 |
| The last sunrise of 2018. |
We are in a new year now. Sunrise on the last day of the old year was lovely, a fitting farewell to the old year. Our celebration of the changing of the year went just as planned and was very in keeping with our family traditions. On New Years Eve we ate our dinner of traditional foods – little wieners in a sauce of jelly and mustard, pot stickers, egg rolls, fried rice, a seven-layer Mexican dip with corn chips, a cheese ball and crackers, Super Bowl cookies (we don’t watch the Super Bowl at our house, but we love our Super Bowl cookies), and sherbet punch – all to the accompaniment of Strauss waltzes (our traditional New Years music). After dinner we watched The Two Towers, the second installment in our traditional New Years Lord of the Rings movie marathon. It’s a long movie that took us past 10:00. After that, Stacey and I retired for the night. The children stayed up. I don’t know what time they finally went to bed. I was asleep when the year changed. During the night, a storm blew in. It really did blow in – the wind was so strong and loud that it woke me several times. It blew so hard that it rolled the Christmas tree like a pine scented tumbleweed from its resting place in the woodland garden out into the yard. New Years Day dawned dark, gray, and stormy – not an omen of the months ahead, I hope.
 |
| New Years Eve. |
On New Years Day I always keep a personal tradition. I like to do things that day that symbolize my hopes for the year ahead. So I took some time to read, symbolic of the book adventures I hope lie ahead. I tended to my houseplants to represent the gardens waiting to grow. I listened to good music (Bach all day long). I did some family history. I played games with Miriam, Hannah, and Josiah – Risk and Scrabble. I hope to spend a great portion of 2019 doing those things.
 |
| My plants in the upstairs bay window. |
 |
| Playing Risk. |
 |
| Playing Scrabble. |
Stacey had to work on New Years Day so we didn’t eat our dinner until she got home. We had it all ready and waiting. We had our traditional pork and sauerkraut, mashed potatoes, and dinner rolls. We also finished off some of the leftovers from the night before. After dinner we watched The Return of the King to finish off our movie marathon.
School began again on Thursday and we returned to the usual schedule. The holidays already seem like a distant memory. Now the post-holiday slump begins. These days from New Years to the beginning of spring are the longest, most tedious days of the year for me. I distract myself with seed catalogs and garden plans. This year we will have a big adventure in February when we go to Italy. That will certainly alleviate the tedium.
School began again on Thursday and we returned to the usual schedule. The holidays already seem like a distant memory. Now the post-holiday slump begins. These days from New Years to the beginning of spring are the longest, most tedious days of the year for me. I distract myself with seed catalogs and garden plans. This year we will have a big adventure in February when we go to Italy. That will certainly alleviate the tedium.
From the day after Christmas to the beginning of March is trapping season here and someone has decided to try and trap the beavers at the beaver pond across the road from us. The pond is not on our property so there isn’t much I can do about it. I’ve seen the kid who set the traps checking them a few times. So far, as far as I’ve seen, he hasn’t killed any yet. I’ll be very sad if he succeeds. The beaver pond is a big part of our life here. We watch the beavers at work. We watch the wildlife that thrives around the pond. I’ll be praying from now until March that our beavers will be protected.
 |
| Sunrise over the beaver pond. |
Miriam, Hannah, and Josiah are down visiting the Thayns this weekend. They left on Thursday evening and will be home later tonight. So it’s just been Stacey and I in the house the past few days. It’s very quiet when it’s just the two of us here. It’s kind of nice for a little while, but it doesn’t take long before I find myself missing the children.
Today we began our new two hour church schedule and had our first Sunday School lesson with our new curriculum. My concerns about teaching in this new way were unfounded. It went well. The class was prepared, the discussion was meaningful. Now if we can just keep going in this manner, it will be a great year.
So we are home an hour earlier than usual. That means we get to eat lunch an hour earlier than usual. From where I’m sitting, I can smell bacon frying and it smells delicious. Our goal, now that we’ve been given more time at home on Sundays, is to spend time studying the scriptures for our next Sunday School lesson in two weeks and also to do family history. I’m going to enjoy this.
Today we began our new two hour church schedule and had our first Sunday School lesson with our new curriculum. My concerns about teaching in this new way were unfounded. It went well. The class was prepared, the discussion was meaningful. Now if we can just keep going in this manner, it will be a great year.
So we are home an hour earlier than usual. That means we get to eat lunch an hour earlier than usual. From where I’m sitting, I can smell bacon frying and it smells delicious. Our goal, now that we’ve been given more time at home on Sundays, is to spend time studying the scriptures for our next Sunday School lesson in two weeks and also to do family history. I’m going to enjoy this.
