Friday's Fave Five

FFF is hosted by Suzanne!!!

It has been a while since I  was here and  I suppose it is  because  the month of December is so hectic. But, believe me, it is about to become quiet and contemplative. 

We celebrated the holidays with our only family back in  November when we drove up to Boston to spend a couple of weeks with our daughter's family! It was blissful!

We were so delighted to be there in time to go to  see our youngest granddaughter's  first main recital  playing the violin.  Oh, that brought back so many memories  of going to see our  daughter's performances.  She became so proficient she  became the Concert Master for the Youth symphony of our city!  Our dear little Vivi is well on her way!!! Praise the Lord, she loves it so much!

Our oldest  granddaughter loves to get  really dressed up,  so  she  told me she only had this yellow lei that  matched my Thanksgiving outfit,  so I was honored to where it  all day that day!!!  Besides,  I was perfectly at my leisure while  Amanda, (Daughter) and her hubby   presented a fabulous feast!!! I helped the girls set the table and Leila, our oldest, busily created beautiful  napkin folds for each person!  

Right before dinner,  the girls played a few duets  for our listening pleasure. I am so  thrilled that they both love music.!

Scrumptious!!

Before we knew it it was  Christmas..  three  days later..

So much fun  being together to enjoy the festivities!!!

The girls dressed in the Christmas dresses  looked  so  sweet.. Leila was deeply engrossed in putting her desk together with her new organization package  that included  everything possible for a budding almost Middle Schooler!!!  Her look seems to say, "please, dont bother me now.  I am  composing my new desk arrangement!!!" 

Viv was trying to  hide a look of,  "I think  I  figured out  what I am getting,. but I better not give it away too much!!!"

Baa Baa is just taking in everything, so he can remember  what fun we had 6 months from now!!!

Our  Christmas morning  tradition is  Cranberry Scones,   egg casserole and cranberry salad with oranges and spices.

I think outfits were changed  3 times  on Christmas Day..  but  by now we just wanted to rest and be comfy!!!

One of our last  ventures over our Christmas was to travel north  in Massachusetts to Sudbury,  the home of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and  dine in the Wayside Inn! What a treat  and blessing!!

  So since our  marvelous time   up north    we have  enjoyed  Christmas pageants, and  getting our own home  ready for  the holiday!!!  We so very much were blessed this  past weekend by the visit of Vickie and Bill.  Vickie was my  best friend in elementary school and  we  have  been  dear  companions as able  ever since.  Everytime we do get together it is as if no time has passed.  We are still silly fourth graders!!!!

My ladies' prayer group is  still thriving.  We meet every two weeks to pray  for the  dire needs of  the nation and world, and  it is a lovely time to get together for fellowship prior to our prayer time..         So life  seems to be speeding past, and sometimes it seems hard to accomplish everything. So I am actually thrilled to have a quiet week planned next week. To revel in the glories of  Jesus' birth and    what it  truly means to be His child!!!  I will, also,  start  up my  new Christian Planner  that  helps  you create  your goals for the new year. Because I am now the  chairman of the  Bereavement Committee, we  set up meals for the bereaved following the funerals at our church.  So my new word of 2024 is Compassion.   I will have  all of next week to consider  that and  how I need to grow into  it more!!   Blessings to all and to all a Merry Christmas!

Friday Fave Five

Hosted by Susanne!

This has been an enigmatic week!  Mainly, because I have  not felt well,  but  I haven't been  ill enough to  stay abed.  But when I get up  I feel  yucky,  and so I  just dont  want to do anything...  so I lie back down,, but that isn't right at all so I get up  and  wander about the house. I  am not really  sick,  but  have  a rather heavy malaise over me.  I think it is really an unrelenting sinus  problem:    not  extreme , but  just enough to  make me cough,  give a headache,  and  bit of  stuffiness. Oh, I remember having to head off to work feeling this way  and   coming  home exhausted . SO if could work through it,  I should at least be able to  write up this    post..  right!?

Because it has been  a good week,  as well, to some extent.   I have been feeling this way since mid  last week,  and by Monday I thought I had turned a corner.  So I  started out my day by    doing  a good think.. I knew I had  an  complete ECHO test  coming on Wednesday and I started thinking, oh my,  with all the  sinus meds and cough medicine I had taken around the clock  it very well could show a bit of change in my heart rate  so I called  the  facility and  actually  since I hadn't tested for covid  they  changed my appointment  to March. I am thankful for that,  for as it turned out  I really  was glad not to have to go out  on Wednesday.  Thank you, Lord!

So on Wednesday I did take a covid test and  thankfully, it was negative as I thought it would be.  But even  if  the test proves wrong it was  well past the first day of symptoms.  But anyway, I was  very  hopeful for a great day on Thursday as I had a luncheon date with my "6 Sisters" from church.  This  was our  second time to get together  and  we were meeting at my dearest friend Gerri's home  for a pot luck. I had created a beautiful spinach   salad  hosting part fruits and part veg,  all tossed together with  dried cranberries and roasted pecans.  I  had purchased  some Panera Poppy Seed dressing to take and  Im happy to report it didn't disappoint! It was a fabulous lunch.  Gerri  had made  the most delicious chicken salad  croissants and   there was  pasta salad and deviled eggs topped off with home made Cinna Bon Snicker Doodle cookies.. It was  really fun!

