On Christmas Eve day, our doorbell rang, and a box was left at our door. We were not expecting anything so imagine our surprise when we opened the box and found inside this beautiful framed pictures of our son, Patrick, and daughter-in-law, Celina, and their precious children… I was so excited, I asked Bill/Bro to hang it right away and it looks perfect on our family wall of pictures… Thank-you Pat and Celina for this precious gift!
There was also these Christmas towels, and pot holders… how adorable are these???
And, there was a package for Shantel with chocolate covered cherries (she learned to love them when we spent Christmas in Colorado last Christmas.. ) And, tucked under the wrapping paper was some money… Shantel was beyond excited to have both the candy and the money…
Later that evening Bill/Bro and I hosted Christmas dinner for Shantel (she actually decided to come home and spend the night…YEAH!), and our dear friends, and my sister and brother-in-law by choice, Holly and Chuck, and we were also honored to have a long-time friend, and former co-worker, Deb Huebner joined us. We enjoyed little mini beef meatballs with B-B-Q dipping sauce, along with all the usual chips and dips for before dinner treats..
Then we moved on to our dinner of Honey Baked Ham with all the trimmings…
Like Cheesy Scalloped Potatoes
And yeast dinner rolls…
And, by all means it would not be Christmas without Shantel’s cookies and fudge..
Then, on Christmas morning, Bill/Bro and I went to visit my mother at the Care Center. We arrived just as she was being seated at breakfast…. and much to our surprise… our friend, David was sitting at her table, reading some scripture phrases to her and her tablemate, Gloria, while pouring little medicine cups of wine for mom and himself, while they were waiting for their coffee to be served BEFORE they received their breakfast… OMG!!! I asked why they were having wine BEFORE breakfast and David said “we didn’t have time to get to it last night with all the Christmas Eve festivities…. so your mom said “we can have it tomorrow at breakfast…” He said at this point in our lives we take our joy where we can get it…” I so LOVE him… 🙂 🙂 I told my mother that she is a pretty tough gal because as much as I love my little happy hour in the afternoon…. I wouldn’t even think about having wine BEFORE breakfast… Gotta LOVE That!!
It was a BEAUTIFUL Christmas Eve… And on Christmas day, Shantel, Bill, and I traveled to Buckeye Arizona, to share in Christmas day activities with our dear friends, Holly and Chuck, at their son and daughter-in-law’s house… They have four boys and a beautiful new baby girl… So much fun watching the boys play with their toys, and getting time to hold and love on their beautiful 10 day old baby girl…
But, today, it was all about getting back to normal… We decorate our house the day after Thanksgiving, and from then until Christmas day… it is all about celebrating Christmas… But today we took down all the Christmas decorations and our house is as back to normal as it ever is…
Now we are turning our thoughts and prayers to a happy and blessed New Year…. and hoping we will be blessed to celebrate Christmas next year with our family from Colorado…
Stay tuned!