“And when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away, and the eunuch saw him no more, and went on his way rejoicing. But Philip found himself in Azotus…”
~Acts 8:39-40~

“Boys, I stand undaunted in the face of your apathy.” They were not as resolute about decorating and wrapping the CGC doors as I was. It didn’t matter. They were coming and that was all their was to it. We survived without too much frustration. I know these things are unnecessary. There really is a fine line between going all out in a way that exhausts you and trying to add a little bit of cheer to the moment.

They’re fine once they get there it just takes some prodding on my part. My grandma used to have us help her fold church bulletins. There was a certain way it had to be done, and that was folding them so that when you folded it in half the corners matched. It drove her nuts when people would fold them and the corners were off. It made sense. I doubt that Jesus cared but the aligned corners looked nicer.

So I could’ve probably had them do it a little neater but then we all would’ve ended up miserable. I told them they needed to put Casper outside because Uncle Dave is allergic to pet dander, particularly from cats. The no animals policy has pretty much gone out the window once the dogs started coming. You think of these people with allergies and don’t want them to be uncomfortable but no one had said anything.

Elianna’s dog made it back last night. She said his name is Zorro. He’s actually very cute. Schneip (the former counselor) and Laura were here to eat supper with us when they got home. Earlier when they were gone the boys and I made cookie dough for one of our Friday activities. Really the kids don’t need quite as much entertainment. Next year I told my mom one of our activities should just be to make our own pies.

That way people would be contributing toward something with a purpose. We’d eat the fruits of our labor so to speak. I get emotional during the holidays because they bring up many feelings, a strong one being from all the memories of times before and how special it is to do things for and with family. We love each other and that’s (what makes up for all) the difference.