December ~ and so ends another decade

Roses in December.

 

They were a bright spot on foggy mornings 

and reminded me of the old Christmas carol we used to sing...

'Lo, How A Rose E'er Blooming'.

December is always a good time for getting together with family and friends.

A highlight over the past dozen or so years is a MGCC Christmas party.

Julie hosted us this year...

a delightful evening with a wonderful group of friends.

Ellen drove many hours from eastern Washington for the evening.  We had a good laugh when we noticed that we were dressed like twins once again. I found a photo from a few years ago where we also showed up in similar outfits.

  

Our small group from church always has a Christmas party of some sort...

and this year it was at our place. 

It seems we have dealt with a lot of hardships in this group over the past year...

but this was one evening when we put our cares aside and 'made merry'.

Laughter is the best medicine!

I had company in the house this December.

Elmer had surgery on his right wrist at the beginning of the month (wrist fusion)...

and couldn't do much of anything besides read and watch TV for the first while.  

I was his 'right-hand man'.

He is on his second cast, back to driving now and looking forward to having a pain-free and functional wrist again.

Dad had a bout of pneumonia just before Christmas...

and we weren't sure if he would be up to going out at Christmas.

He was able to join us on Christmas Eve...

and quite thrilled with his new Rosevale Farms cap.

On Christmas morning we had brunch...

and opened gifts.

Ranen and Micah played us some lovely Christmas tunes on their violins.
What a gift!

Unbeknownst to them...
my friend painted up some lovely portraits of Emme and Spencer from photos that I sent her.
They unwrapped them on Christmas Day.
Did she not do a great job?

Boxing Day was a snow day.
Not at our place...

...but after a 45 minute drive to Chilliwack Lake we found plenty of snow.

It was a great place to build a snowman...

...but not quite so good for having a picnic.

We opted to have a tailgate lunch!

I had planned to do a year-end blog post...
but since my computer is 'on the fritz' right now and my photos are inaccessible..

I will just add a collage of a few reminders of the happenings of 2019.



As the sun sets on another year...
I am thankful to God for His faithfulness.

How reassuring to know that He holds 2020 in His hands.

Thanks for all the visits and comments throughout the year.
Wishing you all a Happy New Year!