New Year's Eve

The last day of 2020 was a rainy sort of day, not terribly cold, but certainly a wet one.  We were in the kitchen looking out over the back yard - both front and back have so many leaves on that need to be blown or raked away.  We'll wait until it dries out.  But out there in the back yard was a fairly large branch covered in tree fungus - it had a striking appearance amongst the darker wood there.  So we set out to take a few photos of it.  Madison and I went out on a photo assignment to the edge of the woods, there to take some pictures you see below:

We had a small breakfast this morning, and did a few bits of cleaning up.  Nana has been weepy again, and sometimes we have meetings with the others in the house just to encourage ourselves. We told Madison how proud we were of her for handling things as she has.  It's been challenging, as Nana is frequently throughout the day just weeping and muttering to herself.  Sometimes when she's on the precipice of one of these episodes, Madison will snap her out of it, calling out, "Hey, Nana!"  It's a friendly call-out, and it's as if her grandmother is suddenly back here on earth again.  Sadly sometimes this doesn't last too long.  Nothing does.  This is a wound that time cannot heal.  The only thing we can do is keep her distracted, and that was part of the game plan today with our trip to the movie theater.  

I just had this craving to go see a movie again.  The pandemic killed our local theater, so we had to drive further south to one that was still showing movies.  It isn't showing many, and many people aren't coming to the theater, and there's all this business about social distancing.  Truth be told, I like social distancing in movie theaters.  I always stress out about that seven-foot tall guy with a top hat that sits directly in front of us.  Or the one holding an infant.

We spent a good deal of money at the theater today, but I justified it with the thought that the last time we were at the movies, it was on March 7th.  We saw "Onward" at the movies, and we had no idea that would be the last movie we'd be seeing until the end of the year.  Another aspect to going to the movies today is that it is a tradition of sorts.  We went to the movies on New Years Eve last year, down in Florida.  We actually went with Nana then - and Ba-Ba as well.  We didn't bring any of that up, of course.

Anyway, we saw "Wonder Woman 1984," which was a pretty decent movie.  The general feeling from our crew was that the first one was a lot better, but it was still great to see some action sequences with Wonder Woman, and there's just something about her character too - she's a great superhero, and is currently carrying the DC Comics characters franchise.  We reserved our seats dead center in the back row, just like we always do at the theater.  And we got the largest tub of popcorn as well! 

But we picked up one of these popcorn tins too - doesn't that look delicious?  I missed movie popcorn so much.  The theater itself is pretty nice, an AMC theater just off of exit 13.  There are so many movie theaters closed right now, and so many movies not playing, which is why there are so many movie theaters that are closed.  So in a way, Wonder Woman is an even bigger hero for us now, because she's giving many people a movie to go see, and trying to open up the movie theaters again.  

We got home, and it was later.  It was a long movie, with trailers in front, and about forty-five minutes away.  So going to the movies was a pretty time consuming thing.  But it was nice, and we drove home in the pouring rain, going straight there, as we like to be there on New Year's Eve, and not out and about.  It's safer.

We had the fire going, and for just a few moments, there was a bit of bliss, as I got to sit and read a book by the fire, still working on "Moving Pictures."  It's an enjoyable read.  I love - and miss dearly - Terry Pratchett.  

Madison took this photo of her porgs in front of the fireplace tonight - we had just started the fire, and had it crackling in the fireplace all night long until the new year.  The rain let up a bit, and our neighbors across the street were shooting fireworks and using sparklers with the kids, so Madison went over to join them for an hour or so.  

She took this picture and a few others.  It was cold, but not frigid, and it was fun saying hello to everyone before the new year.  Nana said she hadn't seen the first Wonder Woman movie, so while Madison was spending time across the street, we were watching that on the television.  It was a Wonder Woman sort of day!

