oh the joy, and did we really just take it all for granted?

Nine years ago, Paul and I with our sixteen kids, and one d-in-law, Ashley. No grandchildren yet, our little ones still quite little...all together for Christmas, just as it should be, right? We did have a nice Christmas. The three older girls stopped over and stayed by the door with masks on, and gave their gifts.

Sonja is heading for a medical career, so she got a nice pink stethoscope!

Miss Char got some Airpods. She opened the case first and looked puzzled, so I lied and said that was supposed to be for Sonja, who has Airpods. Well, Char looked mighty disappointed, but when the next gift actually was those expensive little earbuds, she was elated.

Charlotte Claire and Camille Anaya.

Grant and Wulf, two sweet grandchildren, besties, cousins.

Sunny just watches.

Sam stops to pet her...

Wulf and Grant.

Uncle Sam holding Tennyson, and Adrian (Ten's daddy)

Tennyson and Sunny.

Wulf loved the new ride-on I got. It's the one I got from marketplace, remember when I approached the wrong lady in the parking lot with a handful of cash?

Lydia and little Ophelia...

Anya and Elise...

Baby Achilles, who turned one year old, with the little toy I sent him...isn't he adorable? But Oregon, that is too far away! Yesterday, we went to...Walmart, of all places, to find some snow pants for a few girls who have grown up and grown out of all the hand-me-down kids' snowpants we had here.

Char and Evelyn, trying on men's snowpants, because there were hardly any left in the women's section. With change rooms closed, they had to try them on right in the store, which...I'm sorry, was hilarious.

We got a few bags of half price candy, then we were out of there. We stopped in the thrift store, then to a nice local coffee place, then took a drive and enjoyed our drinks. There's a nice section of town, down by Owasco Lake, with absolutely beautiful houses, so we drove through the neighbhorhood and and gushed over them. Home, ah home...I put some chuck roast in the oven, sprinkled with gravy mix and pepper, (dredged in flour and seared in olive oil first), and peeled 6 or 7 pounds of potatoes for mashies. Christmas went by too fast, and I'm thankful we were able to spend it with some of the kids. Even that feels chance-y, as if at some point our good luck will catch up with us, and we'll all pay steeply. The simplest pleasure of life: getting together. It's the most rewarding and enriching and encouraging and downright fun, and it's like playing roulette, in a way. You are just taking a chance. Yes, we're all careful when we go out and about, but if one person gets "it"...ugh. On the other hand, it's our LIFE, and our days fly by, do we have to live those days alone? Even gathering with limited family, it's hard to ward off those thoughts of depression, of anxiety, of hopelessness, I see it in the kids. One of the younger girls has bad dreams, one has nightmares. Their social lives are greatly diminished, and the news is just dark and dreary. So I try, so hard, to make things good at home, and do what I feel we can safely do to make life good, and most importantly, I pray and encourage, and take solace in: the very hairs of our heads are numbered, and not a sparrow falls to the ground without His knowledge.