Christmas Week

 With her finals completed and the departure of Katie, it was time for Isabelle to return home. On Monday I drove her to Branson to meet with her mother and Mariam. We had an enjoyable lunch at a Greek Restaurant near Branson Landing, and since we were in the vicinity, stopped by Dick's 'fine and dime' store. This is a variety store of literally a million unusual and hard to locate items, as well as the normal things one feels the need to buy and then never uses again. Not a store to get in and out of quickly.

Kristy had wanted to make the rounds of thrift stores; the first two we visited are closed on Mondays, but the third one was open and it was not one that Rebecca had taken me to previously, so it was new to me, which is why I was able to spend a productive hour there. Since Kristy and the two girls were just getting warmed up by then, I said my good byes and headed home. Aldis is on the way, so a stop there was required to stock up on necessities. 

Tuesday I burned a couple of huge piles of leaves for the neighbor; they had previously been raked, but were too wet to burn at the time. Now they were mostly dry and burned well.

Wednesday I vacuumed and washed the van; it was looking grimy and dirty. A few weeks ago I had inadvertently crossed over a newly painted white paint stripe on the road and now have white speckles on the lower portion of one side of the car. There seems to be no easy way to clean if off. Any suggestions? I also packed for my trip to Andy's. That evening the youth were to go caroling, and since I had been involved in encouraging this event, I thought it prudent to attend.   While it had rained in the late afternoon, it was dry and cold as the 13 youth who showed up walked the neighborhood caroling to those that were home. We had met at on the youth's homes in that area and when they returned from their caroling an hour later, we had hot chocolate and treats for them to eat. They appeared to have had a fun time.

Thursday I was on the road by 7 am, heading to Andy's for Christmas. It was a beautiful morning and there was no traffic, but then these are two lane roads out in the middle of no where. Their family does their Christmas meal on Christmas eve, so throughout the afternoon we enjoyed the wonderful smells of yummy food cooking and later dined on that delicious food. It is always a treat to review with family the birth of our Savior and the real meaning of the season's celebration. 

Friday the children were up early, and even though they were quiet, there was no sleeping in. After a great breakfast, it was time to unwrap the gifts. Kera put her amazing creative juices to work and wrapped gifts for the children in various shapes (whale, elephant, sloth, duck, goat).

Some of the family members modeling their distinctive shirts:

We spent most of the day relaxing, reading, playing games and enjoying ourselves.

Saturday, I assisted Andy in reattaching the trim around the five doors in the their laundry room. They were previously removed so new flooring could be installed. They were also painted and were ready to return to their original homes, While finishing this project, Kera mentioned something about wanting to stack the washer and dryer and moving the overhead cabinets. No better time than the present; so we did. It just took about seven hours from start to finish, longer than expected. But the deed is done and the momma is happy! And here is the 'after' picture.

We needed to move the dryer outlet 24 inches which did not pose too much difficulty. The time consuming challenge was in routing the air vent down and over.

And meet Cob, the family corn snake. He enjoys hanging around your neck! 

I was able to attend church today at Andy's ward; they actually have the two hour block of meetings. Was nice to attend the 'normal' meetings, even with masks on. Following dinner, I drove home in time for the weekly family zoom meeting. It is always great to visit with this awesome family!

It was a good Christmas; lots of delicious food and a wonderful family to spend it with