Joyous!

What a week! Looking back over the last seven days, I can hardly recall all the things we did. Our Christmas week began last Sunday evening, which seems like an age ago now. That night, we went caroling to some of our neighbors and delivered Christmas cookies that Miriam and Hannah made. It was just 4 degrees outside, but each house we visited invited us to step inside so we managed to sing without getting frostbite. After caroling, we drove in to Ulysses to attend a Christmas concert at the Baptist church. It began with some carol singing accompanied by the organ and piano. The church has a lovely pipe organ. The singing was tremendous. Then a family performed on string instruments, two violins, a viola and a bass. It was a nice concert. A good way to begin our week.

The Ulysses First Baptist Church.

The Christmas concert.

The first part of the week was very cold. Sunday night as I was getting ready for bed, I looked at the thermometer and said "It's eleven degrees, that's not so bad." Then Stacey said, "look again." It was actually minus eleven degrees, and that was not so good. When I got up on Monday morning, it had warmed to minus five. There was a pretty sunrise that morning, but it was so cold, I didn't go out to look at it. Instead, I watched it from the kitchen window. We'd managed to keep the wood stove going all night. I kept it going for the rest of the day.

Sunrise from the kitchen window.

We spent the day on Monday and Tuesday morning finishing our preparations for Christmas company. We put fresh sheets on the bed in the guest room and got the beds ready in the big room upstairs for the grandchildren, cleaned the bathrooms and fussed around tidying this and that. I wanted the house to look its Christmas best for when they arrived on Tuesday afternoon.

It snowed a little during the day on Christmas Eve, not much, just enough to freshen up the snow we already had. The Thayns left their house at 9:00 a.m. and headed here. I was worried the snow would be a problem for them, but they arrived safely at 1:30 p.m. The house immediately jumped into hyperexcitement mode. Their friend Peter, who works with Tabor, arrived shortly after that. Stacey and Hannah got home from work at 2:00.

Christmas Eve dinner was at our house. The Fosters arrived at 5:00 and we had tacos. After dinner was cleared away, we gathered in the living room and played the white elephant gift exchange game. Then we sang some carols, I read Luke chapter 2, and we moved on to dessert. I'd made eggnog earlier and had it chilling on the back porch all day. It's colder on the porch than it is in our refrigerator. All the cookies and candies that Sarah, Miriam, and Hannah had made over the previous days were set out. Sarah made some special things for me to eat, extra dark chocolate pecan bark, a hazelnut dacquoise with raspberry ganache, and a gingerbread spiced almond dacquoise with lemon cream cheese frosting. They were so delicious and a wonderful treat for me. After that, everyone went down to the Foster's to play games except Stacey, me, and the grandchildren. Stacey took the children upstairs to get them settled in for the night. They watched Meet Me In St. Louis. It took them a long time to get settled -- so much Christmas Eve excitement. Meanwhile, I stayed downstairs and tidied the house.

Playing "I See Something" on the Christmas tree.

Russell, Santa's helper.

Playing the white elephant gift game.

The dessert table.

I like to sit in the quiet late on Christmas Eve. To me, the dark house, with just the tree lights and a bayberry candle burning, the quiet, the latent energy humming in the house with all those visions of sugarplums dancing in the children's, and perhaps the adults' heads as they sleep, is magical. It is a time when ghosts of Christmases past well up in my mind. Our tradition is to burn a bayberry candle on Christmas Eve and another on Christmas Day to remind us of those who are not with us to celebrate. Some of them are family living far away, others are not living anymore. I think of them and it is a sad and a happy haunting.

I was the first one up on Christmas morning.  I showered, dressed, and did the morning chores before the rest of the house began to stir. We decided that this year we would open gifts at the Foster's house. They have a larger living room than we do. So all the presents were transported there on Christmas Eve. On Christmas morning once the children were up, the house was full of anticipatory excitement. We had to get everyone ready to depart. We had to get everyone to sit still for our traditional Christmas morning staircase photo. Then away we went, over the river and through the woods, to the Foster's.

Everything ready at the Foster's house.

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care.

