Family Christmas

Sunday evening we had the Graber family Christmas at Al's sister's house in Little River, KS. Rudolph decided he would come to the party.

After eating wonderful food!! we had our gift exchange.

The young cousins exchange gifts.

Then it is the grown-ups turn. We always have a pile for women's gifts and one for the guys. Last year we all brought items from the house that we didn't use (but still in good shape). One year we all exchanged gift cards. This year, it was whatever but up to a certain dollar limit. There is always "stealing" of the gifts so it is pretty fun and often rowdy.

Here is a picture of Al and 2 of his brothers and his sister.

Sid, Reuben, Julie, Al

Last night, the Prairie Sunset Home in Pretty Prairie, KS had their Christmas party. Allen's Dad lives there. The Cousins Four (our sister-in-law sings in a quartet with her older sister and their cousins - well, 2nd cousins, but it would sound wierd to call them the Second Cousins Four) sang several Christmas selections as did another quartet that included a couple of the workers of the home. Santa made his rounds and we gave Dad our gifts too. On Sunday night we had taken pictures of all the family and so I got a frame and put them all together for Dad. We got him lots of clothes for the coming year also.

Often Dad doesn't seem to know who we are. Usually he doesn't talk, or maybe what he does say doesn't make any sense at all. Sometimes he says very odd things. But we hope he knows we love him. I always try to give him lots of touches. We had him in stitches a couple of times last night, but not sure he comprehended what was really going on. Sometimes he cries. He may not know us, but he always remembers Al's mom, Kathern. The Cousins Four sang a song that the group, The Quiet Place Singers (Al's mom was the piano player for them) used to sing many years ago. Al's Dad and I looked at eachother and by the way he responded I believe he seemed to remember that song. How he loved Al's mom! She died 20 years ago. I know Al's Dad longs to be with her too. A big thank you to the Prairie Sunset Home for the excellent care they give him and the others. It is always neat to see all the people there as we know many of them and went to church with them. Pretty Prairie is a small community. You should Google Earth it sometime. It is a mile long and a half mile wide.

I received this reminder of the awesomeness of God from some friends: In chemistry, He turned water into wine. In biology, He was born without natural conception. In physics, He defied the law of gravity when He ascended into heaven. In history, He is the beginning and the end.

Have a blessed Christmas with your families!