Christmas Day

December 25, 2016
Last night about 30 of us worked our way up and down all of the streets in Hillcrest singing Christmas carols and wishing our neighbors and Merry Christmas.

Afterwards we went to Clubhouse 1 for a wonderful candlelight Christmas Eve worship service led by Emma Jean Cook, a resident here at the park.  George Bartrum (who is totally blind) accompanied us on the piano when we sang a variety of carols including Silent Night.  He also provided a violin solo of O Holy Night. 

It was still very warm when we walked back home at 11:00 pm calling out Merry Christmas to all we passed.

It was already quite warm when we got up Christmas morning and before the day was done we had broken yet another record for heat on this day in Florida.  It reached 86 degrees with clear blue skies and a fair amount of humidity.  Here are some pictures of the house and the way we had trimmed it.

We were up early so as to get the tables ready for company for dinner and some of the food started before heading to church over at the clubhouse.  When we returned, we continued the prep so as to be ready for the company that arrived at noon.  Our guests were Ron and Kathy Alesin, John and Mary Christof, Frank and  Bette Foulke, Mike and Patty Mahalik and Harold Zimmerman.  Each came with a dish to pass.  What a feast we created with turkey, gravy, dressing, Pennsylvania Dutch potatoes, little red potatoes, green bean casserole, homemade cranberry sauce, salad, rolls and butter, Christmas cookies, Shoofly pie, and chocolates.

John Christof took on the job of carving the turkey

While Bette and Mary helped me get all the food set out on the counter and then started serving themselves

And we all enjoyed a wonderful meal

and a fun afternoon sharing memories and stories with one another.  It was especially wonderful to have Frank here as he had just gotten out of the hospital Christmas Eve afternoon after a several day stay due to a bowel obstruction caused by the surgery he had in October for 3 aneurysms in his abdominal cavity.

After they left around 6:00, Ken and I opened our gifts sent by the children and then had short chats with each of the families.  They had posted pictures from their day so I copied them so as to have memories of them at this time of the year.

This Beth and Dean who were setting up the food for the church choir to enjoy between services at First Presbyterian Church of Royal Oak (where Ken and I met, married, and raised our 4 children).  Unfortunately their two boys Scott and Jason aren't in this picture

But here they are working on their gingerbread trains the day before Christmas.

This is Sue, Tim and their boys Jackson, Reilly and Aidan in the picture taken on Christmas Eve before they headed to church and then Outback Steak House for dinner - a tradition of theirs.

The two boys had a good time decorating gingerbread houses on Christmas Eve day a tradition I started back when the kids were quite young.  It is fun seeing it still being done.

Here is Dan, Jen and their three girls Abbi, Rachel and Noelle taken by the tree at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Butler, PA where he is the pastor.

And below is Janet and Jack with their three children Anders, Dagny and Karsten.

Janet's kids did gingerbread houses too, though I think Karsten had a bit of help :-)

It truly was a blessed day filled with all kinds of wonderful memories.