Christmas Day, 2013

[Harriet]

"Thinking of you today
because it is Christmas, and tomorrow because it
will be the day after, and so on throughout the year.

We may not be able to tell you about it every day, but
that makes no difference, the thought and the wish
will be here just the same.

Whatever success comes to you will make us glad
without pretense, and in plain words, good will to you
is what we mean in the spirit of Christmas."

from "The Spirit of Christmas" 1905
by Henry Van Dyke

There is a better thing than the observance of Christmas day,
and that is, keeping Christmas...

Close your book of complaints against the management of the universe,
and look around you for a place where you can sow a few seeds of happiness...

Make a grave for your ugly thoughts, and a garden for your kindly feelings,
with the gate open...

from "Keeping Christmas" 1924
by Henry Van Dyke

[Ivy]

Henry Van Dyke is awesome to have written these two items and HARRIET, you are awesome for posting them! Thank you so much for the wonderful lead-in to our day. You're a Gem.

MERRY CHRISTMAS, EVERYONE!

[lucylee]

Beautiful thoughts for this day, Harriet.

May you all have a blessed day.

Belated birthday wishes to TwinsMom!!!

We have had quite a full day. (Christmas Eve. I am writing this at 1:30 a.m.) DH suddenly got in the spirit of preparing for the Thundering Herd, and good gracious -- he about drove me crazy. He has all our chairs set up in the den, dining area, and study... he started sweeping the front porch and dusting the top of the refrigerator... and took all the throw pillows off the couch and love seat... but I was glad for his help.
I made the cherry jello-cool whip dessert I'd been wanting to try -- tastes GREAT -- but hope it "sets" a bit more by tomorrow. (Later today, that is.)
Went to dmil's, got plate for daunt's supper.
Went to nursing home to visit daunt.
Went to church for Christmas Eve service.
Went back to dmil's for supper & gifts.
Back to our house for gifts w/ds, ddil, dgs. (I think he will like the Cozy Coupe, but so far, he can only go in reverse, LOL!)
All the mess is put away again, dh and I have taken our traditional Christmas Eve late night ride through town... dh is reading the morning papers now.

Tomorrow... I sorta dread our First Christmas w/out ddad -- and I know so many others, and others in our village here, are facing the same thing. Mostly I dread it for dmom, though. She just seems to be having such a difficult time with all this, and it is just not what dbro and I expected. I guess everyone always expects their parents to be stronger, though, when the parent reaches a point that he/she doesn't feel like being strong.

But I digress -- I don't mean to be a downer. I am in a really good mood tonight and I do not intend to let anyone steal my joy tomorrow. DH has been a bit of a grump at some points today, but I have not let him steal my joy. Christmas is a time of happiness and love and peace and thankfulness for the amazing Gift we have all been given, if we will only receive it. I am not even going to let duncle steal my joy. Our family has been blessed in many ways and we should act accordingly.

Again -- may you all have a happy, peaceful day with those you love tomorrow/today! Merry Christmas.

[DeeClutter]

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good-night. No, no, no -have to get up and get moving, not go to bed. I just got up for goodness sakes! Did sleep well last night. Took a Benadryl and woke up for a 'break' 3 times but always went right back to sleep. Ahhhhh........

Went to Christmas Eve service at our church and then went to dbil/dsil's for dinner. Dsonil went with us to church -for the first time. That pleased dd very much. He had asked if we were taking 2 cars, but we didn't give him that 'escape' clause. Usually his mode is to eat and RUN. He gets uncomfortable around people -why I don't know. He's so good at chatting and being with them. Even when we had Pastor/wife here for lunch on Sunday he was wonderful with them and chatted very amicably. But while we were still seated at the table, he finally had to escape to his man cave. But it was nice to have him go with us last night. We are going to dbil/dsil's this afternoon for dinner and dsonil has already told dd he wasn't going today. At least we got one! Praying for him to have the gift of a new job this week.

About 9:20 or so last night dh got our jackets and he and dsonil went on the porch. Dsisil asked him if he was leaving and he actually told her he had to get out of the smoke. "Why didn't you say so? I could have stopped smoking." He was getting raspy and was really 'doing' it more for me. So it will be interesting what happens today.

Have to go chat with dd. She just brought me a cup of coffee in my "JOY" cup. I had forgotten about them. DD has the "HOPE" one. Love it.

[Lynlee]

Merry Christmas everyone.
ty for the opening and timeless words Harriet.

I'm the last one up here this Christmas Day.
Morning phone calls to my dm and dsis, also dbro and his wife who were hosting Christmas for the rest of the family. I took my call to other dsis on the 23rd to be a chistmas call. They had hours to drive today, and have not been well lately.

