Merry Christmas 2013!

Today my family and I outran the impending snow storm to visit Landis Valley Museum. I really wanted to see the Belsnickle, the whip-bearing Pennsylvania German figure that predated Santa and kept Christmas a little too lively for my Quaker ancestors. Pearl giggled, Sapphire kept her distance, and Ruby eyed him warily, unwilling to look away from him even for a photograph. She didn't start talking again for about ten minutes.

Our pursuit of history is so cruel!

We have had an eventful last twelvemonth, as you may know. We celebrated our first anniversary of being a family of five and then Daniel experienced a restless, painful month with undiagnosed Lyme disease before a brain scan also unexpectedly uncovered an unrelated but rather large aneurism.

you can see our cute little yellow belt on the far right

Daniel is well now. The Lyme symptoms are gone and the aneurism is safely plugged with platinum. He's working on regaining his strength after a few months of inactivity from back pain and then restricted activity leading up to the surgery. As he awaited surgery, our church lovingly celebrated his ten year anniversary in this ministry, a huge encouragement during a troubling time. This year has brought our church a new deacon board, a new denomination, and so much good old spiritual growth for us and the people we love.

His karate school is about to celebrate its eleventh year, and the school has grown to forty students in an unexpected growth spurt this year. The medical situation delayed the test for his fifth dan, but that will happen in 2014. The new year will also see him leading his second group tour of Israel in late March.

Pearl, now in second grade, decided to take an American Sign Language course for home schoolers and continue her piano lessons with a talented woman from church. Her studies of the American colonies have taken us on several trips in the last year: Colonial Williamsburg, Old Bedford Village, Revolutionary Philadelphia, and, just today, Landis Valley Museum. She likes all the playtime our homeschooling schedule allows. She continues to be sweet, gentle, sensitive, and nurturing with a fun sense of humor.

At four years old, Sapphire is overflowing with love and orneriness.  Her favorite way to spend a day is to help mix up a batch of chocolate chip cookies and work on princess puzzles. Watching her explore the world is a treat. When she asked to hear about the day she was born, I told her we thought she was so beautiful, and she asked, "What dress did I have on when I was born?" She and Ruby still have many tough moments of sibling rivalry, but fortunately it has deescalated from biting and hitting to antagonistic looks and combative pointing. At other times they form a special club they call Washy Girls, which, as far as I can figure, just means they are getting along perfectly.

Ruby, age three, has a helpful personality. Her squirminess is unparalleled. It has been amazing to watch her learn to love and cuddle. Fortunately, she has also come to appreciate reading stories, a favorite pastime around here. She asks to read her life book almost every night--that's a book parents create to help explain how an adopted child came to join the family. She enjoys Cubbies, the preschool Awana program she and Marilla attend.  Cora now takes speech lessons to help her articulation. Her favorite thing to do is pal around with her big sisters and get in the car to go anywhere.

a Norwegian stave church

I missed them all very much when I took a three week trip with a friend to Iceland and northern Europe in June. There I saw Neuschwanstein and six other impressive castles, hummed Sound of Music tunes through Salzburg, and learned to fully appreciate German bread.  My favorite spot was a museum of rural Norwegian village life in Oslo.

The trip allowed me to employ my high school German for the first time ever and collect images of European gift-bringers like the Norwegian nisse and Icelandic Yule lads for my book on the culture of Christmas.  My editor has delayed the publication date, but it should be published next year in good time for Christmas reading. I use bits of it to teach elements of writing to my students at Penn State York.

I've also had the joy of helping to oversee our church's Sunday School program and this year's vacation Bible school.  I especially enjoy teaching classes for our home school co-op because we can be so hands on and the kids are really sweet.

a Norwegian Christmas greeting

Our family has felt very blessed in this last year. Thank you for the kindnesses and prayers you have offered on our behalf.

He loves whatever is just and good;
    the unfailing love of the Lord fills the earth.

Psalm 33:5 

Snowy Weekend

We had a weekend of culture and family gatherings, starting with a performance of the Nutcracker. The two bigger girls went with me to that. Sapphire found it hard to stay still except during the battle between the mice and the soldiers. Every now and then I would look over to see her arms held above her head, mimicking the fifth position of  the ballerina.

We also visited Fort Hunter, a mansion and estate on the bank of the Susquehanna north of Harrisburg. I love touring historic homes, so hopefully all the girls will learn to enjoy it. I was pleased with how Pearl was able to identify most of the kitchen equipment. I found that holding Sapphire was the best way to keep her hands off the breakables.






My parents hosted a birthday celebration for three of us, and the next day was my sister's baby shower. The unexpectedly hardy snow storm made it tough for our guests, but we had a nice time together. Pearl enjoyed helping her aunt with the games.

Today we worked our Christmas architectural magic on some graham crackers and leftover candy from Halloween (and Easter!).

Pearl has been reading a chapter book called Who Was Helen Keller? She finds it fascinating. 







 Just a little anticipation around here!
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Characters of Christmas

My mother's Fellowship Committee of very audacious planners organize a Christmas dinner for the women of their church and guests. This year my mom decorated her table with the Santa collection that used to grace my grandmother's mantle every December. Other tables had a vintage Christmas ornament theme, a red, white and black theme, a Russian nesting doll theme, and a Rochet chocolate theme.

After the meal, I was able to share a talk I prepared from the chapter in my book about the gift-bringers in different cultures. This is one of the more unusual figures. The Krampus comes to Bavaria to scare children into good behavior.  It is unlikely he will be replacing Santa Claus at the mall.

These guys are the Icelandic Yule lads. They would each arrive on a different day leading up to Christmas to cause trouble for the farmstead. One stole sausage, one bothered the sheep so they wouldn't give milk.

And here is our own little elf. Today was my birthday, so my family took me to a Hibachi lunch and then worked with me to decorate the house for Christmas. I don't think it has ever gone faster--three eager little daughters and a neighborhood friend practically had the ornaments flying out of my hand!

Thankfulness

We've had some family gathering lately, including a forty-fifth anniversary party for my in-laws. I think we really surprised them. Then we tortured them by making them reenact wedding traditions.











Last week my family headed west to Somerset County for a (slightly) snowy Thanksgiving. Sapphire took her pumpkin pie seriously.  Later she claimed the drumstick and then devoured it.

Our co-op ended for the fall semester. On our last day, I taught my little class of shorties about how we wake up yeast so it can make air bubbles to help our bread rise. They loved the kneading. I did not tell them that baking the bread kills the yeast!

Since we found ourselves ahead by a week, we took a break from school for the entire Thanksgiving week. That didn't stop Pearl from being creative in very loving ways.

I've been reading to her from Beverly Cleary's Ramona series, and she's working on the second Droon book by herself. We've also been watching the PBS series Colonial House, in which seventeen people move into pilgrim houses and see if they can make it. We much rather watch than live that experience!

I guess we make the thumbs up sign more than I realized!