Winter Sunset Across the Meadow

Tuesday: A Patient Pup

What our beloved pets allow us to do to them... poor Santa Dash!

Fridge Photos

Each Epiphany as we store our Christmas things for another year, we take a last look through our Christmas cards, and we put new photos up on our fridge. Some are missionaries to pray for; others are friends we see seldom but hold close in our hearts. Some are family members, including my nephew Steven now in Iraq, and others are my closest friends from church and even from college and grad school days. Vera (godmother to all four kids) and her family are pictured in the lower right corner. These photos remind me of people we love and also remind me to pray for them regularly.

Epiphany

In honor of Epiphany, I photographed one of our "wise guys" (as my brother used to call them when we were kids) before the kids and I packed away all the Advent and Christmas things this afternoon after church. Whew! I'm exhausted....

A blessed Epiphanytide to all! May we all seek the face of God as the wise men did, so long ago.

Twelfth Night

The Advent candles, which we enjoy fully-lit throughout Christmastide, are lit for the last time tonight, the Twelfth Night of Christmas.



At the Twelfth Night party at Victoria House, Father Acker, his wife Alice, and other Anglicans (the kids tossed theirs on first) toss greenery onto the fire (inside tonight because of the raging storm) to symbolize the light of Christ going out into the darkness of the world. We prayed the Evening Office of Prayer before the "bonfire" and enjoyed sherry and trifle -- oooh-so-British -- afterward. (Alice makes the BEST trifle -- I've been looking forward to it all winter.) A lovely way to ring out Christmastide and welcome the season of Epiphany!

Friday: Rain Through Window

The view from the window next to my desk as blessed, needed, prayed-for rain finally arrives ... thanks be to God!

Catching Up....

E has some literature to catch-up over the break. So while she studied her Greek and Roman mythology and I checked her answers to the SMARR questions, I read the Rule of St. Benedict. Not a bad way to spend a gray afternoon....

Carnivore on the Prowl....

Dash lies in wait as Keith slices stew beef ... one never knows when a piece of meat may just SLLIIPPPP! off the cutting board for this waiting carnivore....

New Years Day at Cabin

This afternoon the kids and I drove up the mountain to my parents' little cabin on Mount Laguna where we met up with my brother, his wife, and their kids, plus my mom's cousin and his wife for chili, cornbread, cheesecake, and games. Before we spent a good couple of hours playing Apples to Apples with much laughter, all six of the cousins were lined up on the sofa, playing games on their Nintendo DS's.

New Year's Eve

Thanks to Keith and I coming down with colds, we had to cancel woth our friends who were supposed to come over for board games this New Year's Eve. Teri's having surgery on Thursday and can't chance becoming ill. So just the five of us (the four kids and I) played games all evening, with T winning at Clue (Mrs. White in the Billiard Room with the lead pipe), and myself winning at Pirates of the Caribbean Life as Will Turner, Landlubber. We had fun playing games while consuming the various delicious snacks provided by Keith. After the younger two went to bed at 11:30, E and I played a final game of Set before ringing in the New Year.