Christmas~2011

Christmas started early this year when the Bantons showed up on December 17th. (We knew they were coming.) They stayed until Dec. 21st and it was a hard good-bye. They were the best gifts ever.

We celebrated Christmas as a family on Dec. 23rd. The boys made a huge breakfast of biscuits-compliments of Freeman; scrapple, sausage, hash browns, and scrambled eggs. Phil and I recited the Christmas story-"And there were in the same country..." We exchanged gifts and sang. A few of us played some games and a few did some farm chores and got packed. In the eve., Phil, Susan, and I watched 'Sea Biscuit.' It was a lovely day.

Dec. 24th-Left home between 9 and 10 and headed north. Phil, Susan, and I, stopped in to see Mother for a short visit. Then we headed to Hotel 8-Joe and Karen's. We got settled in and joined nearly 60 others for Christmas caroling in the eve. The after party was a great time to catch up with friends and neighbors. I fell asleep to the hum of voices sometime after 10:30.

Dec. 25-Had a nice breakfast of cinnamon rolls and orange julius. Watched Jonathan open up his gifts. Went to Jim's for church. We sang for a good hour and then Freeman preached the best Christmas sermon I've ever heard. It was based on 1 Peter 5:7-'Casting all your care on Him...' and Phil. 4:6-8-'Be anxious for nothing..' And the way to be anxious for nothing is to meditate on the One who is true, noble, just, pure, lovely, of good report, virtuous and praise worthy.
It is because Jesus came as a baby and lived His life as a man and died and rose again that we can cast all our cares on Him and be anxious for nothing.
We also sang "The Hallelujah Chorus" as a family, with Paul leading, with his good hand. He had cut off his thumb (accidently) and had it reattached a week ago. Taylor played his guitar-'Eruption' and Jordan played a magnificent piece on the organ. Several shared testimonies. We were all grateful for our heritage and God's blessing of unity and friendship in this wonderful family.
We then ate a great big lunch together-ham balls, green beans, mashed potatoes, sw. pot. casserole, 7 layer salad, cabbage slaw, and much more. Then we went upstairs and had the sibling male/female gift exchange. Debra liked my gift of a scarf and Susan's cards and I liked Helen's gift of a painting of a country house at Christmas. Phil got Dave's box of goods-Turkey Hill gift card, beef jerky, sunflower seeds, gloves, and Arbonne body butter for the female in his life and Dad liked his orange fluorescent cap with furred ear flaps. We passed out the traditional candy canes. Micah gave his uncles homemade soap with big plastic bugs inside and his aunties received homemade soap with pieces of colorful soap inside. We all were enjoying little Jonathan and David's antics. They are the dearest little one year olds in the world and they are both miracles in every sense of the word. We enjoyed conversations, games, etc. Our family left around 5 to head to my families gathering.'
We arrived at my brother's around 6. He had pork, turkey, and ham with the fixings for a sandwich-chewy fresh rolls, onions, tomatoes, lettuce, mayo, and mustard. He also made his fabulous seafood chowder, asparagus and mushrooms, corn, and I'm sure I am missing something. The rest of us brought desserts but I am still too full to mention all the cakes and cookies. Our family sang some of the Mast/Hertzler songs for Mother. She sang along when we came to the more traditional songs of 'Silent Night' and 'Joy to the World.' I held Kelly's Baby Grace and put her to sleep while we sang. She is only 7 weeks old. Abby brought out her menagerie of guinea pigs and rabbits and it was obvious that we were all descendants of my mother, the greatest animal lover that ever lived. Uncle Jim noticed that the squealing of one guinea pig quieted down when he 'played' his musical tie. I will always treasure that time with Mother, listening to her sing, and watching her hold the guinea pig runt who 'was slightly deformed.'

Freeman and Alli headed back to Aunt Anne's and Michael and Philip headed back to Uncle Bubba's. (They wanted to go to Shady Maple Smorgasbord in the morning but it was overflowing and they were turned away. Went to Yoder's instead.)
Phil, Susan, and I headed towards Carlisle and checked into the Super 8 there. The next morning, it took us only 4 hours to get home instead of 6. The Christmas spirit continues here today. Susan cooked sauteed cucumbers from 'The Joy of Cooking' book that our friend, Teri, gave her. She also got a cookbook from Gpa Hertzler's. We'd like to cook through that one since it is called 'Simply in Season' and we think that would be fun to do. She wants to have her own garden next year. Phil's reading the book Michael gave him that I read on the way up. 'The Final Summit', which I think everyone in the world should read. I just took a nap and then decided to write a bit even though it's freezing back here.

I think this has been one of my most favorite Christmas' ever. Between Christmas caroling and singing at both places, we probably sang 4 hours. Oh-we are thankful that no one was hurt when a car when hurtling by all the parked cars along side of the road. (Christmas caroling) They slid on some black ice and ended up in the ditch. There was some unpleasantness involved because of the condition the driver was in, but we are thankful that no one was harmed.
Something else I forgot to mention was Paul's gratitude for our prayers. He said that he knows that whatever use he recovers from his thumb is due to our prayers.
Another fond memory is something funny Alli said. Someone said something to her about singing the alto part to a song and she said something like, "I'm making up my own part." She has a lot of new songs to learn and I know exactly how she feels because I felt the same way nearly 30 years ago as a new bride in the Hertzler family. But it's worth it to learn those songs that have been passed down for at least four generations that so few other people know. My mother said that she keeps hearing the different parts coming in 'in her head' but she doesn't know the words. I think we need to make her a recording.

Merry Christmas everyone
and may you know His peace and goodwill
towards you in this coming year.