The Christmas Spirit is running high at our house now. We got our Christmas tree on Tuesday. The people Stacey and Hannah work for also run a Christmas tree farm. We went up there after school and work and picked a very nice eight foot tall tree. We spent the entire evening rearranging the house to make room for it, testing strands of lights, and then decorating it. It’s a very pretty tree. It is the final touch in our decorating and now it really feels like Christmas.
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| Choosing a tree. |
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| Bringing it home. |
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| Testing lights. |
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| Goofing around. |
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| All decorated. |
Thursday was the high school Christmas concert. It was a nice concert. Josiah performed with the high school choir, the select choir, the high school band, and the jazz band. After the concert they served cookies and punch in the cafeteria.
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| The high school choir. |
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| The high school band. |
After the concert Josiah brought a group of friends to our house for a pre-Star Wars party. Then we drove into Coudersport for the 10:30 showing of Star Wars: The Force Awakens. I was worried after all the hype and anxious anticipation we might be let down. How could I have doubted. It was great. I won’t divulge any details in case you haven’t seen it. It will be playing at our theater for five weeks so I’m sure we’ll watch it several more times.
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| The pre-Star Wars party. |
Stacey’s brother Bill flew in to Buffalo on Friday night (actually early Saturday morning at 1:30). It usually takes about two hours to drive from Buffalo to our house, so we expected him around 3:30. We went to bed but kept all the Christmas lights on to welcome him. He didn’t arrive at our house until 7:00 a.m. He had to pull over several times on the drive down and sleep. We’re glad he’s here. It’s been a long time since we were last together. We’re not sure how long he’ll be here. He has to stay until the job he’s doing is finished.
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| Stacey and her brother Bill. |
We finally got some snow! It started on Saturday morning and snowed lightly all day. It left us with a few inches on the ground and made things look much more like Christmas. Unfortunately, it looks like it won’t last until Christmas. We’re supposed warm up again and get rain midweek. Maybe the forecasters will be wrong. It won’t be the first time.
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| Snow! |
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| Snow at last! |
The snow sent the birds into a feeding frenzy. All day yesterday they mobbed my feeders. There were finches of all sorts, doves, woodpeckers, nuthatches, chickadees, and cardinals. I spent an hour perched by a window with my camera.
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| Sparrows squabbling. |
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| One of three male cardinals at my feeders. |
Today was our Christmas program at church. I was in charge of putting it together. It was a simple service. Narrators read a short paragraph about one of the carols and then we sang or had someone perform the carol. The congregation sang most of the carols. We had two sisters sing a duet of O Holy Night. Hannah and Josiah sang a duet of Star Bright. Hannah played Still, Still, Still on her violin. Cousin Rick provided us with the arrangement and a recorded accompaniment of Still, Still, Still and a recorded accompaniment to Star Bright. I really appreciate his help. It was a nice meeting. I love Christmas carols.
Tomorrow at 11:48 P.M. EST the world will reach the winter solstice. In that moment the northern hemisphere of planet earth, tilted 23.439° on its axis, will lean farthest away from the sun. The spiraling cycle of the sun will turn – autumn will die and winter will be born. Winter is the testing time. For seeds and insect eggs sleeping in the earth, winter’s cold is essential to sprouting and hatching. For the trees, it’s a time of rest. For the animals who don’t sleep, we find ways to survive the cold, dark days. Yet winter, for all its bleakness, is a season of hope. The moment the solstice passes, the days immediately begin to grow again. The sun is returning. A new year is beginning.
As the coming week progresses things will get pretty exciting here. We only have a day and a half of school this week. Uncle Bill will be here most of the week. The Thayn family will depart Tennessee on Wednesday and arrive here sometime on Christmas Eve. We still have some preparing to do before The Day arrives – mostly baking. Josiah wants orange cookies. Stacey wants anise cookies. I need to make a gingerbread. We’ll need to get the fixings for eggnog. We have a gallon and a half of peppermint stick ice cream in the freezer (Penn State Creamery, no less!). Food, music, family, the best parts of the holiday!
I wish you the very merriest of Christmases!
