Christmas Day

In our house, Christmas Day leisurely begins with egg casserole and the opening of stockings while people ready themselves for group gift opening. After Bethany arrived, breakfast was cleaned up, and drinks were poured, everyone settled into the seating area of their choice for gift opening. One by one, we open a gift--youngest to oldest--so that we can all see who got what and really enjoy the gift. There were many wonderful gifts this year (honestly, that's true every year). Some were thoughtfully purchased while others were lovingly created.

Riley handcrafted a wooden gun, which was much more detailed than the pictures captured, and a wooden face that he gifted to Jozsef and said that the face is one Jozsef makes when he's satisfied. :-)

Sonja took a photo of me and replicated it in colored pencil--she did a fantastic job! Her photo realistic art is on point!

Connor handcarved a trophy for John and I. His hat stack was super well done and impressively realistic. He told us that he gave us the Hat Award for successfully juggling many hats in our parenting roles. :-)

We all very much enjoyed spending the day opening and reviewing our gifts, taking a break for a light lunch, and ending just in time to create dinner. John had plenty of help (truly it takes a team) in crafting a delicious sushi dinner for the lot of us.

We introduced Bethany to poke bowls and thankfully, she liked it. We had a wonderful spread of rolls, bowls, and nigri topped off by sorbet. We contentedly spent the reaminder of the evening lounging together. Christmas had come and gone in a blink! How thankful we are that we get to celebrate Jesus' birth!

Christmas Eve

This Christmas season we had a division we've never experienced before. For much of 2023, we've been in church transition. In the summer, we officially left the church we'd been at for about three years. Jozsef began a paid internship with the Youth Pastor of another church and the children spent the summer doing activites with Jozsef at that church. They had a blast! We already knew a couple of families there and we were getting to know a few more so we stayed on at that church thinking it might make a good new church home. However, by the fall, we had learned more about the church and how it was running and ultimately decided that we needed a different, and smaller environment. We found a great little church and have been working on transitioning into that community. This type of transiiton is tough to make over the holidays as many of regular aspects of the comuunity are off scedule and often on pause. However, the people of this new church have been very welcoming and we look forward to getting more involved with the new year.

The holidays were really nice at the our new location. The Worship Pastor set up an Advent schedule that provided for a different musical presentation each Sunday of Advent. For instance, one Sunday was a Blue Grass Worship while another was the Christmas Choir singing. It was a wonderful display of musical celebration. Jozsef was unable to attend much of the seasonal sessions because as a paid intern, he's tied to a different church. We knew this day may eventually come as his desire is for ministry. We tried to stay with him as long as we could, it was just time to part ways. Hopefully, one day in the future, we'll be in the same church home again, but for now, Jozsef has his primary church and we have ours (Nikolas has decided he prefers the smaller setting that we chose). We'll still have times when we are at Jozsef's church with him. We still very much appreciate the Youth Pastor he works with and we assist with certain activites while the children attend the event. And whenever he can, Jozsef steps aside from his regular and joins us at our little church for a different kind of experice and to be with us. Thus, Christmas Eve was our first split holiday. Jozsef worked the morning service at his church and then joined us in the evening for candlelight service. It was great to have him with us. Jozsef knows people in our little church too, so it was really nice for him to be able to catch up with them as well. Bethany spent the holidays with us also (she's claiming our little church as hers too and attends Sundays with Nikolas) so it was great to have the whole lot of us together. The service was packed and wonderful. The church was nicely decorated and they put out a wonderful finger foods spread for the congregants to enjoy. The worship was heartfelt and put everyone in readiness to celebrate our Savior's birth. We snagged a couple of photos just before the house was packed--truly, there was standing room only--and I"m glad we did because I really didn't get too many photos this holiday season.

After church, we returned to the house for a charcuterie dinner, the saran wrap game, the opening of one gift, and a movie to close out the night.

By then we were happy to turn in in anticipation of Christmas Day.

Sweaters and Golf Balls

Christmas parties abound in December and this year we experienced a party like no other we've attended. The youth group had a tacky Christmas party complete with ugly sweaters, mismatched outfits, and a very special putt putt course customed designed by the youth pastor and his team (Jozsef included).

There were nine golf holes spread throughout the church for the teams to wind their way through, one challenge at a time. The holes were very creatively designed--I wish I had been able to take more photos of them.

John helped man golf holes while I helped in the kitchen--we served breakfast foods to the children as it was a brunch style event.

It was loads of fun and Sonja even managed to get the third best score!

Holiday Happiness

December, being the notoriously busy month that it is, is a time when a little bit of everything pops up--some things are planned, and some are just happy surprises. :-) I'll highlight here some of the smaller, but no less joyful, moments of the month. Nikolas found a vintage sleigh and brought it home for me. He thought I might like it as a decoration--he was right! Sonja helped me to clean it up and retore it and now it sits on our front porch. Sonja did a fabulous job with the lettering!