After the movie, Nana was fading somewhat, and we decided to pull on those crackers right there and then.  We each took turns grabbing an end, and amazingly, each one of us wound up winning a prize inside.  Of course, regardless, everyone would have a prize.  But it just worked out that way tonight, that we each won once.  As for the prizes, they weren't necessarily anything to run around screaming with joy about, but they were fun little trinkets.  The paper crowns went straight on our heads though!

Nana went to bed, and we still had a few hours to go until midnight.  We popped in another movie, the new Pixar movie, "Soul."  It was actually really good, as you'd expect from Pixar.  We watched something online afterwards to see where the Pizza Planet truck was.  Sure enough, it's in the movie with all the usual Easter eggs.  As for the movie itself, it's super creative with some wonderful characters.  It's odd not seeing the next Pixar movie actually in the theater, but this was fine, especially on New Year's Eve.

There were plenty of fireworks going off around our house tonight - with the leaves off the trees you could really see further along the horizon, and right from our windows see all the tremendous fireworks that the neighbors were setting off.  We have people who use some huge ones that I've only seen purchased by amusement parks or townships on the Fourth of July.  The skies were illuminated with color again tonight.  It certainly wasn't like the Fourth of July, but it was still a noisy celebrating sort of night.

We got to midnight tonight, and the three of us once again counted things down.  It was a quiet countdown compared to previous years.  Times Square was closed, and Disney was showing a rebroadcast of a fireworks show back in 2017, but despite them saying they were going to put a link up on their blog, they never did, so that didn't time out at all.  So it was all a bit different than usual.  

But that's okay.  We were together, and we are okay.  Mom had some fears and pains today, thinking it might be kidney stones again.  But thankfully, it was not that, otherwise this evening would have been quite a lot different!  And there's the thing:  this year has thrown some tremendous curve balls.  But God has brought us all through it, and rather than focus on the bad, we'll focus on how He has preserved us and brought us to the year 2021.  

Tonight we read again, our first devotional of 2021.  We were back in Judges of course, reading about Deborah this time.  We were talking about the trap that Sisera fell into with the wet and soggy plains, and of course the graphic violence of Jael.  She may have been trying to one-up Ehud there!

We even read a tiny bit from Narnia tonight before saying our prayers.  It wasn't long before all of us were asleep though.  I think it was one in the morning when we went to sleep, all of us, with the rain falling outside, and knowing we can all sleep in tomorrow morning.

Happy New Year!

Blobfish Drawings

Tonight's feature was "The Great Race," which of course pits the Great Leslie and his sidekick Hezekiah against Professor Fate and Max.  Maggie Dubois is along for the ride, and of course there are a few other racers we see nothing of ever again rather quickly, thanks to the efforts of Professor Fate.  It's a long race, otherwise it wouldn't be a "great" one, and it's a super fun journey.  Mom was wanting to see this one again, so we all plopped on the couch after a long day, and got that fireplace roaring too.

The De-Santafication process continued in earnest today, and I'm sad to report that the ornaments on the piano room's tree are now down.  We stayed at home today, and did a lot of chores like that.  Mom cut my hair, as she's done for many years now.  I don't think I mentioned that here before, but I've only paid for about three hair cuts in the last twenty or so years.  Two of those were in the Magic Kingdom.

Nana and I were watching "The Cocoanuts" this morning, the first of the Marx Brothers movies.  This was from that DVD set I got yesterday for $4.  It's a really nice set, one that includes five movies and some bonus features - we started with the first one, a movie from 1929.  Mom doesn't quite get Harpo Marx, but I love the guy.  I remember cracking up at Harpo's scenes when I was a kid, so perhaps its the nostalgia.  But the wordplay is great too.  The movie's a bit dated, so the quality was a bit lower, but it was still a nice little morning viewing.

Madison was doing some art today, creating these comic pictures of blobfish, and then coloring them in.  We'll have to share them here, really!  She has a good idea for drawing freehand, looking at something and then sketching it down as she sees it.  

