Happy New Year 2014!!!

Here is a beautiful thought I read yesterday; a gift with which to start the new year:

A commonplace life, we say and we sigh,

But why do we sigh as we say?

The commonplace sun in the commonplace sky

Makes up the commonplace day.

The moon and the stars are commonplace things,

And the flower that blooms and the bird that sings;

But dark were the world and sad our lot,

If the flowers failed and the sun shone not.

And God who studies each separate soul

Out of commonplace lives makes His beautiful whole.

From “The Poppies in the Corn,” by F.W. Boreham

Painting by Vincent Van Gogh

Unto us a Son is born...

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

 

Christmas on the Plateau always starts off with the Decmeber 24 community celebration held by the school.

Lots of cute kids sing or recite or dance….this one’s getting her two front teeth for Christmas.

If you want to know what Santa Claus looks like on the Plateau, here he is entering right now…cane, straw hat, poor grammar, and comical dance moves.

Christmas day is usually very quiet and is the time when our staff gets together.  I was responsible for the chicken part of our Christmas dinner.  It was a try at something new: roasting chicken in a pressure cooker.  While I can’t say it turned out “roasted” it did taste pretty good….and it made some super delicious gravy.  The best part about it, though, was that I was able to make it in the kitchen at my house, which was very exciting.

Tried to capture this on the computer's camera

Bonita came up with my digital camera and snapped a commemoration of the occasion.

Dinner was at Manis and Judy's.  We were not nearly on the ball for Christmas as much as we had been for Thanksgiving, but somehow, we ended up with a stunning meal.  

Roasted chicken and vegetables, corn/potato casserole, orange-glazed beets, rolls, homemade ginger-orange cranberry sauce (saved from Thanksgiving), and salad (courtesy of some friends who live nearby and had sent lettuce and tomatoes home with Bonita)….We were truly grateful for such a meal.

Afterwards, we had some “family” time, enjoying each other's company, exchanging gifts, and such.

Ani was "Santa" (at least until she  became absorbed in a book she received as a gift). 

Some of our gifts are spontaneous and creative…

…while some have been thought of, purchased, and brought in a suitcase in advance….

…and others bring tears…

(lies.  she’s actually laughing…her sister is very funny.)

Judy read us the story of the origin of the Christmas stocking.

Bonita had given both Judy and I a spatula….she then opened some gifts from her sister, and received spatulas herself!

God has blessed us, one and all…

For to us a child is born,

to us a son is given;

and the government shall be upon his shoulder,

and his name shall be called

Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,

Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Of the increase of his government and of peace

there will be no end,

on the throne of David and over his kingdom,

to establish it and to uphold it

with justice and with righteousness

from this time forth and forevermore.

The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.

Isaiah 9:6-7

Of course, I always love listening to Handel's Messiah. This year I discovered a new Christmas song to love, as well. You can listen to it here. The words are in Latin and tell of the angel Gabriel's announcement to Mary that she will have a son.

Living Room Sleepover

One day, Ani was watching a movie (I can’t even remember which one now) that included a fort of some kind (tree fort?  living room fort?).  Obviously, the details escape me (or maybe we were reading a book?)….at any rate, it brought back memories of when I was a kid, and my brothers and I used to claim all available blankets, couch cushions, and the chairs for our kitchen table.  According to my memory (which apparently is better long term than short term), those forts were pretty darn cool….I even took my mom’s house plants and put them in the “windows” (i.e. the slatted backs of the chairs).   All of this developed into a promise to Ani to hold a special fort-building, Christmas-cookie-making, movie-watching, sleepover (we go all out). 

We got the cookies rolling….

…and then started on the fort as they chilled in the refrigerator.

Before

Judy was laughing as she took the pictures, since the angle of the sun made me appear like a fort-building angel.

Apparently even fort-building angels need duct tape…

Tada!  (Notice the plant outside our door...just like old times.)

Then it was time to decorate cookies. 

Our sprinkles came all the way from the Whitehall Store in Bellville, PA.  The pink sugar sprinkles—which I had brought especially for a certain pink-loving Little Fella— had burst in my bag on my way to the Plateau.  They were in every nook and cranny not only of the bag, but of every item in the bag.  I managed to salvage some…

We couldn’t find our Christmas-shape cookie cutters, but Judy made her own fancy-pants sprinkle stencil.

Tati Bobo came over to make things interesting.

She also joined us in the fort for a tickle fight and two episodes of the Cosby show.  (Ani’s choice for the movie, and we weren’t complaining.) 

Unfortunately, at four years old you don’t quite see that your awesome mother who has been a good sport about you ripping up her living room and making a mess in her kitchen should be allowed in your fort as well.

I had kind of hoped that Ani would forget about the “sleepover” part of our arrangement.  Yeah, right.  The child has the memory of an elephant (consequently, part of our time in the fort included her opening a little ornament that my mom had sent her—a pink elephant). 

So, I ended up spending the night in our little fort.  All things considered it didn’t go too badly…it didn’t fall in on us, and I only got a flailing arm flung in my face once (throw pillows come in very useful as barriers here).

See that white mass of blanket under the fort….that’s me.