Oblate Christmas Gathering

The Lewiston Oblate Group met for our Christmas celebration at Lisa's lovely decorated home.  She's served on the Winter Sprit Board and her yard looked like a miniature Locomotive Park.  She's welcomed us for years to her home where we share a meal and Advent reflection.  I'm always in awe of her creative ability to decorate her home for Christmas.

I begged her years ago to teach some of us how to create Winter Pots after we pulled out the last of our summer and fall flowers.

 Lisa, Charlene and Marcia

Arlene, Betty, Kathy, and Pat

Regina, Mary Lou, Alyse, and Joan

Elsie, Cindy, and Margaret

Charlene, Marcia and Karen

Marcia led us in the "Nest Reflection" written by Joyce Rupp.  Joyce writes, "I believe that the Word comes ever so quietly and in ever so ordinary a way.  The twigs of our trials and tension, the soft down of our love and fidelity, the pebbles of our patience and pain, the straw of our struggles and strivings, the mud of our humanness and growing, the dry grass of our surrender and our daily dyings.  These are the content of our nests where God asks us to hollow out a welcoming place.  Jesus comes to us in the midst of everyday fragments and asks us to create space for him where He has never been before, or places where He is no longer welcome.  All the bits and pieces of our lives, like those bits and pieces that form bird's nests, are where He awaits a birthing.  All of us are meant to know and to deeply appreciate the joy and privilege of this nesting, of this homing of the God who waits for us to openly receive the life offer to us.  That is why it is so important to reflect during Advent, to ponder the redemption, to not let the hurried pace of Christmas take us from our nesting time."

We were also presented with Paperwhite bulbs to remind us that Isaiah wrote:  "A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots.  Henri Nouwen writes, "Our salvation comes from something small, tender, and vulnerable, something hardly noticeable.  God, who is the Creator of the Universe, comes to us in smallness, weakness, and hiddenness.  I find this a hopeful message. Somehow, I keep expecting loud and impressive events to convince me and others of God's saving power; but over and over again, I am reminded that spectacles, power plays, and big events are the ways of the world.  Our temptation is to be distracted by them and made blind to the "shoot that shall sprout from the stump." Being a member of this Oblate Group prepares me for this Holy Season.  

Moscow Neighborhood Parade

Anne and Duane's friends, Britt and Erik, invited friends to their neighborhood for the first annual holiday parade around their neighborhood.  Anne and Duane reigned as King and Queen and got to ride on their own float.



Lots of friends came in costume, with wagons, pets, and bicycles.
There was a committee for the food, for the Elf Exchange, and for wrapping the gifts.

Some clever fathers made a gingerbread house out of cardboard!

 The children had a great time and the parade was only supposed to go around one block, but they had so much fun, they went around 2 blocks twice!!!

Colin found great treasures for his parents and grandma at the Elf Exchange.  He bought a Verisign treasure for Duane and a 1776 - 1976 commemorative plate for me because he's noticed my pretty plates in the kitchen.  I appreciated the gift, although it's too small to fit in the plate holder, it will fit on my kitchen counter.  The creativity and energy of these young families amazes me and I'm always delighted to be included in the fun.

Christmas decorating

I had a whole day to myself - nothing on my calendar so I determined to get some Christmas decorating out of the way yesterday before it started to rain.  Actually the day was warm and I often took my sweatshirt off!  But the rain did come and I wasn't too bothered by it because I was listening to Andrea Boccelli on my IPAD.

I left this tub on the sidewalk and see the raindrops??

I really did get bothered by the strings of miniature lights that half the string works and the other half doesn't.  @@!!###$$!!  I'm certain they all worked when I put them away last year.  

So I headed to Shopko to buy some new lights and what a dilemma it became there.  Traditional miniature lights or the more expensive, yet more efficient and long lasting LED lights.  I could get 100 minis for about $6.00, 100 LED Berry lights were on sale for $9.99, regular price $29.99.  I knew I did not want to replace all my lights this year, but I thought I'd buy one string and see if I liked the LED.  

I really like the LED lights, the minis have a yellow cast to them and I'm sure the Christmas-light police out there tell us not to mix them.  Oh well!  The berry lights will still be on sale on Wednesday and I can get a Senior Citizen discount of 15% on all my purchases, so should I buy them  for next year?  

I found a new home for the half-burned out string of lights - in the midst of my winter pots!

My friend, Marcia, shared this gorgeous holly from her tree!

I'm so happy the outside of my home is decorated, but when I flipped the surge protector on this morning....nothing!  What the???  It rained all night, do you suppose it affected the outlet?  I looked in the panel box and couldn't tell if one breaker was flipped off.  Now what????

