My first REAL Christmas

This is my first real Christmas! Last year, I was just a baby and you gave me all those technical manuals to read, except you read them to me. Now I can read them myself! In addition, I can tear the pages out by myself, so you don't need to repossess the manuals during the ripping process. Also, you've given things to my brother and sister but they are really mine. Tell them they belong to me! If you don't, then as soon as they open them, I'm going to run over and try to grab them away and play with them myself. If that doesn't work, I'll cry. That's because they really belong to me, unless it's something you slide onto your feet or that white stuff you call underwear. Not interested in that.

Also, I'm getting weary of these presents with string tied all around them. They are so hard to open. I guess I understand the government childproofing my pill bottles, but the presents? Why? I need some explanation here.

All good things...

All good things must come to an end... Christmas was really good this year. Unfortunately, the grand kids are about to leave and carry off their goods. We're not going to miss the goods, but we sure will miss the kids! And we'll miss the unique language they use: "Look at all the peasants under the chemistree!"  Or, "I got a cockadiyal for Kissmas." And, "Gory to the newt born king!" Or, "Can we wait anoner minute before bedtime?"

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you all!

May the grace of Christ and His peace be with you all, who love our Lord Jesus.
Your friend,
Andy

Grandchildren

We love our grandchildren. When Santa came to visit, Little Andy the oldest one asked me, "how could Santa possibly get all those presents in one bag?" I just told him to go look inside his mother's purse.

Over the years I've learned a couple of things about children. Here are a few things I've learned:

1. If you see a kid with a lump on his head, you can bet a dollar that the night before his father helped him with arithmetic homework! Of course, the children pictured below aren't old enough for homework yet.

2. Kids simply don't understand why parents make them go to sleep when they're wide awake and get up when they're sleepy.

3. Kids today don't appreciate conveniences like air-conditioning. But it doesn't sound right if you say, "Somewhere in Africa, children are sweating."

Anyway, the holidays have treated us well this year. It even snowed on Christmas day, giving us a white Christmas! But our real dreams came true when the grandchildren arrived.

Hudson Gardens Christmas lights

We went to Hudson Gardens last night in an attempt to get frostbite. It was so cold I saw a thirty-third degree Mason drop 10 degrees! When we walked down to the Platte River (which was frozen, of course), I saw a goose laying eggs in the standing position! Anyway, we walked around the trail and really enjoyed the lights. The tree below was my favorite.

The kids liked the model train set up they have. And guess what, their favorite train "Thomas" was featured as one of the engines. Afterward we came home and had a nice dinner. Not bad for a blackberry huh! If it weren't for the photos, I'd have left the thing in the snow.

Sledding on Christmas Day

We went sledding yesterday after the storm. Below, little Andy is flying down the hill backwards! You can see Seth waiting for him at the bottom of the hill. About half way between them is a trail which crossed the sledding hill. As soon as the kids would hit the trail in front of them, it would launch them partly into the air! This is when the giggles and screams began in earnest.

Finally, it was time for Seth to take Eli down the hill. This proved to be difficult because he couldn't hang onto Eli and the sled at the same time. Needless to say, it was Eli's only trip. Nancy is at the bottom of the hill with Daisy. After 7 or 8 times down the hill everyone was pretty tired... of walking up the hill! Anyway, we had lots of fun and met some of the neighbors sledding too.

Merry Christmas!

Santa and his Elf stopped by last night to leave presents for the children. We had a great time! We left them cookies and enjoyed the looks on the kids faces. Nancy first met Santa's Elf at BSF and since then we've been on many hikes with Santa and his Elf as well as short vacations together (during the off season of course, Santa is very busy). He did say he was taking tomorrow off, Christmas Day.

We all had a great laugh when they left "out the back door," because little Andy asked, "I thought they were supposed to go up the chimney?" Their credibility called into question by the oldest child required some private counseling by Dad. The other two were completely taken in by the chicanery.

It's the season to be mellow

It's the season to be mellow. It's so nice to get up in the morning and see the Christmas tree with all the presents under it... along with the grand kids too! This morning's activity includes doing cookie decorations. The kids helped make the cookies. They were so helpful, they licked the knives really well between cookies too!

Of course, you have to put the tiny little red, yellow and green balls on the cookies after you slather on the frosting. When we ran out, I told them not to worry because there are hundreds of them in the carpet from last year!

I'm so glad we can enjoy Christmas together this year! Today we're going to a Christmas service at church and then this evening Santa and his helper will arrive before the kids are tucked into bed! Yes, it's true!  Mark and Teena are the actors and we plan on catching them leaving presents for everyone. More on this later...

Christmas time!

Life has been pretty hectic here in the last couple of weeks. Sorry for not keeping you more updated on my "Fragments." Last Wednesday it snowed here before Seth and Noelle and the grand kids arrived. They were driving up from Tucson and thankfully arrived a few days after this 5 inch mess and found only dry roads on the way up.

