We celebrated Christmas with our family yesterday at Laura and Michael's house. There were 15 of us there. We missed Dan and Alex who had just returned from their trip to Colombia and decided to stay home. They dd Face time with us so we could greet them.
There were moments I want to remember. I had bought chocolate letters for the grandchildren from the Dutch Store in Grand Rapids as I do every year. Little Henry who is almost five opened his and with great surprise and delight said, "It's the first letter of my name!" How lovely when something is new! And then there is the joy of our tradition of singing Christmas carols--mostly acapella and by memory. We stumble a bit on the second and third verses but we make a joyful noise and to this grandma's ears, it is beautiful! I pray that the words "Let every heart prepare him room" enter into my grandchildren's hearts as they sang.
Last night, Jim made the decision that we would do livestream church this am because it is bitterly cold and it is quite the walk to the muniicipal parking deck. We worshipped from our living room and appreciated the Daniel Pinkham Christmas Cantata.
To be continued--with Christmas dinner at Jeff and Susan's and more livestream church services for Christmas Eve.
As we shopped, we impulsively bought a little Tonka dump truck for Timmy who lives downstairs to go along with the classic Eric Carle book From Head to Toe that we had already gotten for him. We hope to get to know his parents and him better when we have them over between the holidays.
--------------Christmas Eve--Jeff and Susan invited us to go to Christmas Eve Mass at their church, St. Paul's in Princeton--and to have our traditional pigs in the blanket before church. The church was sparkling with lights and greenery. The service was led by their former pastor Monsignor Nolan who was a familiar figure for us too. He was very pastoral and emotional in his telling of a story--and emphasized Christ was born in you--as in Mary. I got teary when I saw the throngs of people going forth for the elements--including our precious Katie, James and Michael. Then home again where we caught the opening words via livestream of the Family church service at Bryn Mawr Presbyterian Church where Ruth read the welcoming words.
Maybe we will join the 9 pm service at Nassau Church tonight via livestream. And we hope to have dinner at Jeff and Susan's tomorrow. They are so good to include us in their family times--and it is only ten minutes down the road.
------------There was a package at our door delivered by the deacons at our church. A few years ago Jim and I helped deliver poinsettias to folks who were elderly--and now we are the recipients. There were lots of tasty goodies and a small poinsettia.
Christmas Day--We made banket. Each year I say it is my last time and then I buy more almond paste from the Dutch Store and we do it again. Jim was a big help today. We brought some for dessert at Jeff and Susan's tonight where we had a great turkey dinner with Susan's legendary rolls made by Katie this time!
Our big achievement of the day was downloading Netflix so we could watch the NFL games which were only on Netflix. And we did it without having to ask anyone of a younger generation for help.
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