Catching Up

I’ve been absent and a lot has occurred over the last couple of days.

An Amish Children’s Christmas Program
Thursday we went to the neighbors’ one room schoolhouse for an Amish Christmas program. When we drove in with our van, all the children who were outside for recess stopped and stared at us; there was only one other family of “English’ who attended. Inside all the student desks were lined up on the right side of the room and the left side had chairs and benches for the families. My daughter and I joined the ladies in the front while my husband sat with the men in the back. Each child took his turn to recite a Christmas poem. Since all of them speak German at home and school is their 1st introduction to English, this was impressive! They also sang. They had a leader who sang the 1st word of each line in the song, and then everyone else joined in for the rest of the line, all a cappella. Then the young teacher passed out a package to each student, and they gleefully opened them. The only small child I heard during the entire 2 hours was an infant who quit fussing as soon as mom fed him. There were a lot of toddlers who quietly sat through the whole thing! I am glad we were able to attend.

And Then…
Thursday night I got the flu.

Christmas Eve
Friday was Christmas Eve. The family cleaned the house and prepared their special Walker Stalker Cream of Parsley Soup—a family favorite, which we usually call Cheese Soup. They went to church for the candlelight service and brought home pictures and videos of the choir and the children’s program for me.

Christmas Day
Saturday morning my older poohs were up early so that they could do dad’s farm chores outside before he got up. Later we all opened gifts and ate a wonderful breakfast—dad made us an egg casserole and pecan rolls. Mmmmm.

It has been a quiet day. This evening everyone will be going to my in-laws for family Christmas, and I will stay home. I will probably spend some of my time reading A Sand County Almanac by Aldo Leopold. He was a conservationist from Wisconsin who has been a leader in bringing people into an awareness of our need to care for the land. I know some of his family and have always been interested in reading his book. It begins:

January Thaw

Each year, after the midwinter blizzards, there comes a night of thaw when the tinkle of dripping water is heard in the land. It brings strange stirrings, not only to creatures abed for the night, but to some who have been asleep for the winter. The hibernating skunk, curled up in his deep, uncurls himself and ventures forth to prowl the wet world, dragging his belly in the snow. His track marks one of the earliest datable events in the cycle of beginnings and ceasings which we call a year.

I hope that all of you have had a wonder-filled 1st day of Christmas! We have 11 more days of Christmas to celebrate and then it will be Epiphany. God bless!