Today, Seth and I took them for a little walk on one of the nearby trails. So, we bundled up and trudged through the snow up the trail from our house.

On the way up, we ran into a coyote (the kids first sighting of one of these creatures). He was more interested in the prairie dogs than us. I thought he looked pretty healthy, so he must be having some success. Keep up the good work buddy!

We found a place where there was a little more snow and enjoyed watching them get wet and cold. The kids also discovered snow balls! Hey! I'm off limits. I have a camera!

Tea and Couth

Nancy and Noelle went to Mrs. B's Tea Parlor with friends and had a great time together. Besides tea, they said they had  really good "soup in a bread" bowl. They said they even ate some of the bowl, since it's bread after all. I explained that in most restaurants they re-use those bowls. Hmm, interesting reaction.

It's nice to be married to someone with couth. I admire people who know what couth is so that they're aware when they're being un! I'm also happy that Nancy has someone with couth to go to these kinds of places, instead of me.

Connecticut Tragedy

Last night we were at a friend's house enjoying a Christmas party, playing games, and singing Christmas carols. Of course, we all reflected on the events of the day, the tragedy in Connecticut. All those little children, we thought! We pondered the enormity of it and prayed for the parents. An old favorite hymn we sang was Away in a Manger. One of the verses is:

Be near me, Lord Jesus;

I ask thee to stay

Close by me forever

And love me I pray!

Bless all the dear children

In Thy tender care,

And fit us for heaven

To live with Thee there.

I image that to believe in a loving God at a time like this seems difficult. How could this happen? Perhaps God's excuse for this is Easter. As Christians we believe that the cross of Christ overcomes evil. However, did it overcome unfairness? I think not. Maybe, Easter Sunday is required, God must show us a way through unfairness and in fact he does. God promises us that he will restore all physical reality, problems in the world, and unfairness, to a proper place under His rule. Until that time, we have to be mindful that we only live life on Easter Saturday. In the meantime, we live in a world that is plainly bad and evil.

Frederick Buechner wrote, "To be commanded to love God at all, let alone in the wilderness, is like being commanded to be well when we are sick, to sing for joy when we are dying of thirst, to run when our legs are broken. But this is the first and great commandment nonetheless. Even in the wilderness - especially in the wilderness - you shall love Him."

I like the words of Philip Yancey in his book Disappointment With God. He writes, "Who in the world does not yearn for more justice in the world here and now? Secretly, I admit, I yearn for a world "fault-proof" against disappointment, a world where my magazine articles will always find acceptance and my body does not grow old and weak, a world where my sister-in-law does not deliver a brain-damaged child. My faith on such a fault-proof earth, my faith will let me down. Even the greatest of miracles do not resolve the problems of this earth: all people who find physical healing eventually die."

We need more than a miracle Yancey says. Perhaps the real miracle is what God promises in Revelation 21:4-5 "and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or drying, or pain; the first things have passed away. And He who sits on the throne said, 'Behold I am making all things new.' And He said, 'Write, for these words are faithful and true."

In this world of sin, there is still hope...

How silently, how silently

The wondrous gift is given!

So God imparts to human hearts

The blessings of His heaven.

No ear may hear His coming;

But in this world of sin,

Where meek souls will receive Him,

still the dear Christ enters in.

O holy Child of Bethlehem

Descend to us, we pray.

Be born in us today.

We hear the Christmas angels,

The great glad tidings tell,

Oh come to us, abide with us

our Lord Emmanuel.

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.

II  Corinthians 5:17

Song Title on my mind today: The Love of God

Could we with ink the ocean fill
And were the sky's of parchment made,
Were every stalk on earth a quill
And every man a scribe by trade;
To write the love of God above
Would drain the ocean dry;
Nor could the scroll contain the whole,
Though stretched from sky to sky.

These words were penciled on the wall of an insane asylum by a man said to have been demented. The profound lines were discovered when they laid him in his coffin.

Oh Christmas Tree!

We went to dinner last night and then worked on the Christmas tree when we got home.You know they actually have plastic Christmas trees now. They're hard to tell from the real aluminum ones. The last time we set up a tree we used our old artificial tree. The tree was so puny we had to use orthopedic bulbs. We bought more bulbs this time and got a real tree! I have to water it every day!

Our neighbor decided Christmas is too expensive. He went outside and shot off three blanks with his gun, then told his kids Santa Claus just committed suicide because of the election.

Now I'm looking for a gift for our oldest grandson Andy. I found a war game made in the Middle East that has a rocket launcher on it. It comes with a bayonet attached, in case you miss. This is really a nice gift but it takes batteries. While I was looking around I saw that they came out with a battery-operated battery. But the batteries aren't included.

Kids today walk taller

Kids today walk taller. That's because at home, everything they own is on the floor. Eli, pictured below knows where everything is though. I had asked him to find me a ball to throw around and he had it to me in 5 seconds! He's a pretty smart little guy too. He wanted me to take this ladder home so he could use it as a chair.