Christmas Activities

Greetings on this snowy day in Boise.

We had a pretty hectic week before arriving in Boise on Christmas Day. Let me tell you about it.

Dec. 18th found me thinking about my mom. It would have been her 73rd birthday. She has been gone for just over three years. I thought of the things she enjoyed about Christmas...peppermint patties, Christmas lights and watching us girls open our stockings! Santa always made sure that there were four or five gifts in those stockings. I sometimes wonder what our relationship would have been like if she had not gotten cancer. I am thankful though for the hours I was able to spend with her over Labor Day Weekend before she died the end of October.

Dec. 19th I worked at Northwood on the bulletin, the script, the power point presentation (realized Power Point 2007 is not that bad of a program; I just needed to be patient with myself as I looked for the necessary tools to do the overheads for Sunday) and continued working on the Christmas Dinner Box list ~ confirming families and reminding them when to pick up their dinner box.

Saturday, Dec. 20th we celebrated 33 years of marriage. You can read my reflections with the previous post. To update, we did go out for lunch at Olive Garden and then ran some errands and decided not to go to the movies but spent the evening at home and enjoying being together and watching Christmas movies.

Sunday, Dec. 21st woke to more snow! We made macaroni & cheese for the potluck at church and then made our way there. There was lots of discussion about do we go ahead with the children's Christmas program? the potluck? It was a a wait and see time. It was finally decided the children would sing the songs they had been practicing and we would have a potluck with the food that was brought. The children did a wonderful job of singing songs from around the world and then a great potluck was had by all. Many kinds of soup, rolls, salads and of course traditional Christmas cookies rounded out the meal. It was fun to visit with friends, share a special service with the children's singing and end with a delicious meal.

In the evening Ron and I went the Clemon's Annual Egg Nog party. Great conversation with good friends made for a wonderful way to spend the evening. After leaving the Clemon's we headed to Bellingham airport to pick up Gilda, a friend's mom who was arriving as a Christmas surprise. Well the snow, wind and cold kept the plan from landing and she went back to San Diego. We heard later they were just an hour out of Bellingham when the pilot turned the plane around:(.

Dec. 22nd we awoke to more snow!!!! Ron did a couple of jobs which included getting the pick-up stuck 6 times trying to get to and from the jobs. I picked up Kristen and her daughter Jade and took them to Bellingham for Jade's doctor appointment. She is fine, just had a rash break out due to her cold. On the way back we stopped once again at the airport. Rumors had it that Gilda was actually going to land! She arrived at 12:30 p.m. I drove to Dan & Tina's (Dan didn't know his Mom was coming) and Gilda trekked through the snow to the front door. She knocked and Charlie and Dan opened the door, staring in disbelief at seeing his Mom at the door. Needless to say he was pleasantly surprised! Yeah!! Tina pulled it off!!!

I then picked up Coral (Jade's sister) from day care, took Kristen home and then the girls and I went to lunch at BK and then shopping for Christmas gifts for Kristen. The girls gifts were at school which had been closed on Thursday and Friday due to the frigid cold and snow. Being a mom myself, I knew how important it was to the girls that they have something under the tree. We had a good time and then stopped and picked up Montana (another young girl from our church). After taking Jade & Coral home, Montana and I went to the church to help pack the Christmas Dinner Boxes. There were many helpers and it didn't take long to get them all packed and ready to hand out on Tuesday. It was fun to be with so many people, working towards a common goal and being with friends.

Dec. 23rd we woke to more snow. Ron took me to the church to work and then he and Dana went to Costco to pick up 200 pumpkin pies for the dinner boxes. There was absolutely no room for anything but the 200 pies, Ron and Dana! Everyone gathered at the church around 1:00 and put the pies in the boxes and got ready to hand out the boxes. I don't know the exact count (the papers are on the desk in the church office just waiting for me to return from Boise) but we did give away 200 Christmas Dinner boxes. The last delivery was made at 10:10 p.m. The day was busy but I would not change a thing; it was lots of fun being together with friends and sharing with those in our community. Ron even got his picture taken by the mayor of Blaine!