She's been doing a good bit of Minecraft lately, including today, but the other thing was the small group that she got involved in tonight, the one that she hasn't missed each Wednesday since the spring.  They were talking about the year 2020 tonight, which is a pretty interesting topic.  I think it may go down in history as something like 1929, which does not bode well of course for the following years.  So let us instead focus on the positive, and remind ourselves Who is with us, Who is for us, and not against us.

Along those lines, Madison, Mom and I have been starting a Bible study each night, one based on the the book of Judges.  I've been reading ahead to prepare somewhat, but each night we've been studying the stories of the Judges - we're just getting started, of course.  But it's been interesting to do back studies on Othniel, or study battle campaigns of Deborah and Barak, or try and figure out who's side Heber is actually on.  Tonight we read about Ehud, and I prepared Madison by letting her know, "this part is gross."  She was not disappointed!

I am doing better.  I think.  I did have to get away from everyone at one point - I took a bath, and just sat there in the tub, relaxing.  We had some peppermint bubblebath, which has just a hint of Christmas in it.  Actually, Mom has a few of those Christmas scents around the house, with diffusers blowing out a wonderfully fresh seasonal fragrance, and some hand soap in the bathroom downstairs that reminds you of a pine tree in snow.  

Madison is starting on her next recital piece.  I got a copy of a music sheet for "Married Life," and she was trying it out today.  I think this one might work for her, so she's going to look at it and see if it will be the right level of challenge - but not overwhelming - for her.  She really likes this piece of music from the movie "Up."  We all want to see it again, but with Nana in the house, we have to be super careful about our selections of movies.  The first five minutes of "Up" are notoriously "down," if you know what I mean.  

After our Bible study, we were back in Narnia again for "The Last Battle," which is such a somber book in places.  It's so intriguing that we read two chapters straight, and it appears as if we'll be blazing through this one rather quickly.  Madison wants to see what happens to the Friends of Narnia, and it's been a while for me, so I need a bit of a refresher too.  

The interesting thing about Narnia is the expanse of time that is not written about in between.  There are so many adventures that could be written about.  Even adventures with the four Pevensie children, as they actually grow up in Narnia, ruling there in peace for many years.  We read about their hunt of the white stag, which leads them to the lantern and the return to our earth, but before then are many years in which things happen, and many years that we don't know much about.  Only once do we get a glimpse of that, within the pages of "The Horse and His Boy," but certainly there is much that is left to the imagination.  

Anyway, it's great to be in Narnia, at least while things last.  And it's great to be here on earth, while it lasts.  The deceptions and destruction are similar.  The parallels to this story and ours here on earth are deliberate, of course.  This led to further discussion just before prayers tonight, about what is destined to come, and the importance of staying true to our beliefs.  That is yet another reason why we are so immensely grateful for the small group meetings for Madison each Wednesday night.  Camille and her co-host Lauren have been guides holding up lanterns of light amidst a very dark year, leading our children on and forward.  It is very comforting.

Okay, off to bed now.  We got so caught up in reading, it was midnight when we went to bed.  Ah, such is Christmas break.  And now it is officially the last day of 2020.  But we'll sleep some before we enjoy that final day.  And just to spite the reputation of this year, we'll do our very best to make it another good one.

XY234786

We watched the second National Treasure movie tonight, the one with the Book of Secrets in it.  Once again, we saw how all the Presidents have access to a pretty exclusive book.  

In fact, with a little research of our current President, we caught one picture above where he actually has it, the Book of Secrets.  Sure, the Library of Congress will deny the book exists.  But we've got evidence above there, which means that guy above knows what is on page 47.  I'm not suggesting kidnapping the guy - only Benjamin Franklin Gates would be so bold.  But come on, we've been waiting since 2007 to find out what's in that book, Disney!  It's life-altering!

