Snow is Falling…

It’s a treat to see the Quail moving in the snow.

Snow is falling again this Saturday morning with a prediction of three inches. I think we are close to two inches already on top of what was still on the ground.

My hair appointment this morning will be interesting heading down the hairdresser’s steep driveway. Dear will drive me today and handle the driveway instead of me.

We don’t have to dream of a white Christmas this year…

In the bleak midwinter, frosty wind made moan,
earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone;
snow had fallen, snow on snow, snow on snow,
in the bleak midwinter, long ago.

Our God, heaven cannot hold him, nor earth sustain;
heaven and earth shall flee away when he comes to reign.
In the bleak midwinter a stable place sufficed
the Lord God Almighty, Jesus Christ.

Angels and archangels may have gathered there,
cherubim and seraphim thronged the air;
but his mother only, in her maiden bliss,
worshiped the beloved with a kiss.

What can I give him, poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb;
if I were a Wise Man, I would do my part;
yet what I can I give him: give my heart.

O Little Town of Bethlehem

And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn. Luke 2:7

O little town of Bethlehem,
How still we see thee lie!
Above thy deep and dreamless sleep
The silent stars go by.
Yet in thy dark streets shineth
The everlasting Light;
The hopes and fears of all the years
Are met in thee tonight.

For Christ is born of Mary,
And gathered all above,
While mortals sleep, the angels keep
Their watch of wondering love.
O morning stars together,
Proclaim the holy birth,
And praises sing to God the King,
And peace to men on earth!

How silently, how silently,
The wondrous Gift is giv’n;
So God imparts to human hearts
The blessings of His Heav’n.
No ear may hear His coming,
But in this world of sin,
Where meek souls will receive Him still,
The dear Christ enters in.

O holy Child of Bethlehem,
Descend to us, we pray;
Cast out our sin, and enter in,
Be born in us today.
We hear the Christmas angels
The great glad tidings tell;
O come to us, abide with us,
Our Lord Emmanuel!

We got more snow during this past week. We like to turn the deck light on so we can see the snow out our Family Room Slider. It was fun to capture the outdoor nativity and it’s shadow in the snow.

We are going to see temperatures in the teens and very few days in the next week above freezing. More snow in our 10 day forecast. The county plows our road so I am brave enough to drive into town if I need to.

Last Two Days in North Carolina

Back to our Land That We Love Tour for our last full day in North Carolina and our departures on Sunday the third of October.

On Saturday the 2nd of October we enjoyed park time, lunch at the local Mexican restaurant and then some time at the Bride and Groom’s home for an open house.

Following Baba back to the cars.

After the open house the guys and Katie went on a shopping excursion the rest of the girls and Addy and JJ went back to our VRBO. What we didn’t realize was that the car that went shopping had both keys to the house and we panicked for a short time until genius Laura checked under a planter and found a spare key that the owners left. Whew! Naptime and later a quick dip in the lake and a relaxing evening.

Snuggle time before naps.

Josh was the only one of us who decided to take a leap into Lake Hickory.

The rest of us just watched from the deck.

On Sunday Dear and I left to continue our Land That We Love Tour.

Goodbye to our home away from home.

Our kids loaded up later than us and headed to Raleigh for their flight home, stopping at a Cracker Barrel for breakfast.

More park time before their flight.

We were on the road again heading through the mountains of North Carolina into Tennessee. More about our day of travel later.

Back to the present we had another dusting of fluffy snow on Monday evening. It was fun to watch it fall. Tuesday morning was above freezing and the fluff melted off quickly.

Young At Heart Hodgepodge

Our last Wednesday Hodgepodge of the Year. Thank You Joyce From This Side of the Pond for keeping this going!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year Hodgepodgers!!

1. How young is young? In the past, according to various organizations who decide these things, age 60 was the ‘border age’ to old. The World Health Organization has done new research recently and divided up the categories as-0-17 (underage), 18-65 (youth or young people), 66-79 (middle-aged), 80-99 (elderly senior), 100+ (long-lived elderly). Your thoughts on this particular breakdown, and also your thoughts as to where you land?

That youth or young people section is a huge stretch and laughable! In my opinion the WHO no longer lives up to it’s mission.

2. TIME magazine has declared Elon Musk person of the year in 2021. What say you? If you want to know more about how they choose you’ll find that info in the link here. If you were choosing, who would be your person of the year?

He’s a very rich and very smart man, I hear. On the standards of Time Magazine I suppose he deserves it. I don’t buy Time magazine.

