Christmas 2025

 

December 27, 2025

Food: charcuterie board, rolls, ham balls, potatoes, sweet potatoes, mixed vegetables, 

salad, cranberry, pie, cookies, ice cream, coffee, and punch

Thirty-seven people shared the day. 

Fun: The children waited patiently through singing and photo sessions. 

Then it was finally time for gifts.

Samuel

Emma

Bags of goodies and gift cards for restaurants

Fellowship

Emma and great-grandson Malcom

Gene, Jay, and Daryl

Josh and his Great-aunt Carol

Pop and the boys

Archery practice

Ordered By The Lord

    Psalm 37:23 says, "The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord." We understand God is in control of the universe and He guides us through life. Sometimes we don't understand why things happen but believe God knows what He is doing. Sometimes it is immediately clear that God was directing our steps. We had an experience like that this week.

   Leroy's brother had surgery on his neck to clear a blockage in an artery in his neck. Surgery was successful and he went home. A few days later he went to church on Sunday morning. During church he passed out and was rushed to the ER. They decided he passed out due to low blood pressure. While he was being checked, he said something didn't feel right at his neck. The nurses saw his neck ballooning out. The artery had sprung a leak. He was rushed into the operating room and given a trach so he could breathe. Repairs were made to the artery and he was taken to a room in the ICU with a respirator. He is still in ICU but making progress every day and breathing on his own again through the trach.

   If he had not gone to church Sunday morning, he would have died at home alone. Being surrounded by people when he passed out saved his life. If he had not been in the ER when the artery sprung a leak, it would have been curtains. His time was not up yet. He was at the right  place at the right time twice that morning. 

   Truly, our steps are ordered by the Lord. I want to remember that when I don't understand what is happening.

Winter Wonderland

    Christmas is just eight days away. According to one of the songs we are hearing this month, "it's the season to be jolly." I don't agree with what being jolly means to some people, but it is a time for good cheer, happiness and laughter. In light of that, here are a few things to add a pinch of jolly laughter to your day.

     One of the songs often heard this time of year is Winter Wonderland. I have heard that song all my life and misunderstood some of the words until yesterday. The second verse begins with, "Later on we'll conspire as we dream by the fire." I always thought it was, "later on we'll perspire as we sit by the fire." It took 78 trips around the sun for me to catch that one!

      My nieces' daughter was walking in the city looking at Christmas displays and saw a reindeer. It did not have a red nose. She said, "That's not Rudolph so it must be Olive." Olive? She thought the song said, "Olive, the other reindeer."

    My sister was in her forties when she got it that another song says "Ah, believer," instead of "ah de liebe." She thought it didn't make sense to stick a PA Dutch word in there but that's what she thought she heard.

    When our son Dale was a preschooler he thought people were making fun of him when they sang, "in excelsis deo." He thought it was "in eggshells is Dale."

    Our granddaughter sang Joy to the World, but in her version the words were "and heaven and manger scene."