Christmas Memories

I'm making a rare contribution to the blog to share some memorable things that have already happened this Christmas season. On December 5, our four-year-old friend Caroline came over while her parents were at a Sunday School party and helped us decorate our Christmas tree. We fixed hot dogs, tater tots, black olives, and blue pie for dinner. Caroline ate like it was going out of style. We had her over last year when we decorated our tree, and the difference between this year and last year was striking. Her most common phrase this year is, "I know that." She is very smart. She seems to have a facination with brides. She said one of her favorite ornaments was one with a bride and groom on top of a cake with our wedding date on it. She pulled out one of my Scarlett ornaments and said, "Is this a bride?" Last year, our decorating got sidetracked when she found two needlepoint mailbox ornaments and wanted to play "mailman" the rest of the evening. So, I hid those this year, and of course, she asked about them. She picked up one ornament and said, "This is a new one." Patrick asked her how she knew that. She said, "Because I haven't seen it before." Caroline is simply enchanting, and we love her so much. It's fun to watch her grow and mature. We enjoy the time we spend with her. We also enjoy giving her back to her parents. ;-)

On December 6, we went to our dinner at the home of some friends of ours, Nathan and Lori. Nathan was an usher in our wedding, and Patrick played piano at their wedding. (I turned pages.) It was a great time to relax and talk with friends.

At morning worship on December 7, the choir sang a setting of The Magnificat: My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior... As Mark said, isn't that supposed to be the very essence of our beings - proclaiming the greatness of the Lord? Singing those words was such a wonderful moment for me. Sharron, our organist, outdid herself accompaning us using the trumpets en chamade. Rusty and Nancy did a duet with him singing "Mary Did You Know?" and her singing "Song of Mary" from Celebrate Life. That was truly one of those "musical moments" I will always remember.