If I was choosing person of the year I’d choose Dr. John MacArthur, a man of God who rightly divides the Word of God. He and his church stood up to local government overreach in trying to shut their church down and take away a parking lot lease in retribution. The church won their battle in court and the city had to pay their legal fees and their parking lease was reinstated.

3. I read here ten habits of extremely likable people which include-they greet the world with a smile on their face, they ask questions, they’re consistent, they put the phone away, they remember names and use them, they keep an open mind and don’t pass judgement, they’re authentic, they’re kind and generous, accountable for their mistakes, and they send thank you notes.

So, are you likable-lol? Which one of these habits could use some further developing in your own life? What is one habit/quality you’d add to the list?

I’d like to send more thank you notes and be more careful in passing judgement.

4. One non-holiday related task/job/goal/dream on your to-do list that you hope/plan to make happen before the new year rolls in?

Keep up my thirty minute a day cardio workout. I’m slipping during the holidays!!

5. Share with us some of your holiday plans.

Church this Sunday which will include the Children’s Christmas Choir which is always fun to watch. I’m hoping for at least one nose picker. LOL.

Christmas Eve Candlelight service.

Christmas day when all our kids will gather here and we open gifts and enjoy our traditional Christmas dinner. If we knew before we bought gifts how much the Christmas ~~Goose~~ Prime Rib Roast was going to cost this year we would have cut down on the gifts. Yikes! But for the record we’ll enjoy it all and say thank you Lord for all you give us to enjoy.

The two days after Christmas we’ll spend more time together as a family ending our time off with a birthday party for our daughter Katie who was born on the 27th. Our westside kids will travel back home on the 28th.

10 days till Christmas!

6. Insert your own random thought here.

Christmas in the country when you own 20 acres and find your Christmas tree on those acres. This is our son’s family and his land.

A Peaceful Day

After a very busy Saturday we had a relaxing Sunday. We had our Colville kids over for dinner Saturday evening. We enjoyed savory blintzes, rice pilaf, and salad. For dessert we had some Christmas cookies. On Sunday after church we enjoyed leftovers and put our feet up for a good portion of the day. Since it was above freezing we took a break from relaxing and washed the windows in our dining room inside and out. Me in, Dear out. We also did the family room slider. We missed our regular fall window appointment so our windows are quite a mess. Most of our Christmas celebrations will be around the dining room table and the family room so those windows are now clean and clear for now. But just like that they are forecasting rain instead of snow today so we’ll see how the wind blows and what those windows look like tomorrow.

Twelve more days till Christmas. How are things shaping up at your house? Hope things are joyful!

Luke 2:10-11

And the angel said to them,

“Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.

For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord!”

Angels From the Realms of Glory

Angels From the Realms of Glory

Angels from the realms of glory,
Wing your flight o’er all the earth;
Ye who sang creation’s story
Now proclaim Messiah’s birth.

Refrain

Come and worship, come and worship,
Worship Christ, the newborn king.

Shepherds, in the field abiding,
Watching o’er your flocks by night,
God with us is now residing;
Yonder shines the infant light:

Refrain

Sages, leave your contemplations,
Brighter visions beam afar;
Seek the great Desire of nations;
Ye have seen His natal star.

Refrain

Saints, before the altar bending,
Watching long in hope and fear;
Suddenly the Lord, descending,
In His temple shall appear.

Refrain

Sinners, wrung with true repentance,
Doomed for guilt to endless pains,
Justice now revokes the sentence,
Mercy calls you; break your chains.

Refrain

Though an Infant now we view Him,
He shall fill His Father’s throne,
Gather all the nations to Him;
Every knee shall then bow down:

Refrain

All creation, join in praising
God, the Father, Spirit, Son,
Evermore your voices raising
To th’eternal Three in One.

Come and worship, come and worship,
Worship Christ, the newborn king.

The Halls are Decked…

Deck the halls with boughs of holly,

For unto us a Child is born,
Unto us a Son is given;
And the government will be upon His shoulder.
And His name will be called
Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Isaiah 9:6

There are a few other spots in our home that are decorated for Christmas but I failed to take photos of them. It’s always fun to ‘Deck the Halls’.

Today I’m happy to say I’m headed to the Post Office in town to mail off our Christmas Greetings for 2021. Next up is considering what to bake and when to wrap.

Fly away little letter, keep the bond of friendship strong,

may the Lord lead and guide you, and keep you from all wrong.

