Tradition

 

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If you're lucky, you have some family  holiday traditions  that you enjoy, year after year.

And a few days ago you saw my Christmas tree.  Lots of Hallmark ornaments.  Every year they come out of their little boxes and I admire them.

The back story to that is that I love to give my family members (and myself) Hallmark ornaments each year.  Of course, I'm frugal, and the ornaments are purchased when they are 75% off after Christmas and saved for the next year.  They have the previous year's date when they are received, but no one seems to mind.

I figure that when the grands have their own homes they will have a nice collection of ornaments for their own trees.  They both get one from their mom too.

Last year I missed giving the those Hallmark ornaments because I was in rehab (the PT kind) on Christmas.  My daughter did that year's post-Christmas shopping, so this year there will be at least two of those little boxes for everyone.

We may not celebrate on Christmas day this year because my North Carolina daughter may be on snow removal duty at the arboretum but we will celebrate,

Additional note:  last year my daughters both had Covid (me, too) so they weren't allowed to visit the rehab facility.  They wanted to order some food for me from outside - you can always count on a Chinese restaurant on Christmas Eve when everything else is closed.

Christmas Concert

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What a blessing to watch the Berea College Christmas Concert at Union Church tonight.  Even though I'm not there in person, I still get all the feels.  It's a wonderful annual event, music from many student groups interspersed with scripture, in that lovely old church.

And another feel - they just recognized the midyear music graduates who will be graduating tomorrow.  And I remember another midyear Berea graduation, for my younger daughter, two days after her father died unexpectedly.  We went from the graduation to the visitation.  

We hadn't thought to bring a camera, but her sister asked a random family if they would take pictures for us.  It turned out that the family's graduate had gone on a Short Term camping trip in the Southwest the same year as Sarah.

Final exams were following week, which was a little out of order.  One of Sarah's professors waived her final  And my grad school professor waived my final as well.  People were kind, in so many ways.

Gingerbread Houses

                     

Well, since we know that Nora is 5'8" now, and Aaron is 6'5", this picture was taken a while ago.  During an Asheville visit, at the Grove Park Inn.  

The Christmas tree in the lobby was tall and fabulous, as I'm sure it is again this year.  And I'm sure we saw the gingerbread houses from the Annual National Gingerbread Competition.

This year, though,  the competition was cancelled following the devastation of Hurricane Helene.  However, more than 40 gingerbread artists are displaying their work at various businesses throughout Asheville, with just a few on display at the Grove Park Inn.

It's called the Gingerbread Trail of Giving.  And I've heard that the North Carolina Arboretum is on the list. 

Tree Time

 

I've been laying low these days.  The last eye surgery morphed into unexpected hip pain - don't do stupid gardening things, just saying.  But now I have this lovely tree in the living room and PT appointments twice a week.  Life is looking more hopeful.

Kudos to my daughters and granddaughter for getting the tree up and decorated.

When I was a brat kid I begged to have the tree up early.  My parents always got a live tree that would be planted outside so it didn't go up until about a week before Christmas.  We did have a few decorations prior to the tree happening - does anyone remember those wax candles that looked like choir singers, snow people, maybe even Santa?

My mother made many cut out cookies in the days prior to Christmas and would store them in the big blue speckled canner.  I have her recipes but mine have never compared to hers.  And I've tried many times.

Suddenly it's cold here, like night temperatures in the teens.  I have several containers of outdoor plants inside - we'll see how that goes.

50th Anniversary Banner

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This weekend is the 50th anniversary of my church, Cincinnati Mennonite Fellowship.  It will be a celebration weekend to look forward to.

I had the honor, with help from my friend Diane, of making the anniversary banner.  Between eye surgeries, it took longer than I'd planned, and yet, here we are.

The weekend's theme is "Our Life Goes On."  I wanted lots of faces, plus a recognition of some of the things we do and have done.  A list of the pastors, including interim pastors.  (One served in both an interim and full time role in different years.)  

The applique toward the bottom right is the mural recently painted on our building.  One of my favorite transferred photos is the Zoom screen during the pandemic, when we shared our service with another church.

My dream from the start was to have little fairy lights beside the river, but I'm satisfied with the sparkly rhinestones instead.

Of course you can enlarge it for a better look.

Found

 

I found this old wall hanging this morning when I was looking for Halloween decorations.  I don't even remember making it. but it's definitely my work.

Good news from my North Carolina family.  Yesterday a clean-up crew from Virginia arrived in their neighborhood.  And then - a utility crew from Kansas City came and is working on replacing wires and broken utility poles. 

There is hope of getting power soon.  And with power, the ability to pump water from their well.  For them, there is hope, but they realize they are some of the lucky ones.

Family Is Safe

Just a peek.  All will be revealed in a few days.

My Asheville family is accounted for, and they seem to be in good spirits.  No power, water, cell service or internet, and maybe not for a while, but they are safe

It was hard to wait for word.  Finally, a two-word text from a borrowed cell phone. "I'm ok."   Then the next day, a  text from a neighbor saying "Sarah and Winnie are ok."  When they could get out, there was a broken call from a parking lot.

And then, something called "disaster roaming" was instituted.  Basically, it  allows any cell phone to access any available network, regardless of provider.  Since that time there has been communication, and that has been good for this mama's heart.

Their house has minor damage but the dam on the small lake where they live didn't fare as well.  Traffic is one lane, and they are hoping the road holds up. 

Neighbors have been helping neighbors, and I hope that spirit continues.  Sarah and her chain saw have been busy.