The First Day of Winter

Don't know what it's like in your neck of the woods, but our first day of winter is setting a record high temperature of 80+ degrees. The sun is shining. The sky is blue. The wind and dirt are blowing. I actually had to flip on the air-conditioner in my suburban. I don't think the kids are going to get their wish of a white Christmas.

Our homeschooling has ceased until after New Years. And are we excited! We have had much company, and several parties at our house over the last couple of weeks, not to mention the other parties (Kregg's company one, a neighborhood one, a party at church). And I just dropped the two youngest boys off at a birthday party/sleep over/air soft war that lasts until tomorrow. They were not excited at all. I did tell the brave mother-of-the-birthday-boy that she was free to thump my two on the head, if needed, and tell them it was from me. And if things get really nuts, I told her to call me, no matter what time it is, and I will come and cart them away.

We are still awaiting the arrival of one last shipment of presents. Amazon says it will arrive by the 23rd. But everything else is bought, wrapped, shipped, or delivered. Whew! There is, however, one large project looming for Kregg, Builder-of-Furniture-Extraordinaire. 

He decided that for the 18th birthday of each of our children, he was going to build a special piece of furniture. It is a serious thing to set a precedent in this family. You really need to think about it when you do something for #1 out of 7, because that means you will need to replicate the experience 6 more times. (That's why there are 5 baby beds in our storage room, one for each of the five children we birthed. Josh and Ben will just have to get theirs until they become parents, since they weren't here as babies.) 

When Hannah turned 18, he built her a gorgeous arts & crafts style bookcase, with glass doors, out of quarter-sawn oak. When Mackenzy turned 18, we had an extra girl living with us. She lived here for a year and shared a room with Mackenzy. So Mackenzy asked if, since her room was so crowded, she could wait a while for her special piece of furniture. Well, Kregg decided that he wanted to surprise her with it for Christmas this year. She has no idea he has been working on it, and since she doesn't read my blog it will still be a surprise. It's going to be a photo finish, if he has it ready by Christmas. But, it is far enough along that she will be able to have a really good idea of what the finished product will look like. Pictures to follow.


Kregg has our Christmas Eve and Christmas Day all planned out. It is so strange for us to be home for Christmas that we are kind of giddy about it. It seems so easy! Normally, we travel for Thanksgiving and Christmas every year. You will simply have to imagine the logistics involved to pack up everything a family of 9 needs to have their entire Christmas out-of-town, because I refuse to think about it right now. It would be easier to move. So this year seems quite relaxed in comparison. 


Non-Christmas related things this week include staying up terribly late last night to view the lunar eclipse, watching a neighbor's home while he is out of town, a Shepherding couple's meeting and prayer time at church, seeing the very first picture (sonogram via iphone) of our very first grandchild, helping take care of Mackenzy (She slipped early Sunday morning and fell while taking a shower and landed on the right side of her rib cage on the edge of the tub. She probably broke ribs, but the nurse said that since none of the "scary symptoms" are  present, there is nothing the doctor can do except wait for it to heal.)


We are finishing up our three Advent readings: Tabitha's Travels, The Jesse Tree, and A Jesus Advent Celebration. Today, we did our baking for our "neighbor gifts." So our "To Do" list is basically complete. And it's only the 21st!

May every moment of this Christmas weekend be filled to overflowing with JESUS!! All the rest really just doesn't matter, does it?