Catching my breath between holidays

Pictures from Mom Smith's on Christmas Day:

Mom's shrinking Christmas Tree (with each piece of tinsel put on one by one)

Matt got the new JK Rawlings (? sp) book

Karl playing Santa

Pictures from our house Christmas Morning

Some of our snowmen/women
Carol with a gift & Oreo checkin out ribbon
Karl so super happy for an Alaska book!

Oreo, so very happy with his Christmas Toy
Matt, surprised to have a new ZEN MP3 !

Our fireplace mantle

Since I haven't entered a new post since 12/4 when I realized it was only three weeks until Christmas, I guess you know what I've been up to the past week . . . preparing for Christmas, for sure!

In Arkansas, compared to living in Maryland, EVERYONE has their entire gammit of Christmas decorations up and lit by Thanksgiving Eve ! It's amazing, and an accomplishment that I may or may not eventually fulfill . . . but surely one I'd like to achieve. I usually bring out the Christmas decorations the Sunday after Thanksgiving, but because I was having a hard time feeling well again after the flu, it took me until Christmas Eve to get a tree up . . . and then it wasn't even our normal tree (which has seen its last Christmas) . . . but a 3-footer that is darling, but really looks so dinky inside! (Last year was the first year I had it, and I used it out on the front deck.) Karl was only able to bring half of our decorations, due to space on the wagon pulled by a lawn tractor. Little did we realize that we would only end up using what few we had . . . most of them were extra lights, and tree ornaments . . . and we couldn't use many tree ornaments, for the whole tree would of tipped over! lol

Anyway, this year was a Christmas that just seemed so different from any in the past. We had only a few decorations up . . . weather was fluctuating, and ended up being warm on Christmas Day . . . and Karl and I only bought one present for each other, then we bought a new digital camera with the money we would of otherwise spent on each other.

On Sabbath before Christmas, our church had breakfast at 9:00 am and only church service following breakfast at 10:30. This was a very special day for us for many reasons, one of which being Matthew performed his first vocal solo. He chose a song "A prayer for the children", which is usually performed acapella by a four-part male choir. He had the music for it, although he said he had never performed it before. So, he sang it acapella himself . . . and brought tears to his mother's eyes, not only out of pride, but because it was such a touching song. He blew away our members, who had no idea that he has a love of and interest in music . . . and he is looking forward to being asked to perform again!!

A second reason this Sabbath was special, was because mom came with us. She loves to come with us, and usually does every year. My friends from church absolutely love her, and are always happy to see her. She had seen some of my friends when she had come with me a week earlier on Friday night to the home of one of the women from my church, for a "women's" get-together, that was informal and Christmassy. (This is an annual event as well).

A third reason this Sabbath was special, was because we were invited to our friends, Denny and Noreen, for Sabbath lunch. They moved a few months ago to Oklahoma to be caretakers of a private community on a lake, and that makes them now 1 1/2 - 2 hrs from our home, so we hadn't seen them for quite some time. They always love seeing Mom, and Matthew, too. Matt thinks the world of Denny and Noreen both, and really looks up to them. They used to come over and play games on Saturday nights, so we all have become very close.

The fourth reason this day was so special was because in the evening we were going to a Christmas event that we had never been to before . . . The Christmas Train, in Dry Gulch USA, and 10 miles outside of Pryor Oklahoma. Of course, the one night we have the opportunity for tickets to this train, it was 14 degrees outside! But we dressed pretty well for the evening . . . mom is the only one who really got chilled.

More on this post later, with a picture coming as well.

Mom Smith insisted on making Christmas dinner, which was delicious as always, but this seemed to really tire her out, and her balance was pretty off. I'll have to be more insistant in the future about doing the cooking. Between you and me, I think she enjoys doing it at holidays so she can have the leftover pies! (smile) We opened gifts with Mom, and it is always fun, because she is like a little girl at Christmas, she enjoys it so much! She has taught me the joy of Christmas in a whole new way.