Christmas Eve we woke to more snow and feeling like there was too much to do and not enough time to do it all in! We wrapped gifts to take to Boise, delivered the last two Christmas Dinner Boxes, got some great coffee from the Blackberry House (Aaron the peppermint mocha was delicious!), went to the church to get the keys from the pick-up for the storage unit (wanted to have the chains for the suburban in the suburban before getting on the road to Sea Tac), stopped and did 3 loads of laundry, picked up suitcases from the Alesse's (thanks Patrick & Patricia), made a trip to Bellingham to get last minute prescriptions and snacks for in the car and on the plane (found out we don't need to bring our own snacks on Alasaka Air), grabbed a quick lunch. Found out the Christmas Eve communion service was canceled due to the weather (mixed feelings - we so enjoy the service each year but was thankful for the extra time; Margaret is right ~ cancellations are a gift of time), returned home, packed the suitcases and two carry on's + the computer, took Charlie Brown to Lynn & Tanya's (thanks for being the best dog sitters around) and made another trip to the church to print up our itenerary (I had printed it up once but who knows where that copy went!). Waited for the phone call from Jamie that he had made it safely home ~ with all the snow that fell during the day all were concerned that once he got off the freeway he might not make it on the side streets in the Honda Del Sol. We then made one last stop before heading out of Blaine ~ we stopped at the Gibson's to celebrate Christmas Eve sharing scripture, singing some traditional Christmas carols, taking communion and prayer with their family and Sam & Norma Jean Crozier ~~~ it was a special time to reflect on Christ's birth and a wonderful way to begin our Christmas. Thank you Gibson's for allowing us the privilege of being with your family on such a special night!

It was close to 10 p.m. when we began the drive to Seattle. We got about 10 miles down the road and Ron asked "did you turn the hot water heater off?" I said no. As we debated do we turn around or not, we came to Slater Road; Ron got off the freeway, turned around and we drove back to the motor-home. As would happen he had turned off the hot water heater but as we both said "better safe than sorry." Both of us felt relieved that we knew for sure the hot water heater was off. I kept imagining that on our return the hot water tank would have burned out and there would be NO propane ~ a very chilling thought! So we got back on the freeway and made an uneventful trip to Seattle. We arrived in Seattle and were settled into our motel room about 2:00 a.m. I wish I could say we had a great night's sleep BUT we can't; we were both restless and up/down off and on through the night.

Christmas Day we woke up to freezing cold weather and snow falling!!! All we could think about was hoping that our plane would take off and we would get out of the snow! After driving around the airport for almost an hour looking for a parking spot we went to the hourly parking lot (cost John $35 to get the suburban to drive him and Miriam home) and had no problem finding a spot there! We trekked into the airport, found out our flight was delayed 2 hrs, got our boarding passes and checked our luggage. We then made our way to the gate and made ourselves comfortable. We boarded the plane in Seattle 20 minutes after we were supposed to land in Boise, but that was OK, we were just glad that we were finally on our way. We arrived to falling snow in Boise! and more cold weather!! but most of all we were glad to finally see Brandon and know that soon we would see Danalyn, Max and Christopher. We had a delightful dinner at Danalyn's folks and then went back to B &D's place where we opened gifts. It was fun to see the excitement of Max and his enthuisiasm in playing nerf basketball with his Dad, Christopher playing with his new bus and Danalyn taking lots of pictures!

On a side note: due to my bad cold we made plans to be with Jamie, Suzanne and Opal after our return from Boise. We are thankful for Opal and her improving health every day and definitely didn't want to expose her to a cold that could be avoided. Jamie, Suzanne and Opal spent a quiet Chirstmas Eve together and then on Christmas Day spent time with Suzanne's family (they had made the trip from Burlington and Bellingham to Blaine to be with Jamie, Suzanne and Opal). I can't wait to see pictures of Opal's first Christmas and of course be able to spend time with them when we get back.

Ron and I are so blessed to have the children and grandchildren that we have!

Friday, Dec. 26th found me in bed for the whole day ~ my cold has hit full force so I hunkered down in the blankets, reading and sleeping throughout the day. Brandon, Max and Christopher came over to go swimming with Grandpa. In the evening Ron went over to Brandon's place for dinner.

Which brings us to today, Saturday, Dec. 27th - I am still not feeling well so have taken it pretty easy. I have napped twice today and am once again beginning to feel a little human. Brandon, Danalyn, Max and Christopher are coming over to hang out and then we are going out to dinner. Tomorrow or Monday this Gramsdude gets to spend the day with Christopher while the rest of them go play in the snow and go snow shoeing! and snow boarding! I can't imagine Ron on a snow board but we will see. I am sure Danalyn will take lots of pictures and I know Brandon and Max will be sure to share all the details with me upon their return.

I don't know much else so will close out this blog for today. We do want to wish each of you a Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year! I will make sure to post pictures once Danalyn sends them my way.

Love to you all!!!