There's a rig owner in our locale that all out decorates his big rig--he even puts a loud speaker and great Christmas tunes on it--and then spends the while of December spreading Christmas cheer. Sometimes you'll pass it on the road, and sometimes you'll randomly find it parked in a lot somewhere that people can enjoy it. He's known as Chritmas Pete adn he's SO much fun! We look forward to finding him around town every year. This time, Sonja and I were enjoying a sunset when we noticed Pete across the parking lot :-)

Happy mail is a wonderful upside to the Christmas season--so much to appreciate and you never know what will show up! One of the packages we received had dry ice in it. And why is that exciting? Because volcano drinks are made with dry ice! The children had so much fun with these :-)

Shopping in December can be difficult and tedious or a treasure hunt upon you embark while looking for small joys along the way. One of the local grocery stores was helping to set the mood by allowing a cellist to play Christmas tunes for customer enjoyment--what a beautiful treat!

While shopping, we took the time to take in the sights--many areas of beautiful decorations, and some that were just fun. At our church, the Worship Pastor did a full scale string art nativity scene as a backdrop for the season, and one of the department stores had a great photo spot with a giant dinosaur. :-)

Yes, December is crazy busy--but we try to capture as many moments as possible as the month whizzes by. Sometimes, that means jsut stopping in at the small local coffee shop to enjoy a handcrafted delicious piece of art and sit a spell to rest while you catch up with folks you know.

It's a magical season!

From Dream to Done

When we purchased this home, the basement was listed as unfinished. However, there was enough done to that level for us to make a functional office and bedroom on that floor which were instantly put to use. At the end of the hallway, there was a big black void. Just a space with wall studs in place and a concrete floor--literally a blank canvas. Though that space has been used to house many a storage pieces over the years that we've been here, the vision was to make that hole a functioning bathroom.

We knew that the task would be monumental, but we also knew that it would be well worth doing. It took us a L O N G time, but we can gleefully say that we have a bathroom! Nikolas practiced his plumbing skills, Jozsef exercised his drywall and painting skills, and John filled in all of the other gaps. From coring a can for the toilet and installing an ejector pump, to full out plumbing, making walls, making doorways, creating a ceiling, wiring for lights and outlets, installing fixtures--every little detail--the guys did it all! Ok, we had help with the coring, ejector pump, and some of the wiring--thank you Grassroots and Denver! But overall, the project was by and large an in-house project.

The boys are thrilled--as are the rest of us. This is a B I G deal! I'm so happy for the willing hands to put in the numerous hours in making this dream become a reality. Great Work Guys! and THANK YOU!

Contract to Covenant

Once upon a time, the church was the center of a community. People met there, they worshipped and fellowshipped there, creating bonds. People were married at the church and when thier babies were born, the babies were baptized there. At the end of life, funerals were held at the church and people were buried at the church cemetary. All the records were simple. The Pastor and the people wrote the name of the event and the date of the event in thier Bibles. Every sacred event was between the Pastor, the people, and God--because these were God given rights of passage. This was the way life was recorded for generations--until the government got involved and found a way to take charge of records and attach financial gain to them. This is where covenant was changed to contract. A contract, by definition, is an agreement between two or more parites that creates mutual obligations that are enforceable by law. In regards to marriage, that sounds super romantic, doesn't it. In contrast, a covenant is defined as a promise, agreement, or contract between two or more oarties, often accompanied by oaths, signs, and ceremonies. It is a relationship bwtween two partners who make binding promises to otherand work together to reach a common goal. Covenants define obligations and commitments but they are different from a contract because they are relational and personal. Biblically, a covenant marriage is a solemn and binding relationship between a man and a woman that is meant to last a lifetime. The purpose of a covenant marriage is to reflect the love and relationship between Christ and His church, and it is meant to be a unique display of God's covenant grace because, unlike all other human relaitonships, the husband and wife are bound by covenant into the closest possible relationship for a lfetime.

When John and I first were married, we were not Christ followers, and though we included Biblical verses and mentioned God in our ceremony, we definitely entered into a contract. Over the years, after trial and triumph with resulting growth, and yes, becoming Christ followers, we decided that we would rather be in covenant than in contract. It took us quite some time to reach the point of ability to make the switch, but we finally got all of our pieces together and recently made the switch. In a lake side gazebo, witnessed by the children and Bethany, John and I made a covenant vow. We didn't just mention God, we made God the cornerstone of our lives together.

It was simple, sweet, special, and significant. We topped off the night with a celebratory dinner and a delicious apple butter cake.

We made a marked moment. Praise God! ;-)

Giving Thanks

November is a great month. Not only does it cool down and we can open windows, but the foliage turns brilliant colors and we are surrounded by beauty. In the midst of it all, we have an entire month to really focus on counting our blessings and giving thanks culminating in a day of thanks and a feast. How wonderful is that?! We worked our way through the alphabet identiflying the blessings we have which is always a treat to see other people's perspectives. Thanksgiving day was filled with games, puzzles, good food, and time together.

I didn't get much in the way of photos, but that's because we were too involved in enjoying our time--and I'll take that. :-)