Golden Age

    I survived a weekend of parties. We had our family Christmas dinner on Saturday. There were 34 at the tables plus two infant great-grandchildren. 

  

   We had roast beef this year instead of the usual turkey or ham. The meal was followed by the usual singing and gifts. Our newest grandchild is concealed under that red plaid shirt. He/she missed our Christmas by about six weeks. Stay tuned.

I gave Leroy a model hit-and-miss engine he was wishing for a long time.

   The afternoon ended with Cheryl showing pictures of their trip to Europe. Daryl showed his from India, and Gene from their trip to Greece. Our family logged a lot of miles across the globe this year. So thankful everyone traveled safely and was here under one roof.

   We had our dinner a week early this year to combine it with Leroy's 80th birthday on Sunday. We had not recovered from Saturday's party when we started over to do it again. Our children all came back after church for a soup and salad lunch. We were ordered to stay in the basement while the women went upstairs to get the food ready. While they thumped around up there Leroy started to understand why I was in such a hurry to get home from church. Everything was ready by 2 p.m. when the first guest arrived. 

   

Five of Leroy's nine siblings and his 100 year-old mother came to the party.

 

They gave him a box with a pull tab. He pulled and a long string of money came out. The longer he pulled the bigger the number on the bill. 

   The black and gold color scheme was appropriate for an 80th birthday. This is the golden age of life. There are pros and cons to being eighty. There's less stress but also less strength. It's just unbelievable how fast the years rolled around to reach this milestone. We know how fast ten years can go and that's scary. He is in basic good health and if he takes after his mother he could live another twenty years. We thank God for a good life and know however long life lasts on earth our future is secure in Him.