Xmas Eve Service 2011: Guilt trips NOT working!

When Eric picked me up, I was surprised to see Veronica in the car! Of course, I had to be polite (not that I wouldn't, but...) as we talked about Harmony's pregnancy / holiday doings / the parkade / hockey / Eric's cough and cold which he's had forever / online chatting / Kieran / potlucks / my family / TV shows like SURVIVOR and AMERICAN IDOL. At church, I said hi to Christon, Phil, and Harmony - Christon had run into some icy conditions up north in Chetwynd, but I'm not surprised! Talked to Christon for a while (about Bathroom Readers) after he gave me a Christmas card; I had his at home since I wasn't sure when he'd get back this time, oops! He said that Nathan wanted to do something at Jeremy's for New Year's Eve: sounds good to me! That games get-together is apparently at Vivian's on Tuesday if he can arrange things; meh. I said hi to Mark and his parents when they got in; I waved to Jeremy up front, of course!

When I sat next to Mark (and we were listening to Stanley play guitar), I heard Jon asking someone if they'd like to sit next to his sister. Of course, it HAD to be that IDIOT Paul - since I had respect for the setting, all I said was that it WASN'T a good idea right now! Jon thought I'd slammed the car door accidentally on purpose - believe what you like, since it's still not going to make me forgive him! When Paul tried making me feel guilty by saying we could hug and make up because it's what Jesus did for us, I simply tuned him out. Since Mark was sitting right there, I had to explain to him that I normally wasn't vindictive, but I wouldn't forgive insults in my own home! (along with a bunch of other stuff I'm sure he didn't need to know - but it's all good!) Then we talked about Jon and Harmony's moving, which he totally forgot about until Jeremy got home and asked where he'd been... oops!

I noticed Paul disrupting the appearance of the worship team after Communion by going up and praying near the cross - YOU CAN DO THAT LATER! Also, I smiled and waved to Helen K. when I saw her! After service, I made sure to say hi to Chris and Wes - they both liked my Santa hat, for sure! I told Wes that I had to indulge my inner child, dammit! It's true that there were children around; when I went into the fellowship hall later, little Cory surprised me by coming up to me and hugging my legs! Hahaha, that was the highlight of the night! I said hi to his older brother Nicholas while talking to his mom Helen K. about how she and her husband Danny had to do a better job of hiding presents if their kids are under the impression that Santa's come already! Cory said I could look like Santa, but not really - hahaha! We also discussed Harmony's pregnancy, heh. Of course I'm the auntie to a bunch of church kids already, and she knows it!

Had cheesecake and cookies while talking to Amanda, David, Hien, Quan, Silvester, Alan, Vicky (who thanked me for the care package), Tracy, Randal (who's going to Willingdon to keep in touch with Jen), Dylan (who also gave me a Christmas card), baby Declan (almost two months old now - he was WIDE AWAKE!), Deb, Mike K., and others. I should have had coffee if I'm going to stay up again, yikes. Hopefully, I'll get some sleep instead! On the way home, we discussed my parents' cruises / Veronica bumping into Steph and a friend (I'll assume Lisa) at Granville Island / tomorrow's plans / food preparation / losing a phone at one of Ron's concerts / doing dishes at church / swim club / sound duties. Good thing I've caught up on stuff already!