Christmas in Pennsylvania

After spending several days in Ohio, it was time to visit Dad’s side of the family in Pennsylvania. It was very special this year because our cousins from Florida drove up to visit!

December 27

When we arrived, we enjoyed lunch together and caught up with everybody. Then it was time to exchange gifts!

Rubia with her embroidery kit and new fleece sweater.

As usual, it was a pleasantly messy chaos during gift-opening time! J The rest of the evening was spent enjoying a dinner of sub sandwiches, and playing lots of games with our cousins!

December 28

The next morning, our Uncle said he wanted to go out to the lake and drive around. He had 8 eager children plus our Dad wanting to go along with him. J Here we are in front of the bay. It was frigidly cold out! The temperatures were in the 20’s and the wind chill helped plunge it even lower.

We drove around looking at duck blinds, and after some begging from us kids, we drove to the pier to see the lighthouse. After a long walk to the end of the pier while avoiding black ice, we posed for a quick picture before dashing back towards the cars for warmth.

Our last stop was the lake shore. The wind was so strong, it created huge waves and numbed our faces, teeth, and any other exposed body parts in less than 30 seconds. But it was exhilarating! As I stood by the roaring breakers, being pushed about by the powerful wind, it reminded me of how powerful our God is! He is the one who created all these things and He controls them.

When we arrived home and thawed out, we enjoyed another Christmas dinner! We had a feast of honey-glazed ham, vegetable casserole, sweet potato casserole, green Jell-O fruit salad, rolls with butter, herbed corn, crackers with hummus, and chocolate milk. Delicious!

This picture isn’t great, but this is where we kids spent most of our evenings playing games together. We played a huge variety of games including card games, Monopoly, Twister, and lots more!

December 29

We had a delicious breakfast of cinnamon rolls, blood oranges all the way from Florida, hard-boiled eggs, and milk. Now that’s a good way to start the day!

The morning was spent at home playing with the Dance Praise, watching movies, and other indoor activities. Later in the afternoon, someone mentioned going to the train tracks. Dad, my Aunt D, and us kids all decided to walk out in hopes of seeing a train. Here Josiah and our cousin T are ready with T’s slingshot.

Cousins!

A group shot of us kids. It was very cold, and we didn’t stay at the tracks long since it was getting dark. We were heading home across the cornfields when we heard a train whistle. Back we ran to the tracks, only to find that the train was on a different track about ¼ of a mile away. We finally turned around and went home to bowls of steaming hot chili and English Muffin bread.

After dinner it was time for an updated family photo! We used to take one every Christmas, but we have gotten out of the habit in the past few years.

We were sorry to leave the next day, along with our cousins heading back to Florida. We had a wonderful visit and made lots of memories! We look forward to the next time we can have a family get-together!