Last week our church’s Christmas Fruit Packing Committee put together 26 grocery boxes…

…30 one-peck fruit baskets…

… 60 half-peck fruit baskets and 27 poinsettias.

Many church members signed up to deliver food and fruit baskets or poinsettias. I took the pictures when I went to pick up the three half-peck boxes we chose to deliver.

Our friends, Larry and Carol, chose our fruit basket, then invited us for brunch on Saturday morning to deliver it. This is what the drive looked like on the way to their place.

If you wonder why we received a fruit basket, it is because Cerwin turned 80 in 2021. We did not know this was going to happen, but what a delightful gift for reaching the age of 80. 🙂

We had a delightful visit with Larry and Carol, plus a delicious brunch of egg casserole, yogurt parfait with granola and fruit, plus coffee and some of Carol’s homemade cookies. Carol is good at keeping a meal elegant and simple.

It is always interesting to discuss life-stories with them. Larry and Cerwin grew up in the same area and remember the same neighbors. It was the same with Carol and me. Larry teaches finance at Lancaster Bible College, which added interesting information to our discussion.

The contents of our fruit basket.

After leaving their place we went to Landis Homes Retirement Community to visit and take a fruit basket to Harold. He is in his mid-80’s and fairly active, but no longer drives. He said his only physical hinderance is walking. He walks with a walker in the home and rarely walks outside. He loves reading – especially about Christians in the Muslim world. He mentioned how much he enjoys visits and being connected to church services via the phone line.

Our second fruit basket delivery was to John and Arlene. John and Cerwin have been friends since childhood. Arlene and I became friends in junior high school. We were in the same school district but went to different grade schools. They received a fruit basket for the same reason we did. John turned 80 this year. They were also surprised to receive a fruit basket. They knew we were coming and blessed us with chocolate bars and homemade Rice Krispy candy.

Our last fruit basket delivery was to Elvin and Verna. I think one of them is 80 and the other is very close. They also received a fruit basket because of his recent health issues. He has been mostly house-bound for the past few months. He thanked us for the visit and said it was good to see someone other than family. COVID has made it difficult for other visits.

Another interesting thing about this visit is that Elvin showed us his Nolt family heritage book because Cerwin’s family is there. We didn’t take time to find the link, but it was back a few generations.

Last night we had the last of our Christmas blessings from church – Christmas caroling. I was surprised when I received a phone call from the contact person asking if we would receive Christmas carolers. Also, because Cerwin is now 80 years old. We thought we were too young and asked them to wait a few years. 🙂

Cerwin and I discussed it and decided that we love blessings, so why not receive the carolers. We emailed the contact person and put ourselves back on the caroling list. 🙂

The youth group and most Sunday school classes go caroling. This was part of a Sunday school class. I understand the rest went to other church members.

Kim, Darlene, Kervin, Wilmer and Cheri.

Lori, Esther, Dwight, Gordon, Coltyn, Janelle, Dwight and Rose. Notice Coltyn’s light bulb necklace?

I think he is looking at the shoulder mount of Cerwin’s African Nyala antelope, which captured his attention from the moment they entered our garage.

I took these pictures before they began singing so they could smile instead of having distorted facial images from singing. 🙂

I wish I had recorded the singing. They were fabulous singers.

The garage doesn’t usually have carpet on the floor but it’s there in preparation for our 2nd family Christmas celebration – this Sunday.