I think the weekend we just had was the busiest of this season. And I hope it remains the busiest. I don't think I can handle another one like that for another 12 months.
Friday was all about finishing the decorating touches on the church and cleaning up the decorating process that inevitably remains on the floor and tables.
Sabbath morning started out early, getting everything we needed for the brunch and program, and going off to church. Once there we had to get everything set up, and the remaining food cooked and placed on the tables.
We had waffles with strawberry sauce and cream, eggs, fruit, yogurt, bread, cookies, and some turkey. I used about a dozen of the frozen waffles I made earlier and I made another dozen or so more on site.
The worship happened as planned and at the right time. I planned the whole thing to last in the vicinity of 90 minutes and I think it came pretty close to that. As is often the case, our family were the primarily participants, though there were a few more helping to make sure it didn't look like we were the only ones participating.
In spite of all the unknowns and worries I might have harbored, the morning seemed to go well. The kids' singing was well received. Shelley's solo went well, even though we decided that morning to do it and I was basically sight-reading the accompaniment.
From church, we rushed home for our girls to get ready for their drama performances at the library. The library hosts a Christmas program of music and literary arts. Among the performances, there were carols sung by the Oxford Carolers, readings of poetry and short stories, and a Reader's Theatre and mime performances by the drama group.
In the evening, two girls came to stay overnight, and as part of it to bake a cake for their mother and in the morning, go and purchase both birthday and Christmas gifts for her. So Sunday morning, Elise spent a large part of it dealing with our sleep-over guests.
In the meantime, I was reading the video recording of the Sabbath program into the computer for later editing.
Sunday afternoon, the drama group had a mime performance at the museum as part of the Christmas program there. It was similar to the program at the library. I had a video camera this time, so I was able to record the mime performance.
Our new dishwasher was delivered after we returned home. Even though delivery was free, there is no such thing as free or discounted installation and haul-away. So Elise and I spent the next couple of hours trying to get it installed. In past appliance purchases, I never really looked at the installation guide, since it was always done by someone else. I never realized how cryptic the guide can be. There are very few words and mostly diagrams and pictures. For someone who only does this once every few years, if ever, it was like trying to decipher a foreign language.
I discovered we needed a little "L" shaped elbow connector to connect the supply line to the dishwasher. Elise went out to get it. Then we discovered that the part fit the dishwasher, but not the hose. Fortunately, the old dishwasher that we'd taken outside, whose similar connector I thought was frozen onto it, after some yanks with a wrench, did come off. This fit both the dishwasher and the hose and so used it instead of the new part. Even though the supply connection on the new unit was in the opposite corner from the old one, we were able to get the old hose to connect (just barely).
Before I could drill in the securing screws to the cabinet frame, it was time to go to the Christmas dinner and theatre at the Presbyterian church. That was actually quite fortunate because our kitchen was in no shape to prepare dinner.
Elise worked, so after a quick dinner, walked out to the hospital while the rest of us stayed to enjoy dessert and the program. The program was about a number of the characters that did or might have played a part in the original Christmas story coming to talk with the audience about their parts in the story. And by doing so they each introduced a Christmas carol that we then sang.
After we returned home, I finished the dishwasher installation. As far as I can tell, there are no leaks, and I certainly hope it stays that way. The good news is that we now have a dishwasher that matches the other kitchen appliances.
I spent the rest of Sunday evening editing the Sabbath worship video -- cutting out dead space and other uninteresting portions, putting in fades and transitions, putting in DVD markers, etc., and then setting the computer to transcode the video into a DVD file while I slept.
I awoke early this morning and discovered that light snow was once again falling on the landscape. I burned a few copies of the DVD, and then extracted the audio and uploaded that to my web site.
I think things might return to a fairly normal state this week -- though there is a kid's Christmas party occurring on Tuesday evening. Okay, so other than that, this week looks more routine than the last.
No comments:
Post a Comment