Category Archives: Christmas

Puzzled

I bought this puzzle in honor of our coo sighting in Scotland. It was a very difficult puzzle.

We finally were able to finish it the end of last week with the sad realization that a piece was missing. We’ve looked everywhere and all the floors in the house have been vacuumed so that is that. We remain puzzled as to where that missing piece might be.

JJ came over on Monday and he helped me finish a 12 days of Christmas puzzle. Oops, I didn’t take a photo of the completed puzzle. It was refreshingly easy after the difficult Coo puzzle. JJ also organized the Little People nativity.

We had snow on Tuesday night into Wednesday that turned to rain and melted all the snow off the main roads.

We are pretty well set except for our Christmas meals. We have our cut of meat ordered and the menu set. I’m hoping to bake some cookies that I have the ingredients for, too. How are things in your corner?

Smile, Your On Wednesday Hodgepodge

Blogging…where everyday is Candid Camera day.

Time for a holly jolly candid Hodgepodge. Thank you to Joyce From This Side of the Pond!

1. What’s one thing you want to get done before the calendar flips to a new year?

There is not one thing that stands out to be accomplished. I was considering weeding out some Christmas decor before everything is put back into the bins for next year. Some of our stuff is tired looking. Maybe I’ll designate one bin for the things I can let go.

2. What’s something that brought a smile to your face this year?

Thankfully there were many things. I am a smiley person in general. Our family times together always brings a smile on my face and generally there are belly laughs, too. The wonderful weather we enjoyed in Scotland in September brought many smiles and gratitude! We have our children’s play/musical this coming weekend and I know that will keep me smiling. It is called The Loaned Manger, a western themed presentation. Both Addy and JJ will be performing. Addy has some key singing parts and JJ is Joseph this year.

3. What do you like on a cracker? Do you have a favorite cracker variety? 

We really enjoyed Jo’s Cranberry Jalapeno dip at Thanksgiving and when JJ was here on Monday he said “I’ll get the crackers for the cream cheese” as if I kept that dip around every day. Hilarious! (JJ is Five)

4. Do you have plans for ringing in the new year in a fun or special way? Are you typically awake at midnight on the last day of the year? 

We have entered the dud zone when it comes to New Year’s celebrations. We are typically in bed and the fireworks might wake us up at midnight! In our part of Washington state it is generally too dry with fire danger on July 4th so people around these parts stock up on fireworks to shoot off on New Year’s Eve instead.

5. What are three words that describe your 2024? 

Celebrating Fifty Years! 

We were married in 1974 so 2024 marks our 50th wedding anniversary. We have celebrated well starting at the end of June with a getaway to Walla Walla for a weekend of fun with our family of 10. We celebrated again in Scotland in September and we celebrated on the actual day with an overnight trip to Coeur d’Alene.

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

I saw that common phrase this year on facebook, ‘keep Christ in Christmas’ and my reaction was a new one. There is no way anyone can keep Christ out of Christmas, even if you don’t know Christ or celebrate Him. The darkness (Satan) has been trying to eliminate God from the beginning of time. It started in the Garden of Eden. The light of the world will always overcome the darkness. Christ brought His light into the world and will continue to shine till one day the darkness will finally be cast away. Herod tried to kill Christ as a babe and did the unspeakable by killing all the male children in his realm thinking he could eliminate Jesus. God in His mercy preserved Jesus Christ for His role in becoming the Savior of the world by his sacrificial death on the cross so that man can be at peace with Holy God. Because of Jesus Christ’s perfect life and righteous sacrifice and resurrection our repentance, turning from sin, makes us acceptable to God and makes us redeemed in His sight. Christmas is all about Jesus Christ’s incarnation, Emmanuel, God with us. Jesus, fully God, became man for us. He condescended with love to make it possible for us to be reconciled to God and have eternal life with Him instead of eternal damnation in hell.

Praying that God is calling you to repentance and opening your spiritual eyes to see His Truth today.

Merry Christmas Hodgepodgers!

Christmas Time is Here

This is our first Christmas ornament. We received it at a wedding shower fifty years ago.

It’s 7am here in northeast Washington state and it is still dark outside. We are still in Twilight and soon the day will dawn.

The angels, Santa, and Mrs. Claus ended up in our Christmas stash from Greg’s folks. The ones below are also from them.

