Christmas 2013

We Christmased at Cheryl's, and it was one of the most splendiforous Ya-Ya occasions that we have ever enjoyed! Everything was just right--not too much, not too little--just right. These are our comments:

My wonderful YaYa's -

I am basking in the after glow of our Christmas time together. I am in awe of your creativity, generosity and devotion. You are love expressed and I am humbled to be a recipient of it.

Thank you so much for the wonderful gifts. I am loving them more every minute. I cannot express my heart so well. But I am feeling so very loved.

May the rest of your holidays be as blessed as you have blessed me.

Kisses,
Cheryl


Ditto!!! [Tina]


I don't remember a more love-filled Christmas celebration than we savored yesterday. It was as if Love spilled out into the air and danced all around us with each and every gift. Just when I thought I couldn't contain any more Love, it kept on coming, and there was room for more! It felt like Jesus thought up all our gifts and blessed the hands that gave them so generously in His name, wrapped with His own Love. How could we not have been thus so rich and bathed in delight!

I love you all and am enjoying my gifts SO MUCH, especially the gift of time He managed for us. How wealthy are WE?!! I am a Ya-Ya! Out of the billions of people in the world who aren't--I am a Ya-Ya! I've never been one of the cool kids until you guys...

Love, Love, and more Love to you all! Merry Christmas! Happy birthday, Jesus!
xoxoLLL, ~c.


Good Morning My Lovelies,
Tina, Thank you so much for sending the pics of us individually. I looked at myself and was struck as to how much I really do look like my Mom. I see her beautiful face in mine, I see my Dads nose, my sister's chin. My whole family is wrapped up in this person of me. How cool is that!

I truly enjoy the time we share together "Thank you" everyone for all of my thoughtful gifts. God Bless you, have a warm Christmas.
rxo


It is my turn to now say "WOW"!  and Thank you for all the thoughtful gifts.  I do agree with Cyndi--I belong to the Ya Ya's!   My need to belong is wrapped up in all of you and of course my relationship with my Abba...  Thank you so very much for loving and accepting me. But I lost my sign that Tina made.  I may have left it is Cyndi's car.  But my eyes have not seen it and I miss it! Help me find my lost treasure.
Love all of you and Merry Christmas.

Love,
Glenice

[It did end up in my car. I will get it back to her somehow.]

Our gifts from Glenice & Rosie--

so creative & lovely!

Tina made wall hangings for us, Cheryl had photo mugs made, and I gave everyone a watch bracelet. Aren't we good to one another?!

Thank You, Lord, for Your amazing love lavished on each and every one of us, all the time! Happy birthday, Jesus!

Christmas 2012

Hey, Cyndi here!

We did the Davenport for our Christmas luncheon. It was gorgeous, and so were we. Presents, fine dining, and laughter like shiny ornaments added to our time together, which is always too short. We toured the second floor where gingerbread houses made by local businesses were displayed to this year's theme of Superheroes. Spiderman, Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, the Hulk, and other day-savers appeared in all but the grand champion. It was bedecked with a soldier in the center and rimmed with a policeman, fireman, doctor, pilot, EMT, and a couple of other military personnel. The banner read, "These are our superheroes."

Rosie had a final this day, so she couldn't join us, but we brought the party to her! We couldn't stay long because Glenice needed to pick up James at the bus station. That made the short time even sweeter because we crammed a whole lot of love and Christmas into one concentrated visit. I teared up saying goodbye because it'd been so long since I'd seen her.

We thank You, Lord, for these snow white times of holding heart and hand sweetly and tenderly. Thank You for Your manger Babe and all that You are for us. Happy birthday, dear Jesus, happy birthday to You. xoxo

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

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