New Year Catch Up!

Ho Ho Ho and Happy New Year! It's 2007! Hard to believe! I hope everyone had a wonderful celebration of Christ's birth. We sure did. Our service at church was just beautiful. We had the best music. Our organist's daughter sang "O Holy Night" and put many of us in tears it was so gorgeous. Our pastor also has this marvelous tradition -- he arranges and performs for us a Christmas song on the piano. It was wonderful as usual. "It is our Christmas gift," he says, "for Jesus and for us."

My friend Amy played cello throughout the service and the choir did two numbers. My younger daughter and I also participated in the prelude music. Chelle played both flute and piano (not at the same time, I might add) while I held my own on the clarinet. It was an interesting time of it as I was to play in a trio. The week before Christmas, we lost one member and were down to two. Then on Christmas Eve morning I found out that member #2 had terrible back problems and was going to the emergency room! Oh dear. (She is fine, just on muscle relaxers, by the way.) But she could not play that evening! I really didn't want to do two solos! So I recruited my dear friend Sharon who whisked out her clarinet practiced that afternoon and joined me! We did pretty well! Must be those angels helping us along plus a great accompanist!

That evening we opened all of our gifts -- not our normal tradition -- as we headed up to Minneapolis to visit my husband's brother & family early Christmas morning. Our nephew was home for a month's leave from the army. His battalion had been deployed to Kuwait and Iraq for part of last year so we had a particular wish to see him before he returned.

However, we stopped in St. Joseph, Missouri on Christmas evening and visited with my sister & husband and grandmother. I finally was able to give my grandmother the quilt I had been making her. She was very excited when she opened the box. She said, "Oh a quilt -- for me?" She was just delighted! Here are photos of the quilt and her with it. She asked me what "pattern" the quilt was and I told her I called it "Grandma's Stars" and showed her the label on the back with her name on it. I also pieced the back of the quilt as I couldn't find enough fabric of one kind that I liked on the sale bolts!




MInneapolis was not too cold! We've been there when it was much colder! But there was NO SNOW! We could not believe the lack of snow throughout Missouri, Iowa and Minnesota. It was a brown Christmas! Colorado had it all. We had nice time visiting with my husband's family and were especially glad to see our nephew Andrew. The girls were able to swim with a USA team at the University of Minnesota which was quite great of them! And all too soon we headed back home. The lack of snow did make traveling easier! We had a little rain on the way home. And here in Texas they are telling us it might be in the 70s on Friday! Whoa!

Stay warm,
Wasie