We were disappointed that our sky was cloudy all week and we did not get to see the conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn. On the Solstice night when the conjunction was best, it snowed. It was just an inch or two, but it refreshed the world and made it a winter wonderland. I’m glad we are past the Solstice now. Winter has officially begun and the days are lengthening again. In just six months we will be awash in sunlight in glorious June.
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New snow.
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New snow.
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On Tuesday, when I went down to do the chores, I discovered that the snow – 1200 cubic feet of it – had slid off the barn roof and made a ridge over three feet high along the front. The lower doors were blocked. I had to climb over the ridge and kick away enough to squeeze through a door to collect the eggs. Later, when Josiah came home, we hacked out an opening. The snow was hard packed and heavy, but we managed to move enough to open the main door. We’ve had that problem of sliding snow before when we get deep snow all at once. We’ve always planned to put snow arresters on the roof, but it needs to be done in spring or summer when we forget about snow problems. Maybe we’ll remember this coming summer.
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Snow mound in front of the barn.
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Blocked doors at the barn.
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We started to hear predictions of a big Christmas storm midweek. The forecasters issued dire warnings of heavy rain, high winds, and flooding on Christmas Eve day that would turn into snow that night as temperatures dropped. We began to worry that our Christmas plans would be frustrated. Thursday morning it began to rain. We had some very impressive icicles hanging from the eaves and they all fell off. The rain turned all the snow to slush.
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Red sky warning of approaching rain.
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Icicles before the rain made them fall.
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We spent the day on Christmas Eve preparing for our festivities. There was still some baking to do. I made a soft gingerbread and lemon sauce for the evening’s celebration. I also made an eggnog and set it on the back porch to chill. We had pizza for dinner, not a tradition, but delicious nonetheless. After dinner we set out our Christmas Eve spread – all the cookies, cakes, and candies we’d been preparing and purchasing over the last weeks. Then it was time to celebrate. We sang carols – Angel’s We Have Heard On High, Joy to the World, Far, Far Away On Judea’s Plains, The First Nowell, Silent Night, and I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day. Stacey and Miriam sang soprano, Hannah sang alto, Josiah sang tenor, and I sang bass. I must, in humility, say that we make good harmony. There is something powerful in singing together like that. It is the most profoundly spiritual part of keeping Christmas for me. The music and the words meld the present and the past and bring a flood of memories to join the ones we are presently creating. That is the beauty of keeping traditions. Then I read the account of the Savior’s birth from Luke Chapter Two. And then we ate. There was far too much food for so small a group. We’d prepared as if this was a normal Christmas when the house is full of family. Our friends Kerry Dunn and her twins Cal and Laura stopped by and had some refreshments. After they left, we watched White Christmas and then went to bed.
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Christmas Eve.
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On Christmas morning I was up first, at my usual hour. There is no way I can sleep in on Christmas morning. It was still dark. I could see that the rain had turned to snow during the night, but there was just a dusting of new white on the rainy slush. I turned on all the Christmas lights and waited for everyone else to bestir themselves. After a while I started playing music at high volume to urge them all to get moving. My hymn of choice on Christmas morning is Christians Awake:
Christians, awake, salute the happy morn,
whereon the Savior of the world was born;
rise to adore the mystery of love,
which hosts of angels chanted from above;
with them the joyful tidings were begun
of God incarnate and the Virgin's son.
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Early Christmas morning.
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Finally the others were ready. The children (they are all adults now, but they are and always will be my children) sat on the stairs for our traditional Christmas morning photo. And then we opened gifts. There were so many great and thoughtful gifts this year! Stacey had to go to work for a few hours then and the rest of us played with our new toys. Stacey got home at 1:00 p.m. and we packed up and headed down state for Christmas Part 2 with the Thayns and the Fosters. The weather was not good. It snowed most of the way there and we had to drive slowly. We saw some elk by the side of the road down in Elk County. We didn’t arrive at Thayn’s until 7:30. We ate our Christmas dinner. After dinner we opened more great gifts.
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Waiting on the stairs.
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Josiah handing out the gifts (he has the hat).
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Elk by the roadside.
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Opening gifts at the Thayn's house.
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We spent the day Saturday, just loving being together. We played games, put jigsaw puzzles together, ate great food, and took the day easy. We had our annual Gingerbread House Decorating competition although we didn’t really vote on who won. Some of us (not me) went out to see if they could find some good after Christmas bargains.
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Playing games.
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More games.
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| Puzzles. |
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More puzzles.
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And another puzzle.
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Building gingerbread houses.
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The finished gingerbread houses.
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Today we had church with the Thayn’s ward via YouTube. After church there was more game playing, music making, and good eating. After lunch, Stacey and I started for home. We were sad to leave so soon. Miriam, Hannah, and Josiah decided to stay another day and won’t be home until tomorrow. Our drive home was much better than the drive down. The roads were clear and we made good time. We got home an hour ago and unpacked the car. The house seems too quiet with just the two of us here and the Christmas tree and all the gifts seem a bit forlorn in the stillness.
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Reading with Mabel.
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Sarah making a delicious treat.
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Sarah's apple frangipane.
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Making music.
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We are at that point now where there is only the Ghosts of Christmas Past and Christmas Yet to Come. The Ghost of Christmas Present is gone. He was wonderful, just as Dickens described him, perched upon his throne of plenty and decked in all his holiday finery. I’m always sad to see him go. Christmas Past is lovely, wistfully happy and yet sad with his memories. Christmas Yet to Come is a mystery. Christmas Present glows fiercely in the brief time allotted to him and then is gone.
I sometimes wish that we observed the ancient custom of keeping the Twelve Days of Christmas when Christmas Day was just the first day of the celebration that ended on the eve of Epiphany on January 5th. Twelve days of celebrating with feasting and wassailing seems like a good idea sitting here in the slightly gloomy aftermath of Christmas, especially this year with our pared down celebrations. But then, I doubt our modern secular society could handle twelve days without descending into debauchery. They can barely handle the holiday now.
The days between Christmas and New Years are busy but a bit melancholy. We will take down the decorations and clean the house in preparation for greeting the New Year. I like cleaning it all and putting things back where they belong, but at the same time, I’m always sad that the holiday came and went so quickly. New Years is fun, but not as exciting. The Thayns are thinking they will come up to welcome in the New Year with us. That will make things much more festive.
I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas! And I hope your New Year will ring in with Joy!