Today was a pleasant day, although I'm still feeling a bit under the weather later on.  I'm not sure what's going on.  We were out today, doing a bit of returning of some Christmas items that didn't quite fit.  We earned some rewards dollars, so we were spending some of that too, getting a few white elephant items for next year.  We also stopped at Goodwill, just shopping around a bit.  It's senior discount day, after all.  I actually found a hidden gem there - a copy of a Riders in the Sky CD actually signed by all four of the band members!  Also, for less than five dollars, this really nice Marx Brothers DVD set.  

Afterwards, we were at Texas Roadhouse, using a gift card we got earlier and enjoying a nice dinner together.  That part was nice.  It was a great meal, a nice time together.

It was a nice day today, one that started out with us fooling around a bit with the computer to cheer Nana up some.  It worked, and we got some fun pictures.

We wrapped up the night with the beginning of "The Last Battle," prayers, and a solid night's sleep.  I got some work done for KidPak tonight for all the campuses.  It was a good day, and tomorrow will be good too.

Nexus

We had a KidPak Zoom meeting today, just three of us, but it was pretty productive, laying out ideas for activities going all the way to the first Sunday in March.  Along those lines, I have to get busy on the visuals for an idea for this Sunday upcoming.  It should be fun!

Along those lines, I was getting some ideas down for another ministry too, something new for the next year.  We'll see how that goes, as it's all very early.  In fact, this is that blurry week between Christmas and the end of the year, this sort of nexus that comes each year where some completely forget what day it even is.  It's the end of 2020, a rather historic year.  Although the word "historic" has been way overused lately. It's been used so often that it really doesn't have the impact it used to.  But this is in fact a historic year.  In our own personal lives, it wasn't necessarily the pandemic that brought us challenges and difficulties, but rather the same old word that kills, steals and destroys:  cancer.  

We're making due though, and we're keeping busy - because if we don't, Nana's default setting is tears.  Seriously, you stop distracting her, and sure enough, the grief sets in again and there is the muttering and the crying and all the things we've been hearing all day long for four months now.  Putting ourselves in her shoes, particularly with some amazing memory lapses, we can't get upset at her so much.  But it does wear on all of us, and we have these little moments of confession together when she's asleep, moments where we just sort of talk about the day and how we're holding up.  There are things that are repeated every day, and those crack us up:  the water has to run a little before the hot water comes on.  The neighbors across the street there have moved with their two dogs.  These are just a few of the things we say each and every day, and we say them with that patient smile, the three of us nodding pleasantly as if we hadn't said this thing every single day for the last four months.  

The weather wasn't so bad today, so Nana went for a walk.  One of our kind neighbors let us know that Nana made it all the way to the pool, where she was spending her time talking with Ba-Ba.  That is what she does every day and night.  I drove down there just to check on her, but she was fine.  She walked back on her own steam, and that's good.  She goes through these phases where she doesn't eat though, and today was one of those.  Tonight, we sort of had to confront her about it.  It wasn't yelling or anything, but we had to be a bit more firm.  Please eat.

Mom made a splendid dinner, one made from the prime rib this past Christmas.  She made these Philly cheesesteaks that were easily one of the best things I've eaten in a while.  Nana enjoyed some of that, but also the sweet potato casserole that was there too.

We went to the chiropractor today, all four of us.  It was busy there, but that was okay.  I was having some blood pressure issues up until then, and was relaxing in the waiting room there, just seated with my eyes closed, and legs not crossed.  It was as if I was meditating or something, and we were joking about it later, about making a redneck sort of meditation video.  "Welp, med-tation is purty easy.  You just sit there and don't do nothin'!"  Doc Williams' wife there took my blood pressure a little later, and it was down to 113.  It was greatly encouraging.  Maybe I won't die soon after all!

There was some grocery shopping today - we were over at Aldi's again, all of us.  We made short work of that grocery list fairly quickly.  Another thing that started today was the de-Santafication process.  Yes, there are some things starting to come down, getting packed up.  Mom has spent a good bit of time working in the basement, straightening it up down there as we prepare to bring things down.

