Our kids are not ever able to get together for Christmas on the actual day (or I should say CHRISTmas, for that is Who it is all about!) until the week AFTER Christmas, as 2 of them are pastors. It doesn't matter. Christ's birth date is most likely in the late fall anyway. It is a day worth CELEBRATING any time!
This year, our daughter-in-law Staci, was not able to come as she was sick. And our granddaughters from Colorado were sick with RSV so their family could not come either! What a challenge for them spending the time in bed fighting illnesses. It would be a different kind of year. Instead of 15 of us, there were 10 of us plus 1, as Hannah brought her boyfriend!
I followed them on my Life360 app driving from Wisconsin and Arkansas throughout the day.
"What? They didn't stop at Culvers in Webb City for frozen yogurt?"
"Oh, so that's where Nehemiah lives!" (I found out he lives only 6 minutes from my "French" cousin!)
Josh's made it in time for supper. I made oyako donburi. It means parent/child and is made of chicken and egg over rice. There are several recipes you can find on-line. Most Americans do love it.
Jill's family ran into thick fog and we prayed for their safety as they made their way here. They were met with lots of hugs! Hannah had told me several years ago that it is important to hug at least to the count of 15, or else it doesn't count. It really is a powerful thing to be hugged a while. It truly makes one feel loved.
The next morning, the family came up the steps one by one. I had fried German sausage and made my friend Ruby Buller's oatmeal muffins. Here is the recipe: (mine made more than 22)
After breakfast, Josh, Eli and Papa shared photos from their Grand Canyon adventure with ICR (Institute for Creation Research).
We went to Norm's Coffee Shop.
My friend Elaine, who works there, was at a table with her parents from Massachusetts. Originally her dad is from Indonesia and her mom from Singapore. They immigrated here when Elaine was 11. I ended up having such an interesting talk with her dad. He shared his heart and about leaning on God's strength. I felt like I had been "in church"! What wonderful encouragement from this former pastor!
Then we all went shopping for gag gifts at Et Cetera. It had to be $3 or under. I alerted the staff not to be worried if there were several of us walking around putting things in plastic sacks. We were not shoplifting! We were keeping our gift items hidden from the others.
When we were done, we lined up backwards and the lady at the counter added up all the gifts so Papa could pay for them and none of us could see the "nice" presents that were being purchcased for each other.
I did buy one item for myself. This pretty chair! It was only $8! I just love it and had to have it. Of course Papa just shook his head.
When we got home, all the presents, wrapped in their plastic grocery sacks, were put in a box. We drew numbers and picked the gifts out accordingly.
There was a hitch. We could steal.
I mean, who wouldn't want to steal these "wonderful" gifts??
We named the girl in this picture "Naomi".
In order to steal, you had to pick a challenge from the bowl. Before we had started the game, we wrote down various challenges. If you won the challenge, then you could steal the item.
This challenge was "How many ties does Papa have in his closet?" One person guessed 12. Another 24.
It was Josh and Emeri's turn to make dinner and they made Chicken Pesto Pasta. Oh, yum!
What do you think?
It is 69!!
He has several from Japan that my dad had and some the grandkids have made for him. And of course a KU tie and some pharmacy ties. Maybe we should challenge him to wear all of them at least once this year! He turns 70 next September so we should buy him his 70th tie, don't you think?
"Draw a photo of Papa in 60 seconds" challenge:
There was an arm wrestle challenge:
A Michael Jackson dance challenge:
A flamingo challenge, where the one who could keep the pose the longest won.
A "who can count in Japanese the highest" challenge. Papa beat the person who challenged him.
A puzzle was started. A very challenging puzzle! See all that blue?
And every piece was a similar shape with 2 "outies" and 2 "innies", if you know what I mean.
No comments:
Post a Comment