December 31 Goodbye 2021

Friday Night--almost midnight:

I am not sad to see 2021 go. I hope I have learned some lessons during this year that I won't forget. I am so thankful that God's plan for us is one of mercy, fulfillment, and JOY. I pray that God will be gracious towards us in future days as we seek to trust Him.

The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you; the LORD turn his face toward you and give you peace. Numbers 6:24-26

Blessed are those who dwell in your house; they are ever praising you. 

Blessed are those whose strength is in you ... they go from strength to strength, till each appears before God in Zion.

O LORD Almighty, blessed is the person who trusts in you.  (From Psalm 84)

HAPPY NEW YEAR! 

December 28

Tuesday:  We had a very busy day here with Brendan, Aidan and Erin. I only took a few pictures. Nothing unusual happened throughout our day. We read lots and lots of good library books--which is a high point always for me. The kiddos drew lots of pictures. Aidan "authored" two more "books". Erin made a "tiny book" of her own. Brendan did many drawings too. We played several rounds of "Memory". We also watched the new Disney movie: "Encanto" which the children have seen before and seem to enjoy very much. I saw bits and pieces of it while I was picking up toys and getting snacks out for the kids. 

We returned to their house a little after 6pm where pizza was waiting for us! I didn't stay long tonight--only played a little bit with Callaghan before I left to come back here. Exhaustion was upon me from the activity and emotions of the last few days ... so I went home to rest.

CHRIST our PEACE

This is the Christmas card I sent out this year:

I took these photos in January 2021 while on a weekend walk with Emma. We had followed this gorgeous swan along the river for awhile--with me hoping and hoping it would come close enough for me to get a few good pictures. I snapped close to 100 frames and ended up with a few that I could use. I knew right away that I would eventually use it on a Christmas card. 

The overriding theme (always) to me at Christmas is that CHRIST CAME. I still really can't get over it. That He would leave all of the comforts and glory of His heavenly home to enter into this world of people who would despise and reject Him--it just goes beyond what I can comprehend. Anyway, I don't have to understand it. I only have to believe, that's all. And I do. 

"He came and preached peace to you who were close and to those who were far away." Ephesians 2.17

Peace. Peace. Wonderful peace. Thank you, Jesus.

PS  The song, "Welcome to our World" by Chris Rice--I loved this song from the first time I heard it back when it was released. It says so much to me, which is why I used it.

The Christ Candle

Saturday:  We finally lit our Christ candle Christmas night. After all of the anticipation of Advent, this was the day we had waited for. I will not lie and tell you that Christmas day was full of family warmth and the delight of "togetherness." It was a difficult day for me with so much heartache for people that I love.

It was in the evening, after arriving back here at the Beach House to Emma, who had not left it all day--that we lit all of the candles rather mournfully I regret. It was not at all a culminating event, nor a happy occasion, but I left the candles lit for a long time ...

"In Christ we find the fulfillment of God's promises and the embodiment of hope, peace, joy and love. The best of everything God has to offer has been given to us in this one person, Jesus. In Jesus we have hope, because we see that God keeps his promises. We have peace because we are provided a way to be at one with God. In his surrender to His Father, Jesus shows us the source of true joy. And in his sacrifice and obedience we find a love that defies logic with its depth and heart."

I love Christmas because Jesus came and has made all the difference in this heartbroken, heartbreaking world in which we live. Thank you for coming, Lord--thank you so much.

Christmas Day

Saturday:  These first few pictures were taken Christmas Eve--all I have to say about it is that it was a good thing I opened these little toys up and took a look at how much there was to put together before you could play with them. It took me over two hours to assemble Erin's house and Aidan's fire station. NOTE TO SELF: Never ever ever purchase anything with this many small, loose parts again for anyone under the age of 30. 

I will say that I really liked the little house: it all folds up and has a nice carry handle. I would have liked it better if it had peek-through windows to the inside of the house and a door that really opened ... but Erin didn't seem to notice those things when she was playing with it Christmas day. 

The fire station, however ... this is the first time I have ever been disappointed with a PlayMobil toy. It boasted that it was compact and could be easily folded into a carry position with a handle, etc. But this was NOT an easy fold-up at all, and it came with a fire motorcycle instead of a fire engine. Hmm. I will say that the motorcycle was very nicely made and had all kinds of cool stuff you could attach to it. The fire helmets were cool too ... but ... overall, not a good purchase. Pooh. 

