Christmas Music

From about noon today until early evening we heard continual Christmas music televised on PBS Bloomington Channel 30. We heard many choirs, bells and organ music from various sources including the 82nd annual Purdue University Christmas celebration, the Raleigh Ringers, Indianapolis Symphonic Choir, the Boston Pops, Diane Bish at the organ and a few others.

Mostly the music was playing in the background as Nancy, Joe and Dustin joined us for Christmas dinner. There was no snow on the ground but the skies looked like it would rain. There is a little ice on the pond in front of our apartment and lots of geese walking on the ice and some were swimming where the ice has melted.

Joe,  Nancy, Ruth, Ray with Dustin in front

Since Kylie, Josh & Jayden moved to Ohio not long ago, they weren't here for Christmas but are planning a weekend visit sometime in January.

A Cub hat to celebrate the Championship

When I think back to Christmases past our 2016 Christmas celebration was quiet and fitting to our stage of life. There was no wrapping paper to pick up. No toys to assemble and not even a football game to watch. But it was peaceful and relaxing. We ended the day with watching the PBS movie "Anne of Green Gables" recorded earlier.

It's All About the Weather

Maybe we are pampered and unprepared, but winter has arrived. Last Tuesday we had our first measurable snowfall of the season. It wasn't a huge amount but the most since March 2015. This morning the low temperature was -1 F which happens to be the lowest December reading since 2004 and the coldest since February of 2015.

Yesterday morning our car's windshield was covered with ice and Ray could not scrape it off. Just a few days earlier I had researched ways to remove frost from the windshield and this knowledge came in handy. We were fortunate to have some rubbing alcohol in the bathroom. The recommendation is to mix 1/3 alcohol to 2/3 water and spray the solution on the windshield. We improvised and used a commuter coffee mug to pour the solution on the windshield.

The day before, on Saturday morning, we headed to downtown Indy leaving about 9 a.m. There were reports of many slideoffs and as we drove around town we lost track of the number of vehicles in ditches or abandoned on the side of the road. Fortunately for us, the worst of that storm had passed and we only encountered wet pavement and some light rain.

Our destination was Lucas Oil Stadium for the annual Bleed Blue Blood Drive. My appointment was 10 a.m. and we arrived in plenty of time. This was my first time for this event and I was amazed at the number of people though I suspect some of the early appointments didn't make it because of the weather and road conditions.

Standing in about the middle of the crowd.
Just as many chairs to the right.

Activities were going on the Stadium floor as you can see in this photo.

This was a perfect opportunity for families with children
 or young adults to participate in activities on the stadium floor.

As we left, I picked up an Adam Vinatieri signed football, a thank you gift for blood donors.

Earlier in the week, we attended the annual choir cantata and I happened to be in the balcony taking a photo of the Chrismon tree when the choir posed for a photo.

They had just finished their warmup
and posed before the program began.

Here's the tree:

Chrismon Tree

On our way home we passed the new event venue built this year and noticed the full moon shining just above the Barn at Bay Horse Inn and took this photo.

A year ago this lot was covered with
many large trees that were bulldozed
away to make room for the Barn.

We don't have a mantel so there are no stockings hung, but every day we enjoy listing to Christmas music. 

Recollections from the Last Two Weeks

It's been a week since Advent Glow, a tradition at church for the women of the congregation and their friends. Once again, I hosted a table. The hostess provides the decor for her table, dessert for everyone at her table and also prepares appetizers to share with everyone. The planning committee invited a women's group, Soul Purpose, to provide entertainment and they presented a beautiful program.

A portion of the guests who attended

Soul Purpose sang several selections and harmonized beautifully

A few days before Advent Glow I finally tackled a repair that I had put off way too long. Grandson Dustin's sweatpants needed a zipper replaced at the ankle (the original zipper was broken). Years ago I was comfortable installing zippers, but couldn't remember how to sew an invisible one. Thankfully, I found a You Tube video that explained exactly how to install one using an ordinary zipper foot. I was happy with the results as was Dustin to have his pants back again.

Nancy had outpatient surgery on the Friday before Advent Glow and wasn't able to attend. She's still waiting on the report from the surgeon but his comment as she came out of anesthesia seems to indicate that it will be a good report.

Lately, our ink jet printer was giving me error messages. I spent some time talking to a tech but couldn't solve the problem. The error message seemed to indicate there might be a paper jam. But we haven't had one. The error began showing up consistently even after printing only one page and since Ray couldn't use the printer for some strange reason, we decided it was time to get a new one. While Ray was watching Oklahoma play Oklahoma State I went shopping and came home with a new printer. I had looked online and had pretty much decided what to buy. We had it installed and were again printing later that evening. Hooray for us! Didn't even have to call tech support. Two days before purchasing the printer we had picked up ink cartridges for the old one. Fortunately, we hadn't opened the package and were able to get a refund.

On Thursday we had free tickets (for seniors) to see "It's a Wonderful Life" at the Artcraft Theater in Franklin. It's been many years since seeing the movie on TV and we both enjoyed seeing it on the big screen. Great movie! On our way, we stopped at the post office to mail Christmas gifts. Mission accomplished!

Speaking of movies, we recorded Hairspray and watched it several days later. Quite a feat to perform this on live TV but I think the cast did a great job. Can't remember if I ever saw the movie version.

Several months ago Ray picked up hickory nuts during his afternoon walks and we had them hanging in the closet to cure. Yesterday, he decided to crack some to check on their quality. They were very nice and this afternoon he finished picking out the nuts.

Crack them outdoors and
pick out the nuts indoors

We now have about a quart of nuts in our freezer

This afternoon we joined about a dozen or so members of Concordia to go Christmas caroling. First, we had soup and sandwiches for lunch. I made a Sausage Barley Soup that also had chopped spinach as a main ingredient.

Singing at a Nursing Home where a
member of Concordia resides

Finally, a big disappointment for Colt fans this afternoon. They lost for the 2nd time to the Texans this season and are probably out of contention for any post season playoffs.

One other interesting tidbit -- we live in an apartment building and have three close neighbors but since we all seem to come and go at different times, we wouldn't recognize any if we saw them in the grocery store or elsewhere. After living here for a year and a half we recently had two instances where a neighbor knocked on our door. What was the reason? One wanted a piece of aluminum foil for some food he was preparing and the second person only needed an ounce of butter or margarine. We were happy to help! But which door would we knock on if we needed to ask a favor?