Call John O'Shaughnessy

He talked about how drops of rain could wreck havoc with all the lights and extension cords.  I told him it didn't look like any breakers had switched off and all lights worked everywhere in my house.  But then he said sometimes the GFI will switch off  and then gratefully, he said, "we'll be over after church today."  In the meantime I took a shower and tried to use my hairdryer and it wouldn't work until I reset the GFI.  That little switch was the culprit and I was able to fix it myself.  Yippee!!

Tonight everything works even the burning bush idea from Better Homes & Gardens!  

And it's not raining...

Thanksgiving 2012

 Duane and Anne hosted a large group of friends who could not be with their extended families.  There were 23 people in the house at one time, lots of kids, lots of food, and lots of reasons to be thankful.

Anne wanted to ensure that her nephew, Liam, did not feel homesick for his family in Florida.  Liam enjoyed all the good food and watched a lot of football.

Colin and his friend, Jordyn, planned and executed a carnival, complete with games and prizes for all the kids.





Notice the Tootsie pop suckers - those were prizes and every kid had opportunity to win five, I think.

Colin, Micah, and Ava  read the blessing prayer before we devoured our meal.   Colin read these words so beautifully  “May the light of gratitude burn brightly in our hearts and around this table, not only on the feast of Thanksgiving but at all meals.”  

                                             

 

Rob, a former chef, carved the turkey.  

Anne made sure every family had treats to take home.  

Joan joined us for the day and visited while Duane updated her computer software files.

We also tested the sauerkraut that we made early in October.  

Reasons to be thankful

Thanksgiving Day, 2012, is dawning and I'm looking forward to spending the day with Duane, Anne, Colin, Joan, and at least eight other adults and ten children.  I could write a long list of things I'm grateful for......  I just don't know where to begin because my heart overflows with gratitude today.

Family.  Even though I live alone I feel surrounded by the spirit of my family, from my parents down to my grandchildren.   Pictures of my grandchildren, children, parents, and extended family fill the space I where I say my prayers and write my blog.

God's creation.  The morning sky is pink and blue.  I can look out all my windows and marvel at the Lewiston hill and the yard where I've planted dogwood trees and geraniums.  Our temperate climate allows permits some annuals to still be blooming at Thanksgiving time.

Music.  I love Pandora radio!  I can listen to my favorites at the click of a mouse.  This morning I'm listening to Bette Middler sing the Rose.  Earlier this week I listened to several Christmas music CDs that Larry made for me and for his clients.

My genes.  I have a lot of older friends who are suffering with a myraid of health issues.  Why am I blessed with good health?  It's truly one big reason to be grateful today.

Technology.  I'm still amazed that I can see pictures of new babies, Colin projects, my sister's trips, my nieces and nephews travels on my computer.  Today I'm even grateful for Facebook!  I saw this sweet picture of Carter Kuhlmann via technology recently.

Faith and Spirituality.  The poet Hafiz says, "We have so many gifts yet unopened from our birth day."  The gifts of the Spirit flow throughout our entire life and God gives us these gifts to share.  Unlike worldly gifts, God's gifts increase and multiply as we share and give them away.  Today the gifts of cooking, sharing, peacemaking will be given away and the world will be a better place.....until the chaos of shopping begins.

Time to get on the road up to Moscow.  Happy Thanksgiving.  Happy Cooking everyone!

Colin's 8th Birday

Colin started his birthday celebration weeks ago by hosting an ice skating party for his friends.  

Anne and Duane invited me, along with Anne's brother, Tom, and nephew, Liam.  Tom and I kept going outside just to warm up - the ice skating rink is cold!!  Some of Colin's friends play on the Moscow hockey team, but I couldn't believe how well everyone skated.  I love the "walkers" that help the newbies get confident on the ice.  I used my new camera to take this little video, so forgive the cameraperson for going sideways.....

Zachary and Colin

Colin's friend brought home made cards and books and he enjoyed every gift!

Duane made the cupcakes and the frosting to look the Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream

Love the antics of eight year olds!!

Today we attended Jacob's piano recital and then headed over to Fazzari's for pizza.  It's kind of a Colin tradition because he celebrated his first, second, and third birthdays at Fazzaris.

2005

2006

2007

Everyone loved the blue Cookie Monster cupcakes!

Colin is wearing a denim shirt that I embellished with embroidered patriotic images in 1975 when Duane was eight years old.  

Colin received stacks of gifts including Risk, ITunes gift card, Apples to Apples Game, Electronics kits, Science projects, Perry the Platypus pillowcases and lounging pants.  

Duane made a special Minecraft Cake and decorated it with edible fruit rollup figures.  

We ended the day by walking around Locomotive Park and showing off the million lights to Anne's nephew, Liam, who attends the University of Idaho.

Happy eighth Birthday, Colin!

With lots of love from Grandma Theresa