December 31 - “A Visit Averted”

And I thought it was cold on Monday. Yesterday we woke up to 43 degrees with a wind chill of 27. Bypassed the 30’s altogether. That’s for sure going the wrong direction. 

Much of the crowd from the day before made another appearance yesterday. The menu for lunch was burgers on the grill. Great food. Great company, of course. 

But then …

I almost had another unscheduled opportunity to touch base with my buddies down at fire station four. Last time was when our neighbor messed up her medication again, so they were next door on an overdose call. 

But this time … as we finished up our burgers, I happened to glance out the back door …

And what to my wondering eyes should appear,

but flames and black smoke shooting high up, oh, dear! 

I sprang to the door. Josh raced for some shoes. 

Ezra grabbed the extinguisher- it’s spot he knew. 

We kept the grill closed to keep out extra air. 

Chris brought some baking soda to share. 

Our brand new fire blanket even made its way out - 

There if we needed to use its safe clout. 

Time and great care proved to be our best friend.

And that baking soda won the day in the end. 

Only one picture was snapped to be seen

Of fire from the grease trap refusing to leave. 

On seeing that pic in the text he received, 

Nathan’s scathing reply, “Use that blanket!” decreed. 

This time was one that ended OK

But always be careful out there, I say!  

‭‭2 Corinthians‬ ‭5‬:‭17‬ says, Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away, and look, new things have come.

Father, thank you for your protection from that fire yesterday. Amen. 

December 30 - “A Family Christmas”

Wow! That was some serious wind yesterday. So much so that we even lost power briefly - just as I was cooking a timed dish. It shut off the timer and didn’t restart it. And of course I wasn’t paying attention to the time when I first put it in. Back to old school. We just “watched it” from then on. It tasted awfully good. 

But back to the wind. It was so strong that even though the temperature outside was 54, the wind chill was 36 degrees. Nope. Way too cold. However, there was an upside. When we went to bed the night before, the entire front yard and driveway were covered with sycamore leaves. When the sun came up … all gone. The yard and driveway were both as clear as could be. Don’t know where they ended up, but sorry, neighbor!

The cousins (all of them) were together for most of the day. We had a great lunch anchored by roast and followed by key desserts such as frozen cheesecake and pudding pie and those chocolate chip cookies. 

Next we all went over to Moody Gardens. They agreed to let us take some family pictures amongst some of the beautiful backdrops around the hotel. Micah’s girlfriend Kaylie has her own photography business, so we entrusted her with the task, and I can’t wait to see what she comes up with. 

Back at the house, Santa read the Christmas story. Then we exchanged gifts between all the families. It was a flurry of paper snow balls and chorus after chorus of oohs and aahs. I’m pretty sure everyone was happy. 

That segment was followed by the DaDDad Gifts time. Those are the ones I get for the adults so they will feel seen and appreciated. In other words, the gifts I get that Nana refuses to sign her name to. Lots of fun … for me, at least. 

After some supper - Mexican food this time - we played an abbreviated version of the Reindeer Games. Probably the stars of that show were Uncle Josh, Uncle Kel, and Micah. They had boxes of ping pong balls and bells strapped to their backs. On the charges to begin. All three of them dropped to the floor like bucking reindeer. Their cargo didn’t stand a chance. Everybody enjoyed the group participation games as well.  Musical Candy Canes and Frosty’s Melting really brought out the competitive side of the family. I stayed well out of way in both cases. 

It was a pretty grand day in more ways than one (pun intended). 

‭‭1 Kings‬ ‭8‬:‭61‬ says, Let your heart be completely devoted to the Lord our God to walk in His statutes and to keep His commands, as it is today.

Father, thank for those young-uns. Bless them. Amen. 

December 29 - “Nice job, Glenn”

Great day at church. I counted at least 65 or 66 people there. And that was on a Sunday when the pastor was gone. One of our amazing laymen, Glenn (In his words, “the part time drummer”), filled in and did a great job. He taught about how Good spoke to Joseph and how Joseph obeyed. My favorite part was his point about God using unusual and even unsuspecting characters to carry out his will. Nice job, Glenn. 

We grabbed some lunch and got started cleaning the house for our waves of family. Zak and Lindsay were first to arrive. That was really convenient. It gave me a chance to chat with them about their wedding ceremony. I think we have it sketched out, for the most part. Now we wait for the big day in April. 

