Dec. 22-29, 2005

It is a glorious Christmas morning! It is quite and peaceful as I watched the sunrise. A bowl of hot oatmeal with raisins, nutmeg and Cinnamon hit the spot then it was off to St. Matthews Lutheran Church in Laurens, with my co-pilot, Milford Joe. .

The Church looked beautiful with its white and red pointsettias on the altar-all given in memory of a deceased loved ones. The huge windows each had large handsome wreaths with red bows and, a beautiful Christmas tree stood tall to the left of the altar and was decorated with balls and tinsel. The tinsel was placed by hand in long pieces by Dave Forbes, who does it every year. Many of the congregation wished he would do theirs. . . The scent of of Christmas permeated the santuary . . .

Past Paul Messner delivered his sermon of the birth of Christ through his own tearful eyes as he remembers how he held his first son was born on August 22, 1978. "Can you imagine Joseph holding the Christ Child in his hands?" he said softly. You could have hear a pin drop as we all tried to imagine the experience.

During coffee hour, we all sang Happy Birthday to Charlene Nelson and wished her parents a Happy Anniversary. They were special for the time and then we noticed that they were sitting at the only table with a red tablecloth.We should have known.

Joan Heffner made her way to where Joe and I were seated and shared an experience she had had with a young woman who had shoveled her walk. "She made the choice to give up her ability to speak for her GOD although she had a perfectly good voice", Joan told us. She, as I, marveled at the way Joe handles his total deafness as he read Joan's lips to hear the story..

We went back to Joe's for his poached eggs and toast, which would hold him till 2:30pm, at which time we would be enjoying Christmas dinner with Laura's familyDwayne and Dawn Block and son, Dave Shute and son, Kalib, in Edmeston. Patchy, Joe's dog, was joyful as we opened the door, spinning around with excitement. She had missed us.

Andy and Laura arrived right on time and we were off and on our way as a light rain began to fall.. When we arrived, the driveway was extremely icy and so we were carefull not to slip. The house bustled with activity and the aroma of baked ham, and other family specialties. Dawn and her daughters, Laura and Elda were very busy and I did my best to help. When the last daughter, Cheryl Shaw and her family arrived, it was time to enjoy all the food that everyone had prepared and it was delicious as usual.

Under the Christmas tree, which had been set up in the dining room were many Christmas gifts of all shapes and sizes. As quickly as the table was cleared, Elda Clark, dressed in her Christmas attire, began to pass out the gifts with the help of some of the boys. Slowly there were sounds of pleasure from everywhere. Although I had brought a few gifts for Dawn and her girls, I did not expect the such lovely ones in return. Dawn, who is a marvelous craft person, chocheted pillows and hats for everyone. Joe was tickled with his hat and I with my pillow. Elda gave us a soft throw with ducks on and a Dolphin water fountain. I didn't know what to say except a hearty thank you.

With all the holiday excitement no one realized it was pouring outside. Everyone jumped in and cleaned up and packed up and slowly, we all said Merry Christmas and Happy New Year and exited into the rain. The driveway was exceptionally icy and I nearly took a fall, which would have brought me down the incline back to the house in a heap. Joe caught me and then he and Andy and Joe manuvered me out and we were on our way home. What a grand Christmas it was!

The day after Christmas, We decided to go into town and get a few things we needed, making the rounds of several stores. We got a DVD unit, which we hope to enjoy together over the months ahead. We went to WALMART and ran into Laura and Andy doing the same thing. a few moments later, I all but ran into Elda Clark who was doing the same thing. As we headed for the pet section to get bird seed, I saw Bruce Mack and his wife do the same thing. I hope to see him on Jan 13 at the Manor for their Sing-a-Long.

On our way homewe stopped at Joe's son's home and took and few gifts. Jassely invited us in for teaand a bowl of soup. It was good and hit the spot.Their son, Anthony will be 1 year old on Dec. 31!

HAPPY NEW YEAR FOLKS.