3rd. day of Christmas...

Fr. Luke did an excellent job at the first service on Christmas eve, and was very welcoming to the over 1300 people in attendance. Another 400 packed the church hall for a separate mass done at the same time. The choirs did a great job as well, and it was so nice to see all the college kids home with their families...we did a lot of 'catching up.' Thanks so much to Debby for the wonderful chocolates. After I took a few of my favorites out, the rest were quickly eaten during a rousing game of Scribblish, with a large group including hungry college kids:) Thanks also to Peter for the treat of baklava, which didn't last long either. Mike also stopped by with homemade caramels, toffee and peanut butter balls. So neat to have such nice neighbors! And by the way Jon...the rum balls and almond cookies were REALLY good. We had a few of Paul's favorites as well, including liver pate, and spinach and artichoke dip. Nothing special for a meal, just a nice ham and all the fixings. Elle and I again made homemade bread which we toasted with cinnamon in the morning, and then enjoyed in the evening with the meal. Thanks to Eva for remembering to use our pretty Christmas plates too! We look forward to Elise and Belle visiting soon, while James is traveling abroad. We already have plans for Nutcracker at the Paine Art Center in Oshkosh, and a holiday open house here. We've been shoring up our plans for the Rose Bowl party on Saturday, and have lots of cute ideas of how to incorporate roses into the decorations and the food. Can't wait to see our good 'football' friends from Valders and Manty. A 'shout out' here to Trevor and his Mom, for dropping off a basket of Spanish cookies and treats, in keeping with Elle's 'Rosie' character from Bye Bye Birdie. What a nice gift, and a great memory of the show for Elle! Off to do a little work now, make an appointment for a tire rotation, and then back home to WII dance with Liyah and Elle. Did we have fun last night! Got a good work out too. Then Elle and I bowled...my score was 253 and Elle's was 203. Then we bowled with opposite hands for more of a challenge. Waiting for our Zumba WII now, which was back ordered, but it's on the way. Since the weather is making it challenging to do much outdoors, we are having a great time with the WII inside:)