Christmas carols for shut-ins

Saturday is our sleep in day since exercise and worship happen on the other 6 days. It is especially good for me because of the sinus infection (self diagnosed) that I have, making me tired. We had breakfast and I began working on the message for tomorrow. We had only a light lunch and took a nap until 3 when we met at the church with 7 others to carol some of the shut-ins from there. Seven of us went in Joe Winston’s Suburban while Pastor and Deana Edge went in their truck. We drove to Harlingen to visit 2 in a nursing home, the luxurious home of the golf pro who attends the church at least 5 times each year, and then back to an RV park for another. We continued to another home for a dedicated, joy-filled member who is 93. There were 2 other nursing homes and a home in Ranchero Village to complete our visits. I used to call on several of these people when I worked for the church and it is a struggle for me to see them as they currently are. We returned to the church for a supper of carne guisada, a beef stew, ruce and beans. We had all brought appetizers or desserts. Afterward we exchanged presents we had brought. We drew numbers 1-10 and went to the table to select a package that caught our eye. Number 1 opened the gift and number 2 had the option of taking it from number 1 or selecting another from the table. As it turned out, the first gift was taken the maximum 3 times. Evelyn was 7 and I was 10. She selected a gift we had brought, and I took the final gift because I saw nothing I wanted. We returned home and I began watching the Purdue/Alabama basketball game. I gave up when the Boilermakers were behind 16 points early in the second half. The score was not so depressing as the way the game was going. Purdue could hardly get the ball into the front court because of the intense press Alabama was applying. I needed the sleep anyway and was asleep before 11.