The rest of the Waco crew arrived shortly after. And lo and behold, the entire LaMarque bunch showed up a little while later. That meant football on TV, guitars in the office, and a rousing game of Nuts at the table. That round of cousinly fun kept its steam until the LaMarquers had to leave around 8.

‭‭2 Corinthians‬ ‭9‬:‭6‬ says, Remember this: The person who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and the person who sows generously will also reap generously.

Father, again … thank you, thank you, thank you (one for each branch) for our kids’ kids … and their Moms and Dads. Amen. 

December 28 - “Final checklist”

8:30 Walmart … finished up the shopping there. Almost forgot one thing, but Chris remembered. Getting the errant receipt happened, but sadly, their computer was not quite smart enough to print out gift receipts as well. Sigh. Oh well, Walmart is usually pretty good at taking back stuff, even without a receipt. 

9:45 Academy … needed just one more gift and we would be finished for the year (With Christmas gifts, anyway). Found it. Check. 

10:00 Bank … had to stop in for some cash. Quickest spot to do that. 

10:15 Pet’s Mart … hey. Freddy needs a Christmas present, too. Actually, She needs the chew sticks the vet recommended. 

10:45 Back home … grabbed some lunch. Leftover chicken enchilada pie. Hate that I’ve had to eat almost that whole thing myself. Not. It was gooood. 

12:30 to about 3 Wrapping time …This was a marathon event. Chris was absolutely in the zone. She got every single gift wrapped or inserted into gift bags. That is, until we realized that we were one gift short. So …

3:15 Back to shopping … This one fell to me. Chris was already multitasking. She had some baby Lima beans slow-cooking on the stove. It didn’t take me long, though. Fortunately, we knew what we wanted to get, so it got got. 

3 to after some supper (those baby limas - yum) … Chris shifted into baking mode.  Boy! Are we ever gonna have an array of desserts on Monday. Frozen cheesecake. Pudding pie. Chocolate chip cookies. Christmas mix. And there may or may not even be a taste of divinity  hiding on the kitchen counter. Chris has been one busy lady. 

Romans‬ ‭10‬:‭9‬ says, If you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.

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Father, we are getting excited about seeing all our family together. Keep them safe. Amen. 

December 27 - “Solution?”

Well, there’s one I can honestly say I have never experienced before. We got up early and went right to Walmart after breakfast. Finished up some Christmas shopping and grabbed a few other things. 

When we went to check out, the strangeness happened. All was going according to plan. I inserted the credit card and made the payment. But then … 

The printer that was connected to the computer rebelled. It refused to print out the receipt. None of the bigwigs could get it to cooperate. Finally, they came up with a “solution.” We would have to “come back in the morning and pick up the receipt.” Wow. That’s truly a new one. 

I indicated my reticence (word of the day. Hope it means reluctance, or having reservations). Walmart’s finest were stuck, though. The computer simply wouldn’t let them back in until the next day. The checker, who was actually very nice about it (her name was Chrystal with a Ch), did walk us out, “so they don’t hassle you for not having a receipt.” Well that’s all fine and good, but I can’t wait to see how they are going to come up with that receipt for us this morning. 

We had to go back there in the afternoon to get some groceries. Some just for us and a lot for our family dinner on Monday. That errant register was open again, but I couldn’t talk Chris into going back there again. Gee. Wonder why?

‭‭2 Thessalonians‬ ‭3‬:‭3‬ says, But the Lord is faithful; He will strengthen and guard you from the evil one.

Father, thank you for Chrystal with a Ch. she was really helpful. Bless her at work today. Amen. 

December 26 - “Happy Christmas”

Our early morning had a great purpose yesterday. We made our traditional trek to Kel’s house to  experience Christmas morning with the kids. We had to get there early, because the kids can’t come downstairs until we are there. The goal for our arrival? 7 a.m.

Needless to say, we were pretty popular folks when we walked in. At least for Noa and Ezra. They were chomping at the bit about halfway down the stairs. Micah followed soon after. Then there was a distinctive lull. That’s when I got the word. Jachin was in his room, but awake. Josiah, however, was still in bed. 

