York Rite Christmas Observance/ Note at the End

We had a wonderful York Rite Christmas Observance tonight. First a perfect (by perfect I also mean delicious) meal prepared by Drusilla Killian. With three (3) kinds of pie (I had two - don't tell) and ham with cheezie potatoes, corn, green beans, rolls, coffee and BREWED ice tea. Superb! And it was served. No having to go pick up plates.

That is Dru in the black and red outfit. You would never believe that she had been cooking and working since 12:00 noon. (And I know that because I was out there making Sloppy Joe's for tomorrow night's Lodge meeting where we will have a First and a Second Degree.) And she has three kids. Her hubby is in the small picture on the right. He led the singing for the program and he has an absolutely beautiful voice.

We had a great turn out for the meal and you can see that the socializing was also important.

I sat across from Doug.  We are talking about going down to help out with the Jerry Marsengill Christmas Dinner in Des Moines.  It should be fun.  Jerry was a good friend of mine and this dinner was his idea and has continued as a way to honor him.

Lots of food and plenty of good company. A great meal.

High Priest, Illustrious Master and Commander David Baker welcomed all to the meeting. He mentioned how much we all miss Adel Throckmorton who passed on earlier this year. Adel took care of our religious activities for many years and we miss him.
Eastern Star Organist Myrna Bartlett graciously provided the music to accompany our singing. As I said Fredrick (yes it is spelled that way) did a wonderful job getting us started singing.

We had Bible readings and Carols for the program and various Sir Knights did the readings and it was well received.

 There was only one Carol that we had to "scrap" because nobody knew it. As we sang the last hymn (Silent Night) the lights were lowered and the OES ceiling lights turned up with a spot on the altar. We left the Asylum silently knowing that we hand honored our duty to the Christian nature of the Commandery.

Then we had our meeting with Election and Installation of Officers,  David has been re-elected as Head of the bodies.  I installed the officers and enjoyed doing it.  Ken Smith stepped down as Secretary Recorder and  he was honored with a round of applause (standing).  We also had a 50 year member with us Clayton Lokken and it was an honor to have him.  David wrote about the meeting on his blog. (Link on the left)

Then I came home. Took the garbage out to the front and fell on the ice. The driveway is a solid sheet of ice.  Hit my butt hard and could not get up. No strength in my knee and no traction on the ice. So I crawled on hands and knees all the way up the driveway to the garage and into the kitchen where I was able to hoist myself up. It is so much fun getting old. S**t. Go figure. I am going to be so sore tomorrow.

I got the sterling Silver ladle back from the silversmith. It is beautiful and it only cost $100 to have it done. They had to send it to Des Moines. It belonged to my Grandmother's aunt Sadie Smith and I got it because it was engraved with an "S". I had some spoons that matched it but I gave them to some friends whose name starts with an "S" - actually I am kind of sorry I did because they don't seem to be friends now.  I hate that but I guess I have learned a lesson in all of this so it was worth it. I hope they enjoy them. At least I have the ladle. Here is a picture of it.

It was totally black after the fire. But it is beautiful now. 

I will leave it to the Ames Historical Society.

Have a wonderful evening and thanks for reading my blog. Hugs, j