We Awakened to a White Christmas!

When we went to bed on Christmas Eve, the world was brown and plain; when we woke up on Christmas morning, the world was white and magical. It was also cold as gee-whiz golly, so I chose not to brave the wind and cold to hunt for magical snow pictures.

So instead of beautiful snow scenes, I offer pictures of our Christmas activities…and perhaps a few shots of the snow.

Looking through the front door to the outside lights in the snow.

Looking out the back door at the snow.

The tree and presents before the assault on the packages.

Mari checks out the aftermath of the gift-opening.

The stockings are emptied.

Ben, Maya, and their dog Harper play in the snow.

Peaches wasn’t sure about the strange dog-Harper-and extra people in her house, so she took refuge up high so she could survey the situation.

Bill, Maya, Erin, AJ, Ben, Colten, Caroline, and Neil chowed down on Christmas dinner. I’m not in the picture, but my plate of food is!

And after dinner, AJ’s disease- you know the one; after his tummy is full, his eyes close- hit him and his dad.

We ended the evening with the card game of Wizard, which brought out the vicious competitor in all of us. Maya was the big winner-twice.

I think everyone had a good time, but I know Bill and I did.

My almost antique nativity set, bought by me at Boring’s Variety Store in Rosenberg when I was about seven years old, and which has been displayed every Christmas since.

To paraphrase Tiny Tim, God did indeed bless us all.

 

Feeding the Masses at Our Church Ministry Dinner

Well, maybe not the masses, but a mass of people enjoyed a turkey dinner on December 10th at First United Methodist Church in Muleshoe.

This is the fourteenth year we have invited quite a variety of people to share a meal with us: residents of the nursing home, Meals on Wheels recipients and carriers, Harmon Elliot/Muleshoe Housing Authority residents, community volunteers from Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, the fire department, police, hospital volunteers, people with limited mobility, people who might be going through a rough time, people who need someone to wish them a Merry Christmas, people we wanted to remember during the Christmas season.

Our pastor Mindy McLanahan and Jay Messenger.

This dinner all began when the church was looking for a hands-on ministry to the community, touching lives and, we hope, making a difference. According to Jay Messenger, it is a way for church members to share their blessings with others, and in the process, be blessed themselves.

Toby and Raelyn Kitchens loaded with carry-out deliveries to make.

The first year of the dinner Jay and Victor Leal got things started, served 125 people, and ran out of food before the workers could share in the bounty. This year 380 plates were filled, 280 of them being delivered. Meals are always delivered, but this year marked an unusually large number of deliveries due to the cold weather. For several years running the number of meals served has reached anywhere from 400 to 450.

Magann Rennels looks over the delivery lists.

Bill makes a delivery to Mae Bell.

Invitations go out to people, but Magann Rennels is one of the volunteers who is key in making the deliveries a success.  Over the years she has generated a master list and makes over 200 calls  and does not ask people if they would like to be served; instead she asks how many plates do you need? She knows all the tricky little details, like who is hard of hearing and will need several knocks or rings of the door bell, who has trouble walking and will need time to answer the door, and where some hard to find houses are located.

Cliff Black is in charge of the food.

This meal does not rely on committees or weeks of detailed preparations, which is part of the appeal and the success of the project. All of the work is more of less done behind the scenes, which makes it easy to participate and share with the community. Jay waits until someone asks, innocently, “Are we going to have the ministry dinner again this year,” which sets the wheels in motion. Jay makes announcements during church, volunteers sign up on their own for various jobs, Cliff Black takes care of the details of the food, Magann makes the calls, the KFC (Kids For Christ after-school program) kids make cards or refrigerator magnets to deliver with the meals, and it all mysteriously comes together.

Bill and I made some deliveries, so lots of people came and left while we were gone, but here is just a sampling of the activity during the dinner.

So next year someone will again wonder if we are going to do the ministry dinner, and sure enough, we will do the dinner again. And everyone will go home with their tummies full and their hearts blessed. And that’s a good thing.

Merry Christmas!

 

Thanks to Jay Messenger for helping with information for this article.

The Christmas Parade and Heritage Center Open House

Muleshoe had their annual Christmas parade and the Heritage Center had their annual Christmas open house on December 1st. I wanted to share those events with you even though I am little behind, twelve days to be exact, but who’s counting? No one, I hope! But Christmas parades are always a nice way to start off the season, and it is never too late to enjoy all things Christmas.

Gilrobert Rennels from Gil Lamb Advertising/Channel 6 was there to film the parade for broadcast on their website at www.gillambadvertisingmuleshoe.com . Gilrobert can always be depended on to film local events for broadcast, and I think his efforts are mostly taken for granted, so it is only fair to give him credit and thanks before the parade even begins. Now let me share some of the highlights with you.

 The parade was led by members of the Muleshoe Road Riders club.

This bear served as Hellen’s designated rider for her husband, Road Rider member Lonnie Adrian.

 Muleshoe Girl Scouts were represented with walkers and a float.

 Every parade should have a fire truck or two; one for kids…

and one for Santa.

 The Jennyslippers, a local women’s service organization, had a nice float.

 The Muleshoe 3rd and 4th Grade Little League All-Stars were represented.

 Moms and kids added to the parade.

 Several members of the Leal clan rode on the Leal family float

 The Bi-District champion Mules made it to the parade.

 The Oneita Wagnon Senior Citizen Center float featured one of the popular activities enjoyed at the center, a dominoes game.

 To me a parade is not a parade without horses. We had a few this year, and I was glad to see them. In the old days we would have several riding clubs and many individuals riding; not so much the last few years. Why is that?

 Mr. Thomason pulled the FFA float,

but his wife Jana and daughters Mackenzie and Braylee rode in the FFA truck and had the best time.

The parade was at 2:00 in the afternoon; the Heritage Center’s open house was held in the evening to take advantage of the dark to show off the lighting the SCAC kids and several Heritage Foundation members put up for the holidays. Decorations also graced the inside of the buildings, but for some reason I didn’t take any pictures of them, probably because the outside lights were so impressive this year. 

The Muleshoe Ranch cookhouse looked pretty with all its lights. That is the old chuck wagon in front of it.

The Virginia City hotel glowed in the dark from its lights.

Visitors were invited into the Santa Fe Depot for refreshments as they toured the buildings.

Helen Cook and Rowena Meyers and others enjoy the refreshments in the Depot.

Luminaries marked the path to the Janes Ranch House.

The parade and the open house made it official- Christmas is on.  Are you ready?