And One More Christmas

 One more Christmas. I believe we drug out our Christmas celebration as long as we could! We took the long way home from Jeremy's parents house and went to Pennsylvania for Freed Christmas. During the slightly more than 3 hour drive I was very much wondering if the extra effort for this trip was worth it. Of course, it was.

Jeremy's Grandpa now resides in a nursing home. We had a nice room to hold our celebration. We had our meal and then it is the tradition for Pop-pop to read the Christmas story and speak briefly. This year he started reading and then stopped and said that he would no longer be able to read--someone else would need to do the reading next year. It was a heart wrenching moment to watch the patriarch of the family "pass the baton." Karen stepped in and finished reading the passage from Matthew through tears. I think even the children could sense it was a holy moment. All 3 of my children were appropriately quiet and still. We sang some songs and that helped to lighten the mood.

 On Darryl's lap in one of Collin and Josiah's favorite places to be.  Collin and Josiah played the whole evening. Josiah is a very friendly little guy. There were hugs and tears when it was time to say good bye.

I thought and thought about what I could give Pop-pop for Christmas. I finally had the idea to make a picture calendar for him.

 

 This is another family situation where Aliza does not have a natural peer group. The other girls are quite a bit older and the children closest to her are Collin and Josiah. She received some My Little Ponies and she sat at the table and made up songs while she played with them. She was quite entertaining!

Anna was utterly exhausted, but she still wandered around the room making friends with most everyone. She kept wandering back to Uncle Buzz. She would reach up to get up on his lap, he would give her a bite of chocolate cake and then she would slide back down. One other moment that touched me: I borrowed a portable high chair for Anna to use. It did not have straps to attach it to the chair that I could find. I didn't realize that it wasn't attached to the chair until Anna leaned forward and just about fell on her face. Buzz saw what happened. I was looking around for straps and he just stood up, took off his belt, wrapped it around the the seat, buckled it and that secured Anna. 

We spent the night with Jeremy's aunt and uncle and drove home today. We got home at 4:30....unloaded the car, unpacked the suitcases, ate supper and then left for church at 5:40. I am incredibly tired. Is it really New Year's Eve? I think I'm skipping that this year!!! Just wait until you see what we are up to tomorrow!