FX4… you might imagine that stands for several different things, but in this case it represents- Family, Friends, Food and Fun. All components of a great Christmas celebration.
Our church service was highlighted with a singing of carols, lead by a few families singing together from the stage. Cherryl and I were included in our kids’ family, and we had a great time. I have no pictures to prove this really happened, but it’s really not something I’d make up.
What was truly hard to believe, however, was that our grandkids, with some cousins and friends, posed after the service… with no photographers in sight! I don’t know why… It’s hard enough to get them to stay still anytime. But I noticed them and grabbed this photo. I still don’t understand…
A couple of days before, Angela told me she and her family would be in Lincoln. We had them over for lunch, and then they came that evening to a hymn sing at our church. I’d explain how Angela is related to me, but I don’t have that much energy. But we had a good time with her and her husband Norman, and all five kids. Troy, Savannah, Declan, Malcolm, Lachlan. There, I did it!
We have a good friend, Malcolm, (not the Malcolm mentioned above) who got married last month, in Southern California. Since we here in Lincoln claim him, we had a nice reception for them here. His new wife, Mary Jane, has a place in California, and it seems they will be jetting back and forth for a while till they get everything settled. Malcolm is a wonderful person, and as we expect, with his choice of Mary Jane, she is also! We look forward to seeing more of them.
We had tickets to a lecture on German Road Construction Equipment… or something like that. Turns out it was just a great Christmas Concert! What fun!
We attended the afternoon performance with Becky, Kevin, Dayna and Peter.
At the intermission, one of the orchestra members came down and stood at the edge of the stage, looking expectantly at the crowd. I told Cherryl that she was waiting to talk to me. (What a joker!) Then I decided that wasn’t such a bad idea. (Being shy has never been my strong suit.) So I went down to the front. She by now had her aunt and a friend chatting with her. I waited for quite a while until the time seemed right to introduce myself. I just told her that the whole performance was awesome and I appreciated it. She was fun to talk with, and said she had been afraid, while I was waiting, that she was supposed to recognize me and didn’t know who I was!
The concert was really outstanding, and made all the more fun since I now knew one of the performers! Ha!
After the concert, Kevin and Becky took us out for dinner, then we hurried back for our next appointment… Jeanne and Steve were booked for Mannheim Steamroller’s 7:30 show. This would be the first time Jeanne had been out of the house, except for doctor and hospital visits, since July. (Ok, she did spend a couple hours at her daughter’s for Thanksgiving.) Steve was worried about how he could drop her off in her wheelchair and then go park his car. Then the reverse after the concert. We offered to play chauffeur, and drop them at the door. It worked really well. Just in case they would need to leave early, we decided to stay close… and ended up walking through the Historic Haymarket area downtown. Which led to Ivanna Cone, a quirky little ice cream shop. We said “Just one” and split a bit of cinnamon. Wonderful! Further walking took us to Hurts Donuts, where we thought we’d just look through the window. What do you know? They were open! Ok, maybe just one… They have all kinds of funny names for their decadent desserts. And it was tempting to have “just one” be the huge apple fritter, the size of a hub cap. We did manage to split one normally sized donut…
Jeanne and Steve had a great time at the concert, and we had fun walking around and eating forbidden foods!
Christmas Eve found us at yet another Christmas program at the church. Afterwords we walked to the Clocktower in the center of the Union Adventist University campus, to check out the decorations. We didn’t hear the music we’d expected, but it was pretty.
Malcolm was at that service also, and he told us we needed to drive through his neighborhood, since that evening only, the whole area was covered with Luminaries. It was truly beautiful… several blocks, with every home luminarized. (don’t bother looking that word up: you get the gist.)
I couldn’t catch the feel of the elegant lights, but trust me, it was really special.
After the Luminaries tour, we had a Swedish dinner with our family to celebrate Christmas Eve. Kevin and Becky are really good at creating delicious Swedish cultural dishes, and as usual, everything was wonderful.
Honoring another Swedish tradition, they held hands and danced around a tiny tree. Crazy!
The foggy Christmas Eve made the lights look somewhat etherial.
Christmas morning started with a wonderful breakfast (Swedish Pancakes (crepes)) and then lots of presents to disperse!
I was really amused when Kevin gave Becky a “Family Blanket” – a full 10 feet square! What tickled me about that was that I’d gotten one just like it for Cherryl!
Cats always seem to love Christmas!
Christmas dinner was at our place, and again, we had awesome food. I’ve got to stop eating so much!
Becky created a Yule Log for our dessert (as if the 4 pies wouldn’t be enough.) It took a lot of work, and turned out fabulous! The pumpkin and pecan pies were pretty good too…
We tested out our new Family Blanket while watching an old Christmas movie that evening:
Great report of your week. Thank you for sharing party for Malcolm and Mary Jane. We were also at the concert and we saw you. It truly was outstanding.