Christmas 2022

Our tabletop tree

 It's not Christmas Day yet but our celebrations are mostly over.  Dan and Alex came for dinner on December 10--a pre-Christmas visit because they were leaving for Costa Rica with friends on December 20.  We had our version of what my friend calls "assisted living" when instead of cooking for eight of us including the Princeton VKs, we ordered takeout meals from Olive Garden.    We put the leaf into the dining room table which is rarely used for eating and used the good dishes and silverware--also rarely used.

Then last night we drove to Gladwyne for a Christmas dinner and time for gifts at Laura and Michael's home. Jeff and Susan left briefly to get James at the Philly train station so there were 15 of us in all!   Again, little Henry greeted me with asking if we were going to make a bunny cake.  He was reassured that we would do a Christmas tree cake.  

We had a great dinner of ham and beef tenderloin with an abundance of food.  There was also an abundance of gifts.  I had wondered earlier in the day where I had hidden the crossword puzzle book I was going to give to Jim.  I couldn't find it anywhere and our apartment isn't all that large!  Well, it showed up--in the package wrapped for grandson James along with the iron skillet I had purchased from Amazon!  He willingly gave it up and Jim brought it home.  

Rolls by Susan and Michael

It was very windy enroute to Gladwyne and very, very cold (around 10 degrees) on the way home.  We were relieved to get back into our warm apartment.  It would not have been a good night for car trouble--or the flat tire we had a few weeks ago.  

Almost the oldest grandchild 
with the youngest

There will be just one church service tomorrow morning at ten although there are several tonight.  We are invited for Christmas dinner at Jeff and Susan's house tomorrow so the celebration will continue.  We are feeling very thankful for our family and the joy we can have when we are together.

----------December 26--We didn't make it to the Christmas pageant at Bryn Mawr Presbyterian Church on Christmas Eve but we were able to see Gabriel (Ruth) and a wise man (Alex) via livestream from our warm living room.  We also worshipped with our own church via livestream both on Christmas Eve and Christmas morning.  It is bitterly cold in our area but we don't have snow like they do in the mid-West.  In fact, we are doing our part to conserve energy by turning down the thermostat and doing a cold water laundry.