A Joyful Christmas

Jack, Shawna, Wayne and I went to Mom's and decorated her house. I think she feels a little more like celebrating the season now. The nativity has been set out on her Italian marble table for at least 35 years. Mom's collection of nutcrackers is awesome. But my favorite things are the tatted ornaments. The one on the left, as are all the square ones, was made by my Grandmother, Hazel Turner, and the round ones were tatted by Mom. I think these are beautiful and I know how hard they are to make and how time-consuming. They are indeed lovely.

I decided to add a touch of the British to our celebration, so I made 24 English Christmas Crackers. Our guests were good sports and played with the little toys, read the jokes, and wore the tissue-paper crowns.

Christmas Eve Menu

Appetizer - Stacy Uriona

Roast Turkey - Claudine

Baked Spiral Ham - Claudine

Cheesy Potatoes - Julie

Durkee Baked Beans - Kristy Schwab

Cranberry Salad - Cherie

Cherie's Salad - Cherie

Stuffing - Claudine

Cranberry Sauces - Claudine

Rolls & Butter - Shawna

Berry, Berry Pies - Claudine

Fruit Cake - Claudine

Christmas Eve Program

"Away in a Manger" by Everyone

Piano Solo by Ellie Schwab

"The Three Trees" read by Various Readers

Piano Solo by Mitchell Schwab

"O Hush Thee My Baby" by Cherie, Katelyn and Lauren

The Christmas Story from the Bible by Wayne Cable

"He Sent His Son" by Everyone

I really loved the program. We read "The Three Trees" because it is a beautiful story, and it reminded me of our two Christmas Eves in Wales at Lisa & Peter Hammond's home where we always had that story read. It was fun to have young children on the program again. "O Hush Thee My Baby" was incredibly beautiful. Cherie, Katelyn and Lauren blend so well together and it was a sweet moment. It was nice having Wayne read the Christmas story but it did make us miss Dad as he has read it for so many years.  "He Sent His Son" is one of my very favorites and singing it on Christmas Eve brought a sweet spirt to each of us.

Christmas morning we were at Kari and Cherie's at 7:00 a.m. to watch them open their Christmas. I have never laughed so much. They are a very amusing family, each one with a great sense of humor and they had so much fun together. It is very organized, but also very fun to be there.  Kari surprised Cherie with a new, big iMac - awesome!  Kari has become such a PC guy I was surprised to see him make the change, but thrilled.  They will not be sorry.  Cherie served a delicious egg, sausage and shredded potato casserole. It was fun.

After Cherie's and before Cherie and Julie, et al. came to our home at 11:00, we went to Melissa's. It was fun to see all the great things she made for breakfast and the millions of gifts Ellie got.

Julie actually liked the counted cross-stitch pillow I gave her that she and I had spent 30 years stitching. That was fun. Julie said, "This has one of my favorite sayings on it and I have quoted it to my children many, many times over the years." She read, "Our best friends are those in whose presence we can be our best selves." Spencer said, "Mine too." He read, "1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, . . ." Loved it. He is hilarious.

In the afternoon, around 2:00, we went to Mom's to share time with her on Christmas day.