We've had a log in the fireplace each night, as we all gather for a movie.  Tonight's feature was "National Treasure," which is such a great movie.  We'll probably watch the sequel next, although we did drop by the library earlier today to pick up another old movie.  We dropped off the other movies, and the completed jigsaw puzzle.  Yes, we got another puzzle, so we'll start on that one soon, I'm sure.

Tonight we finished "The Magician's Nephew," the sixth book from Narnia that we've read.  Tomorrow I think we're starting "The Last Battle," which is a more somber book, one that concludes the entire Chronicles.  It just feels great reading the classics, spending time in Narnia too.  We said our prayers, and were in bed a little later tonight.  No matter - tomorrow we sleep in.  But each night, Madison is now hiding the groundhog somewhere for me to discover unexpectedly, and it's been a fun new addition to the nightly routine.  Tonight, it was under the covers of our bed, so that between Mommy and I there was this groundhog!  Some times it is on a post just outside the door, staring at me when I walk out.  Sometimes it's on the ground on the steps there, and one time it was greeting me as I walked out the door - it was wearing a cape!

We said our prayers tonight, prayers for good health and a good night's rest, and were asleep fairly quickly after that!

Wouldn't It Be Lovely?

We got some more Christmas gifts today, these from Aunt Rebecca, who was kind enough to send this bracelet here, and the gifts you see below as well.

She had some decorations she got in Wales, and also a special ornament that she sent for Nana, which you can see here was greatly appreciated.

We hung that on the tree right away, a Welsh doll that was super nice.  Nana has received several nice gifts the last few days, and they've all been very thoughtful.  This one will go on our tree for years to come, I'm sure.

Mommy got something nice too, and this is a super crazy wild coincidence.  I think.  Anyway, here's the picture below of what she got - what she's wearing.

The wrap is really nice, and in the box there was a Celtic pin to hold it all together.  I literally ordered that the other day, wrapped it, and then... I lost it.  And yet Zena found two of these same pins inside the gift box along with her wrap.  I have to check with my parents to see if they got something by mistake, but in the end, Mom got her pins and she was quite happy.

Oh, and you can see what I got here.  It's a Millennium Falcon gingerbread creation!  We decided to wait until Star Wars Day before we put this one together.  That will be super fun!

Here's something Madison and Mom were doing today - they finished late tonight, actually.  They were working on this puzzle from the library.  You can check out puzzles from their collection, somewhat like you can a book.  We started focusing on this one only two days ago, and already, we got it done.  Time to return to the library for a new one!

We watched a few old movies today, mainly for distractions and so forth.  We didn't go too far today, just for a little walk down to the pool is all we did.  The weather was warming up somewhat outside, though still cool of course.

The decorations will be up for another week or so, because this is Christmas week really.  It's still nice to sit with the tree there, a log burning in the fireplace, and some pleasant seasonal music playing in the background.

I mentioned movies - tonight we had two of them again.  First was "Bringing Up Baby," which was a hilarious old movie with Cary Grant and Katherine Hepburn.  It was really fun.  Madison was talking with friends in her room, catching up.  But then we all sat down together to watch one that she'd never seen before, "My Fair Lady."  You can imagine the singing that was going on afterwards, with Nana and all of us blurting out, "Wouldn't It Be Lovely?"  And Madison was doing her best cockney accent.  Go'on!

We read another chapter tonight from "The Magician's Nephew," but I didn't have much in me to get to the end - that will be tomorrow.  I'm not doing so well right now.  To that end, we prayed, and we were asleep pretty quick.  It was a nice day today!

