Harbinger of Spring

The beautiful and fragrant paperwhite! Happy New Year!

Christmas '08

Our church's Christmas Eve service had to be cancelled because of the weather, but we were able to attend a candlelight service at a church nearby. This always sets the tone for us for this most special celebration of the Saviour of the world.

We woke to an authentic white Christmas, with 3 new inches of snow on the ground. I know people are growing weary of this white stuff and the hassles it creates for getting around, but it was so beautiful and it was nice to have the time to pause and appreciate it. We took a long walk in the park across the street and admired the magical landscape.

Then it was time to head home for the unwrapping of presents. This was the year of the snowflake--literally as well as figuratively! Wally spent countless hours cutting out huge snowflakes which I discovered tucked everywhere on Christmas morning when I got up early. Pretty cute!

What a luxury to spend a quiet day with family and with the Lord at the center!

A Window Into the Soul

Every fall we began scouring stores for advent calendars for the upcoming Christmas season. These calendars are a tradition for us and we are particularly fond of the "old fashioned" ones that have the traditional, detailed drawings of families enjoying the holiday season. This year we hit gold when we were visiting Jess in Oregon in November. We found two perfect ones at Powells Bookstore and we've been opening the windows daily since December 1st, culminating in the BIG window on the 24th which always pictures Mary, Joseph and Jesus.

It occurred to me that God uses the "advent calendar" of His Word to speak to us in well-crafted word pictures on a daily basis. It doesn't matter how many times I read the same verse over and over, He still finds new ways to enlighten me with his truths. It's like unwrapping a Christmas present every day, peeling back the layers of His wisdom as He finds new ways to give me those delightful "ah ha" moments. Each day I open the "present" that He intends for me to use for such a time as this. What a mighty God we serve!

Three Cheers For the Busman

Roads impassable? No problem! No chains or snowtires? No problem! We three decided to go on an "adventure" by using our friendly public transportation (aka the bus). We slogged through the foot-deep snow to the main drag and caught the bus downtown to our favorite Italian spot, the Torre Cafe, for macchiatos and canolis. Once suitably warmed up and satiated we ventured onto another bus, with out trusty transfers, and spent some time in Fairhaven at the book and toy stores. We met all kinds of friendly people doing the same and made it back in time for hot soup and rolls for dinner. Fun day.

The Iceman Cometh--with snow....

The "December Storm" in the Pacific Northwest has brought daily flakes from the sky and we now have a foot+ accumulation on the ground and the temps have hovered around 20 for the high and 10-18 for the low for over a week. Fortunately, our schools are on winter break, or we'd be making up snow days for this until mid-July! It's not too bad getting around in it because it's a very dry snow, which is atypical for this area. It reminds me a lot of my Denver days. But....most people here are not used to driving in snow since we don't get it that often and it generally doesn't stick around long....until now! It has, however, wreaked havoc on travelers by plane and train as both are currently not running with no estimated time for renewal of service. My heart goes out to those stuck in airports or train stations and I am so very thankful that Jess made it home from Portland on the 2nd to last train to leave that station since Saturday. Her train was 3 hours late getting in because the switches were frozen and they would have to stop the train and get out and thaw them by hand!

A Kiss Is Still A Kiss....but not at Christmas!

Yes, I've heard about the KISS (keep it simple, stupid), and I love that philosophy, but it won't work in this household at Christmas. We have so many Christmas decorations and so little room in which to put them, that the living room is beginning to resemble "Mr. Magorium's Emporium"!

Besides making amazing cookies, Betty Whitaker was also an accomplished ceramicist. She made hundreds of elaborate decorations for every holiday. After refining her own technique, she also began giving lessons out of her home. Most of their Yakima basement was given over to the kiln and the supplies for her craft. Each of the 4 kids have been given the very best of her Christmas items: the village, the Santa house, the church, the sleigh with its bundled-up passengers, and the larger sleigh with some of Santa's reindeer waiting patiently for take off. They are part and parcel of our holidays, and room or no room, out they come! It's crowded, but it's homey and each one bears the tokens of the love and attention to detail that she put into them. Christmas just wouldn't be Christmas without them.

And if you don't have the luxury of a gas fireplace, you have a husband who comes up with a clever alternative, at least from and aesthetic standpoint....a candlelight fire

Traditions Live On

Betty Whitaker was a whiz at many things, not the least of which was her elaborately decorated Christmas cookies. She started this tradition when her kids were young. They began this process in October. By "they", I mean all of them....shades of child labor! :) The dough had to be made (English Butter Cookies) and cut out with special cookie cutters that left imprinted designs on the cookies. These designs were used as the "canvas" to glaze and frost the cookies with ornamental frosting. They are quite labor intensive, but the results are stunning. I'll never forget my first introduction to them the first Christmas Wally and I spent in Yakima. I had never seen such elaborate cookies (my Mom was not a baker!). Hundreds of cookies were made and stored to be given to neighbors and friends each year.

I do not make hundreds, I make some...for family and whoever might stop by to say "hi". That would be Jamie (who always knows where there are free treats!) and Stacia who has provided us with homemade treats of her own over the years...ask me sometime about the incredibly wonderful shortbread cookies (in the shape of vegies) that she made and brought to me when Jess left for college and she knew my heart was aching...what a gal!

So...here's the finished product and thank you, Betty, for teaching me the fine art of cookie making!