Now hubs  and  Gerri's husband  got together  for the day  whilst we  partied and gave me quite a surprise when I got home. They  had gone to Lowe's then purchased and installed a  wonderful hand rail for our staris/ The  rail there is only a half rail   then I had to depend to  grasping hold of the stair spindles  that run across the top of the stairs along the  hall. I cannot tell you  how thankful and delighted I am with  this second  railing.  It really makes  climbing so much easier!

Last night  we met  David and  Gerri  along with  Dot ,  we are  a very  tight  group of buds , and  went to the deli for supper, then on to  hear  a very engaging   Bible teacher we enjoy  every third Thursday evening.  He  is a traveling teacher    from another  county, but he travels across  several states teaching  Bible prophecy about end times. He has  many contacts in Israel  and  last night's teaching  was  something, indeed. I really believe the   End time is very near.  Everything seems to be ramping right into place   and we are in for a bumpy ride! Hopefully, for not too long!So here it is  Friday and  I am still coughing   and  a bit dazed, but all is right in my world. SO I will bid you all adieu  and look forward to a lovely weekend!

Friday Fave Five

 FFF hosted by Susanne!

Are your Christmas plans as crazy as mine. I believe the craziness is from within.  This time of year, I dream of Christmases from long ago,  and I think “let’s celebrate like we did then. .. carols around the spinet, cakes that were baked days before now packed away in a cool place,  mulling in a  bit of spirits..  Grandma always made the most delectable Christmas cakes. And the ginger bread made the house tingle your spirit when you entered the back door. Sometimes, I think I didn’t get any of her genes.  Her imagination, but alas, not her initiative.  

Oh well, let’s consider my kind of Christmas.This week has been fast paced and slow at the same time!  If that’s not crazy! Sunday,  the food basket items were due at church.. and Sunday school was great, as usual.  I am sad that our best buds at church changed classes  .. It is good to move about in classes until you find a good fit, I suppose, but I will miss them.  So glad we have a lovely habit of going out for  Sunday lunch after church.  Sunday, we went to a very popular deli  and there sat two tables of dear friends from the church we attended almost 50 years ago.  So wonderful to be remembered by name.  Well, I remembered them,as well, but it is crazy how long ago that was.. yet in some ways it seemed like.. well last decade! 

Monday was a crazy, busy day!  The dining room table was a mass of gifts  and wrapping paper.  I really get antsy on those days.I am always so anxious to get the chore done so I can redo the Christmas table! When Lynn took over the wrapping station, I headed to the kitchen to make my very first chicken pot pie. Thankfully, I had it easy.  We had purchased a rotisserie chicken and a pre made rolled up pastry for the top. The recipe was easy. Just cook up the veggies, then create your roue’, add in the milk. then  stirring  seemed to take   forever!  Finally time to pour it all into the baking pan,  and top , trim, and crimp the pastry edges…into the oven and soon the aroma in the kitchen reminded me of home.  Mom had made this dish  several times and I was wishing now it was for our dinner, but I was fulfilling a task for Meal Train.  We took our pie, a lovely tossed salad and a chocolate cream pie from the freezer to a sweet lady at church who is recouping from  surgery.After visiting with her, I was feeling so wonderful to know how we had blessed her in just that little way!

Well, the table stayed messy all the Tuesday as well! It wasn’t that we had so many gifts to wrap, it just seemed we were moving so slowly.  Then, suddenly it  seemed like the day just sped by like sands in an hour glass on steroids.  And before we knew it we were taking Lynn  to his new ophthalmologist appointment.  Our beloved past Dr. took early retirement! Seeing our new doctor brought back memories from over thirty years ago when we first visited with our previous Dr.  right out  of college.  They truly looked so much the same. It was sort of like time repeating itself.  Now that felt crazy!  But the best part of the day was Lynn took us out for supper that late afternoon .  We couldn’t think of a place to go.. so many of our favorite spots have closed. Suddenly, I remembered that Bellagino’s serves more than pizza. I used to really enjoy their spaghetti dinners, too. So that was our Tuesday and Wednesday night’s dinner, too. 

I finally got the dining room table back, so I was able to create a new Christmas arrangement.   I was so thrilled to find those Royal Stafford bowls at Home Goods!  

I matched them up with  my red and white transferware  for Christmas.  

These bowls are really inspiring me to consider batches of home made soups this  Christmas.  We loved our Butternut squash soup on Thanksgiving.   And I have been looking for some great recipes for the holidays, especially with this frigid blast of air coming our way!
You probably noted that  I haven't even washed the new dishes nor removed their Royal Stafford label.  Well, of course, I will before we dine here.  This was just for  a  initial  set up!  hahaha  I know,  I'm crazy!

Yesterday, we got to FaceTime with our family in Massachusetts.  It is so amazing to see our granddaughters . …how much they seem to grow between our visits.  It was thrilling to hear our almost 7 year old  tell us she had a spiritual talk with a student in her class about Jesus.  He was the one to bring up the topic and seemed very interested in what she had to say.  I am praying that she will have opportunity to continue the topic sometime soon.  What a blessing she and her sister are to us!