It's going to be quite a week.Claire and I are preparing and hosting three Christmas dinner parties (Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday evenings) and Claire has her traditional Christmas tea for the ladies of her family on Saturday.
We also have the quarterly Board meeting of Vital Signs Ministries tonight at our house where we'll serve chili or pizza or lasagna -- haven't decided yet -- along with going over a pretty broad agenda.
The Notting Hill Napoleons meet this week too but that's over at the Maleks'. I've yet to read the book but that's not until Friday night so I still have a chance.
There are a lot of items on the daytime to-do list for this week too. They include a time of praying at the Planned Parenthood facility, finishing the December LifeSharer letter and getting it mailed, the regular visits to my Mom, the regular blogging, writing some Christmas cards, sending out Christmas gifts to siblings, preparing the Christmastime sermons for Faith Bible Church, and presenting to three different care facilities the Yuletide edition of "When Swing Was King."
Fortunately Christmas decorating is all finished over here. Claire does the inside exquisitely even though it seems to be a bigger job every year. For instance, this year, we have two large trees -- one upstairs and one on the ground floor. And, the very day before we got hit by the snow and 40 mph winds, we got the lights on the house up and the lighted nativity scene on the front lawn. Whew.
Last week we had our first dinner party of the season. We served up a Belorussian beef stew served in bowls bought in Minsk, rye bread, salad, cheese, cherry dessert and tea served from the samovar. The week also saw three "lunches out" with friends at, respectively,Cascio's, Five Guys Burgers & Fries, Jason's Deli.
On Saturday we hosted a luncheon party for 8.
What else? Well, yesterday's sermon was the first in a Christmas series. We've managed to squeeze in a few Christmas movies over the last month -- last week's list was Miracle on 34th Street, Holiday Inn and the 1938 version of A Christmas Carol. We're frequently listening to Christmas music as well...besides the numbers we feature in "When Swing Was King." And I'm reading Dickens when I get a chance.
We've also decorated Mom's nursing home room complete with a sparkling candle light in the window -- twice! There's a story why but I don't have time to tell it now. Too much to do for this week's Christmas schedule! See you tomorrow.