Christmas Tree Number 2

Not an elegant name at all--but we remember the commercials where number 2 tries harder?

This year our second tree--the one adorning the family room in the basement--is our retro tree. It is a blast from the past and recalls the colored lights of our childhood trees.

Christmas Three Number 2: The Retro Version

Our children have only been treated to trees with white lights--but when Chris and I were children, in the time before mini-lights, trees were decorated with colored lights--and the lights were big. We did not recreate the big bulb trees, but we decided to have a colored light tree to compliment the white light tree on the main level of the house.

Patrick already commented--"there won't be any presents under that tree" as he was retrieving Chewie from a playdate last evening. He remains very loyal to the white light tree style.

That's OK--variety is a good thing.

Chris and I enjoyed sipping wine and decorating this tree last evening listening to Christmas music playing in the background. We had tried the colored lighted tree some years ago, and I was able, with assistance form a cool new Christmas light tool I bought, to get the strands all working and so at least we didn't have a great expense buying lights.

The house is nearly decorated. Only a few more objects to display--specifically the Snow Village Here Comes Santa annual pieces, and then we will be fully Christmified. Well, I think there may be some reindeer on their way to grace our front lawn--but who knows?

Family, Ministry, and Surrogates

Balancing life is hard.

There are many voices crying to be heard--and it is easy to lose the ones that need to be heard in the din.

What is most confusing for me, though, is when we lose sight of our primary focus and transfer that to others.

And so--here's the situation.

Family is first. Rule one.

We can argue about this, but we are born into families which are the core unit (created by God) of life.

People move through families--from child to teen to young adult to mid-life, to senior (the ones with wisdom). Families change with time and begin to include increasing numbers of generations. And generations replace generations as time goes on--those who change residence from the planet are replaced by those remain behind waiting.

At each step along the way--the person contributes or receives from the family. By the time one is a senior--they are contributing to the 2nd and 3rd generation behind them (grandchildren and great-grandchildren). These generations are the future and require the wisdom and maturity of the most experienced members of the family.

Sadly, I see situations where the senior members are eschewing the younger generations to focus upon surrogates more closely aligned with their age. This is a travesty and deprives the young generations of necessary interaction with the learned ones of the family. This is a false ministry.

Our primary ministry and focus must always be to the family and to the younger/youngest generations.

When we allow other factors to interfere--we are truly missing the boat. All through the Bible families and generations are mentioned in both good and bad examples.

Psalm 22:30-31 makes an interesting observation: A whole generation will serve him; they will tell the next generation about the sovereign Lord. They will come and tell about his saving deeds; they will tell a future generation what he has accomplished- NET Bible

The job of one generation is to teach succeeding generations.

Our primary ministry is to succeeding generations. When we deny our youth the access to the more senior members of the family--the transfer of knowledge and wisdom and relationships is stunted.

We become dysfunctional families and we lose sight of the primary ministry given to us and perhaps the most important ministry to which we are entrusted. Train up our youth.

Proverbs 4:1-5 (NET Bible)

Listen, children, to a father’s instruction,
and pay attention so that you may gain discernment.
Because I give you good instruction,
do not forsake my teaching.
When I was a son to my father,
a tender only child before my mother,
he taught me, and he said to me:
“Let your heart lay hold of my words;
keep my commands so that you will live.
Acquire wisdom, acquire understanding;
do not forget and do not turn aside from the words I speak.

December Rain

The rain is falling again.

Not that I'm complaining because at this time of year it could be the snow flakes of another blizzard.

So let the rain come--although I have already had to lower the pool level once since I closed it.

Rain in December falls in other ways, too.

The feeling of being too busy and being too wanted.

Yesterday in the mail we received invitations to two Christmas open houses. Both on the same day--a day in which we were already committed to another function. Fortunately one is early--so we will be able to attend prior to going to the function to which we were already committed--but it made me feel sad that we were going to have to pass on the open house sponsored by one of our neighbors--again.

When it rains--it pours, but this time it is good things.

Opportunities to be with family, friends and neighbors.

It is sad that we cannot do it all--but on the other hand--we get to enjoy a lot and we are blessed.

On a side note--for those who were following the current saga of my truck and the Maryland emissions inspection (which was due in May but extended until December 3rd), it passed yesterday without needing the repair waiver. And just as good--the service engine soon light had not been illuminated in over two weeks. I almost miss it--not really!

