Of Processing and Christmas Preparations

Hello all! Here is our week in review. Sunday, church was canceled because everyone was either sick, or not able to make it. We had our own little service together as a family, Katie played guitar and we sang Christmas hymns as well. On Monday we processed the last batch of broilers for 2009. Elliott and Oliver Alexander came over to help us. We were able to finish up with the actual processing of the birds before lunch. We did about 230. (Okay, we did eat a little late. But lunch was well worth the wait! Mom made two chicken pies, mashed potatoes and a big pan of baked apples!) After lunch we had a short break before bagging the birds, we played Kickball. That was fun and funny! These were the teams.. Katie, Maddie, Elliott and Lucy. and then Me, Hannah, Oliver and Rebecca. It was so funny to watch Katie's team. She and Maddie were both trying to come up with the best strategy for their team. Someone on our team would kick the ball and then take off running for the base, while Katie and Maddie were still talking and telling each other "if you had just done what I said, we could have gotten it!" Elliott was dashing all over the yard trying to retrieve the ball single-handedly while Katie and Maddie were still arguing! Also, the yard was very muddy from recent rain and snow so there were many slips and slides! We were laughing so hard and so were Katie and Maddie! After our break we finished up by bagging the broilers and then washing the coolers. Thank you Elliott and Oliver for your help! (Hey, was anybody sore from all that running during kickball? I must have gotten out of practice! It was probably partly from that big slide/collision with Maddie!) On Tuesday, Mom and Dad went Christmas shopping for most of the day, we did the normal outside work, including washing several days worth of eggs. It was very cold that day! We had to bundle up warmly! There is one thing I will say about beanie hats, I personally do not care for them, and I think it is safe to say that they don't care for me either! It's probably because of the way I wear my hair, either in a bun or a braid. So either I have a knob sticking out from the back of my head or my braid is constantly pushing the hat up so that it is perched on the top of my head in a most unfashionable way! But I generally wear them anyways because the cold and the pressure makes me dizzy sometimes. Anyways, to get off that subject:) This morning Mom took us older girls out to finish up with our Christmas shopping and then Dad took the little ones out. So now we are officially finished with Christmas preparations. This afternoon we watched the Christmas Shoes. A movie based from the song. It is a really emotional movie! The first time we watched it we all cried buckets of tears, including Dad. This time I was pretty sure I wouldn't cry because I had already seen it and I didn't think it would effect me like it did the first time. I was wrong. By the time the little boy is crying and begging his mom not to go, we were all sobbing and passing around the tissue box. And I don't mean "teary". I mean really crying. I think Will got a kick out of watching us, after a really sad part he would steal a glance around the room and take note of everyone who was crying, "Hehe, Maddie's crying... Morgan's crying... Katie's crying?!" Katie rarely cries, so that surprised him! After the movie he named off all the people that had cried. "Did you?" We questioned, as he was leaving the room. "Only at the part were he's getting the shoes" he admitted. Katie said she was trying to hide her sobs behind a laugh but it didn't work too well:) Well, that's pretty much catches you up! I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas! I shall close with this song, It's a little like "Mary Did You Know", a song from Mary's perspective.

"But Mary kept all of these things and pondered them in her heart"


This is not the way I dreamed
My story would unfold
A stable and a bed of hay
A night so clear and cold
The only child of God begotten
In my arms I hold
To us is born Emmanuel

Holy child of hope
Perfect child of peace
Born to be the Lord of life in me
Oh my precious son
Heaven's child has come
To make of me a child of God

I am just a peasant girl of simple honest means
Who am I to hold the Savior
Sent to set men free
To know the child I gave life
Will give his life for me
The angels sing Emmanuel

Holy child of hope
Perfect child of peace
Born to be the Lord of life in me
Oh my precious son
Heaven's child has come
To make of me a child of God

Oh my precious son
Heaven's child has come
To make of me a child of God

To make of me a child of God

-Morgan