It's looking like Christmas

We are getting ready for the BIGGEST birthday party in the world! 

 The birth of Jesus Christ, our Saviour!  

Although evidence puts His birth in September, it is celebrated in December.  Some say that under Emperor Constantine, they began celebrating it in December 336AD to outshine the Sol Invictus (Roman god of the sun), a pagan celebration where people feasted and exchanged gifts.

"The Star of Bethlehem" makes a pretty convincing case that the wisemen brought gifts to the toddler Jesus in Bethlehem on December 25th.

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I have seen people begin Christmas decorations in October (sigh) but I ALWAYS wait until AFTER Thanksgiving to get out my Christmas decorations.  This year, Al "risked his life" for me and put up a star way up high.  Real high!  Our daughter told him he needed to wear a bike helmet, just in case.  I offered to foam under the ladder.

I do love it!

I decorated our home.  

Here is the creche that my mother had for us when I was growing up.

There are some broken ears on the animals, but I treasure the memories.

We have had a few Christmas parties/gatherings.  

We went to a SoShine Foundation fund raiser with Jenny and Tyler from Nashville.

Well, just Tyler.  Their children were sick so only Tyler came.  But it turned out wonderful anyway!

We got to visit a bit afterwards as he came to spend the night at our home!

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This year we celebrated "Thanksmas" (combining Thanksgiving and Christmas) with Al's siblings.  Brenda was ill and we missed her!  Always an enjoyable time with lots of laughter!  And more than enough food!  

Always have to have mak (or mach/mache) kuchen.  "Mak" is the Polish and Russian term for poppy seed.

We went down memory lane looking at photos from 1971-1975.

We had the Packer/Chiefs game on in the background.  Notice a similarity between Sid and the Chief's coach, Andy Reid?

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Jill sent a picture from their staff Christmas party.  A 1920's murder mystery party!  Doesn't that sound like fun?

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I helped a few of the staff at church with decorating the stage for the children's Christas program.  I think it would be so fun to go to school to learn to do stage sets!

Covering the stain glass to protect it.

Painting the clouds was so fun!

Hanging them was a challenge!

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We went for a quick overnight trip to Arkansas to see Andrew Peterson in "Behold the Lamb" with special guest artists Jill Phillips, Andy Gullahorn, Skye Peterson, and The Arcadian Wild. 

I was telling Emeri about making the stage set and I said that if I could have another life, I'd go to school to learn set design.  Josh remarked "I'm with you!  We could start our own company, Graber and Graber!"  Regi's not so sure.

Brunch at First Place

Staci's drink is called Morning Meditation - a mix of beet, ginger and orange juices.  This place has all natural, fresh and healthy foods.  

I had blueberry compote on a waffle that was to die for!  I will try to make it at home!

Emeri and I did some Christmas shopping at Hobby Lobby and then we had to go home.

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Getting ready for Christmas includes writing our annual Christmas letter and mailing them out!  Kaia was enjoying it!

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Bible study parties

My older women's group

Gifts for the homeless shelter

I served this pineapple cream-cheese cheeseball at 3 of those parties!

My young mom's group

This gift was stolen most in our game.  The one with the doggie paper.

It ended up in Sarah's home - a fondue.

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Our small group sang at Presby Manor.  

It was followed by a party at our house!

One last party - next Wednesday with my little children at Awana.  I love to tell them the real Christmas story, of the One who came for them!  A song I have taught them is with the tune "London Bridge":

    God loved us and sent His Son,

    Sent His Son

    Sent His Son

    God loved us and sent His Son,

    1 John 4:10

Merry Christmas!!

Now we wait for the children and grandchildren to come!

A beautiful wedding in a glass cathedral!

Last weekend we had a decision to make. Do we try to get to our friend's wedding east of Kansas City with a snow storm on the way?  I contacted others who had planned to go and they said they weren't going to chance it.  We decided that as long as we spent the night, we could outrun the snow that was coming from the west.  The snow was moving in fast so we quickly packed for overnight and headed out.

These dogs seem to enjoy the cold air!

The bison don't seem to mind the cold.

There were so many hawks out!

Before we had gone 45 miles, we left the snow behind us.

A few hours later, we arrived at the location where the reception would be held and found us a hotel close by to spend the night.  After checking in, we drove on to where the wedding was.

We parked the car and took this path to the glass cathedral.

Amazing!!

Breathtaking!  Janelle told us that Abigail wanted to get married in a glass cathedral.  Her aunt told her about this one.

The flower girls.

Or maybe we call them "leaf" girls.

They spread leaves on the floor!

Doug and Abigail

It was all so beautiful!

I love this!  Parents praying blessings over the couple.

 It brought tears to my eyes.

Didn't get my camera out in time to snap Abigail and Jacob coming down the aisle.  But I got Doug and Janelle.  Lots of bubbles!!  So much joy!

After the wedding, we were invited to take in the Festival of Lights at the gardens.

The reception was at the Gamber Community Center.

Snow was falling as the couple left.  The snow storm had arrived.  We were glad we had chosen to spend the night.  We heard that our area got 8-12" of snow!  Not as much here, but we waited until 10am to head home to allow streets to clear.

There were LOTS of cars in the ditches!

The snow plow had cleared the left lane so we stayed there.

I was texting with our friends Dave and Marilyn.  We found out that we were behind them just a short distance so we made plans to stop at Applebees in Emporia and have lunch together!  What a good time we had and it also allowed the sun to melt Highway 50 a bit more.

Not sure why someone would own a snowmobile in Kansas.  We don't get that much snow at all!

Home!

That night there was a full moon and you could see quite well with the reflection of the moon on the snow.  Evidently it is called a Beaver Moon.

"Why the “Beaver” Moon? This is the time of year when beavers begin to take shelter in their lodges, having laid up sufficient food stores for the long winter ahead. During the fur trade in North America, it was also the season to trap beavers for their thick, winter-ready pelts."

We had a young willow tree around our pond that recently got gnawed down, probably by a beaver (according to the local college biology teacher).  We'd watched it grow from 2 feet to about 10 feet tall.  Sadness.  The teacher told me that willow trees are a beaver's favorite tree.

FedEx footprints in the snow?