I had some wonderful times to talk with my dds, and dgchildren. It is great to see them able to talk and share times together. It was cloudy mostly today so cooler than yesterday. A swim in the pool for most of us after lunch.
Lunch today was ham, many salads, and prawns. Desert was served after our pool time. DGD3 had her first taste of fudge. (Her lunch had mostly been a PB sandwich - Gotta love that it could be an individual request.) Then we all talked longer, the littlest dgd's had baths so they were ready for bed - hopefully to sleep more tonight than last night. An hour drive home to their place.
I think I was the only one who ate tonight. I had a banana smoothy. I do think most families do have an evening meal at Christmas though for those doing a cultural comparison. It started one year my dds went to their fathers for midday lunch/dinner and ate for what sounds to be hours. That night they would not eat again with me. I survived my day alone, but it felt like a snub that evening. Now I expect nothing - though I think last year dd2's 2 children joined me in a light something. Mind you - tonight - dd and dgs were putting together the ginger bread house, and an amount of sweets were eaten then.

Today ddog has missed his walk again. I got my shoes on to walk, then delayed until dd2 left , and it was dark, and I felt weary.

Tomorrow I'll do my church thing. 10am Mass at the Cathderal in the city. Then a walk thru some of the Boxing Day sales on the way home to dd's. Sigh - forgot my go card.That will teach me to leave it in my wallet.

There's a gathering here tomorrow night for dd's friends. All to bring their left overs for easy catering. And clear out the fridge.

Wishing you all the very best of Christmas Spirit in your lives today.
May Peace and Joy be with you and Yours - today and always.

[OKay]

Good Morning!

Merry Christmas!

Happy Birthday Norma!

Christmas presents were unwrapped before the sun came up. LO was sooo excited and pleased. Note to self: nest year think through the purchase of gifts that have 300+ pieces. I am having a love-hate relationship with Lego's kits. I didn't realize the pieces were so tiny!

[Nancy]

I have some good news got a new layer a fun speckled egg from one of the new hens yesterday what an awesome Christmas gift.

H. Thinks it might be a fuel pump on the truck he will be working on it today so this worked out great we have left overs for our meals.

We will have sunny weather here today.
Dgson has glued to the survival book we got him, dd was going to get the giant gingerbread cookies to decorate bot forgotvand I had gotten those for them so that was fun to hear their reaction. The were playing with the flash lights the you wear on your head h. Talked about how he uses his at work.

[Harriet]

..........(¯`*•.¸,¤°´'`°¤,¸.•*´¯)............
.........¸,¤°´'` °•.¸O¸.•°´'`°¤,¸...........
......|¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ •.•¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯|.......
......| HAPPY DAY TO NORMA !! |......
......|___________.•.___________|......
........*´'`° ¤¸¸.•'´O`'•.¸¸¤°´'`*...........
..........(_¸.•*´'`°¤¸'¸¤´'`*•.¸_)...........

[helia]

Lovely quotes! Thank you Harriet.

Last night, we went to the church service, caught up with many friends afterward, including some I haven't chatted with for months. We came home around 9:15 and exerted a group effort to get the kitchen cleaned up. Then, we played some games as a family - mah jong (just 1 round), and then a fun Dutch card game called "De Grote Dalmuti," then a quick game that dd18 had bought for our family called Spot It. We nibbled on some German cakes that GG's mother had sent to us. They're better fresh, as GG confirmed, but still nice.

This morning, dh has left for a run, I have s2s-ed, ds is up reading on the sofa. There are groggy girl sounds emanating from downstairs, so I think they're awake, especially since I can also hear the jingling of dog collars and the thumping of running doggy feet. ... I'm sure Maia has jumped on dd18's bed. She is not allowed on the furniture, but dd18 lets her on her bed. . . .

The original plan to make cinnamon rolls never materialized. I was out and about more yesterday than I had planned. So Plan B here is: make a batch of muffins and scrambled eggs. I'll wait until dh is back from his run.

S and R and crew will be here for dinner at 5 pm. I still need to wrap their gifts. One small item didn't make it; I'll print out a photo and give that instead.

It is nice to finally have a more low-key day! As odd as it sounds, I'm going to spend time today getting caught up on some things, some laundry, some paperwork. Maybe I'll go for a good long walk too. Cooking won't be too involved. Yay! The ham just needs to warm up in the oven. Mashed potatoes are dh's things. The sweet potatoes are easy to fix and we'll just steam the fresh brussel sprouts after trimming them. Dd15 and GG might help me use up the rest of the almond filling by making more Dutch cookies, not in the shape of letters - and not so large this time. . . .

Merry Christmas to all who celebrate!! And may you all have a day of peace and good will, toward others as well as received from others!

[helia]

Happy Birthday Norma!!