Ethan and Ehlana:
We’ve taken a few days off from any serious updates, but we also have another busy day ahead; so let’s get right to the top news from the past few days!
Going back to Tuesday, Ehlana and I spent that afternoon biking and playing with our friends while enjoying the warm weather and sunshine. We only had our four best friends with us for dinner and the rest of the night, but we had fun with everything from cooking and baking to ‘live’ music play time to video gaming and Christmas movies. Mom and Dad did some of that fun with us too; and we even had visits from Sophia’s and Naomi’s parents for a couple of hours too!
Christmas Eve day was amazing, and we had fun with shopping – including picking up the Santa approved treats from the bakery; and we spent a couple of hours at the Galleria with the shopping and a snack break. It warmed into the sixties again, so we played and biked outdoors during the afternoon – and even went for a canoe ride that was short because the water was cold and that chill transferred into us through the canoes. That did give us a good excuse to stop for Pizzeria pizza along the way to warm up, though, so that worked for us too.
Our best friends needed to be with their own families for dinner on Wednesday, but Mom and Dad had Cassie, Michael, Grandma, and Grandpa join us for our meal ahead of the Christmas Eve service at the church; and we ended up having some next-gen kids too while Cassie and Michael took care of them while their parents were busy at the Inn, farm, or Pizzeria. Ehlana and I helped with that work and clean-up; headed to the church early because we were helping with the teen parts of the service; and that included having the teen praise team provide the musical entertainment before the service started. Naomi and the Holiday Harmonies did one song during the service too, but the adult praise team took care of most of that music while Pastor John offered his annual Christmas Eve message and story of the first Christmas that only the Magi in the congregation know is based on the stories from the Magi archives. We loved everything about that part of our night; came home from the church without any friends; and actually had a fairly-quiet rest of the evening with Mom and Dad. We watched a Christmas classic – White Christmas; took care of the usual Christmas Eve ‘work’ and then we headed for our beds because we did not want to mess up at the last minute and get on Santa’s naughty list! ;^)
That brings us to Christmas morning, and it is very different to start that day without a house full of guests! We still got up fairly-early and enjoyed the quieter fun that went with checking out stockings and opening gifts with jus the four of us in the house, but then we needed to get moving as we got ready for the day; had breakfast; and then headed over to the Carringtons to help out as they got ready to host the Johnson-Proctor family dinner. Ehlana and I were booked for family dinners with the Drapers or Seagers too, but we helped Uncle Adam and Aunt Leanne first – including some kid control fun once the next-gen kids arrived with their parents; and then we headed out for the ‘early’ dinners with Aiden or Naomi and their families.
Aiden’s and Naomi’s parents were each hosting for their families too, so we didn’t need to go far, but we were also put to work on arrival; and spent as much time helping as playing. The food was great; we had a lot of fun; and then we met up again at the Carringtons for the ‘late’ dinner. For the record, Aiden and I burned a lot of calories between the work and play time; so we went along with the teasing about our capacity to eat that second inner while disagreeing with the basis for those jokes. We also burned more calories with that second round of clean-up; and then we were busy for the rest of the evening with the video gaming and other holiday entertainment that happened around the house and even outdoors for a while thanks to the still-warm weather.
We didn’t actually get to spend much time outside on Christmas Day, but it stayed warm with another high in the sixties; and that is amazing for our area – though far from unprecedented. We do find it funny that a cold Christmas or bad weather gets a lot of media attention, but a warm spell gets ignored at least from a weather forecast perspective. We are enjoying it, though, and we’ll continue to do that for as long as it lasts until winter returns!
Ehlana and I brought Naomi and Aiden home with us – though some of our cousins did a sleepover with Zack and Brianna to keep the fun going all night. We were ready for some co-ed quiet, though, and it was getting late by then anyway. Ehlana and I don’t want to write about our gifts, but we did love them; and we’re sure that the gifts we gave to our favorite people today were appreciated too. It has been the time spent with everyone we love the most that really matters to us; and we are happy to report that this has been an amazing, remember-forever Christmas for us. The co-ed sleepover with Naomi and Aiden was a great way to end Christmas; and that brings us to what little bit of a story we have so far for today.
We don’t officially have a Boxing Day like in some other western countries, but this is still a popular after-Christmas shopping day; and we’re about to go out and enjoy some of that kind of fun around town and at the Galleria with family and friends. Mom and Dad also want our help with the shopping for our weekend guests and adventures; since we are having a multi-family gathering this weekend and the guests are already inbound and will start arriving soon. We were up early for Tai Chi by the river; we just finished breakfast and the clean-up; and now we’re doing this update while Naomi and Aiden headed for their homes to drop off overnight bags; check in; and then they’ll meet up with us again for the shopping. That pretty much catches us up on the highlights of our holiday-so-far, but we might be in for another blast of micro-reports while we’re busy with the Proctor-Rice-Johnson clans from now until Sunday night. We’ll keep you posted, but need to get going soon; so let’s wrap this up with a quick world news report and then we’ll get back to having fun with our family and friends.
Before we do that, let’s cover a quick world news update. Nothing has changed in Ukraine – if you don’t count the continuing death and destruction that Russia inflicts while Ukraine only manages pinprick counter-attacks that are mostly terrorist attacks and drone strikes into Russia. The fighting rolls on in the Middle East; the Palestinians continue to be starved and terrorized; and the rest of the world continues to allow it to happen without real consequences. Let’s add a freedom of speech escalation that actually battles attempts to speak out for the Palestinians with the latest newsmaker being famous protester Greta Thunberg getting arrested for ‘terrorism’ in the United Kingdom for speaking out against Israel for the genocide they are inflicting in Gaza. This is far from the first attack on free speech in Europe, but it gets more attention; and won’t end well for the UK government.
There isn’t news from Venezuela, but we have sent more troops to the region; and tensions remain high. There are also never-ending daily diversion stories, but while we keep up with them; we also ignore the noise and keep track of the truly-important news. Let’s also mention that while we’ve been playing pretty much all of the time except for chores, Mom, Cassie, and Michael are still managing to do family business and charity work too along with the Christmassy fun; and the people they help around the world appreciate their efforts – even when they have no idea who to thank!
Now we really do need to go; so that’s all for this update.
Until next time, live with love, fellow Magi of the Light!
