Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas One and All * * *

I am going to hurriedly bring everyone up to date on the happenings here in Catlin Hollow. Lou and I have had a very busy few days, as I am sure all of you have had.

Today we are down to the nitty gritty. We have finished up DH's Christmas shopping and both of us have declared that next year we are both doing differently, so families be aware, change in on the horizon.

Today, I am quickly cleaning up the house for all of the company for tomorrow. Lou had a few errands to run and he is off to accomplish them. I am in hopes that we will both finish at the same time. I have a huge pot of home made vegetable-beef soup simmering on the range and home-made bread rising to the occasion.

We will attend Christmas Eve Services at Morris at 7:00 pm, then arrive at Susan and Tim's home after church to celebrate our Christmas as a family. This is always a joyous time, as there are lots of grandchildren and great-grandchildren and they are all eager for the evening of entertainment after sitting in church quietly for over an hour. Sue always has a beautiful array of finger foods, and every kind of Christmas cookie imaginable. As usual their home will be decorated to the "nines" with everything natural and smelling of pine wood in the wood stove and the freshly cut Christmas tree.

Christmas Day - all of the adult in my family will be here for dinner. Susan asked Lou to fix what he fixed last year, so we will be dining on a standing rib roast that he prepares with cranberry relish, ginger ale, and onion soup mix. It is a wonderful holiday presentation, of course, we will have the many favorite side dishes to compliment DH's main attraction. Deserts will be apple and pumpkin pie along with The Golden Lamb's Christmas Eve Pudding with rum sauce.

We will celebrate Christmas with Lou's family on the 27th of December. We will all meet at his house and they are also planning on finger foods. It sounds like it will be a quick gathering, as we will attend church in the morning, Lou and I are greeters this Sunday, and we plan on eating around 1:00 pm, and one daughter and her family have to head back to Harrisburg in the afternoon. It will be a smaller group than Thanksgiving, but we realize as family grow, more family obligations arise and different arrangements have to be made. There are two new babies in Lou's family and neither of them can attend this gathering. We certainly enjoyed them on Thanksgiving and it sounds like Ande and Denny are really enjoying the new role of grandparents. It certainly is a wonderful gift from God to all of us.

Hopefully, after the first of the year, things will be a little calmer, but I do realize we will have a busy month of January getting ready to head south the first part of February.

Enjoy your Christmas holiday....