Christmas Eve is here!

Today was a very special day. Not much going on but just the fact that it is Christmas Eve made it special. The mailman was late and when she finally got here, she brought 3 packages. Two of the packages contained my Christmas present from Jim, James and Bill. I wondered why they were so anxious for the mail to arrive! I went shopping this afternoon for things to put in James' stocking. He insists that Santa will bring him things in his stocking. I found a Batman figure that has moveable parts. I even saw a Batman cap (baseball cap). I almost bought it but remembered that he would want to wear it every day! So guess what I got instead... 1 package of 10 bars of Ivory soap!!! He loves to use Ivory and his dad hides the extra soap since he uses so much. I am going to tell him he can use all 10 bars at once if he wants to!! And I got a package of 4 new handkerchiefs. He doesn't like to use kleenex. The problem is he forgets and discards the handkerchiefs and they soon disappear. Now just think about this; a batman figure, handkerchiefs and 10 bars of soap! Who but James would want all that in a stocking.

Some family friends dropped by with gifts for James to put under the tree. One was a bright red shiny, jeweled Christmas ornament from a church friend Ruth Anderson Inman (who is almost 90). She is the step mother of the writer Bob Inman from Charlotte, NC. She brings him a new ornament every year - always red since that is his favorite color. Our neighbor Pat brought him 3 different varieties of bubble gum in a Christmas bag. Another neighbor brought him a 4-piece ceramic train that he has on the table by his TV set.

Tonight we went to communion at church. As we arrived a large gathering of the Stephens family was leaving - Daniel and Rhonda Jacobs Stephens and their children and grandchildren,  and Daniel's sister Lucia Grantham and her children, grandchildren and her ex-husband Kenneth attending with them. What a great family coming to worship. We were there with Doug and Elaine Vaughan Martin and 2 of their grandchildren. As we were leaving another large family group was entering the church. This was such a special time to go kneel at the altar and receive communion from our pastor and good friend, Stanley Carter.

The best part of today was receiving an email from our youngest son who arrived in London yesterday with his 3 daughters after travelling all night from Charlotte, NC to visit relatives of his deceased wife. A bad fog made getting from Gatwick airport to north of London a 5 hour journey by train and bus. Took almost as long to get to sister in law Julie's house as it did to cross the Atlantic! Then today we received from Bill a photo of the girls taken before they left on their trip. Nerissa (18), Katie (16) and Caroline (12). It has been 11 years since their mother died and they keep in touch with her family as much as possible. They return Jan. 3rd.