Holiday Happenings update

It’s that time of year when so much is happening all-at-once that I don’t really have time to blog (reading others or writing my own). Until I have time to catch up, here is my quick update:

• The joy of having all four of my sons (and my lovely daughter-in-law) here for Christmas week.
• The fun of having my husband’s parents and uncle here for 2 days over Christmas (and the respite of having them stay overnight with my SIL one mile away, so we weren’t too crowded).
• A White Christmas!
• Fourteen of us here for Christmas dinner
• Two marathon bead creation sessions — one before Christmas, making a dozen earrings (see below) and one after Christmas with my DIL, making earrings, bracelets, and working on a project for next Christmas
• Giving homemade Christmas gifts that I managed to keep secret from the recipients

table runners for my MIL

The Lovebirds with their new quilt (top folded over so you can see the back)

• The weekend before Christmas was spent finishing up quilting projects. I think they turned out rather well. We won’t dwell on the significant amount of time spent “unsewing” needed during the creative process.

• No more pins sticking out the end of my toe!

It has now been four-and-a-half weeks since my foot surgery. The pin holding my toe firmly in line came out on Wednesday afternoon. (Unlike the stitches, it didn’t hurt at all.) I still have to wear Frankenboot when I walk, which generally means I keep it on all day long, but I can now wear my own socks — a matching pair! — at the same time. It’s progress.

SnakeMaster and EB [above] standing next to the back of their snowman

There were snowball fights and snow-throwing battles (for when snow doesn’t pack or for when boys grab chunks of snow off the top of their brother’s car… along with the snowman specially requested by mom to mark the corner where the driveway, grass parking strip, and roadways meet.

Unfortunately, there was also the sadness over the sudden, unexpected passing of a beloved older gentleman from church. He died on Christmas Eve (Monday evening) and the memorial service was this morning. Despite there not being much time to get the word out to tell people about his death on a holiday week, the church was full of people who will miss him very much.

• SuperDad is preaching tomorrow morning.
• My throat is grateful that the choir has the next week or two off. The Christmas season is hard on vocal chords when you sing in a church choir!
• I just managed to send everyone else to bed to I’d best click “publish” and get some rest, too.
• Those 218 unread posts in my reader will have to wait.