Merry Christmas, 2014!

When we remember 2014, our family will have some easy-to-recall milestones. This year saw "Pearl" and Daniel travel to the Holy Lands for our oldest daughter's first trip abroad. Shortly after they returned, we settled on our new home, just five minutes up the road from our old place.

We spent much of the summer moving, painting, and repointing our dream house. Daniel hung a long rope swing for the girls, which entertained them for hours.  This fall, we brought home a dog from the SPCA.



I'm pleased to tell you that the book that I was first asked to write way back in the summer of 2011 came out in October.  My new book tells the story of the first Christmas and how it developed into the modern global phenomenon.  I learned so much while writing it, and it has allowed me to share the beauty of Christmas with a wide audience. 

"Pearl" and Daniel at the Wailing Wall, Jerusalem

 Also, after even more years of planning and praying, our church family broke ground on our new building. It has been amazing to watch it grow behind our current building each week. Like the other church children, the girls took part in a musical and a books-of-the-Bible memory challenge to help raise funds for this big project. 

I thought I could summarize our year in one opening paragraph, but, five paragraphs later, I suddenly realize how impossible that is for 2014.

Our 1875 homestead (which came with four independent ducks)

The girls have all had milestones.  "Pearl" learned so much about world history and travel as we prepared her for the trip to Israel in Jordan in March. Now in third grade and wild about Harry Potter, she's improving with her piano playing and has learned to knit. Her devotion to her dog, for whom she prayed for years, is adorable.

"Sapphire" is just on the cusp of learning to read. While this kindergartener has had some bumps along the way (if you scroll down, you'll read about self-hair-cuts and a series of rabies inoculations), her jumpy joy for life livens up our whole family. If you need someone to recite The Grinch, she's your girl.

"Ruby's" hard work with her speech lessons has led to greater clarity and confidence. She had a hard time with the move initially, but now she wants to invite everyone over and show them her room. We celebrated our second year altogether as a family this August. It is a great answer to prayer to see how far our family has come in that time.

Really, I could go on with the 2014 highlights. The American Tang Soo Do Association promoted Daniel to his 5th degree black belt in March.  I became an aunt for the twenty-second time and the twenty-third time when both my siblings had their first babies this year. Overall, writing this Christmas newsletter has been a useful experience of self-realization. Things have changed!  Phew!

One thing hasn't changed. Our family is delighted to share the joy of Christ's birth with yours during this Feast of the Nativity. Merry Christmas!

Christmas Cookie Factory

As of now Sapphire is done the four rounds of shots for her possible rabies exposure. The ER nurses are probably as happy as we are that this is done. When I asked Sapphire how it went, she said it went better than the rest, but her daddy later told me it took three nurses and himself to hold all the parts of her down while she screamed.  I think her resilient mind has rewritten the course of events.


Our church Christmas program filled our 1774 stone church with beautiful music, and a very cute nativity scene, complete with a real baby. 


My interview with the Brian Lehrer Show on WNYC went very well, and I'm set up for two more interviews with him, one planned for the television broadcast next week.  I am well aware that my inbox will stop receiving emails about radio chats next week when Christmas suddenly becomes old news, but at least I now know what it is like! 

Our annual sand tart party took place today. Three little girls, a dozen cookie cutters, five bowls of colored sugar, and only one mommy/rolling pin combination. 

Brie has become such a fixture in our family in the two months since we found her at the SPCA. We think now Ruby isn't having the allergic skin reactions she had at first, so she gets to shower the doggie with love too.

You have to love a pup that adores your daughter as much as she does.  When I take Brie out for a stroll at night, she can't keep her mind on the purpose of our walk because she has to keep checking to see if Pearl is coming, or, at the very least, watching her from a window. When we walk down the road, she is distracted as we head away from the house but very focused as she hikes back home, back to her Pearl. A girl and her dog.

Tinsel Time

 

Our little orange belt has turned into a green belt. This is when her karate school studies get a little more serious. She will now stay for two classes instead of one, and she will be expected to break her first board. 

I have found one review of my book online, and it pleased me enough to share a link here.  The fifty minute interview went well, and I'll have an interview with WNYC, an NPR station, on Monday. 

Here in our home, we've made a list of things we want to do to prepare for Christmas. They include making gingerbread houses, visiting a live nativity down the road, seeing the Rocky Ridge Christmas lights (the park puts on a huge display), and making sand tarts. 

I've researched and written about the 'burden' of Christmas preparation, but by identifying what we really want to do, I think it will be a joy.  My secret weapon to Christmas busy-ness is our neighborhood elf who has wrapped our gifts more beautifully than I could ever do

We were surprised to see that the local drive through nativity, which is done very well, had two real camels this year! The girls like to hear about our memories of taking part in live nativities--and all their family members who played music, cooked, or organized them.  Pearl is especially impressed that I played Mary several years. 

Birthday Breakfast in Bed

We had a very snowy Thanksgiving in western PA in a spot where wi-fi and cell reception is so dicey we feel like we are back in the 90s, but we appreciate that. Back home, the girls and a little friend helped me decorate for Christmas in our new home.  We had a blast figuring out how to arrange all the beloved old decorations in the new window sills and shelves.  This year we have a hearth for the first time.  It holds firewood, not a fire, but it came with five old, hand-made nails. So the stockings are hung by the...woodstove...with care.





We also had the last Youth Group meeting of the year. We have hosted it in our home so far this semester, so I never quite know what I'll find when I come home from Awana with the two little girls on Sunday nights.  This week my husband thought he'd try bobbing for apples.  I had suggested putting the tub on the porch, but he assured me they wouldn't make to much of a mess.  Then one of the high school seniors slipped and went into the tub, sending a tsunami of apples and water all over my kitchen.  So, I ended up with a well-mopped kitchen floor. 

I had my first experience with a radio interview. It wasn't my best ten minutes ever, but I did get to share a tiny bit of what I've learned about Christmas.  The interview is the result of the October publication of my recent book.  It is available in hardback and for the Kindle. I have two more interviews lined up so far, each of them longer time increments. My husband has kindly been helping me prepare by throwing tough questions at me.  I know he enjoys this more than I do.

I also had the chance to give talks developed from my book this week.  I shared about the origins of Christmas with the ladies of my mother's church, and I talked about the astonishing characters of Christmas at my campus library.  These were a lot of fun.

Today was my birthday, and I had my most successful breakfast in bed ever. No one bounced my tea out of the cup, no one tried to take my food, and it came speedily, so I wasn't stuck in bed waiting very long (they once tried to make pancakes--from scratch--while I was more than ready to roll out of bed).  This year's success is partly due to my husband's thoughtful preparations ahead of time.   The girls were so excited to participate as my little maids.  Later we went out for lunch, and then I had the thrill of taking a child to the ER for a totally over-cautious, potential rabies-exposure visit.  Don't worry, all is well, but man, can Sapphire put up a fight when she sees the needles coming at her.