CHRISTMAS HIGHLIGHTS 2022

A family outing to Cirque De Soleil's "A Magical Cirque Christmas" at The National Theatre in DC. 

My seat was dead center, with no one sitting in front of me. Short as I am, what an unexpected blessing that turned out to be.

A very generous early Christmas present from my daughter--an iPhone to replace my Android, so I can Facetime with my great-grands who I don't get to see very often. It also has a great camera, which I'm hoping will motivate me to get out more and start taking pictures again.

The first couple of test photos did not disappoint.

Last year we had to cancel Christmas because my daughter, son-in-law, and a couple of grandkids came down with Covid. This year, however, we all managed to stay healthy, and by God's grace, the weather forecast turned out to be wrong. They were calling for a large snow storm, to be followed by icy rain, which would have made travel treacherous if not impossible, but we were spared, and with the exception of one very cold day, the rest were beautiful and sunny. 

This is my grand-doggie, Oliver, who likes to chew things. He was grounded to the sofa the one day he was here, but he did not protest. Just watched us wistfully as we ate and opened gifts. (There were gifts for him too.)

There are many cute pictures I would have liked to share, but I am not allowed to post pictures of my two little great-granddaughters--except for facelesss ones like the one towards the end of this post. However, here is one of my daughter who was quite surprised to find her Christmas stockng filled with money, all the way down to the toe, and a couple of an older cousin showing her younger ones how to play with their toys.

These are my three New Jersey grandchildren who drove down (with my son and duaghter-in-law) to join us for a second celerbation the day after Christmas. I had not seen them in person since the pandemic. Well, I do see the granddaughter on a family book club Zoom every six weeks, but the boys--I hardly recognized them. They have changed so much.

Little Nico, my youngest geat-grandson, was the hit of both days. He got lots of cuddles as he was passed around from person to person. Everyone wanted a chance to hold him, including his big New Jersey cousin who was in awe that he actually did get a turn. It was the first time he had ever held a baby, he said, and I love this picture of the two of them. 

While the older kids ended the day playing games around the table, the two little great-grand girls went out to explore the woods behind my daughter's house. Soon they were back knocking on the door excited to show us what they had found. Wish I could show you the priceless looks on their faces, but I need to honor their paents' wishes, so this will have to do.

I am so grateful for my family, and that we were able to get together this year (except for the ones in Florida). Lots of happy memories were made.

And now it's time to wish you all a very Happy New Year. May the Lord bless you with the gifts of peace, joy, favor, and GOOD Health!

THE DIFFERENCE AN INSTANT CAN MAKE

This post was written for Five Minute Friday

Word prompt--INSTANT

Five minutes to free write about it

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To be honest, it took me much longer than five minutes just to decide which way to go with this prompt. INSTANT meaning the desire for instant gratification? Or INSTANT meaning living in a rush-rush world where technology has made so many things instant, where we have grown impatient and want everything now? Or, INSTANT meaning the things that can happen in the blink of an eye? 

I decided to go with the latter, because the unexpectedness of life has been much on my mind lately. I've been pondering how it only takes an instant for our circumstances to change. Sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worst. I personally have experienced many wonderful surprises, but also some challenging and even tragic ones when things I had taken for granted could not be taken for granted anymore. 

I think Albert Einstein had it right when he said, "The only thing we can be certain of in this life is that we can be certain of nothing." 

Well, he almost had it right. There is one thing we can be certain of, and that is that God is faithful and His Word is true. We can be certain that even when it may not look like it in the natural, He is in control, and we can put our trust in Him. We can be certain that He loved us so much that He sent Jesus to die for us on the cross, and that in the instant we chose to accept His gift of salvation, we are forgiven of our sins and receive the gift of eternal life. 

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.-- John 3:16, NIV

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast. -- Ephesians 2:8-9, NIV

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. -- Romans 6:23, NIV