Christmas 2016 is in the books. It came.
It went. It was merry and
bright. (Just like it was supposed to
be.) We went to Atlanta on Wednesday,
December 21, so that we would be there for Amelia’s first piano recital on
Thursday evening. Thursday morning, Amy
and I got out for a while just the two of us while Paw-Paw stayed home with
Amelia. He said they played Candyland
once and Life several times. Amy and I shopped a little and had lunch at
Mellow Mushroom. I was also introduced
to Starbucks by trying a drink Amy likes (Non-fat, White Chocolate,
Mocha). It was delicious! In fact we had it several times while I was
there. Amy always paid. Later when I was out by myself, I got one and
found out that the things cost $5.00! I
think I’ll save Starbucks for a special treat in the future.
The piano recital was held in an auditorium at a Steinway
piano dealership. Amelia looked so
pretty in her sparkly dress and she played her two pieces, We Three Kings and
Over the River without a single sour note. She
also had to introduce herself and announce her pieces before she started and
she did that very clearly. (A couple of the students were so nervous
that they forgot the names of the pieces they were playing.)
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| Beautiful! |
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| Great Performance! |
Friday morning started with Dunkin’ Donuts and then Amy, Amelia, Bubba and I attended Christmas
Canteen at the Aurora Theater in Lawrenceville.
It was a good show that included singing, dancing, acrobatics, and
comedy. We all enjoyed it and afterwards
went to a Mexican restaurant for lunch.
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| Donut Holes & Hot Chocolate! |
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| Christmas Spirit! |
That evening Amy prepared a number of “finger foods” which
we all enjoyed. She also baked a
chocolate cake and made lemon icebox pie (YUM!).
Darryl grilled steaks for Saturday lunch. Then Cousin Vicky and her husband, Robert,
joined us Saturday afternoon for dessert and we exchanged gifts with them.
Saturday evening we attended a Christmas Eve service. Coming from a small town and small churches,
I am always amazed at the crowds attending services at “Andy Stanley –
Northpoint Community Church” locations.
There are a number of services and throngs of people are waiting to
enter. This time in the “lobby” there were coffee mugs for sale with
the proceeds going toward a new youth building.
During the service we attended, it was announced that $5,000 was raised
by people attending the previous service through the sale of the mugs. Imagine that.
They were also set up in several areas for families to have photos taken
in front of Christmas trees. What a nice
touch! The music is contemporary and the
message is always great. I noticed that
Amelia laughed with gusto at the funny stuff at the beginning (an animated
snowman conversing with people in the front row), participated in the singing,
and was attentive to the message. After
the service we ate “supper/breakfast” at the local Waffle House.
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| Church Picture |
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| Darryl, Amelia & Amy |
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| Counter Service |
When we got home I was sitting at the bar playing with my
phone when I noticed that Amelia was standing over at the bookcase where there
was a nativity scene she made at school in Baton Rouge. I didn’t hear the beginning of what she said
but this is what I heard:
“Thank you for everything you do for us. Thank you for sending the Baby Jesus. You are the best God ever and I love you.”
She was praying out loud and it made my heart melt. 💗💗
We had a typical Christmas Day. Amelia was so sweet. She handed out presents and was more excited
about everyone else having a present than opening her own. We all agreed that the Christmas the year
before was the best ever because we enjoyed having Darryl’s family with us so
much. Hopefully, we can do that
again. We all got great presents. We gave Amelia a camera similar to the old
Polaroids that makes small instant pictures.
The camera was pink with a pink case that she walked around with on
her shoulder ready to take pictures.
Later Darryl put her new hammock up outside between two trees and she
said that she was going to stop people as they walked by to see if she could
take their picture for $1.00. When Amy
suggested the camera as a gift, I’ll admit I wasn’t too enthused but it was a
hit with Amelia.
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| Mom opens her present. |
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| Dad seems excited. |
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| Yes, this is my son-in-law. |
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| Pink Camera |
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| Games |
We also got her a Harry Potter chess set. She endeavored to teach me how to play
chess. It was very confusing. Every piece seems to move in a different
direction. She seemed to be getting
annoyed that I couldn’t remember it all right away so I wrote it down. Then things got better and I could actually
move without her guidance. She learned
to play by joining a Chess Club at school and she seems to really know what she
is doing.
We had a huge Christmas dinner and lots of delicious
desserts. Tradition, you know. That evening Amy, Darryl and Amelia went
riding around looking at Christmas lights and we prepared for our trip home the
next morning.
Traffic was lighter than usual
leaving Atlanta. It was a little sad
because Amelia usually comes home with us after Christmas, but her dad had
taken the week off this year and they were going to do things as a family so we
certainly understand.
What’s ahead? I got a new sewing machine for Christmas
which I tried out before Christmas. I
could not hem jeans with the machine I got when Amy was three years old so I
was basically determined to test it out and send it back if it would not do the
job. It worked great on the jeans and I
really like the machine. I’m going to
experiment with it some in the days ahead.
I used to sew a lot but I can already tell that it will be like starting
over. At least sewing projects won’t
take up as much room as wreaths!