These ornaments are from some recent travels.

These two add so much joy to our merry and bright Christmas days!

‘I Love Baba’

These are old, too, but not handed down. They were purchased from a thrift store.

All the ornaments and all the bits and bobs did not make it out this year and that is fine.

We completed our Christmas letter on Friday and made copies. For whatever reason this was a harder task this year. I’m writing this post on Saturday morning and hopefully I did get all the cards addressed and ready to go to the post office today.

UPDATE: Our cards were all addressed and stuffed and sealed on Saturday. On Sunday on the way home from our church service we stopped at the post office and sent all the cards down the slot! Hooray!

Hope all is merry and bright in your corner.

Come Thou Long Expected Jesus ~Hymn

Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus

Come, Thou long expected Jesus
Born to set Thy people free;
From our fears and sins release us,
Let us find our rest in Thee.
Israel’s strength and consolation,
Hope of all the earth Thou art;
Dear desire of every nation,
Joy of every longing heart.

Born Thy people to deliver,
Born a child and yet a king,
Born to reign in us forever,
Now Thy gracious kingdom bring.
By Thine own eternal Spirit
Rule in all our hearts alone;
By Thine all sufficient merit,
Raise us to Thy glorious throne.

Words: Charles Wesley

Christmas Party Travels

Our annual Mennonite Girls Can Cook Christmas Party for the B.C. girls and me was graciously hosted by Bev and her husband. We traveled up north and across the border to Abbotsford on Monday afternoon. Greg and I stopped at Anneliese’s home to drop off our luggage and for our ride to Chilliwack for our celebration.

Bev set a beautiful table with place cards to guide us to our seats for the meal.

Photos were few and far between but I pieced some together to give us some visual memories.

We sang ‘Praise God From Whom all Blessings Flow’ at the beginning of our meal.

Soup was made by Judy, Salad by Kathy (oops no photo), assorted buns by Lovella, Potatoes by Marg, roasted vegetables by Anneliese, Meat cooked to perfection by Harv and Bev, dessert by Julie (no photo) but the memories of it make my mouth water.

The girls escaped to the living room after the main meal and before dessert for our gift exchange. After some good exchanges of gifts and conversation we regrouped at the table for dessert. We made it back to our hosts home for the night several hours after our usual bed time full and happy.

Sunrise in Abbotsford on Tuesday morning was beautiful. Anneliese made a lovely breakfast for us before we headed back across the line to the states. We chose to travel highway 9 for a distance before we connected up again on the interstate.

We made some stops in Washington and enjoyed lunch at our old Mexican favorite in Kirkland. Had a relaxing afternoon and evening at our kids’ home. Early on Wednesday morning we left for our final leg home.

Snoqualmie pass was in good shape for traveling. We didn’t have rain and our visibility was excellent until we reached the Ryegrass Safety Rest area.

Thankfully the dense fog only lasted for a few miles and we had clear skies the rest of our way home. We are always thankful to God for safe travels.

While we were in Western Washington this little guy broke his first board at Tae kwon do!

Breathing a sigh of relief to be done with our December travels and now getting caught up with what needs to be accomplished before Christmas day. First on the list is our Christmas cards. I was so surprised to walk right up to the counter at the post office to buy some stamps. Hopefully I’ll complete the cards today while listening to Christmas CD’s.

God rest ye merry gentlemenLet nothing you dismayRemember Christ our SaviorWas born on Christmas DayTo save us all from Satan’s pow’rWhen we were gone astrayOh tidings of comfort and joyComfort and joyOh tidings of comfort and joy

Wishing you comfort and joy as you prepare.

On the Road Hodgepodge

A few photos from Christmas past.

Thank you, Joyce, for the Wednesday Hodgepodge questions each week.

1. What’s one task you’d like a little Christmas elf to sneak in and take care of tonite? 

I would love for a little elf to come in and address all my Christmas cards!

2. What’s your biggest challenge during the holidays? 

Writing our Christmas letter is harder some years than others. Once the letter is written, the cards are addressed, and the envelopes are taken to the post office and dropped down the slot I feel a load off!

3. Are you a cookie baker this time of year? If your year had to be summed up in the shape of a cookie cutter what shape would it be? 

Cookies are not something that get baked every year. This year I hope to make some cookies for our Children’s play/musical coming up soon. My cookie cutter shape for 2024 would be thistle in honor of our trip to Scotland.

