Saturday we were at our church, Clover FUMC, for our family Christmas, which we always celebrate the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Back after Christmas lst year my friend Sharon Shores Young told me about these ornaments with family names on them, and I ordered one for each of my siblings. This was Meg and Mike’s, obviously.

Group photo. Many thanks to Lexi, June’s friend who joined us for the day, but being the photographer. Front row are our littles: Nate & Diane’s Marissa & Daniel, Greg & Tabitha’s Lynleigh, Nate’s oldest Mia, Greg & Tab’s Whitley-Grace & Mackinsey, Nate’s Callie. They all had so much fun being together. In the charis are Jeff, Meg, Sherri, me, Zollie, Renee, Boo, Amy, & Andy. Standing are Sher’s granddaughter Rozzie holding her one-year-old Eowyn, Samara, Ben, Kristin, Isaac’s friend that I can’t remember his name, Zoee, Isaac, Amber, Mike, Clara, Charlie, Nathan, Diane, Adam, Clara, Greg, Leesy, Jenny, Andrew, June, & Addie. Everyone couldn’t be there – there was a lot of sickness this year – but we were so thankful for the ones that were.

We had a little bit of an eventful Thanksgiving last week. Just as everyone started arriving and getting their food unloaded, our toilets started overflowing, so Addie called Lindee really quickly & we headed out to celebrate the holiday at their house. They were very welcoming and luckily we are a flexible group, so it was still such a fun day. The group picture was made this year on Lindee & Jackson’s front steps. Front row is Hope Riorday, Clara, June, & Mallory. Second row is Mason, Cinnamon, Lindee, Mike, & Meg. Back row is Lee, Dennis, Addie, Jackson, & Jeff.

Loving cousins…

Last Monday Jeff & I headed to Columbia, where we took Mallory to breakfast & then spent the day walking around the Five Points area of the city until Mal had to be at class at 2:30. So, so much fun. We checked out a new-to-us restaurant, The Flying Biscuit, and it was yummy. I got this picture of sweet Mal while we were waiting for our breakfast.

I loved the oilcloth on the tables there – it was such a cute place.

Our church has an excellent Veterans Committee, and they really celebrate Veterans Day in a beautiful way. This table with this poem are set up in our lobby every year on the Sunday closest to November 11.

All of the veterans who are there that day are invited to go up to the front of the church and are presented with a gift made by the committee members, with the children and youth helping to pass them out. It is a really special day.

The past few months I have been getting CSA boxes from Bush N Vine, our local produce stand, and our cat Hal has absolutely loved them.  A brand new perfectly sized bed every week! 🙂

We had the best time at the annual cousin gathering that Cousin Carolyn hosted at her house in Snellville, GA, a week ago Monday. Her house is absolutely like a museum, & I LOVE her room where she displays all of her Funko collection, along with other goodies she has collected over the years. I could spend hours just looking around in here.

Group photo before we started dispersing. It is just such a precious time.

Sunday a week ago we celebrated All Saints Sunday at church. I had a brick placed in our memorial garden there at church in Momma’s name, to join those in Daddy’s and Harry’s names.

Another great family day. I got this picture of these cousins before we left the garden. Clara and Elise do love each other so much.

We celebrated with lunch back at our house, and had a little surprise retirement party for Andy, who had just retired the Friday before. It was a special day in so many ways.

Last Saturday while Jeff was in Indiana I went with some friends from church out to eat lunch and to attend a presentation at the Rose Hill Cemetery, put on by the Historical Society. They do this every other year, and there are different themes – one of the friends with us said she had been to one of them one year that talked about the Revolutionary War. This year the theme was Circus. Back in the early 1900’s there were two circuses that wintered in York, and it was so interesting learning about the history of them, and of the circus performers who retired to York and made it their home. They did a great job presenting the stories – fun afternoon.

That evening I was able to get to Clara’s soccer game in Lowell – the first time I’d been able to see her play this season. She was playing goalie, which I haven’t seen her do in years, but both of the regulars were out of town. She did a good job, & we won 3-1 (I think. I know we won, just now sure about the score 🙂 )

Last week Lesley was in town from San Diego, and we had a gathering so all who could make it could hang out with her. I did get this picture of Jeff’s Halloween display before I cleared it off the table for folks to eat. My very favorite TV show is Bones, so he said he put this together so I could work on bones and pretend I was on the TV show 🙂

Group shot before folks started to leave. From left are Lesley, Andrew, Adam, Gary, Jenny, Meg, Sherri behind Clara, Mike, Lindee, & Elise. It was a fun evening.