Nope. Not on my DadDadly watch. I made my way up there and did what any self-respecting grandfather would have done. I melodiously bellowed out those famous Christmas lyrics: “I’m a Nut.”  Accompanying the beautiful melody was a complementary removal of blankets and turning on of the lights. Josiah, of course, loved it. Within minutes he joined us in the living room. 

The presents were unwrapped and pictures were taken in abundance. And in between it all, we managed to eat our way through a pile of scrumptious breakfast bread. 

From there we headed over to Santa Fe to wish Nathan’s crew a Merry Christmas. It’s always fun to see what new-fangled contraptions Nathan gets (like this year’s one-handed sawzall). Cailyn is always proud of her inevitably pretty things, like clothes and jewelry. April was most proud this year of her new car. We got a tour of its features. The most impressive? Remote start? Nope. Seen that. But after said remote start, this one has a feature that will automatically move the car up or back a few feet with no one in it. Science fiction, right? The idea is to make it accessible if someone parks too close to you. Scary. 

Back home we began giving our gifts to each other, but before we finished, Josh and his family gave us a call. They were of course excited to share about their haul. Pink claw chair. Fairgrounds type basketball game. Spiral bound hymnal. If you know those Waco kids, you can pretty much pick out which kid goes with what gift. Zak and Lindsay hadn’t arrived yet from her parents’ house. Guess we’ll hear from them when they all come here on Sunday. 

We did finally get back to our gifts for each other. I got some new jeans, a big pack of socks (my toes eat socks), a cool jigsaw puzzle that has 101 hidden pictorial clues to random types of food and drink, a new water bottle, and a plug converter for our trips. Chris got a vacuum sealer for food, a foot wrap for plantar fasciitis, a bag of Butterfingers, a water hose roller, and of course her usual table calendar. The carving this year was kind of different. I did make a tiny bench to go along with the Christmas Eve story. But I also surprised her by repairing the actual antique bench that collapsed a long time back. I think I surprised her on this one. 

Last night Chris fixed us the best Christmas supper ever … chicken enchilada pie. Yum. Very hard to top it. Great way to end another 

Christmas Day. 

‭‭Luke‬ ‭1‬:‭31‬-‭33‬ says, Now listen: You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you will call His name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end.

Father, thank you for the family you blessed us with. You done real good there. Amen. 

December 25 - “Franticism”

Our Christmas Eve was a bit of a flurry of activity. Well, actually, make that several flurries.  First we spent some time figuring out exactly who we still needed to get a gift for. Make a list! Yay!

Next we continued with the wrapping phase. Actually that means Chris did the wrapping. I held the tape dispenser and applied the names tags - a vital job, to be sure. We got a hefty pile of gift wrapping accomplished. Still have some gifts to be found and subsequently wrapped as well. Gotta admit, I really wanted to go to Walmart and just walk around and watch people. There is usually quite a bit of franticism (that’s my made-up word of the day) with shoppers racing to find that one last elusive item on their list. 

At four we went to the first of two worship services at Seaside. The second was at six. We went to both.  I read one of my kids’ stories each time. It’s about a young carpenter’s apprentice in long-ago Bethlehem who finally gets a chance to make his first solo creation. But it turns out to be “only a manger.” You can possibly imagine where it went from there. 

The services were both very well attended, and both had numerous visitors. Pastor Kel preached from John chapter one about Jesus being the Light of the World.  Great times. 

This morning we are headed into Texas to hang out with the LaMarque Vaughan’s for their Christmas morning. And the boys said they wanted me to be there to make sure the breakfast bread comes out good and juicy. Early morning. 

Luke‬ ‭2‬:‭11‬ says, Today a Savior, who is Messiah the Lord, was born for you in the city of David.

Father,  thanks for coming. Amen. 

December 24 - “List of necessary repairs”

Well, let’s add the car to our list of necessary repairs. Not anything really bad. Just had potential to be bad. The right front tire has had an extremely slow leak for a while now. The night before last, when we got to Kel’s house, the tire was almost flat. We made it back home OK, but it was definitely tire-fixing’ time. 

Before I left for Firestone, Chris  found a tiny nail that we figured could be the culprit. It was. And as I had surmised, it was too far into the side to just repair it. Fortunately, they took the car back almost immediately. That’s unheard of. And fortunately, the warranty covered a good portion of the cost. Aaaand … while they were in there, I had them go ahead and change the oil. Phew! That’s enough. 

