…the weekend before Christmas when I boarded an airplane pointing north to surprise my sister for her birthday. The plan was hatched back in September when I realized (with alarm!) I wasn’t going to see her again until May. Too long, my friends. Too long. So I started checking flights and conspired with my niece to facilitate actually getting me to Joie’s house. Tickets were bought, pick-ups and deliveries were confirmed, and the plan set! Now I just needed to not spill the beans for the next three months! There were a couple of close calls during those months and we didn’t quite pull off the “jump out of the cake” type of surprise, but my precious sister was still delightfully surprised when I showed up at her birthday brunch!

And what a fun Sister Weekend we had!
Joie & Fitz recently moved from their 4 bedroom turn-of-the-century farmhouse into a lovely 2 bedroom home – all on one level! So we’ve both been going through some housing changes – major downsizing for her, and a bit of upsizing for me! It was great to see their lovely new home and marvel at how they managed to make it feel just perfect for them! (Now I need to get her here to Texas!)
But we didn’t just sit around marveling at the cute new place!
We helped out with the Christmas concert at their local Christian school,

mostly helping with the reception following the concert, but thoroughly enjoyed the young students as they gave their best for the Lord!

Yes, there were ukuleles. So fun!
Along with doing some of our favorite things – like puzzles

and watching the birds at her feeders while sitting comfortably inside,

we (Joie) also made a giant batch of caramel corn to feed to the Senior High Youth Group who were meeting at their place Sunday evening!

(I watched carefully and brought home the recipe, so you never know…)
Sunday brought a little dusting of snow – just enough to remind me how very pretty it is, but also how much I don’t need to ever drive in it again!

It was a perfectly delightful weekend, that filled my heart with sister love! We drank coffee and ate chocolate and shared our hearts. And missed Elna, of course!

We ended our time together with a meet-up with her daughter Abby (my ride to the airport) and her crew at a giant 40 ft. wooden slide-The Big Slide Mount Tabor Park At Rocky Ridge! What a fun way to end the weekend!



I convinced Joie that we really did need to give it a try and with a lot of encouragement from her grandchildren, we did just that!


Not too bad for a couple of old ladies!

If you’ve been stopping by this little corner of the internet for any time at all, you know how close we sisters are. Now that Elna is waiting for us in Heaven, Joie and I are working out this ‘new normal’ for us. We are so blessed to have each other – and this very special weekend was just a precious reminder of that very fact!
Amen.

In a real time note – it IS Christmas Eve! Pretty quiet here at our little place, but we’ll be heading to Waco in the morning to spend Christmas day with those Conrad Cowboys (and their folks!). This is the first time in 20 years we’ll be going to bed in our HOUSE on Christmas eve.  So many firsts – so many blessings!

Have a great Christmas, dear friends! May the gifts and glitter of these days never outshine the beauty that is the birth of Jesus!