It’s Friday, and Christmas is coming on Sunday.  We are preparing for the special holiday, just like most other folks.  Pat and I will spend part of tomorrow afternoon with Ross and his family, and then go to the special Christmas Eve service at church.  We’ll return there Sunday morning, of course, and then we’ll travel to Pat’s Aunt Lynn’s and Uncle Bill’s house for the afternoon.  Christmas evening, we will return home, and the plan is for Philip, John and Ashley, and Ben and Amber to be here with us for our Christmas time together.  A busy weekend, but a really nice one.  We have a few traditions we observe; after our meal together, I’ll read the story of Jesus’ birth from Luke 2, and then we’ll exchange gifts.  It’s just such a pleasure to be together.

Looks like there will be no ‘white Christmas’ this year, for sunny skies are predicted and temperatures in the 40s.  It’s always a nice touch to see those big  flakes gently drifting down, and giving us that blanket of white.  That seems to bring an unusual stillness to the surroundings… a ‘hush’ to the world; no traffic noise, not even the birds are chirping.  If you’ll allow it, a quiet serenity will come to your spirit in that moment.   We had just such a Christmas morning in 2010, and I took some pictures at dawn that day to preserve the memory.  Photographs do not capture all the magnificence of that scene, but it gives me a helpful reminder that it is another time to stop and count your blessings.   We’re told of a ‘peace that passes understanding’ from the Scripture, and those quiet, snowy mornings renew that in my mind.

To those who stop by our website, the Carnahan family of farmers send you our warmest good wishes for this Christmas.

Dennis