Old Christmas Traditions Passed Down

On the 25th, we had a wonderful Christmas gathering with my mom, stepdad, brother and his family up in Cincinnati.  I am very thankful for my family and the Christmas gifts we were able to give and receive there.

But for this post, I want to show a part of our Christmas here at Pure Water Hollow.  My Aunt Nancy passed away October of last year and my Grandparents passed away in 2006.  This Christmas, we were blessed to be able to use some of their favorite Christmas things, which made for a special celebration.

This is a plate from a beautiful set of dishes that I remember Grandma using for many Christmas dinners.  It is the Johnson Brothers "Friendly Village" pattern.  There is a wide assortment of pieces from this pattern that we now have, and were able to use for the Christmas dinner we had at Pure Water Hollow this year.  The silverware is a Christmas set that also belonged to Grandma and Nancy.

We had all the trappings of a fine Christmas dinner, including roast duck from one of the ducks we raised here at the homestead.  I thought the various "Friendly Village" platters and bowels really added something special.

Grandma also had an incredible Christmas villiage that she used to set up, consisting of dozens of buildings and very many accessories.  We now have some of them and they added to the Christmas mood around our home this year.  Of course, as we set them up and enjoyed the village, we thought of Grandma, Grandpa, and Nancy.

 

The Church on the hill

 Ivy Glen Church

 Maylie Cottage

 The Old Curiosity Shop & Rare Books

 Timothy's favorite was the train.

 The Poulterer

The Beard Barber

 The Green Grocer

 And there you have some of the Christmas momentos from Grandma's that are now in our family.  I miss Grandma, Grandpa, and Nancy but I treasure the time I had with them.  I am thankful for all the great memories I have from the past, and I'm looking forward to the new ones to be made in the future as we go on.

Merry Christmas!

2011 Fire Department Christmas Run

Last Sunday was the annual Christmas visit from Santa to our community with the assistance of our volunteer fire department. The weather cooperated this year, with a sunny afternoon and temperatures in the 40s. (The 2010 Santa Run was canceled last year because we were having such troubling winter weather.) It was a wonderful time for all involved! And the many families that came out to meet Santa and hear the caroling seemed to be very blessed!

This year the River homemakers joined us with the Christmas caroling and we used the 12 foot bed on our dump truck to house the carolers, sitting on bales of straw. It was somewhat of a parade atmosphere with a tuck in front of the procession with a flashing red light, followed by the big fire engine, sirens blazing and lights flashing, with Santa and some firefighters on the back, followed by our decorated caroling truck, and a smaller fire engine with lights bringing up the rear. Matthew drove the fire truck at the end of the line and I drove our dump truck.

We drove very slowly and stopped where ever folks gatherd. Santa passed out toys to the children that the fire department had collected, and the fire fighters passed out fruit baskets (bags) to the adults. The homemakers especially targeted the elderly of the community to sing and pass out fruit to.

Even though Santa was a part of this event, our prayer is that folks experienced the love of Christ through our efforts. Many "God Bless You"s were exchanged and most of the songs sung were the classic hymns about the birth of our Savior.

The caroling truck was decorated with Christmas lights and a tree!

The fire fighters were helping to pass out the gifts:

Here we are caroling at one of the houses. Most of the time we sang from the road, but this was a house that is up a long lane where we stopped, and it was easy to take pictures.

After a long night of spreading Christmas love and joy we assembled back at the fire house for some pizza and fellowship. Doesn't Rocky look cheery and festive?

I am glad that we got to participate again with this year's Christmas run!

Merry Christmas to all...