54 thoughts on “Our Daily Thread 12-25-14”

  3. Good morning and Merry Christmas Aj.
    Look like you and I are the only ones awake in this whole wide world.
    Except, I expect things are wild over at Becky’s. Kids tearing open stuff and making a mess.
    As I said last night. Elvera got sick; she’s sill in bed. she’s usually up about five.

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  4. Chuck has four, count them 1, 2, 3, 4 Christmas trees. One has white lights that blinks off and different colored lights come on. He never had that as a kid.
    It sure is lonesome around here.
    But I can understand Janice, she was up ’till three.

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  5. Good blessed morning, Chas & Aj! I’ve been awake since 5:30… Becca joined me at 6:00… We aren’t opening presents until 7:30 because L. likes to sleep late, being a teenager, and we’re also waiting for Connie to arrive…But, Santa came, in a big way–there are gifts everywhere!!!

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  8. Good morning!

    We’ve had our Christmas morning here. My mother-in-law sent home plates of my husband’s favorite cinnamon rolls this morning, and I had sparkling cranberry juice chilling. One daughter bought the flowers in my gravatar yesterday, and we have the tree and other decorations.

    My husband’s gift list was totally commentaries. We always buy stuff that isn’t on the lists, as well, and so I got him a book of photos of Indiana barns (we have some lovely barns in Indiana, and he always comments on the barns as we drive by them, and so I take photos), and he liked the book. For the girls, I got reprints of a book I originally made for myself, of the beauty of our neighborhood. It has several pages with one small photo each of every species of bird I’ve photographed on our street, all the butterflies, most of the wildflowers, etc., and then it also has larger (full-page) photos of some of the best shots, divided up into “chapters” (birds, mammals, wildflowers, trees, sunsets, snow scenes, etc.). But when we saw a fox on the edge of town, farther away from home than a mile (which was originally the scope of the book, that all photos had to be taken within a mile), I added one chapter with photos of wildlife taken in town or in the city. That allowed me to include the fox, a hummingbird moth I photographed on the grounds of the zoo, and some egrets and other birds in the swamp on the way to the city. Anyway, all seemed to enjoy their books, and it was fun to watch them look through them and comment on individual photos.

    My husband bought me opal earrings (they weren’t on my list, but we did pick them out together), some drawing books, and a hummingbird swing. I got some wildlife DVDs from one daughter and chocolate and other things from the other. My husband tracked down a copy of a book that is virtually impossible to find (I have looked for years for a decent copy): Georgr MacDonald’s The Princess and Curdie in hardcover. The first book, The Princess and the Goblins, is easily found in hardcover, but for some reason the second book has rarely been published that way. Now, I get why Anne of Green Gables is often published alone in a nice edition without all the books in the series made to match. But when there are only two books in a “set” and when the second book is widely seen as the same quality (or better) than the first, I don’t get why they are never published as a pair. But they never are. But he tracked down a hardcover of the second, and though it isn’t a “matched pair,” I finally have both in hardcover.

    In a few hours we’ll go for Christmas dinner and then probably a game of Scrabble.

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  9. Merry Christmas everyone!

    We had quite the little wind storm kicking up overnight so the views are probably crystal clear out today. But I slept in until 8:30 after the late night yesterday.

    Chas, does Elvera have some kind of bug or cold? No fun being sick on Christmas! 😦

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  10. Oh yes, and Misten got into the gift-giving spirit, too . . . or at least the gift-lusting.

    I happened upon a humorous book regarding the city where both the girls were born; though the younger one was only a month old when they left, she roots for the city’s ball teams and so on as though she were a native. Well, I wasn’t sure if she would (or wouldn’t) like the book, so I figured that if I gave it as a humorous gift, that might be better. So I wrapped it (badly) and labeled it from Misten. But that meant Misten had to give the other girl a gift, too, so I decided to have Misten “give” a box of her favorite dog treats. (She needed a new box anyway.)