And the December rain--which thankfully is not snow, is continuing to fall outside the window promising another raw, pre-winter day.

But hearts are warm and we are surrounded by family and friends.

Let the rain fall--the flowers will be brighter in the springtime.

Ah--And So It Begins

It is grind my axe day today!

The headline in the paper says it all--"Obama proposes pay freeze for federal workers." And so now I am nothing more than a pawn in the budget battle.

Consider this--the article indicated that freezing federal pay for two years would save the government $60 billion over 10 years. Given that the debt for just 2010 was $1.3 trillion, it will only take an additional 216 years (plus or minus) to retire that debt and then there is the rest of the debt to deal with providing that Congress does not incur more debt!

Like that is going to happen.

Fundamentally in the realm of the budget and the deficit they are dealing with "chump change."

And, by freezing pay (which is a pay decrease since taxes and health insurance are increasing) they run the risk of stalling the economic recovery. The planned pay increase was only going to keep the standard of living at the same level, it isn't as if it was some fantastic amount like 5 percent.

The impact of this type of ill-advised budget process should already be seen on the retirees--who will not have seen an increase in two years, yet medicare and taxes continue to increase reducing disposable income.

Headlines like this make a big splash--since everyone, it seems, likes to take shots at the federal workforce--but who is going to administer the billions in programs that the government is responsible for? Those same federal workers. Do the taxpayers of the U.S. deserve a qualified workforce of professionals running programs including intelligence and defense, or should they sell out to the lowest bidder?

There is not a lot of ability in the federal workplace to earn extra money. And frankly, I have been beginning to receive offers from industry offering to double my salary should I leave federal service.

But I love what I do--and I am really good at it (so I am told).

I am not a federal worker to get rich. That is never going to happen. I work where I do, doing the job I love because I am a patriot. And yes--I will probably continue to work without the prospect of increasing my salary and retirement benefits for the next two years--but really, there ought to be some sense in the process. If the federal workforce is going to be competitive it needs to receive comparable pay.

I note that the bonuses to the employees of the Wall Street banking companies which were bailed out are back up in the ionosphere this year. Maybe that is the problem?

Which segment of society is next? After the retirees and the federal workforce, there aren't many places that can be hit--except for the military.

Enough axe grinding. It is bad everywhere and going to get worse. So much for Happy Holidays!

Monday Musings - November 29, 2010

1. The last Monday in November and only four Mondays before Christmas.  If is isn't planned by now--it probably isn't going to happen until next year.

2. We had a false security alarm at the house yesterday--one of the security devices had come lose and caused a false alarm. Although there were a few moments of angst, I am glad it was a false alarm and not an actual break-in.  The security company will be coming to inspect the devices during the week ahead.

3. Last night I was watching Ravens football as night fell with the Christmas tree lit, the mantle candles burning and a nice fire in the fireplace. It was only 5:55 pm. During the summer, evening activity would just be getting underway rather than settling down for the night.

4. 146 days until pool opening Saturday.

5. Hot bean soup, fresh corn bread, a nice glass of Merlot and candles--sounds like a great dinner on a cold almost winter's night.

6. I'm glad we had ham along with the turkey on Thanksgiving--I am really enjoying ham and cheese omelettes for breakfast.

7. I looked at the trees yesterday--they are ready for winter. Now my lawn is filled with the leaves that used to be on the trees and it has become too cold to want to work in the yard.

8. It was 27 degrees yesterday morning and the thermometer reads 23 degrees right now. I guess our mild weather has departed and the gathering clouds portend winter's arrival on the scene as autumn flees for warmer climates.

9. The last time we experienced temperatures in the 20's, with the exception of yesterday morning, was March 6th.  It was a good run. When are the 70's and 80's returning?

10. Anyone know where I left the ice scraper after last year?

The Christmas Season Arrives

I have created a new verb: Christmify. Simply it means the act of transforming something from its native state into a Christmas decorated or ready state. Usage: The house was Christmified yesterday. There is an adjective: Christmassy listed in dictionary.com, but not the verb: Christmify.

