Ethan and Ehlana:
Happy 9th Birthday, Amelia
Spencer!
Our weekend and Christmas break has ended
on a cold and wintry note; and our Sunday has been filled with a ton or ten of
snow-related work! Before we get to that
part of our story; let’s back up and start the full-weekend report with our
adventures from Friday evening and go from there.
As we’ve mentioned, Ehlana and I hosted our
four best friends for a co-ed sleepover on Friday, and while our parents were
busy with a birthday dinner; we took care of feeding ourselves and our friends;
and then we had an awesome evening with music play time, video gaming, and
movies. We stayed up late; the co-ed
cuddling and chat time with our friends were favorite highlights; and then the
co-ed nap time was pretty good too. We
covered the chores news from Saturday, so we don’t need to bore with work
details; and the best parts of our Saturday happened once we were with Cassie,
Michael, and all of the kids and teens staying with them last night. Dinner included a Pizzeria pizza order along
with some hot and cold sides that we helped to make. All of the teens helped with the clean-up
work and kid-control duties, but we had a blast too; and the entertainment
included ‘live’ music, video gaming, and one movie.
The snow began last evening, but really
kicked up by this morning; so we started our day with the need for major snow
shoveling and snow-blowing at multiple homes.
Church was still on today despite all of the snow, but we also ended up
with a short service and no Sunday school because less than half of our
congregation made it to the service.
There were many reasons for that, but the most-common were the need for farmers
to deal with their animals; road conditions; and protecting young kids and
seniors from the risks that came along with heavy snow and dropping
temperatures.
While we weren’t with all of our friends
all day, Ethan and I did most of our work with Naomi and Aiden; and we kept
working on the snow removal efforts all day except for meals, the short church
service, and a couple of snow-play breaks.
We’ve had about a foot of snow fall as it has tapered off this evening,
so along with blowing wind issues; we’ve needed to start over at the beginning
again once at the end of the list of driveways and sidewalks that we’ve been
keeping cleared all day. Sure, that’s
true for everyone around here working on snow removal, so we aren’t special or
anything, but it has been a tough day; and we’re tired tonight after the last
round of shoveling that we’ve done in the dark after going to the late buffet
at the Inn.
That meal was all about family time with
Cassie and Michael before they head out on their trip, and since the Inn didn’t
have very many customers for either buffet; that worked great for the members
of Michael’s family that could attend too – including a cameo visit from
Rebecca when she took a break from the Pizzeria. That meal was the ‘fun’ highlight of our day;
and we’ll add that in addition to eating a ton of food after all of the work to
that point; there were also volunteers that delivered food packages with the
extras that were cooked up by Jacob, Jake, and the rest of the kitchen crew
because some produce needs to be used up regardless of weather; and restaurant
orders can’t always be changed early-enough to deal with things like weather
forecasts.
Moving along, after eating too much, we
weren’t very motivated for more shoveling, but the work needed to be done. It was really getting cold by then; and the
temperature is going to go into double-digit negatives for the wind chill; so
we’re going to have a very frosty return to school! We do need to get some sleep soon, but then
we’ll likely need some Magi self-healing too.
Ehlana and I didn’t get the shoveling wrapped up until ten-thirty; bath
or Jacuzzi time was required after that for obvious reasons; and we’ve spent
more time than usual on our bedtime computing and twin chat wrap-up.
That brings us to the world news that I don’t
find as interesting to write about as Ehlana does; so let’s just get it
recorded for posterity and then call it a night. National politics continue to roll along
toward the presidential transition with games being played on both sides. There is little or no regard for what is best
for ‘normal’ people in our country or anywhere in the world; and we’re not
really even hoping for better in the coming year and beyond. The wars in Ukraine and the Middle East are
escalating; and it is really tough to watch as countries are destroyed and
millions of people are victimized by the leaders that are supposed to protect
their people. Our country has been
integrally-involved in far too much of that destruction; and we have been
disgusted by the self-congratulations being declared by the leaders of the
outgoing administration for their ‘successes’ in Ukraine, Israel, Lebanon,
Yemen, Syria, and elsewhere. Obviously,
only the very best narcissists can believe that the deaths of hundreds of
thousands; harming millions; and devastating entire countries could be reasons
for celebrations and accolades. That
doesn’t even take into account all of the damages we cause through economic
pressure and sanctions on both our supposed ‘friends’ and ‘foes’ around the
world. Ehlana and I don’t agree with
sanctions – we’re proponents of the right to choose economic and political
partnerships that include the right to refuse to partner with countries and
businesses that don’t agree with our personal values. That doesn’t preclude us from having
businesses and charities that help people in countries with bad leaders and
governments and businesses; since we can do that without supporting evil.
That’s enough for tonight, and I’ve even
managed to satisfy Ehlana’s need for some venting; so it is time to move on and
get some sleep starting right now.
Until next time, live with love, fellow
Magi of the Light!