Christmas Party Centerpieces

Our annual First Baptist Church Ladies Christmas Party was on Friday December 3rd. There were 13 tables in total with chairs enough for 130 gals 4th grade and up. You could sign up to do a centerpiece for one of the tables.

Mine was #7 and my favorite was #6.

There were a little over 120 ladies/girls who attended. Everyone brought a savory or sweet holiday treat to share. The party committee planned a nice program with solos, duets and reflections on Christmas. The sound of 120 female voices singing Christmas Carols together was lovely. It was a fun evening and it was nice to have longer conversations that a Sunday morning doesn’t afford.

It’s hard to see all the details on this centerpiece but they were well thought out and executed. Table #2 won the ‘Most Fun’ award.

We still have snow on the ground. This morning our low was in the teens. We will get above freezing today so some snow will melt and the roads will be a sandy dirty snow mess. I’m off to town while things are still frozen to get our Christmas letter copied. If I drive when things are still frozen my white car avoids looking like a brown car after my 6 mile roundtrip to town. Our family decided on stocking gifts only this year so all my shopping is done. Funny thing, most of the gifts we bought will not fit in a stocking. Maybe we didn’t follow the rules.

How is the wonder of it all shaping up at your place? For myself I need to pause and spend some time reflecting on the miracles of Christmas from the realms of glory!

All creation, join in praising
God, the Father, Spirit, Son,
Evermore your voices raising
To th’eternal Three in One.

Come and worship, come and worship,
Worship Christ, the newborn king.

Be Merry Hodgepodge

Be Merry

It’s Hodgepodge Wednesday when Jo From This Side of the Pond asks the questions and we get our brains fired up to answer.

1. ‘Tis the season to be jolly….so are you?

Yes, yes I am.

2. Do you trim a tree this time of year, and if so is yours all done?

I did and it’s done.

What’s something in your home-closet-life that needs to be trimmed in the new year?

Oh boy! So many things including my body. I need to weed out my closet and drawers of things ‘I hope to fit in again’!

3. Are you ‘dreaming of a white Christmas’? Is that a possibility where you’ll be celebrating? According to this site the top ten places in the US you can count on for a white Christmas are- North Pole Alaska, Crater Lake Oregon, Yellowstone National Park, Winthrop Washington, Aspen Colorado, Ketchum Idaho, Mt. Washington New Hampshire, Whitefish Montana, Duluth Minnesota, and the Lake Tahoe town of Truckee California

It is totally white right now. It is a good possibility to be white again at Christmas.

Of the snowy spots listed which would you most like to visit?

Whitefish, Montana is on my list. We have had a White winter experience in Winthrop, Washington back in the 90’s.

4. December 8th is National Brownie Day…will you be celebrating?

No.

How do you like your brownies-chewy or cake-like, frosted or plain, nuts or no nuts, a piece from the middle or give me the corner?

Give me a middle piece cake-like, plain, with lots of nuts.

As a child were you a member of a brownie troop?

No. My parents were fresh immigrants from Iran after escaping out of Russia in the early 30’s. They did not trust any organizations involving children with uniforms. Too close for comfort (for them and their understanding) to Lenin’s Young Pioneer groups!

5. Share a favorite line or two from a Christmas carol or holiday tune.

I have soooo many favorites and there are so many great lines. Here’s just one.

…”Peace on earth, and mercy mild, God and sinners reconciled”

6. Insert your own random thought here.

Speaking of snow…

We went to Idaho (Coeur d’Alene) for an overnight on Sunday to Monday. We returned to this view of our home on Monday, the 6th of December. The 6th of December was our 47th Wedding Anniversary.

Our Christmas letter is tweaked and it’s ready to be copied. Time to address all the envelopes and get the cards in the mail. We have received some Christmas greetings already. So good to hear hear from far and wide.

The Wedding

Get ready for a photo overload. A friendly warning. Our niece’s wedding took place on Friday October 1st at the Providence Cotton Mill in Maiden, North Carolina. It was a lovely spot for a wedding.

Where’s JJ?

He followed me when I got up to take the photo of the group waiting for the wedding ceremony to begin.

Mother of the bride.

Giving the instructions that everyone will follow but one…there is always at least one in a crowd who doesn’t think the rules apply to them.

Jenna was the first to make us Uncle and Auntie.

Sisters of the bride and our nieces.

Sisters of the bride and our grand niece.

Our grand nephew and our nephew by marriage.

Christina (mother of the bride) and Terry (father of the bride). Terry is Dear’s older and only sibling. Terry and Chris were in our wedding as Dear’s best man and my matron of honor.