Merry Christmas 2024

Merry Christmas, friends!

Where to start with 2024... 2024 was bittersweet. We lost Dan's dad Tom in August after a difficult few months with a number of health struggles. Then in September we lost my grandpa, Bito, to a major stroke. As we were navigating these losses, our small rural community was also struck by a series of losses that have reminded us all of the fragility of life. It has been a season of grief. But along the way we also gained a new brother-in-law and new niece, visited and were visited by family, spent some sweet time in California with family and friends, and celebrated some milestones in our not-so-new-anymore life on the prairie.

Every year I say the same things about the kids growing so fast I can't keep my head on straight. But it's true (about the kids and also about my head). This year we doubled the official size of our homeschool, with Eva (9) now in grade 4 and Ben (6) beginning grade 1. To the great delight of their parents, all four kids are enjoying poetry and wordplay, and we have had fun incorporating those things into daily school routines. Numbers are also getting some attention, with Sam (4) working hard to knock all our socks off as a small human calculator. The real question each school day is what Ellie (2) will get up to once she notices the rest of us are distracted. Painting with diaper cream has been a favorite activity, along with just about any mess a little person can get into by dragging kitchen chairs up to things and poking about. 

This year we (especially Dan) spent a lot of time at The Living Room, the movie theater here in town. Along with a group of friends, we were able to launch a summer film series, something that hadn't happened here for quite a while. Dan and I and our friend Braeden hosted a Housemoot conference in November, complete with a candelit Feast of C.S. Lewis and lots of great discussion with friends and neighbors. Then we got to help host part of our town's Christmas kick-off weekend by showing a movie and being part of the annual Christmas pageant of our kids' community theatre group. Just imagine this paragraph smells like buttered popcorn and someone just handed you a mop to soak up a soda spill (but they called it pop, not soda).

We took two trips to California in 2024, once for a wedding and once for a funeral. My sister Christina (No. 4) married Leland in June. It was a beautiful and joy-filled wedding. We enjoyed visiting with extended family and also fitting in a couple beach trips with friends. After harvest we went back for Bito's funeral. That trip was much heavier but also full of good times with family and friends. The big highlight for all of us was going to Grandma and Grandpa's after the funeral for a backyard bonfire and time with ALL the aunties, uncles, and cousins.

Extended family and friends also surrounded and cared for us at Tom's funeral in August, and in the time before and after. There were so many people there from all of the many groups and causes Tom was involved in over the years. And there were so many who contributed to making the day an encouragement to Tom's family and a special memory. We were especially grateful that Dan's Uncle Peter was able to stay with us for a few days afterward. 

So, on we go: further up and further in, as they say in Narnia. Come see us. We still have a guest room downstairs (two actually), if you don't mind cats. Or you could sleep on the couch upstairs, if you don't mind fish. We have popcorn. And poems. 

Whatever kind of journey 2024 has been for you, we pray that Christmas brings hope that Jesus came to dwell with us in these bittersweet days, and to leave a promise that He will come again to make all things new. 

Love,

Emily

The King of kings lay thus in lowly manger,

In all our trials born to be our Friend. 

He knows our need—to our weakness is no stranger. 

Behold your King, before Him lowly bend! 

Behold your King, before Him lowly bend!

from "O Holy Night"

Translator: John S. Dwight; Author: Placide Cappeau (1847)