4. Santa likes milk with his cookies. Do you like milk? What kind of milk is on tap in your house? (whole, 2%, skim, almond, oat, etc). What’s the last thing you made that called for milk? 

I like milk but I can’t have too much of it as it doesn’t sit well with me. We typically have 2% on hand. Cereal is the last thing I enjoyed with milk, not something I made but something I put together.

5. Share one favorite line from a Christmas carol or holiday tune? 

O come to my heart, Lord Jesus, There is room in my heart for Thee.

and

O come. let us adore Him, Christ the Lord!

And there are so many more!

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

We are on the road again today, on our way back home from the westside of the Cascades. We were in Canada on Monday and overnight into Tuesday. Lots of time in our vehicle. I will be late in visiting Hodgepodgers. In Canada we enjoyed time with the B.C. Mennonite Girls Can Cook. More photos of our time to come later but here is a preview of some of the food we enjoyed.

The Roads We Travel

On Sunday our children’s choir started our services off with a preview of their upcoming Children’s Christmas play/musical. It is always a treat to have the children perform. As soon as the service was over we hit the road for our trip to the west side of the mountains.

We made a quick stop in Spokane to get a sandwich for the road before we reached I-90 for our 284 mile stretch to Bothell.

For most of our eastern Washington journey we were happy for sunshine and clear roads.

It’s a family tradition that when we spot the Columbia River and Vantage Bridge we send out a group text with the words, ‘Roll On’. Everyone knows exactly where we are and will be able to calculate when we’ll arrive at our destination.

From this point we would be starting our ascent up and through the Cascade mountain range.

On the eastern slopes the skies changed. We were patting ourselves on the back for replacing our windshield wipers the day before.

At Snoqualmie Pass I snapped this shot before our descent into Western Washington.

We made it to Josh and Laura’s house and had a good catch-up before we met up with Andrew and Katie for Thai food to continue our Anniversary celebrations. Josh and Laura baked a cake for all of us to enjoy after dinner. We have some very thoughtful kids.

Soon we were all ready to put our heads on our pillows for the night.

That reminds me of this sweet photo that was sent to us of JJ after a long morning of shopping this past Saturday on the Eastside.

Hope you all have time to rest and contemplate all that this season holds for mankind.

A portion of the Nicene Creed;

We believe in one God,
the Father almighty,
maker of heaven and earth,
of all things visible and invisible.

And in one Lord Jesus Christ,
the only Son of God,
begotten from the Father before all ages,
God from God,
Light from Light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made;
of the same essence as the Father.
Through him all things were made.
For us and for our salvation
he came down from heaven;
he became incarnate by the Holy Spirit and the virgin Mary,
and was made human.

Idaho Getaway

On the way to our Coeur d’Alene overnight we stopped at a new to us restaurant in Spokane Valley for breakfast. It is an hour and a half drive for us from home to the valley so we were ready for some food. The Crimson Door was a unique spot and the staff and food were both good. Before we got back on the freeway for the 10 minute trip to Coeur d’Alene, we stopped at the Union Gospel Mission thrift store. We were happy to find 3 books by one of our favorite Pastors.

We enjoy traveling the short distance to our neighboring state for getaways or just a day of shopping. A few of the things we like are lower sales tax, lower gasoline prices, not having to pay for shopping bags and a nice variety of places to eat.

When we arrived at our lodging in Coeur d’Alene we were surprised to see a card and these roses left for us by the staff. Our travel agent had let the management know why we were traveling unbeknownst to us.

We shopped at a variety of stores for some gifts including Costco where gasoline was only $2.69 per gallon! One of our stops was at a second hand vintage and antique store where we found some Hardy Boys books for our Grands. Addy and Auntie Lolo had made out a list of the book #’s that were missing in their collection over Thanksgiving weekend.

We drove a little north of CDA for our anniversary dinner at Parallel 47 in Hayden.

We felt that Filet Mignon was appropriate for celebrating 50 years of marriage.

Full and Satisfied we made our way back to our lodging. After putting on some layers of clothing and gloves we walked the short distance to the CDA resort to walk the boardwalk of Christmas lights that they annually light up for Christmas and for their Christmas lights cruises on the lake.

The fire breathing dragon is always a treat for the kids and a little startling for adults, too.

