Merry Christmas!

Every Christmas Eve, a neighbor leads a group of people who line half a block worth of street with luminaries for all to enjoy on their way home from Christmas Eve services. Tammy and the children, who are in the youth/"young" adult choir, sang three songs from City on a Hill for the Christmas Eve candlelight service and felt welcomed home by the soft light.

We spent Christmas Eve and Christmas Day moving into the new house and cleaning the old one (in between singing gigs). Well, we did not exactly move in because Tammy's brother and co-worker have to finish the kitchen, Pamela's bathroom, and the punch list. We put most of our stuff in storage a block from our house. We are "camping out" on mattresses on the floor in David's room, living out of suitcases, and surviving with minimal supplies in the kitchen. We have been slowly moving boxes and furniture into storage since Thanksgiving, so attempting this during the holydays was less traumatic than it could have been. We had to rent a U-Haul truck to move the appliances, which we dumped directly into the house to avoid moving them again!

We took a break on Christmas Eve after the service and celebrated the holiday in the German fashion. We lit the Advent wreath, and Tammy's father read the Christmas passages from the Bible. We sang Christmas carols, each person taking turns picking their favorite. Her mother even broke out the harmonica and played Stille Nacht. Then we opened the presents—that is right, we opened the presents on Christmas Eve! Viva la différence! We never complained about opening presents early as kids and neither do mine! Would you?

Living across the street from Tammy's parents gave us one fringe benefit. Her mother is a fantastic cook that would give Julia Child a run for her money. She cooked a wonderful meal for Christmas dinner: ham, deep fried turkey, mashed potato, a Momma Dip sweet potato recipe, mixed vegetables, homemade cranberry sauce, and biscuits, topped off with Italian love cake for dessert. Moving had built up a healthy appetite, and Steve even ate seconds! Dad says Mom's cooking is the reason why he will never run away from home.