    I didn’t put the presents from Misten under the tree until this morning; she has never unwrapped any gifts, but my childhood dog tore into wrapped, scented candles a couple of different times, and I chose not to offer the temptation. But as that present was being opened, she was extremely attentive. And she watched carefully as that particular daughter opened the rest of her presents too. 🙂 She didn’t even get a treat from the box (until later–I did give her one with her breakfast since it is Christmas), but she didn’t care what the rest of us opened at all. But that girl there, she has good tastes, and I want some of what she has!

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  11. Misten is such a thoughtful dog. 🙂 She must have stayed up most of the night wrapping.

    Looks like we have quite a few power outages in the area from the wind — glad I’m (so far) not among them. But the wind chimes out front are still going at it pretty good. And it was very cold in the house when I got up.

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  15. Chuck’s plant is closed. Everyoneis off except for a skeleton crew to keep things running. These are volunteers who are working for $75.00/hr for 12 hours. I imagine their wives said, “Take it we’ll celebrate Christmas in February”.

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  18. Thanks, Donna. Today’s photo is one of those rare ones that I look at and say, “Wow, perfect! Did I really take that one myself?” I even think it’s cool that you can’t see his feet–apparently he’s warming them under his feathers. It took no skill at all to take that photo–just the absolutely perfect place for a cardinal to sit (a frosty branch), with a background that wouldn’t distract at all.

    BTW, those who know, is that hoarfrost on the branch? I imagine that it is, but I didn’t have a name for it. I just knew it wasn’t snow.

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  19. A most blessed Christmas to you all! So glad to hear Elvera is feeling better…praying she finds her glasses…or someone finds them for her!! 🙂
    We had a lovely celebration last evening with my daugther’s family…after we enjoyed our evening meal, I took the grandkids outside and we walked around our neighborhood singing Christmas Carols …we walked a bit over a mile on the snow covered roads….the boys somehow landing in the snow drifts several times during our walk…they had to changed into their jammies upon our return home…they were cold and wet! A fun time had by all….Grandpa read the Christmas story…then it was time to open presents….what a blessed evening…today…we got up late and it is time to relax! 🙂

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  21. This is the Indiana barns book: http://www.amazon.com/Indiana-Barns-Marsha-Williamson-Mohr/dp/0253015219/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1419528116&sr=1-1&keywords=indiana+barns

    I saw it in a bookstore when he and I were shopping together, and made a mental note to get it for him. These days a lot of the barns are falling down, but we still have them all over our state, several on just our street. I had no idea that barns came in so many different shapes. I especially like the round ones, though they are quite rare. The barns I see are nearly all red, but I’ve seen multiple other colors too, and some with tile roofs that have pictures made of different colored tiles (a chicken, for example). I once saw a barn that had been converted into a house; I wish I had been quick enough to take a picture.

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  22. OH…and that is the most lovely photo Cheryl…what a blessing to open up the blog page and to be greeted with a picture perfect cardinal in all it’s glory!! I miss seeing those amazing birds flying about…we have beautiful birds in Colorado…but nothing like my home sweet home cardninal! Thanks for sharing your amazing photo!

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  23. On Twitter:

    Eric Metaxas ‏@ericmetaxas
    The most amazing thing about Christmas is that it actually happened — literally. History was once and forever invaded by Eternity. #yeshua

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  24. I learn something every time.
    I was showing the Bob Welsh recitation that Kim posted to Linda. She ponied to the little square at the bottom right. It makes the image full screen. That’s what it says, but I didn’t know that.
    You get out bt pressing “esc”.

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  26. Amen, Chas.

    the “full screen” option is good if you want to watch a TV show or movie on your computer. 🙂

    And good Christmas and cat videos, too.

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  28. Merry Christmas roscuro! And thank you for all the beautiful Advent music — such a musical treasure we have within the church when we can pull ourselves away from the “praise bands.” 🙂

    Cheryl, looks like a good book — and I also found by going to the link (since I’m in need of an extra wall calendar for 2015) a calendar of “Barns with Scripture verses.” Who knew? 🙂

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  30. Christmas greetings everyone. I had a wonderful night and many surprises. I watched them fill stockings last night and this morning found there was one for me too. Grandson got a kayak, I love the one I have, but I am not going to try it today. I am back home for a while to finish the croissant rolls and then return for dinner.

