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!