Singin' in the Rain

One of Madison's drama classes featured a viewing of "Singin' in the Rain," a classic we haven't seen in a while.  But we got a great version of that for Christmas, and tonight we gathered around the couch with a fire in the fireplace, and together we got to see the movie together.  you might be wondering what the image above has anything to do with that is, and here it is:  I got quite a few different Terry Pratchett Discworld books for Christmas, and today I happened to start reading one entitled, "Moving Pictures."  I haven't read several of these books yet, and I'm determined to have read each one, only because I really enjoy reading them.  Anyway, I had a fairly good guess at the theme of the book, but I had no idea that after the movie when I was reading in bed, there'd be a chapter where one of the Discworld characters would be returning to the city of Ankh-Morpork while it was raining, and sure enough, he was dancing along, and yes even singin' in the rain.  It was a funny coincidence, just one of those things that timed out in a rather fun way.

Today was cold.  But there was the fireplace.  And there was relaxing, which is what is necessary for me currently due to my condition.  Hence the reading.  Madison was relaxing too, which is well-deserved if you ask me.  She's gotten great grades, passed her next test with taekwondo, and did a piano recital.  Take a week off and enjoy your Christmas stuff.  Or, in this case, enjoy playing Minecraft.  She was showing off her latest creation in that world, a home that went deep into the ground.  She's been addicted to this game lately, creating while battling off those annoying aggressive creatures that make their way up to her home.  

We did a few things today, namely getting out of the house for a bit.  This might be the reason the blood pressure went up a bit though, as it is the second busiest shopping of the year.  Madison, Nana and myself went out to get some wrapping paper, Christmas lights, and anything else we could find on sale after Christmas.  Sadly, no gingerbread house!  I was hoping to have one leftover so I can make a Valentine's Day themed one!  We got some Chick-Fil-A from over in Oakwood, and stopped at Wal-Mart, Hobby Lobby, and even Lowe's to visit Ye-Ye at work.  It was a nice outing, and it gave Mom a chance to get some things done at home.  But I was ready to get home and relax after that, hence the reading.  Boxing Day is usually a day where we just sit, do nothing, and play with our new toys.  But with Nana in the house, we sort of have to keep busy and distracted, so out we went, right into the madness of day-after-Christmas shopping.  Many of the stores were wiped out, which was so odd to see so quickly.  Our guess was that they didn't order as much stock to begin with, so they didn't have as much to get rid of after Christmas.  That's okay though.

Our day ended with the movie we mentioned, and a fire in the fireplace.  It was a quiet night for us, one where we read in bed, and got to sleep fairly quickly after prayers, and the usual antics from Madison.  It was a pleasant day, one that had us all singing "Good Morning" as we went to bed, and no doubt we'll be singing that to each other as we arise.

A Very Merry 2020 Christmas

Early this Christmas morning, here was the seen at our great room, the floor beneath the Christmas tree covered up with gifts and presents just waiting to be opened!  Stockings were so full that they could not be hung up anymore, but rather resting there in front of the fireplace.  Nana's stocking joined the other three, each filled with candies and surprises.

But the other surprise this year was the dusting of snow outside.  It was terribly cold out there, all day long, at least for us.  When we were coming home tonight, the temperature was around 24.  But inside was warm, and it was just nice to peek outside and see the small dusting of white covering our back porch, the front yard, and the houses throughout the neighborhood, all on Christmas Day.  It was magical snow!

Soon enough, we were opening presents this morning.  Look at these goodies from the English shop we went to the other day.  Nana was happy to get some candy from across the pond.  Speaking of which, we got an alarm call from England, with the family there calling to wish us a good Christmas Day.  They'd been up and enjoying already, but they're six hours ahead, so they had a pretty decent head start!

Maddie made us all these super nice Christmas cards, one for each of us, each hand-drawn and very thoughtful.  She must have been extra special this Christmas, because you can see what she got here below:

Coal.  Okay, it's a joke gift.  There were a few of those opened this morning, including a itty bitt jug band, a small jug band in a box.  Eventually we'll have to play a tune together.  But there were plenty of other gifts too, including these gems:

There's no telling how much Baby Yoda merchandise was found under Christmas trees all over the world today.  I don't think it can be calculated.  Madison got plenty of stuff with Grogu, and then later on today too.  But this gift here was a pretty big moment.

