Hello everyone,
It’s Christmas Morning! Yippee! A day off to enjoy with friends & kitties! I’m going to go help with the dinner at the 24 Hour Club this morning. I have my:
Can’t wait for spaghetti!
Spaghetti squash in the oven for later. It smells pretty wonderful. Cathy told me 45 minutes at 400 so we shall see. I’ve never cooked this before but I’m “craving” pasta on this “Wheat Belly” thing and I’m excited to have this alternative.
We had a visit from Santa yesterday at work:
Santa At Orchid Terrace
It was a great day at work yesterday. No drama and no crises. That’s how I like it! We had a wonderful church service at 10AM. There was a super singer brought in to sing during the service and she was amazing. I was singing along all day with all of the musical activities. Not only did we have the soloist, we had our Music Therapy guy, Anthony, and then Doug Williams as usual at our “Friday 3:30” entertainment but it was Wednesday. It was pretty musical and magical.
So I opened most of my gifts “early” this Christmas and only had this…….
From Suzanne
To open. It was a beautiful little angel from my friend Suzanne. Here is what the package held and also what she sent me last year:
 My gift from Suzanne. |
 From Suzanne in 2013 |
I’m having trouble with the other picture. There it is. I just had a “computer freeze” and lost some of this post….now where was I? (I got distracted and saw that you can “print” this post now and when I tested it, my computer froze and I had to reboot). Anyway, I was talking about my Chandelier “Tree”. I now have the 2 ornaments that Suzanne gave me on it. Also I have a little “Dutch Girl” hanging on it that was given to me by my mom’s friend “Babs” when I went up to Clearwater to close her condo after she died. I love that little ornament – the legs swing on it. Babs also gave me a cute little kitty on a pillow and when you pick it up, there is a fish under the pillow. So sweet. Then I hung a seasonal “Santa” on it. I got that ornament from my boss at The Registry when I worked there. It was funny. They were Jewish and for the 2 Christmases I worked there, I received a Santa Claus each time. The one I hung in the kitchen was the cutest one. The other thing I have hanging from the chandelier is the sweetest little wind chime. I think Jennifer gave it to me on one of our “Beaches” weekends. Anyway, it has the most delicate sound and when I get up from the kitchen chair and hit it with my head, at least it has a nice “twinkling” sound.
It’s a little chillier today. Not so humid. The kitties are on the front porch enjoying the neighborhood. I hear the “walking whistler” out there today. It’s gonna be a GREAT day today!
Last night we had our “Christmas Eve” service at church. It was amazing. I went to help set up after work. We put out 70 chairs. We invited the New Day MCC church to join us. At about 5:55 we counted 68 people coming in so we had to scramble to get more chairs out. The count ended up at 90. WOW! Even Ray and Martha were there.
Ray & Martha
Ray has been having some health issues lately and hasn’t been to church in a while. It was so wonderful to see him. The Cox family brought 9 people. The Occhiuzzo family was probably about 12 or more! It was so great having a “full” house. Here is a picture:
Full House!
It was a wonderful service. I recorded us singing “Silent Night” on my phone. It was pretty amazing. I think everyone was singing. Brings me to tears even now! Two guys came up to me and introduced themselves to me, David and Bill. Come to find out, they knew me through my cousin Dick and “get this” – they live in the same condo I owned at the Vineyards! Now what are the chances of that! Such a small world sometimes!
Anyway, time to get rolling. Have a Merry Christmas today! Thanks for visiting.
Steve Elsaesser
Dec 25. 2014
Life is full of good things, and it has not always been so. Mary, maybe it is “being busy”. maybe it is “choosing who”, maybe it is
“gratitude”, maybe focus–not so much on WHY things are, but more WHAT they are, and how can I fit in. I see you are helping to put out the food on Christmas Day at the 24-Hour Club.
I’m going to play some Christmas music on violin at the entrance to the same place for about an hour. Maybe see you there. HA!
Continue serving, and not giving much thought to it seems to be a great aid to peace, happiness. I used to BEWARE (wary?) og EVERYthing. Now, being AWARE, seeking always ways to be of service.
People come and go–LOTS of them, but ya know? Those who are here, there, and everywhere (like YOU!) are who stay, in their way of enthusiasm for helpfulness and life. AMEN!
WTH, was I preaching?–didn’t realize that. Oh well (sigh)
Merry Christmas to you and you special friends, family, and AA people. Bless us ALL!
Mary
Dec 25. 2014
Thanks for the violin music at lunch today. That was very kind of you to do that for all of us. Will probably see you tonight at the cookie meeting. John W is just about to get his medallion tonight at EDI. I decided to skip that ride so I can make it to downtown instead to help set up for the Cookie Meeting. Same question to you about the “comments”. Do you get a notice somewhere, or do you have to go back to the site? Just curious about that.
Merry Christmas and thanks for the candle. It smells great in my kitchen!
Steve Elsaesser
Dec 25. 2014
There is not such a notice–as in some blogs–to let me know there is a new posting by you. That is why sometimes in a single day I’ll clock into your blog 4-5 times to see if anything new. It would be grape if there were a notification.
If I see you tonight I’ll suggest something called RSS Feed (Go to your “Tips and Tricks”…at top on right side there IS such an app, but when I click all it shows it the code, so I cannot subscribe.
I know some people who use WordPress who DO have this…and I rcv an email every time they post which INCLUDES the content of their posting, so I don’t miss any.
I must EACH time fill out my name, email, and (optional) link to my own blog. These are now in memory, so I have only to type one letter, and the “saved” name, etc., comes up.
I’ll bet this all sounds like a Bible page in Hebrew LOL.
www
Mary
Dec 26. 2014
I kind of know what you are talking about, but not really. I get impatient slogging through videos to teach me new things because I need to do it usually more than once to “get it”. My mind gets crazy doing stuff like that. Anyway, the good news is that it does interest me and I’d like to make it easier for everyone. I notice there are times that FB sends me an email and I have no idea how that happens and it isn’t all that often. More shall be revealed.
cathy
Dec 25. 2014
Silent Night brings tears to my eyes as well. Glad you had nice Christmas Eve and standing room only at the church service…a nice reminder of the real meaning of Christmas.
I hope you enjoy the spaghetti squash. I don’t know if I told you that when you add the sauce, the squash tends to be a little runnier than pasta, but it still tastes great. Maybe by cooking it ahead of time, like you did, it may be better. Let me know!
Mary
Dec 25. 2014
I’ll let you know how that goes – I may not have time to try it tonight, but there is always tomorrow.
Let me know how you get this “comment”. Does it come to your email or do you have to come back to this site? Still trying to figure this website thing out.
cathy
Dec 25. 2014
Oh, I forgot….MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!
Mary
Dec 25. 2014
LOL!