If excitement could be measured in decibels, the level at the Foster's would have been off the charts. There were so many great gifts and we had so much fun opening them. After gift giving, we had breakfast and then everyone settled into playing with new toys, new games, new puzzles. That went on into the afternoon. At 2:00 the Olean missionaries joined us for dinner. We had the traditional ham, funeral potatoes, zesty carrots, rolls, fruit salad, and green bean casserole, plus some new additions -- roasted Brussels sprouts, cheesy spaghetti squash, deviled eggs, and sausage quiche. It was all so delicious. Then followed dessert, which was mostly leftover cookies and candies from Christmas Eve. Then there were more games and puzzles that went on into the evening.  Christmas Night was also the first night of Hanukkah, so we sang some Hanukkah songs and played dreidel. At the end of the day, Stacey and I brought the grandchildren home to get them to bed and the others stayed a while longer at the Foster's to play games. It was a great day, a Christmas to be remembered.

Our traditional staircase photo.

Hazel, Florence, Mabel, June, and Russell.

Opening gifts.

Our Christmas feast.

The revelers.

Playing dreidel.

Coming home on Christmas night.

Thursday was Boxing Day, which traditionally in our house means taking down the Christmas tree, boxing up all the decorations, and setting the house in order. That didn't happen this year. We continued to party all day on Thursday. It was a cold but sunny day. At noon we went back to the Foster's to go sledding. They have a great hill behind their house that was perfect for it. When we finally got cold and wet enough, we went inside and had late lunch. Peter left to go home after that. And then the rest of us stayed and played games into the evening. We worked on the big 2,000 pieced jigsaw. We played Skull King and Gang of Four. We enjoyed being together. 

 

Headed down to feed the chickens with my work crew.

Sledding at the Foster's house.

Working on the jigsaw puzzle.

The finished puzzle.

The sunrise on Friday was pretty, but shortly afterward, the weather turned gloomy and stayed that way for the rest of the day. Our boxing up of decorations took place that day. I began taking down decorations early by myself, before anyone else was around to help me. I always feel a little sad as we put all the festive finery away, but this time the feeling was more intense. I actually got teary as I took down the garland and the lights. I brought out the boxes and tins to pack it all away and I had to stop and wait for Miriam to come downstairs and take charge. I don't know why I felt so emotional. I like having the house restored to its proper state again. But this time it felt different, sadder. Maybe it was just the weather. Maybe it was something more.

Sunrise on Friday.

Later in the morning, I ran errands with Tabor. We drove up to Wellsville to buy chicken feed. We stopped at the chapel for a minute. I had to get some things ready for Sunday. By the time we got back, Miriam and Rachel had the children helping and the decorations were almost down. Tabor dragged the Christmas tree, stripped of its glory, out to the burn pile to await immolation sometime in the spring.  Then Rachel and Miriam took the girls back down to Foster's to go sledding again and I stayed home and finished tidying things. The house looked "normal" once more, like it had already forgotten its recent holiday attire. Friday night the Fosters came to our house for pizza. After dinner there was the usual round of games.

The tree, its glory gone.

Saturday was a drizzly, gray day, just warm enough to make the snow slushy and ugly. That afternoon we went to the matinee at the Coudersport Theatre. We went to see Sonic the Hedgehog 3 because the children wanted to see it. It was not something in the realm of my interest or experience, having never played the video game or seen Sonic 1 or 2, but the grandchildren liked it. After the movie, everyone came here for dinner -- burgers and bratwurst. After dinner, Tabor and Rachel left for home. Tabor has a business conference in Phoenix during the first week of January. They left the children here with us. They will be here until January 6th. The energy level has been higher than usual on account of that.

It's warm and spring-like today, 50 degrees. The snow that remains is dirty, nothing picturesque about it. It is a fifth Sunday so I was in charge of the second hour at church. I selected three of the new hymns and taught them. Sarah accompanied us on the piano. We learned two sacrament hymns, As Bread is Broken and Bread of Life, Living Water, and the hymn Come, Lord Jesus. They are all beautiful hymns. Now we are home. The grandchildren are expending pent up energy as we wait for lunch. I'll try to enforce a Sabbath Nap, but I don't think I'll get much cooperation. Maybe I'll settle for just Sabbath Quiet Time.

After church today.

Tomorrow is my mother's birthday. She will be 96 years old. We are planning to call her to wish her a happy birthday.

So here we are in the limbo between Christmas and New Years.  To me, these last days of December always seem tinged with a little sadness by the passing of the old year. Christmas is done, its energy spent. The new year is a mystery lurking a few days away. We've switched our music from Christmas songs and carols to Strauss waltzes and marches, our traditional New Year's music and that helps to boost the mood. The excitement will continue to build as we approach New Year's Eve. And who knows what lies beyond in 2025.

I wish you a very Happy New Year!