Speaking of enough … we went shopping again. Back to Walmart and Academy. The hordes are increasing. The fun is finally beginning. Lots of people-watching in the cards for me. 

Luke‬ ‭2‬:‭9‬-‭10‬ says, Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Don’t be afraid, for look, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people:”

Father, be with those hordes of shoppers out there. Bless ‘em. Amen. 

December 23 - “Another nine-year-old”

We started the day off with some work. It was well past time to rake at least some of the big ol’ Sycamore leaves out of our front yard. And boy was there ever a pile of ‘em. Several piles, actually. And after our yard we attacked the next door neighbor’s. After all, it’s our tree pummeling their yard. And while we were at it, we jumped across the street to another neighbor’s and raked some more. I’m sure our backs will “thank” us today. 

After getting cleaned up and eating some lunch, we moved on to phase two. Shopping. My all-time favorite activity this time of year. No. Really. Walmart the week before Christmas? Gotta love it. 

Last night we headed into Texas. Ezra was having his family birthday dinner. He chose potato soup and homemade ice cream for the big meal. Good choices there, Ezra. His whole family was there. Kaylee was even there, to round out the attendees. We have ourselves another nine-year-old. 

Luke‬ ‭2‬:‭7‬ says, Then she gave birth to her firstborn Son, and she wrapped Him snugly in cloth and laid Him in a feeding trough — because there was no room for them at the lodging place.

‭‭

Father, thank you for Ezra. He’s a pretty special little guy. Amen. 

December 22 - “100%”

A great group of around fifty Islanders gathered at Seaside for worship yesterday. And a pretty good group out of them stuck around to enjoy dinner on the grounds. We even had some time to vote on next year’s budget (100%) and to discuss operations in the retreat center for next year. It’s always great to be a part of Unity in action in God’s Church. 

After church we drove around the airport property near Moody Gardens. Chris wanted to scope out a potential site for family pictures. The best we could come up with was a not-really-convinced maybe. We’ll see how it all plays out.

We watched some Texans football  interspersed with a Hallmark movie and a bowl of Chris’ specialty bean soup. We also went through our Christmas presents stash. Gotta figure out who we still need a gift for. I see a shopping trip in our future. Hmm. Maybe I can convince Chris to wait and go on Christmas Eve. My favorite time to go people watching. 

‭‭Luke‬ ‭1‬:‭46‬-‭47‬ says, And Mary said: “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord, and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior”

Father, thank you for the great display of unity at Seaside. I know that please you. Amen. 

December 21 - “Date Night/Day”

We started our day kinda early. We headed over to the vet to pick up Freddy’s new medicine. This one is supposed to help with the heart murmur. Something about making the heart more efficient. At least these are pills she can chew up. Now we wait to see how (or if) they help.  

Back home we got started on our date night/day. We did something we haven’t done in a while. Several weeks (since it got cold), in fact. We went for a walk. It was limited to a mile and a half. Gotta start back slow again. 

We watched the first half of the A&M vs. Miami playoff game. Looked like the wind in College Station was wreaking havoc on things. It wreaked enough that A&M lost. Sorry, guys. 

We left the house again a little before one. We had tickets to the matinee performance of the holiday spectacular at Moody Gardens. It was pretty good stuff. Lots of singing and dancing. But that wasn’t all. It was like being at the circus. Fire juggler. Aerial acts. Roller skaters. Hoop dancer. Giant ring-walker guy. The magician was the star of the show, though. But as far as the kids at our table were concerned, the best part of the whole thing happened when it snowed! Yep. Snowed in Galveston. Indoors. Who woulda thunk it?

Last night we finished out our date night by walking through the Moody Gardens Christmas lights path. The cost of the afternoon show included passes to get in, so we had to try it. The lights were pretty much the same as every other year. There were tons of people there, though. Most of them seemed to be in line to go into the Iceland exhibit. We passed on that one. 

All in all, I think it was a pretty good date. We’ll have to get together again sometime. How about it, Chris?

Luke‬ ‭1‬:‭45‬ says, She who has believed is blessed because what was spoken to her by the Lord will be fulfilled! 

Father, be with that family we shared a table with. They still have some traveling ahead of them. Amen.