We walked through the resort where we enjoyed a quartet of women singing Christmas classics all dressed up in clothes from years gone by. That was a treat. I recorded them but didn’t get a still photo of them. For whatever reason I’m unable to share my videos on my blog. Sigh.

On Friday morning we had breakfast in Hayden with all the locals. We made a stop at Pilgrim Market for some goodies and then headed back to Colville via one more shopping stop at Cabela’s.

Auntie Lolo put this up on facebook and we received many good wishes from friends near and far. Thank you, dear Lolo!

So thankful to God for bringing you two together, for knowing what an amazing team you would make, for the example you are to your kids, and for the love you share! We love you, we love you, we love you! Congratulations on 50 years!

 

Thank you to everyone who already left comments and best wishes on my 50th Wedding Anniversary post.

This post is up on Monday and we are in the midst of more travels heading to Canada for our Annual Mennonite Girls Can Cook Christmas dinner. We traveled to the west side of the state on Sunday after church. I’ll be missing in action for awhile but hope to get some visits in here and there.

The Deity and Humanity of Christ ~ Hymn

 

The Deity and Humanity of Christ

Ere the blue heav’ns were stretched abroad,
From ev­er­last­ing was the Word:
With God He was; the Word was God,
And must di­vine­ly be ad­ored.

By His own pow­er were all things made;
By Him sup­port­ed all things stand;
He is the whole cre­ation’s head,
And an­gels fly at His com­mand.

Ere sin was born, or Sa­tan fell,
He led the host of morn­ing stars:
Thy ge­ne­ra­tion who can tell,
Or count the num­bers of Thy years?

But lo, He leaves those heav’n­ly forms,
The Word des­cends and dwells in clay,
That He may hold con­verse with worms,
Dressed in such fee­ble flesh as they.

Mortals with joy be­held His face,
Th’eter­nal Fa­ther’s on­ly Son;
How full of truth! how full of grace!
When thro’ His eyes the God­head shone.

Archangels leave their high abode
To learn new mys­te­ries here, and tell
The loves of our des­cend­ing God,
The glories of Im­ma­nu­el.

Words: Isaac Watts, 1707.

Tis the Season Hodgepodge

The tree is up and some of the ornaments are on it. I’m debating about how many to fill it with. Maybe it will be simplified this year. The rest of the Christmas bins are coming down today (Tuesday) and hopefully all the decorating will be accomplished before I visit Hodgepodgers this week!

Thank you to Joyce for the Wednesday Hodgepodge Questions! Click over to join in.

1. What’s the best $5 gift to give someone? 

Oh boy, this is a tough one. How about meet someone for a cuppa that you pay for and give them an hour of your time. I would have said buy them a cup of whatever and a little sweet to go with it but it would have to be a cookie because pastries are up in the $6 range these days!!

2. What’s your favorite way to relax/unwind during the busy holiday season? 

Sitting with my feet up and enjoying some quiet. Going for a drive and enjoying the winter views.

3. How do you feel about gingerbread? Love it or no thanks? Are gingerbread houses a part of your holiday tradition? If you said yes, how does that look? Do you like ginger flavor in other kinds of dishes? 

A little gingerbread is enjoyable but it wouldn’t be missed. Houses have not been a big part of our tradition until lately with the Grands and it’s a nice craft for them to enjoy. Ginger is a nice addition to other kinds of dishes and in tea.

4. December 5th is National Blue Jeans Day…will you be celebrating? Do you have a favorite brand? A favorite pair? Do you have a hard time parting with a favorite pair of jeans? Blue jeans-joggers-leggings-yoga pants…which one do you wear most often? 

Any jeans that fit well and stay put at the waist are fabulous in my book. When I find a brand that will do that I’ll cling to them forever! Around the house and working in the yard joggers are the comfort go to for bending, kneeling, pulling weeds, etc.

At night when the day and work is done it is always time for comfy pants! (Jammy bottoms)

5. As we head into this holiday season what’s your biggest priority or goal for the end of the year? 

Remembering that God is my portion. With Him I have all I need. He is the strength of my heart.

“Christ’s divinity has no starting point in time. He always was. He was God before time began. He is God at this very moment. And He will continue to be God forever.” Alistair Begg ~Let Earth Receive Her King. 

6. Insert your own random thought here.