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!
