Hi all,

Scrooge here.

Thanksgiving turned out quite differently than expected. A few weeks before, Steve's Gram surprised us by saying she would be flying up to Bismarck to spend some time with us and stay with his Ma for a week. Coming here was fine, but her trip home became an adventure. That was the day of much snow in some parts of this Heartland. She was able to fly out of Bismarck but her second flight had been cancelled. So then she had to stay in a hotel in Minneapolis until the next morning when her new flight left, albeit two hours late! Steve's Dad also made it back from Mississippi, where he had been volunteering with the hurricane relief. So, we ended up with quite the tableful after all. Of course, the food overwhelmed us and we got to eat it for several meals straight in order to prevent waste! Some of the leftover turkey was made into Turkey Tetrazzini and I personally loved that. Steven barely survived the week with having three sermons to preach plus a Sunday School lesson. We were grateful for a God who gives us strength and grace, both for others and from others.

I'm not feeling "Christmassy" at all this year. Once again, as I have done for a few years now, I made a calendar of the month to specifically plan out when I can do some baking, make cards, write a letter, address envelopes and mail Christmas greetings (those each become a day's task because we include everyone in our church on our list), plan a couple Christmas parties, host an open house, and regular stuff too. It usually helps me be organized and get all that I want done in the month and not feel stressed in the meantime. This year I looked at it all and just feel like, "Why bother?" For the past four years I've bought those green ice cream trees to celebrate the first day of December and the start of the Christmas season. I didn't even check to see if the store had them this year. So calling me Ebenezer Scrooge wouldn't be out of line.

Today is our town's Christmas Craft Fair and a couple of the businesses have open houses. We hope to go and maybe that will help my grinchy attitude.

I haven't taken the pictures of the kids on their new bikes but maybe later today. If so, then I'll try to put them on the blog.

Pray for my heart. Sorry to be such a downer this time. I guess we have those days too. Maybe you can tell me something you are looking forward to this month to cheer me up.

Love,