Happy New Year!

Well, my fellow I mean sister yayas, a new year that we are together. May the Lord come back this year and take us all away. It's been a blessing to have all of you as close friends. I love you and can't wait till our next visit with each other.. Love Tina

How was your Christmas?

How was everyone's Christmas?! Ours was just the five of us, and it was cozy and perfectly wonderful. We really missed having Kev's mom here, but it couldn't be helped. My quiet times have been sweet, I'm in the kitchen cooking or baking much of the time, and these precious days contain many moments of both sweet and sour. I wrote more about it on my blog, so I don't want to be redundant here.

I think of you all every day and hope your Christmas season is warm and wonderful, sweet and sane, long and lovely. I love you! XO

Happy Birthday, Lord Jesus!

For a child is born to us, a son is given to us. The government will rest on his shoulders. And he will be called: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. His government and its peace will never end.*

She gave birth to her first child, a son. She wrapped him snugly in strips of cloth and laid him in a manger, because there was no lodging available for them.**

And the one sitting on the throne said, “Look, I am making everything new!” And then he said to me, “Write this down, for what I tell you is trustworthy and true.” And he also said, “It is finished! I am the Alpha and the Omega—the Beginning and the End. To all who are thirsty I will give freely from the springs of the water of life. All who are victorious will inherit all these blessings, and I will be their God, and they will be my children.***

Happy Birthday, Lord Jesus!

...~*~...~*~...~*~...~*~...~*~...~*~...~*~...~*~...

*Isaiah 9:6-7 (NLT)
**Luke 2:7
***Revelation 21:5-7

2008 Christmas Tea

I just realized this is the first time we've celebrated Christmas and had a blog where we could document our tea! How fun is that?! Wish I'd gotten a picture of all the presents together 'cause they looked so pretty and decorative, but alas...

[Spoiler warning: Rosie, if you haven't opened your presents yet and don't want to know what they are, stop reading here.]

Thank you first to our beautiful hostess for the grand setting. If we paid for presentation, you would be quite independently wealthy. Wish I would've grabbed some of that ham wreath for the drive home--eeyum! Canada is so far, you know... I love my angel food cake pan. It's Kev's favorite cake, and now I have a pan for it. I'll make that delicious cake recipe for Christmas. You know how to do the whole package!

Thank you, G, for the giant bottle of Mexican Valium! I have slept SO well these past two nights! But seriously, thank you for this. I never buy the real stuff because it's too expensive, so this is truly a treat. And just in time for the kids to make snow ice cream! Leave it to our princess of fun and games! That you plucked your own rooster and brought homemade chicken noodle soup--funny, visual, and delicious!

Thank you, Chérie, for the fun of picking out our own personalized bracelets! It was like a game where everyone won! How like our Abba to delight and delight us. Cool that you got them a long time ago, and they're so personal for us right now. Could you guys put in the comments what yours said? I only remember G's. (Like G, I wanted to open Rosie's too, to know what it said!) Your artichoke dip is a homerun. I couldn't stop eating it--eeyum!

Thank You, our magnificient Abba, today for the gift of Us. You pour and touch and embrace us intimately and personally through the broken bread and poured out wine of our lives into one another. We revel in the perfectly imperfect love of familar friendship and kindred hearts. We celebrate the birth of our Emmanuel and offer our gratitude for Your ever-being with us. XO

Needs to learn to follow directions

So I learned something about myself today. I went back and read the last post. It says arrive around 10:30 or 11. Very open. I did not read past the 10:30. If I had, a) I would have not been surprised to be the first to arrive at 10:45, and b) I would have not worried so much about Cyndi because a) she was not THAT late, and b) our hostess was rather nebulous on the arrival time.

All of this does make me recall that in Kindergarten when the only grades you got were S (Satisfactory) and U (Unsatisfactory), I got a bunch of U's. One was for "Practices Self-Control". I remember this vividly and I am scarred. But surely, there must have been one for "Pays Attention" or "Follows Directions".

See, Tina, I have been a failure for a long time and I am not getting any better. Come sit in the corner with me. We can visit.

I love you, my YaYa's!!

It's a Go

Ok ladies, our time together will be sweet as usual, but we can't just eat sweets, but saying sweet things is always delectable. Our menu can be an annual thing, like what your family loves or what you love at this time of year, or maybe even what you've always wanted to try on others who are willing to say sweet things regardless of what you do, (that's my category). So, go for it, ok. Don't worry, it will work out great, and we will love the treat in every way.
In addition, bring whatever you want to make this a great memory for all. It's a TEA PARTY, or T Party, help me on this one Cyndi. See you around 10:30 or 11. TeeNuh

Oh Christmas Joy

Would you all like to come to my home next Friday, December 12 for our annual Christmas fellowship, frolic and fun time? I also think it would be great to either have a cookie exchange or make cookies together, or some activity like that. We would of course do lunch as we are used to doing... Hmm, I wonder what we should eat, and who should bring what, but not to worry, it will all work itself out in the right time, so let me say this:

You're cordially-(with much admiration, passion and resolve) invited,
to lift your spirits with your YAYA sisters,
at the home of Tina aka:Thinks Out Loud
on Friday, December 12
10:30 to ?

Please rsvp me.
Hope to see you soon

Oh yes, all gifts can be or should be or I would like to have: consumables, unless of course it is a Harold Bell Wright book.

Jacob's Wedding

Say Ya Ya's Athena and Jacob asked if we wanted to help do the food for their wedding. It is on April 26 th. She liked what Tina did at her daughter's wedding and asked if it was possible to do it again. What do you all think? Same menu. About 150 people. Please give me your thoughts. Thanks.

Thank you

Time is flying by. My desire is for all of you dear friends to know how much I deeply love you and appreciate you. You have blest me with love and acceptance, passionate friendships, and treasures for me in on earth and in heaven. Thank you for all the gifts. Each gift came from your heart with much thought for me. The cards were "catty" and others sentimental. The talk...Woah the talk. The open vulnerablity by all on the subject- date. My love all of you so very much and am looking forward to spending time with you during the holidays. With Love to all of you. Glenice
PS Who gets the hot seat next. I will be thinking of some questions. Rosie you better be here. Just kidding.