She got a loth cat this morning, and that's such an obscure thing.  The only place you can get this right now is from Galaxy's Edge, so Santa must have swung by there to pick one up for Madison.

In case the picture above doesn't make it obvious, she loves loth cats.  They are from the planet Lothal, the one where Ezra Bridger is originally from.  But you'll see them elsewhere, as Din Djarin discovered on another planet.  The first live action version of a loth cat appeared in an episode of "The Mandalorian."

Madison got quite a few other plush friends, including a blob fish, of course.  His name is Jeff "Blobby" Blobfish.  Also, there's another porg to add to the collection as well.  This entourage followed her around throughout the day.

It was a nice day today - even our other tree you can see here had a wealth of presents beneath it.  These were for later, the ones we took over to my parents house for Christmas night.  But in the meantime, there were still so many presents under our own tree left to open.  It's a different year, but that's not due to anything related to the pandemic for us.  Nana is in the house, and she joined us in person this Christmas morning, seated on the couch as the four of us got different wrapped gifts to open up throughout the morning.

Madison took this picture with her phone of some new socks, and she got some new shirts and pants too.  There were all kinds of fashionable presents under the tree, but also there was a new game for the Nintendo, one she was into rather quickly this afternoon.

It was a copy of Animal Crossing.  She might be seeing Camille online with that particular game, as you can play against or with other friends with various Nintendo titles.  As mentioned earlier, Nana got a few items this morning as well, and as we were opening our gifts, she too was opening hers.  

These new slippers are just the thing to keep her feet warm on a cold winter's day.  Which was today, in fact!  I myself got some new jeans, some records, and several Terry Pratchett books, which was amazing.  I'll be reading those deep into the year, I suspect.  I'm now nearly complete with the Disc World collection, moving right along with reading each one.  

Meanwhile, the other gifts of Christmas were being opened one by one, and all of them were perfectly nice.  Mom got pajamas, Madison got this calendar with an obvious theme to it, Madison got books, art supplies, and a Baby Yoda Chia Pet!  It was all very nice, seated there as always, listening to our Christmas music and making a big mess of the great room with wrapping paper and squeals of delight with the discovery of this gift or that.

It's Jesus' birthday we celebrate, and as her custom, Mom made a cake today, putting the finishing touches on his birthday cake.  As I type this, I can't wait to get another slice of it.  I've always thought of this gesture as super touching, a form of worship up there with singing the finest worship songs.  She used her gift to create a present for the King of kings, because it's His birthday we're celebrating.

After this, there were games.  This card is from the Charlie Brown Christmas board game, and it struck me as funny.  But the game is really pleasant fun.  We also took turns doing some Grinch themed Mad-libs today.  Even Nana got in on the action - we filled in about four of these, and read them aloud, causing a good bit of laughter this afternoon.  One of my favorite lines:  "Do you know my mom, Bob?  You might not have met her; she's always falling all over the place like a blobfish without a gall bladder!"

We spent some time preparing a few more gifts for tonight, and resting a bit too.  But soon enough, it was time to head over to the grandparents house for Christmas.

It was a nice time over there, as always a delight for us all to be gathered together once again.  The presents were stacked high all over the place, and their home is always so wonderfully decorated.

Ye-Ye created some new arrangements, and there were some new things added to the Christmas collection this year.  They had new ornaments on their tree, a live one as they always get.  

It looked nice in the corner, with all the familiar ornaments hanging on it, some going back to my childhood still on that tree all these years later.  One in particular has been hanging on their tree for fifty years now!

The fire in the fireplace kept going all evening, adding a new source of warmth, as we all gathered around the living room to be together once more.  It was great that we all could do it this year, given everyone's schedules and the ongoing events of the world. 

