Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Christmas Day 2012-What a Wonderful Day!!



I will admit right here -right now - I was pretty nervous to see Christmas day arrive. Why you should ask? This was to be, our first Christmas away from our family. How would I survive without the grands and the kids. Our house was usually swarming on Christmas eve and Christmas day and yes on Boxing day also. I would be running around like a chicken with my head cut off making sure everything was perfect for everyone. Isn't that 'mama's' job? How would the kids survive without us? 
Well we survived and had the best christmas we could have ever hoped for..and guess what?-all the family survived without us! Isn't that wonderful.
I chuckled when I saw this posting on our daughters-Facebook status...all my hard work wasn't in vain.

I now know why when I was a kid my mom always looked so frazzled & tired at Christmas. Moms (& dads sometimes too) do all the work and the fat guy gets the credit!!
Served supper for 9 tonight - ham, turkey, gravy, 3 kinds of stuffing, carrots, squash, turnip, 2 pumpkin pies and a cheese cake. I'm tired! Off to put my feet u and ignore my destroyed kitchen.

On another note - thanks mom (and dad) for all my wonderful Christmas memories as a kid, I know now what it takes since having my own kids. Xo's...

Christmas eve we had our neighbour Debbie over for lunch and can you guess what we had?

Yes I brought some East Coast Maritime Lobster with me just for  Christmas Eve

We wrapped the few gifts we had gotten for each other, and hit the bed fairly early, as we needed to be up really early to facetime with our daughter and family to see the 'santa' openings. We truly felt like we were right there! Just before signing off I noticed a message on skype from our good friends Linda and Jim back home so we hopped on there for a couple of minutes and wished each other a very merry christmas.
There was no room to put the bikes under the tree but the quilting machine is under the steering wheel ...there was room for lots of bling tho :)

Last week I noticed in the local online newspaper the Caloosa Bell that they were seeking volunteers at the Labelle Legion to help prep and serve meals to shut-ins, seniors and the less fortunate. What a good idea  so I immediately called and signed us up. I had to choose between church service and volunteering -and it didn't take me long to decide this is also a wonderful way to worship. 
yes my crazy Elf is "The Christmas Story" crazy-last year he got the leg lamp and our daughter found this shirt this year.

Nice Jammies from Old Navy
We quickly opened our presents had some breakfast hopped in the shower, grabbed our aprons and off we went to Labelle. Our friends in Lehigh, Debbie and Kenny met us there. It was very well organized, we filled up 650 turkey dinner trays with all the trimmings, plus salad and dessert, and the volunteer drivers loaded up their cars, trucks, and vans and headed out the door with their delivery lists. What fun we had.
Myself and Deb at the legion

Kenny and Rick counting cake

filling the trays


They were offering us bloody marys and screwdrivers and beer (after all it was a legion) but we opted to 'wait' until all the dinners were packed. What a good feeling, and I sure didn't have time to be lonesome we were all so busy bantering with each other~the Christmas music was playing and we were definitely all in the Christmas spirit. After the task was completed...we all sat for a beverage, and somehow my sweet toothed elf managed to 'charm' some left over brownies out of someone.

The breakfast of Champions-Beer and Brownies

The four of us returned back to the resort around 1pm, where we sat out in the beautiful weather for a couple of hours.
Look Lilly Sant left us more toys at Auntie Debbie and Uncle Kenny's house..yipeee
Then it was time to head on over to the club house for our Christmas Dinner. And what a feast it was! There were over 50 people in attendance and we all took a gift for the yankee swap. Our neighbour Debbie also joined us at our table. Food was very abundant, and we thoroughly enjoyed the fellowship! There were lots of laughs.
Our friends Deb and Ken provided a wonderful snack platter, and I made my famous Sweet Potato Casserole (which I forgot to take a picture of)






We returned home, and it was time to track down the other kids. We called our east coast son who doesn't use skype (he was at his sister's for dinner earlier, and I'm sure she was thoroughly impressed Don that you gave the little girlies harmonicas for Christmas, hope you waited till after she fed you)~and we skyped with our other sons and our son in law who were way out on the west coast of Canada. So before bed we had pretty much covered the family. We were in bed fairly early as we were beat...tired but content and fullfilled. Today it is extremely warm but also very very windy. We took down the tree and put all the decorations and gifts away. Rick has been tying down awnings, and Debbie next door has been gathering up wheel covers that are blowing around. Why folks would go away for Christmas and not put their awning away is beyond my understanding. We couldn't get one to roll up (Rick thinks the arm is bent from the wind) so he took our tie downs over and secured it in the down position. I sure hope the owners will be able to fix it. I see that you all had a wonderful Christmas also, with family and or friends..and for those of you who are travelling ...be safe out there!!! Thank you for stopping by, I'm now off to put my feet up, and do nothing...tomorrow we are heading down to spend the day with Deb and Ken and will definitely be getting some shopping in.
Elaine
Rick Tucker and Lilly


















































18 comments:

  1. What a busy day you had! Very special of you to volunteer to pack meals, a special blessing not only for the folks receiving the dinners, but for you too!

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  2. I don't think you could have fit one more thing in on Christmas day.

    Thank God for people like you two. What a wonderful way to celebrate Jesus' birth by helping others. Thank you for sharing your time and talents.

    Beer and brownies...works for me.

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  3. WOW that is a busy busy Christmas day. Isn't it wonderful to be thanked by your children for the hard work that is parenting now that they know all about it! And on facebook no less. Sure wish I could have dropped by for that fabulous looking lobster lunch. So glad everything turned really well for your first Christmas on the road.

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  4. Such a busty productive day you had, and the wonders of skype make it work pretty good too.

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  5. Yum! Lobster! And the meal you volunteers put together had to be truly memorable for the guests. Nice touch on Christmas day.

    You very own RV park dinner looked scrumptious too. So, after communicating with your Cannuckian family, you owe yourselves a big heaping rest.

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  6. Happy to hear that you had a very Merry Christmas. Nice idea to go out and help with the turkey dinners, I am sure the people that recieved them, really enjoyed them.

    We pull our awning in every night, you just never know when the wind is going to pick up.

    Kevin and Ruth
    www.travelwithkevinandruth.com

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  7. Sounds like a wonderful Christmas. Love the idea of serving the needy.

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  8. sounds like you had a great Christmas!!! even with not being surrounded by your family you made the most of the day!!

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  9. It sounds like you not being there for Xmas helped your kids appreciate you even more! Well-done. Nice idea to volunteer.

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  10. A nice FB tribute from your daughter, lobster rolls and volunteering. What a great Christmas you had! Topping it off with beer and brownies, priceless :)

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  11. How nice that all your efforts were recognized. Your children appreciate you as well as the community. Well done!

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  12. Great experience to help at the legion. Bet you made new friends too. We use SKYPE to communicate with our families in Europe. What a blessing SKYPE has become.

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  13. You two are simply amazing. Your energy levels are huge but your hearts are even larger.So happy to have you in our lives dear friends.

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  14. What a wonderful way to spend Christmas--I admire you guys for doing that! And for helping out your wayward neighbor awnings! Hope the New Year brings you good health and lots of happiness.

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  15. What a great Christmas celebration. Lobster, beer and brownies - now there's a Christmas combo I've never heard before!

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  16. I love it that you volunteered for others on Christmas day! I've often thought of doing a soup kitchen on Christmas, and now you've inspired me to follow through. Happy New Year!

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