November is almost done. Thanksgiving is over. The Holiday Season has begun. The rest of year will pass quickly and in a flash we’ll be in a new year.
We had a great Thanksgiving celebration. We ate at the Shillig’s house. At the table we had Kurt and Julie, Dax and Jillian and their daughters Phi and Freyja, our senior missionary couple Elder and Sister Taylor, the two young missionaries Elders Hunt and Callister, Stacey, Hannah, and me. I always look forward to the festive foods we eat at this time of year. Our contributions to the meal were cranberry sauce, baked squash, zesty carrots, and sweet potato casserole. The Shilligs provided the turkey, mashed potatoes, green beans, rolls, and pies. It was all so delicious. We only eat these things on these special occasions and it makes them seem more delicious because of it.
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| Our Thanksgiving Feast. |
Of course Thanksgiving isn’t only about food – although that’s the central feature for most of us – and I’m certainly thankful for that food. I always try to be thankful for the bountiful blessings I’ve received, but at Thanksgiving I take time to formally enumerate them. I’m thankful for my family. I belong to a great family – my immediate family and my extended kin, generations living and dead. My family has blessed my life in innumerable ways. I’m thankful for the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the joy and hope it gives me. I’m thankful for dear friends that have been and continue to be such a happy part of my life. I’m thankful for my home, this place I belong to that astounds me every day with its peace and beauty. I’m thankful for the nation I live in and freedoms I enjoy. I’m thankful for this world we live in with its infinite diversity, beauty, and abundant life. I’m thankful for the blessings that flow into my life every day in an unending stream. I give thanks to God for blessing me with all these things and so much more.
On Thanksgiving Day, as we were headed out the back door to go to the Shillig’s for dinner, we found a chickadee just sitting on the ground. I think it hit a window and was stunned. I picked it up and held it in my hand for a few minutes. Its tiny body seemed to weigh nothing, but it was full of energy. It recovered quickly and when I opened my hand, it flew away. I’ve always felt sad that wild birds fear me so much. I wish they could sense that I mean them no harm and let me get close to them, but they are always so frightened and wary. Chickadees are the bravest of the birds that come to my feeder. They will come down to feed while I’m still standing there. Some people have trained chickadees to eat from their hands. I have a little booklet that tells how to do this. It requires great patience and standing still by the bird feeder with seeds in my hand. I tried it once, but as I feed the birds primarily in the winter when it’s cold, my patience didn’t last long. The scriptures tell us that in the Millennium there will be no more enmity between the animals and between mankind and animals. It will be a time when “the wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice’ den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.” I look forward to that time when the little birds will no longer fear me.
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| Holding a chickadee in my hand. |
The day after Thanksgiving, Stacey and Hannah had to go to work. I planned to stay home all day and work on painting barn quilt orders. I’m not a shopper. I try to avoid going near stores at all times – and especially during the holiday shopping frenzy, but I needed some painting supplies so I had to go to the hardware store in Genesee. There was no Black Friday frenzy there – and I’m glad for that. I made my necessary purchases and came straight home again. Now if I can make it through the holidays without any further shopping, I’ll be happy. Later that day, after Stacey and Hannah got home, we began decorating for Christmas. We put up garlands and wreaths, all the little Christmas nicknacks, and our Nativity sets. So the decorating is done now except for the tree, which won’t go up until later in December. We’ve officially kicked off the Christmas Season. The house is decorated. We’re listening to Christmas music. We’ve begun watching our favorite Christmas movies. Travel plans are underway for family members who are coming to spend the holidays at home. The excitement is building. I love this time of year.
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| Decorations. |
Yesterday was Hannah’s birthday. She turned 21, which seems impossible to me. We had a nice celebration in the evening. The Shilligs came over for dinner, cake and ice cream, and gifts. Hannah chose her favorite dinner – gringo enchiladas, and her favorite cake – pound cake with strawberries. After dinner she opened gifts. How can she be this old already?
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| Hannah's birthday. |
The weather has been gloomy lately – overcast most days and cold. We had a bit of snow during the week and last night, but it’s still not cold enough for it to stick for long, so things are half frozen, half muddy, and completely messy. Winter is trying to take hold and hasn’t succeeded yet. I actually prefer frozen ground over all this mud. Mud makes the chores harder. The chicken yard becomes a mucky mire and the chickens’ feet get muddy and they drag the mud into their nesting boxes and the eggs get dirty, which means I have to wash them all. I’m still getting a dozen or so eggs a day, which is good. Usually egg production has slowed to only one or two a day by this point in the year. My water heater and perch warmer should arrive this week. The chickens will like that and maybe we’ll keep getting eggs all winter.
Because I’m the branch music chairman and chorister, I get to choose the hymns we sing in sacrament meeting each Sunday. Today I chose the Thanksgiving hymns “Come Ye Thankful People” and “Prayer of Thanksgiving” for our opening and congregational hymns. For our closing hymn we sang the Christmas carol “Far, Far Away on Judea’s Plains” to officially start off the carol singing at church. I love Christmas carols. Over the next weeks between now and December 25th, I will make sure we sing all fourteen carols in our hymnal at least once.
This morning we awoke to find snow had fallen during the night. It was not deep. It did not even cover the ground near the house and under the trees. I went out just as the sun was rising to take a walk in it. I went across the front yard, through our little meadow, and down to the beaver pond. I stood and watched at the pond, but didn’t see any beaver. Then I crossed the road by the barn and came up the road and home again.
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| Across the front yard this morning. |
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| In the meadow. |
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| Down to the beaver pond. |
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| The barn. |
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| Up the road toward home. |
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| Almost home. |
We’re home from church now. The snow is mostly gone. The mud remains. Dinner is warming – leftover enchiladas from Hannah’s birthday yesterday. Then I’ll do the chores and still have time for a nap before we go over to Shillig’s for our Sabbath Soiree. Tomorrow is the opening day of deer season and there is no school, but Stacey and Hannah have to work, so I’ll be home by myself all day. I have no firm plans for the day. I’ll just go with the flow, put on some Christmas music, do some painting, whatever. I like a day like that now and then.
