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Showing posts from February, 2010

A Snowy Day and a Lost Sheep

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As I write, a historic snowfall is showering upon our valley in northwestern Virginia.  Over two feet of snow covers Shirefeld.  My husband and I awoke early, enjoying the childlike happiness of snow, and discussed our plans for the day. Reading books by the fire, perhaps even poetry, after a few chores were done: those were our chief goals.  After praying the family rosary around the fire, my husband decided to check on our small flock of six sheep and two llamas.  He was thanking God he had picked up a large roll of hay Thursday for their small stable beneath our chicken coop, so they had both shelter and food.  To his surprise and concern, none of the black-and-brown hair sheep were near the stable, though the llamas were there, chewing placidly.  He saw the sheep in the far reaches of the pasture, and they were stuck in the heavy snow.  Quickly he floudered across the heavily-laden field and started driving them back to their stable.  They were struggling in the snow as they made

Random Moment of Beauty: Putting Away Christmas

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A glorious juxtapostition of my birthday and the clearance sale at Wal-Mart meant that my mother and I brought home armfuls of glass ornaments, tinsel, cranberry wreaths, and colored lights for around $30, and guests at my 40th birthday party spent their time decorating our Christmas tree.  We neglected to get ornament hooks, so paper clips were happily pressed into service.  And come Epiphany morn, our well-worn Christmas tree was ever more resplendent.  I believe we have discovered a new family tradition! Perhaps envigorated by its new garb, our tree remained fresh and green, barely dropping a handful of needles through Candlemas.  We spent the second day of February playing medieval Christmas music at full tilt and taking down decorations.  Boxes that had delivered gift pears to my parent's house were repurposed as sturdy boxes for the glass ornaments that had survived the twentysome days of Little Christmas.  I seldom buy them, given their price and delicacy, but in the happy

Last Day of Little Christmas 2010

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The plans I had made to post more about Christmas were curtailed by our son Thomas' developing diabetes over New Years.  After our time in the hospital, we have spent most of the rest of Little Christmas adjusting to life with a young diabetic.  But as per tradition, I wanted to post at least one photo of this year's Nativity scene to thank you all for reading and for your prayers. Blessings upon your New Year!