We gathered at the table first, and Ye-Ye blessed the food and said a short prayer of thanks, one that was heartfelt by all of us.  And then it was time to dig in.  

It was a marvelous feast, one Nana was working on all day along with Ye-Ye.  It was so very nice for all of us to be together for the holidays.

We had desserts too, including the birthday cake, chocolate cakes, and a cheesecake that was just perfectly put together by Mom.  But there were all the other standard cookies and slices of fudge we come to expect each Christmas Eve, the same kinds of cookies we find in bakeries up north, and of course there was marzipan.  There's always got to be marzipan.

Next came the gifts!  All of them were put in piles in front of everyone, and one by one we opened our presents from one another.  Madison did really well today, with more Baby Yoda stuff, and another squishmallow you see here:

She ended up with three of these today.  The other one came later on here, but they're all very much appreciated!  But there were plenty of different gifts today for everyone, this frenzy of wrapping paper that we see on Christmas Day each year.  Watching everyone open their gifts is always a fun pleasure.

I usually don't get that many pictures here because I'm opening my own gifts as well, but today I got to snap a few of the others, and just look around, thankful for the best gift of all:  the ability of all of us to be together.

Next, it was time for the white elephant gift exchange.  Everyone brought some crazy gifts, and of course the nature of this game is that you can steal one another's gifts, fighting for this or that. 

This year, the clown came back!  That horrendous gift item from four or five years ago, this ceramic clown that was so disturbing, and yes, I wound up opening it in a surprise bait-and-switch gift presentation.  The present looked like something else, something large, and inside was a tiny box.  And inside that box was a box that was labeled with something else... and inside that was the surprise!  It got huge laughs, because we hadn't seen that clown in over a year.

This one was just horrible - and yet hilarious ! It's a shark.  A dead one, of course.  And it's properly labeled in a jar.  Easily one of the most random things you can give to someone, this item found it's way being traded back and forth as one of the more ridiculous items.

There were lots of laughs tonight, as you just never knew what would be opened next.  There was a Dutch version of "Pirates of the Caribbean," a giant cardboard reindeer that you could color in, and the Grinch decoration that Nana purchased a few days ago.  This one was a big hit too:

Meet Frank E Post, this light post that sings like Frank Sinatra, and animatronic at least in his eyes and his lips.  He blinks and moves his mouth as he sings a few songs, and then he's done.  But he was so amazing that I had to pick him up and bring him to the gift exchange.

The gifts were opened, one after the other, and everyone had a great time.  Madison opened a squishmallow right away, and of course she wanted to have that.  No one challenged her on it, as I believe it was just assumed she was going to wind up with it eventually anyway.  That squish mallow was a turtle, so she ended the day with a turtle, a koala, and a Baby Yoda.  We had a lot of plush items today.  But we also got the clown in the house, so we have that for the year.  Aunt Shain wound up with Frank E Post, and I'm not sure who got the shark.  Nana had a great time too, getting something we actually brought in ourselves, so it was a bit of recycling there!

Nana had a good Christmas, as best as we could help her have.  My family as always was filled with warmth and love, and a great deal of effort was given to show her as much love as we all could.  She kept busy with conversation and with gifts and with food too. 

As I said, we did the best we could, and I think she had a good day.  There were the usual moments that she has - she has plenty of these each day - but there were also happy memories together.  

We said our goodbyes after several hours together.  It was a perfect evening, really.  We got home, and there was still some time leftover, so we watched a movie that Mom got me, "The Man Who Invented Christmas."  We've seen it a few times, and it's probably going to be a standard from this point on, as it really is a great movie.

It was time for bed after that, time for reading and prayers.  We don't have to get up early tomorrow, so there was no concern for what time we went to bed.  We read a few more chapters from "The Magician's Nephew," and said our prayers, thanking God for another wonderful Christmas.