MERRY CHRISTMAS

I sent out a few cards but I want to wish everyone who reads my blog a Merry Christmas. This homemade card was sent to me years ago by my friend Kathy who passed away unexpectedly last December. Not only did she make her own cards she also wrote an original poem to go with it. In honor and memory of her it is my card to all of you.

May the light that is Jesus Christ shine in your heart and give you comfort.
May His presence brighten your life and bring you Joy.
May our faith in God illuminate the world and lead us towards peace.

Merry Christmas

BEACH AT CHRISTMAS

 On Wednesday we went over to Crystal Rivers to check into NOMADS projects that have been scheduled there. Since we were close to the Gulf, and it was a nice warm day we went to the beach.

 It was amazing watching this flock of birds sweeping and swooping over the water.

 Then they landed on the beach.

 There sure was a lot of them.

 At first I thought they were gulls but I think they are oyster catchers.

 Then we were entertained with a wind surfer. He sure could fly through the water. I didn't go in the water, for it was a little breezy and cool. There were children playing in it and they didn't act as if it was cold.

 We stayed to watch the sunset.

 On the way home we watched the light show at the Citrus Tower.

The lights dance to the music. I love the lights of Christmas.

CELEBRATIONS

 I have been doing a 25 days of gifts this year for Larry and the granddaughters. Last year I did 25 books for the girls. This year I tried to do craft and school items - crayons, coloring books, paper, scissors, paints, stickers,etc. I had to have all theirs ready the middle of November to mail. Then I decided to do it for Larry since we will be flying to Philadelphia on Christmas Day and having to  open our gifts here before we leave. Each morning he gets a gift to open. Some are stocking type and others are bigger gifts.

 One was tickets to see this play on Friday night. It was at the Davenport theater which we have never gone to before.  It was a cute show, they all had good voices and played their roles well. It was a nice enjoyable evening.

 Saturday night we had a Christmas dinner for our Sunday School class at Vic and Karla's lovely home.

 Of course a gift swap is always a fun time. Roger had to open a lot of gifts, for his kept getting stolen.

 Our class has about 15 members, but not everyone was able to come.

 Karla gave Roger the last gift to be opened. A nice big picture. I wonder who will get it next year? !

 My gift to everyone was Grinch pills. Hopefully when eating one or two of my molasses cookies  they will take the Grinch right out of them.

 Sunday was a very full day starting with church at 8. Then Sunday school where we watched an interesting video about Harod, the king when Jesus was born. At noon we had a Celebrate Recover Leadership luncheon which I had volunteered to make the food.  I  had made a creamy turkey rice soup and  vegetable soup, which was great since it was our first cold day with temperatures in the low 40's.  I made this cake which I  learned how to from face book.

 You divided white cake mix into thirds and added food coloring to two of them It turned out OK , but I would like to try it again and I'm sure it would turn out  better next time.

Sunday ended with a beautiful concert by the choir at our church.  It was a full weekend of lots of Christmas celebration.

 On Tuesday the library in Clermont has had performances from 4 to 6. We went last Tuesday for this guitar concert. She gave away a guitar at the end of the show. It was her 49th guitar to give away.

 This Tuesday was a beautiful harp concert by Victoria Lynn Schultz.

 I  hope this video works so you can enjoy a bit of her music.

 My Christmas cactus are in bloom.

My peace lily has flowers this year. My prayer for all of  you is to know the peace that Christ offers to us all and to enjoy the beauty of the season. Merry Christmas

LIGHT UP CLERMONT

 Light up Clermont was the first weekend of December.  Friday night they lit the tree and all the decorations around the pond and on Saturday there was a parade. There were horses,

 lots of dancers and twirlers,

 youth groups,

 floats.

 Wishes  of Merry Christmas from all  around the world,

 and other galaxies.

 There were lots and lots of Star War characters

 and of course Santa came by.

Saturday evening we went to a service of Lessons and Carols at Clermont performing art center. We have gone for the past three years and it is a beautiful presentation of the Christmas story with readings from the Bible and songs sung by Montverde Academy choir.

GOING TO DISNEY

 We visited all of the parks at Disney in November. Forgot my camera at Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studio so sorry no pictures of our adventures there. We tried to go see Flight of Avatar at  Pandora at Animal Kingdom but after waiting in line for over 2 hours and then the ride not functioning fully we came to a stand still. We gave up and talked to the people at guest services and were comped with some open fast passes, but there are no fast passes for Pandora unless you are staying at a resort.  We went to Nemo, my favorite show.

 The actors and the puppets really become one, what talent.

 We then went to see the Lion King, Larry's favorite.

 It is another amazing show. Last we saw the River of Light show . I was more impressed with it then when we saw it right after it opened last year.

 The next day we went to Epcot and did Soaring and Frozen. It was the first night for the Candlelight processional.

 Beautiful voices singing the carols

and Laurie Hernandez (Olympic gymnast) read the Bible story of Jesus birth. A nice way to start the Christmas season.

PLAYS

I enjoy going to plays at community theaters. We saw the Odd Couple at Winter Garden, a female version. Then we went to Haines City and saw Joyous Ringers, a funny, rather sexy show. But the best play we have seen for awhile was at East Ridge High School. Seussical the Musical. Great acting, singing dancing, costumes.An enjoyable evening we were glad we went with our neighbors. We have found high school plays to be the best. East ridge is putting on Annie in January and I would recommend going.

BUILDING PROJECT

 When we were working at the African Inland Mission they were remodeling one of the homes. They were going to throw these cabinets away so we brought them home for the garage. Of course they didn't just fit in the space he had planed for them, so Larry had to do some modification.

 He filled the shelves as he built it to make sure everything fit in. The doors were hung when we realized it would be easier to paint them when they were off. So he took them down, removed all the hinges and knobs and we painted them.

 the doors painted and hung back up, even a little shelf above the door for the hedge trimmer.

Knobs on, shelves filled and garage more organized. Now if we get the roof to stop leaking we could rebuild the cabinet on the other side of the garage.

TRUNK OR TREAT

 The Saturday before Halloween the First UMC of Clermont had their Trunk or Treat. The town had activities for the children all day with a parade ending at our church at 6. It rained on and off for our trunk or treat but the heavy rain came later in the evening. Our Sunday School class' theme was crayons. I was a purple crayon and Larry was red.

 Members of our class. Vic, the green crayon, made the signs for the trunk.

 Dale and Nolene, she made the shirts. We had donated from a pizza parlor 250 little packs of crayons, the kids loved them. We also gave away tons of candy.

 Pastor Dawn and her little boy. C is for cookie, candy and Celebrate Recovery.

 They also had another trunk.

 Tommy, one of our CR leaders had music playing and is full of life.

This is just one row of our parking lot lined up with trunks. I wish I had taken a picture when the children were going around. They think we had about 5,000 children. Lots of fun for them and for us.