Christmas greetings...

We greet you with words from the prophet Isaiah and the gospel of Luke.. .

Listen to some of my favorite Christmas music at pandora.

and offer a prayer of blessing for family and friends from I Thessalonians 5:23.

As we have for many years, we ordered our cards from cards direct where we get to write our own greetings.  We ordered them in the middle of the scorching summer drought and, feeling a need for hope, we were perhaps in an apocalyptic mood when we selected the scripture texts.  We also selected a photo.  If friends have watched us age through the years, there is some hope they will recognize us when we meet again.  One of my pet peeves is the family greeting that includes only children or grandchildren of the friends we know and long to see again

 

20 March 2011, K's father's 90th birthday at their home in Clifton



This photo recreated a family portrait made when "the grandkids" were small.   




The original family portrait made when "the grandkids" were small.

 Kendall & Dorthy "Dot" Wieland Cummings surrounded by their 3 kids and their spouses:

•  Zacha & Jack
• K & David
• Jolene & Kelvin

and their four grand children:

• Brittany K (Zacha's daughter)
• Kendall II (Kelvin's son)
• Victoria (Kelvin's daughter)
• Josh (Zacha's son)

The clan with Josh's wife Amy and their 2 children Tilson and Tatum and Victoria's Philip and Kendall's Crystal.

We ordered fewer cards this year because we think we lost a lot of addresses in the great computer disaster last January.  We're hoping this blog post, shared on facebook, will help take up the slack.  

 Today is the day I'll try to finish Christmas cards and gift wrapping so I can start making candy (date nut loaf) and baking pies (apple and mince) and maybe a few other goodies. I'll not succeed--a torn lattissimus dorsi is slowing me down--but I delight in the merry rush. 

 Last night DMP (still recovering from surgery) and I missed the Children's Christmas Cantata at Southwest Central Church of Christ because an evening of rest had to be a priority.  It's the second  small disappointment of the season for us:  for only the third time in our 40 years of marriage, we did not get to go get our Christmas tree together because I stayed in Clifton for the week following Thanksgiving to help Mother with her decorating and shopping.  Thanks to brother Bryan for helping David pick out "the prettiest tree ever" which is what I always think.  Even when things are a bit painful, we still "keep Christmas" with as much joy and as little stress as possible.