Christmas Day:

I showed up over at Dylan and Kelly's at noon, bringing gifts and a cheesy potato casserole to share. The children showed me all of their nice toys and gifts. They were so sweet and excited to show me everything. And then we opened the gifts I brought. We began with Callaghan, who was very pleased with his new books, as well as his little cars and trucks.

This picture (below) is totally out of order--but shows the presents wrapped and ready under my tree at home.

Everyone wanted to help Cal open his box ...

Dylan was in control of the chaos ... keeping back any toddlers who might want to be TOO helpful.

Cal was already past his naptime, so he was very sleepy and quiet.

I picked a number between 1 and 10 (#8), and Brendan guessed it right on the nose; so he was next to open his gifts from me. I don't think we actually photographed what was inside! There was an aerospace origami kit, an art kit with how to draw fantasy creatures, a solo game of a compact marble run, and a really super nice book about natural disasters--complete with a huge poster and lots of interactive stuff. Look how grown up Brendan looks in this picture! He is 9-3/4 now (he loves this fact, due to Harry Potter) ...

Erin was attempting to tell me about her little earrings in the picture below. She really REALLY wanted to open her box. So we decided to let the two little kids open theirs simultaneously.

Aidan was very pleased that HIS box was HUGE!

They played with their stuff for awhile--but I was right about the tiny pieces (duh!). Aidan actually enjoyed playing with the doll house better than the fire station. What I really should have purchased--seriously--was the entire series of Elephant and Piggie books, along with the Pigeon books too! Sigh.

Here is Aidan photo-bombing me ...

We ate a yummy meal of ham, green beans (superb, Kelly!) and cheesy potato casserole. For dessert, Kelly had ordered (locally) something called "cake pops" and they were not only amazingly decorated, but they were DE-LICIOUS--I'm not kidding. I could not have these in my house--I would eat every single one of them. The children enjoyed them too and had more than 1. I restrained myself to just one, but it was difficult!

Here is Brendan looking through his Natural Disaster book. It's spiral bound, which is always a huge plus, and very well illustrated and notated.

And look! Brendan got a new bike. Yes!

This was the box Aidan had been waiting to open and assemble. He has been asking for a LEGO train for more than two years now--for each birthday and Christmas. He is nearly FIVE, and he is an excellent LEGO builder (as is Brendan)--so his folks purchased the Harry Potter train set for this little munchkin. He was determined to build it entirely by himself. The box said it was for ages 8-14 ... but everyone was quite confident of Aidan's abilities. He proved himself too.

On a sad note, Shane was sick today and decided to stay at his place so that he would not infect anyone. But he was very kind to ask Dylan to some and retrieve the gifts he had chosen for the children. Dylan brought him a nice dinner (that Kelly packed), along with my card/gift, and then returned with these nicely wrapped and extremely thoughtful gifts for the kiddos. They were SO pleased.

Look at Aidan's anticipation ...

Since Aidan refused all help in opening his box, Dylan aided Brendan opening up his gift. Inside was a very much wanted gift of cards--but I didn't get a close look at it--I think they have something to do with a video game that Brendan plays. Anyway--he was super pleased to see them. Also in Brendan's box was two movies--one of them is one that I am familiar with a love--E.T. and I forget what the other one was.

Aidan was not disappointed in what his Uncle Shane had chosen for him--more LEGOS! Yes! He was so happy about more sets to build.

Look at his happy little face!

And dear Erin received a very pretty doll--she gave it nice hugs and held it close to her--as well as a princess tent! Kelly helped to assemble it in her room. It's perfect for Erin!

Callaghan was down for his nap, so I wasn't able to see what was inside his package from Shane--but it was undoubtedly something nice. Shane is very good at picking out gifts for these guys.

Here is Dylan looking through two of the books I ordered for him (from his Amazon wish list) that arrived on time for Christmas. I am waiting for another one to come this week.

Aidan was told that if the table was completely CLEAR, he could begin assembling his LEGO train. Here he is waiting for Dylan to supervise the project. There was a 25+ page booklet with step-by-step instructions. I had a stomach ache just looking at it.

Here is Princess Erin's tent. I LOVE it.

Look at her! Isn't she something?

What a sweetie you are, Erin!

I left Dylan's at about 3:00 and headed over to Jesse's with some goodies to share with he and Kaity. They had already opened presents from me a week ago. Kaity told me all about her morning of unwrapping presents. She was smiling from ear to ear.

Emma and I ate our Christmas dinner by about 6pm. Chicken enchiladas. I love this recipe. It has never failed to turn out and it is especially yummy. We ate too much junk afterwards, but ... it was Christmas!