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  35. Cheryl, that is definitely the start of hoarfrost – ours is over an inch thick today after a week of foggy days.

    The sun came out today! So beautiful on all the frost.

    Great Christmas eve with friends, daughter is here, ham and potatoes au gratin are baking – starting to smell pretty good in here. 1 ½ month old baby is on her way with her family for supper and small gifts and Christmas story read by Uncle Tim.

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  36. Gorgeous cardinal pic, Cheryl! Such a vivid red, and a perfect header for Christmas Day.

    We went to church last night and this morning. I can’t remember a time that we went on both Christmas Eve and Day in the same year. We almost always travel to my in-laws on the 25th, but this year that Christmas celebration was held the Sunday before (and my family’s is on the Saturday after), so both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day were open for our family to attend church.

    Lots of wonderful music at the two services we attended, with brass, strings, piano, organ, singers (with and without the congregation) in various vocal/instrumental combinations.

    One of the neatest things to sing was the benediction in today’s service, sung in unison to the tune of “Oh come, All Ye Faithful.”

    The LORD bless and keep you,
    Look with love upon you,
    Be gracious, and cause His face
    To shine with peace!
    Glory to Father, Son and Holy Spirit!
    The Savior close beside us,
    God’s love from harm to hide us,
    The Spirit’s pow’r to guide us
    Evermore! Amen.

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  38. Good evening all. Been away to several places. Tuesday night at D1’s celebrating a birthday (GD1 is 5). Wednesday we had breakfast with my sister and BIL. We spent two pleasant hours catching up. Then we drove 2.5 hours North to the farm where Mrs L grew up and spent a couple of hours visiting with MIL and BIL there (FIL died 6 years ago). Then up to Cedar Rapids for a Christmas eve service where another BIL is pastor. We spent the night at their house. Before arriving, we stopped for a quick supper. Glad we stopped when we did, as all the fast-food places were closing for the holiday. The Burger King was closing in ten minutes and only had fried foods (no grill). Today was Mrs L’s family gathering at the SIL’s house where we stayed. Ever play “Nasty Uno”? we had three decks and lots of fun.

    Then we came home. 400 miles and two different beds, seeing most of the family.

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  41. Random winter observation:

    The downside of flannel sheets is it’s so hard to turn over, especially if you also have heavy layers of blankets on top.

    It’s almost easier to get out of bed, turn around, and then crawl back in facing the other direction.

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  42. I posted this comment over in the secret room, but thought I should share it here, too…

    We had a nice Christmas. It was pretty quiet until Forrest came home. But we love his joyful noise.

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  43. Nice evening out. We got a bit of snow today, just enough to call it a white Christmas. A bit of a cold wind this morning putting the temp in the low 20’s but it never got very cold like in Los Angeles at night in the dog park.

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  46. Despite this phone and car tow and other difficulties, Christmas with family has been great.

    We just weren’t sure we’d get back home tonight for the remaining few hours of Christmas Day/Night.

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  49. We’re home after the whole day at son’s house with 9/13 of our nuclear family.

    I was so tired from yesterday, I took two naps!

    Off to the airport tomorrow bright and early, taking my prayer partner and daughter to the airport–her father-in-law did die on Christmas Eve.

    I’ll get to drive over the Golden Gate Bridge twice, and it should be a beautiful, albeit chilly, morning.

    🙂

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  51. Hey, no one posted after midnight, so I really am first today, even though the new thread isn’t up yet!

    I’m also up before my husband, which pretty much never happens. (We went to bed about 10:00 and I was hoping to sleep straight through till around 7:00, after two bad nights of sleep–I have an 8:30 doctor’s appointment–but only made it to about 5:30.) I’d go back to bed except now my hair is wet. Know how when you’re on antibiotics, your sweat smells like moldy oranges? Well, my hair had just a whiff of that scent, and that meant I needed to stay up and shower, once I got up. And my hair takes a minimum of two hours to dry, so I’m up, though I’m sleepy. Oh well.

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  54. Janice: Triple A, of course. 🙂 the single gal’s best friend on the road.

    cheryl, there is this little invention called a blow dryer … 🙂 Hope you’ll sleep better tonight.

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