Good morning from snow covered fields and forests! The sun is brilliant today and will begin the work of melting the snow once the temps go above freezing. When last checked the temperature was a balmy 24 degrees. Our church cancelled services and activities for today due to black ice on the roads. Most churches in the area have cancelled but there are a few die hards out there that just cancelled Sunday School.
While the snow has been lovely and has slowed the pace of life even more there are shows and stores that count on these weekends before Christmas to make money or at least break even. Several of those Christmas events were on my Saturday to go to list. I especially enjoy the artists at Addison Vineyards each year. Their work so beautiful but truthfully, I go for the scenic views that can be experienced from the vantage point of the vineyards.
So with this easy Sunday morning Buddy and I are mitigating into the day. I'll probably go to online church or maybe I won't. After listening to the webcast from Second Baptist this week the word solitude is alive in reality for me since Friday. I have enjoyed and needed this time. OK, I get a lot of this time but it seems that as I get older but probably not wiser, I crave this kind of occasion. I am also aware that you can kind of go strange if you spend too much time by yourself. It's a delicate balance people. I wish I could tell you I have done all kinds of reading because that is my usual go to thing but as I have watched the birds in the snow, the snow falling as in nature and snow falling as in melting, I have contemplated and thought about so many things. Like Dr Young talked about in his first sermon back after his wife's passing. I read social media and posted on social media, so it wasn't complete solitude. It is welcomed to take a break from small talk, discussing things that don't really matter or feeling compelled to be in performance mode. Definition of performance mode is when you're "commanded or manipulated" into being funny, telling a story or something at another persons directive. It is not organic in nature. Being funny is in my DNA but being made to perform is not.
I am watching Houston's First Baptist Multi Gen service online this morning. Beautiful Christmas worship and music. A blending of traditional carols in a modern musical form.
Over the years on the good ol' Monablog, many times I have written about not liking or loving the holidays. It felt like I was on a countdown starting in November and lasted through January. Mentally, I would check off the days for getting out of this season. There are of course some good memories from the holiday season throughout the years but there seemed to be more regretful holiday times. I am happy to have the memories of baking cookies with my mom when I was a child and as a grown up. She loved to sit in whatever room the Christmas tree had found its destination and watch the lights, even in the middle of the bright sunny afternoons. Over the years she brought us ornaments from trips made during the year. Seems like their destination became Branson for years and years, so that is where our ornaments came from and we would find them in our stockings that mom had made. My mom made Christmas special, no more like Mom tried to make Christmas normal not some emotionally fraught chaos mixed with unrealistic expectations and the annual let down that we could never live up to the ideals conjured up by my father as he thought everyone else was having a Norman Rockwell experience and we seemed to be more of a rocky path experience to him. Some years were more difficult than others. Some years there would be friend of either my brother or one of my friends at Christmas lunch and their presence set a presence that would not let my father act out in a usual way. Now those were some enjoyable lunches.
Yesterday, I did not see the Feral Fam at all. I tried not to think about them but of course they came to mind every time I looked out the window. This morning there were cat paw prints by the deck door in the snow. So, there was hope. This afternoon all three kittens were out near the tent of meeting playing with one another. I was so happy! I took food up there, walking carefully through the snow. Just now, Buddy ran to the window and I could hear what had her attention. The little sound of a meow. I went out there to see if I could find any of the Feral Fam. MJ is up at the tent eating again and this meow sounds like Cali's. Mama Cat has not been around today. Cali hung out with her all the time. Who knows? Maybe Mama Cat will be around tomorrow, I sure hope so because it is supposed to warm up. The kittens are older and bigger, she might have gone off on a bender with some Tom or Alley cat....it is a wait and see. I have done everything I can to help them and pray that it is enough. Heard meowing and saw MJ right by the back door. Not quick enough to open the door and get him especially since Buddy was right on my heels supervising everything.
Now it is evening and I have the 5:00 pm service on of HFBC. Since it is multi gen Sunday, it is the same music at every service. Sure have enjoyed that today. I got the trash out to the road but opted for putting it in big bags instead of the regular trash bin. The bottom of our road is a little icy and slick which bags made it easier to maneuver. Looks like schools and such are on a delayed schedule for starting in the morning. It will probably be in the afternoon before I try and venture out. Even with the sun and the temps going above freezing, the threat of black ice in the shade is present.
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