Christmas Tree 2010

And so after dragging seven more containers laden with Christmas decorations out of the attic and purchasing a new artificial tree--the process of Christmifying the house begins. Christmifying the house is an annual event and it comes with expectation, stress, tears, wine and lots of merriment.  The stress is related to the annual event of discovering where Bob hid Chris's first Christmas ornament in the boxes for safe keeping and being sure it had not survived to celebrate another Christmas--right up until it is found and hung on the tree accompanied by the memory of over five decades of Christmases past.

Seriously though, Christmifying is a process--the initial Christmas decorations were emplaced on Veteran's Day with the exterior decorations being put up--since it was warm. Then there was Snow Village Saturday, and there was last evening--when most of the rest of the house was decorated. There are dishes to swap out and decorations to place. The process of Christmifying the house is completed over time--it is truly a transformation--of both the house and our minds. This year we will again have two Christmas trees to celebrate the season and only one is yet erected--the second is a project for some night this week.

The process of Christmifying is similar to what we must go through to transform our minds and get ready for the season of Christmas. We cannot just flip a switch and be ready for Christmas. Preparation is involved--to prepare ourselves for the day. Some churches celebrate the season of Advent to prepare for the Christmas Day celebration--and this parallels the transformation of our minds that happens during the ramp up to Christmas Day. In olden times (one of my favorite phrases) Christmas was celebrated for 12 days--from Christmas Day until January 6th--Epiphany or Three Kings Day. So the preparation of nearly a month resulted in a festival of twelve days.  Sadly, we have lost much of the festive season and reduced Christmas to a day. That, it seems, is all of the time we can give to celebrate the birth of The King.

And so the house is nearly fully transformed into the Christmas spirit--and now begins the process of transforming my mind and heart to accept the joy of the season and not focus on the 27 degrees of cold it is currently holding at outside.

Merry Christmas and may you be fully Christmified in all you do this season.

Pair of Kees

Makayla and Ben Napping with a Wary Eye

Makayla and Ben resting after a morning of playing and activity. They have grown to be best buds.

Having two dogs is a bit of work. But they have a lot of fun together and keep each other company. And they get along really well.

Late-Autumn Blooms

There it was yesterday.

November Clematis

Late-November unexpected color along side the driveway. A clematis was blooming and offering its beauty to the graying world which daily displays more signs of the approaching winter.

I was surprised to see the blooms along the fence.

They were hanging on as the time for sleep approached.

And then I looked again down along the fence and I could tell how mild the season has been--Brown-eyed Susan's blooming along the fence to grace my late-November searching eye.

Susan's Along the Fence

The garden has been neglected for the past month or so and the leaves from the trees are blowing in along the fence--but the flowers are there blooming among the leaves.  They were very bright on the gloomy, rainy day I snapped the picture.

We have Christmas Lights illuminating the house at night and flowers reminding us of the summer past.

Now all I need is a warm sandy beach and a palm tree to complete the illusion.

Axis and Allies

Annual Axis and Allies Game

The annual recreation of WW2 is underway. We are playing the European Campaign this year. Round 1 is only about halfway done. At the rate we are playing: 2 hours per turn, we might be done at midnight.

Follow-up--after four rounds of heated conflict in Europe and with the U.S. managing to win the War of the Atlantic and to land troops in Vichy France--the Russians fell to the Germans and the game was over. The US and the UK were just barely unable to reinforce Moscow in advance of the German panzer armies push.

Learn German. Congrats to Patrick on a well played and hard fought victory.

Day After

The feast was fabulous.

Even the football was exciting. The anticipated blow-outs did not materialize and the games were close--well at least the first two.

The family was gathered around the table. The great-grandparents were seated. The five dogs (Jeff, Florence, Makayla, Ben and Chewie) were penned in the basement, Ethan and Jax were rested and involved, and the wine was perfect for the brine soaked turkey--which was moist and flavorful.

The prayer was given.

And as the eating began--the thanks though unspoken was evident. We were together again. Gathered around a table sharing a meal and thankful for family and the freedoms we had which include the ability to gather together without fear and with a table full of foods.

The pies were tasty--I sampled two--a pumpkin and an apple.

And then as we became bored with the NFL's Thanksgiving offerings, some of us slipped out for a movie--the latest Harry Potter offering.

Finally arriving home after 10pm--I knew it had been a great Thanksgiving once again. Not because of what I ate, or or what I did--but because of who I was with. And that was what I was most thankful for--the who's sitting around the table and the relationships we share.