Ethan and Ehlana:
Happy 5th Birthday, Belinda Benton!
Ehlana and I had fun last night with our respective sleepovers. For her, that meant quiet time with Aiden while his parents slept and his sister had opted to spend the night at Leah’s house. They wrapped some gifts; watched Christmas movies; and did nothing else that I plan on writing about here or anywhere else! Naomi and I didn’t have that much fun – we had Zack and Eli with us and they were in fine form with something of a throwback to previous years when they lived for the next prank or practical joke. We still managed to have fun; wrapped some gifts and watched movies too; and enjoyed some quality chat time with Naomi’s parents. The co-ed nap time was a highlight of our day – though we didn’t get a lot of sleep.
It was cold this morning when we got up, so Naomi and I did our own, indoors Tai Chi workout while Ehlana and Aiden might have skipped their workout today. We each took care of cooking and cleaning around breakfast with the Drapers or Seagers; and then we headed to church for the service and Sunday school. We had fun there – including just a bit of birthday fun with Belinda that was just a cameo moment for all of us, but then we left her celebration to her family and friends. Sierra Stone is one of those friends; and we know that Cassie and Michael helped Belinda’s parents at the early buffet at the Inn while also taking care of Sierra and her brothers.
Ehlana and I did not go to the Inn for dinner today. We had a quiet lunch with Mom while Naomi and Aiden had their own plans elsewhere and then we went to play-work at the lab or archives for the afternoon. We used some time phasing when we could; got a lot done; and then we came home in time for a late dinner with our parents again. They cooked, so we cleaned; and then there was more work to do in the office – along with a Magi lesson. There was quite a bit we wanted to get done; and we used more time phasing to do that without staying up half the night. Mom had us wrap up by then-thirty; bath or Jacuzzi time followed; and now we’re wrapping up with the computer checks and twin chat. Instead of beginning our world news update with the usual war and politics; let’s go with an entertainment report. Our friends are talking about the Five Nights at Freddy’s sequel, and some of them went to see it in Crystal Springs, but we’re mentioning it because kids’ movies are currently ruling the box office. Over Thanksgiving, it was the Zootopia sequel that topped the list while the second part of the Wicked musical continued to do well as a family favorite. Ehlana and I haven’t seen any of those movies yet and we’ll likely wait for them to come out on streaming services, but our point here is that we do keep up with ‘normal’ teen stuff along with the important issues, and while we don’t rush off to the city for every popular movie or other teen activities; we can keep up with our friends with the latest pop culture.
The world news has not been Hollywood-glamour. Ukraine continues to be destroyed; the peace talks are not only going nowhere, but are actively being sabotaged by the people that need the war and money to keep flowing with no care for the people or country at the heart of the destruction. There is no good news from Israel or the Middle East; Venezuela is still waiting for what seems to be an inevitable attack from our military; and we have more, new tensions between Japan and China. This time, it seems as though Japan sent fighter jets to attempt an intimidation of a Chinese aircraft carrier group; China responded with their own fighter jets; and it could have ended in a dogfight instead of a strategic withdrawal by the Japanese jets. The spin on this story really doesn’t matter – these incidents risk mistakes that could easily lead to war; and it is stupid to take these chances at any level of government or military. This is a second ‘incident’ since the new Prime Minister took the job in Japan; and this could turn ugly fast. The last thing the world needs is yet another conflict zone, but that seems to be the trend in a lot of places around the world right now – with most of the protagonists ‘fighting’ from positions of weakness and decline choosing support from the United States regardless of the cost to their own countries and people. That won’t end well for anyone; so we can only hope that things will change before it is too late.
It is getting really late now, so that’s all for this report. Our seventh Christmas music video is from another movie that we liked – and also a favorite interpretation of a classic Christmas song that we used for the basis for the version of the song we recorded on our little extended-play Christmas album. We added in harmonies and an instrumental bridge are different, but this is credit where due; so we hope that you like this blip of entertainment while we go and get some sleep right now.
Joy to the World – J. T. Hodges – from Finding Christmas
Until next time, live with love, fellow Magi of the Light!
