for them just a teeny bit tricky because foundation work started the day after Christmas and the front yard is a muddy mess.  The weather was unseasonably warm all week, melting remaining snow and making the back yard also a muddy mess.  Plus, Lily has figured out how to escape from our fenced yard and the foundation folks have removed part of the fence to allow their equipment to get into the backyard.  Bottom line - every time the dogs go out, they have to be on leash and we have to dodge (sometimes unsuccessfully) the mud.  Oh, and on Saturday it rained!  I am SO excited to finally have this work begin because it is the catalyst for all the other work that will be done on the house.  I keep telling myself this as I dodge the mud and look at my destroyed front lawn and landscaping.  The first casualty was my tart cherry tree that was so faithful year after year in producing a huge crop of cherries.  There is lies next to our wooden nativity....

Below is one of the two holes dug in our garage.  See how DEEP it is!!!  We also have three piers in our front yard and two in the back.  Hooray for progress!