Christmas in January

December was a quiet month for the Draper Family. Sure we made and decorated Christmas cookies...

We observed the beautiful sunrise on December 25th, gleeful at the lack of snow after an inspiring Candlelight service at church the night before. Yes, Christmas is beautiful with lightly falling snow, but usually we're knee deep in the stuff and tired from shoveling. This year we shared a quiet celebration of the birth of Jesus over 2000 years ago and commemorated the occasion by opening 'Santa' gifts, crazy as it sounds. The gifts were to keep everyone busy until our real Christmas celebration when the girls came home in January. 

We picked  Jessica up on January 1st after she flew in from a relief mission in Vietnam. It'd been July when we last saw her on our Thunder Bay trip. She looked great and was all excited about her trip. When she sat at the table drinking coffee and reading Rachelle McCalla's Love Inspired Suspense, it seemed like she'd never left home.

 

On Jan 10th, Crystal flew in from rainy Vancouver - or was it snowing this year on the west coast? With her arrival, our family of 6 was complete once more.

January 11th dawned as our day of delayed Christmas gift-giving. The sunrise wasn't as colorful as it had been on Dec 25th, neither had there been a huge snowfall.

While I worked in my office garage during the days, Jessie had joined me to practice her piano and from that, we found out she was still composing, but needed a new keyboard - one with the ability to use headphones so she could block out her roommates when needed. So in the photo below, the huge present on the left is a new keyboard with tracks for composing, a headphone jack, and a slot for a 32GB memory card.

One thing about setting up the tree this year... when our basement flooded last summer, the water didn't reach the 'Christmas closet' beneath the basement statirs, but it did get damp. I'm not sure if that's the reason, but when we set up our pre-lit tree, 80% of the lights didn't work. Nelson spent 2 hrs looking for the 'bad' light, yet couldn't find it. Later, at a Canadian Tire store where we went to buy more lights, I mentioned to the clerk that we had hoped the Christmas trees would be on sale and yet the stores didn't have any left. She said everyone was having trouble with their pre-lit trees.

So, I ask you... is the problem because of the damp year? Or because pre-lit trees are made to only work for 10-12 years before burning out? Since all the lights go out if one burns out and they make them without the capability of replacing the bulbs, only two options remain: buy a new tree, or buy new lights. We chose the latter because we couldn't find a cheap enough tree to replace our 10 yr old one. Instead, we bought new LED lights. As you can see from the photo, the new lights don't give off the light that the old ones do except for the blue which outshines the rest.

I also have to give credit to Nelson and the boys who contributed a huge amount of effort to this year's tree and decorations.

Although it was the middle of January, when it came to being with each other and sharing our laughter, the calendar date didn't really matter.

I realized something as I posted the above photo...it's strikingly similar to a photo taken in 2009:

Nick was more laid back this year. Possibly because of maturity now that he has his driver's license.

But probably because he's waiting for JJ to finish hamming around with his Reese's Peanut Butter Cup which weighed in at a hefty half pound.

Would we do another Christmas in January? While it isn't our preference, yes we would, if it means we can all be together. After all, we don't need a calendar to remember Christ's birthday. We can - and should - celebrate it any day.

Have you ever had a Christmas on a day other than December 25th?

Christmas

I can't believe it's been a month since I posted here. I have to blame it in part on my other blogs here on my new website. Under the Blogs tab you'll find 4 of them including this one, but there's the Book Review blog under the Books tab and the Recipe blog under the Fun tab. My latest recipe is for sugar cookies and I have one of Nick from last year decorating a delightful Christmas tree sugar cookie. :)

I've also posted a whole page of Christmas theme jigsaw puzzles under the Fun tab.

Meanwhile, I've been busy at church taping all the worship sessions including this one with Nick and Nelson leading with O Little Town of Bethlehem. You can find more videos of Nick and Nelson on the Glenavon Church on the Hill YouTube Channel.

And if you're wondering what our weather is these days, this photo is a fairly good representation. Lots of frost, but not much snow with temperatures averaging 5 below freezing.

I'm really missing Jessie this year because she would be coming home right about now to help with last minute preparations. Instead, she flew out at noon today to Vietnam where she's a relief worker for the orphanage missionaries so they can come back to their families for the season.

But she'll be home at the beginning of January to spend a couple weeks with us. Meanwhile, please pray for her.

Crystal won't be home for Christmas this year, either as she'll be coming home when Jessie comes in January.

Bonnie and Magnar are our other Christmas regulars but they won't be here this year either because they're helping Sonya Rose move to Fort McMurray, Alberta during the holidays. However, we'll get to see them this coming week when we meet them in Regina so it won't be too bad.
I've got a big weekend coming up because I'm baking tomorrow and decorating (finally) on Sat/Sun. I am in the minority here with all these men/boys around and for some reason, they don't want to sit around listening to Christmas carols or even decorate. But I intend to get them moving this weekend. I'll let you see how it goes. :)

Anita.

We Remember

I just finished writing a Remembrance Day post on the church blog.

It's a special post because it tells the story of the lone stained glass window in our church.

Check out http://newsfromthepews.blogspot.com/2011/11/we-remember.html for more info.

Gospel Music Videos

I'm blogging at Inkwell Inspirations today with 3 music videos I created for the Glenavon Church YouTube channel, like this one:

Jessie, Nick and Nelson lead worship with Lead Me To The Cross




I'm trying to get more made, but the optimum time to upload is between midnight and 6 am and even then it takes several hours for each 5 min video.

But so far, I have videos by:

• The Draper;s
• The Keller's
• Dianne Bonk
• Joey Theriault (a guest singer)

I'm working on one with only Nelson, and more by the above musicians.

These videos are not professional and neither are the musicians, but they are heart-inspired by the people leading the worship who have the courage to get up in front of a congregation and lead the rest of us.

I'm sending a huge thank you out to all those people who lead praise and worship in whatever venue the Lord has called you to fill. Bless you.

 

The Uniqueness of a Church

I'm blogging at Inkwell Inspirations about the different denominations of churches I've attended over the years and what makes each one unique in What Makes a Church Unique?

One of the aspects I love about our present church is the music - especially the gospel songs. Here's an example of

Joey Theriault singing old time gospel, Where Could I Go But To The Lord in one of my first attempts at making a YouTube video:

My questions for today are: What about you? Is there something unique about your church that you’ll like to share?

Fun Question: What do you sit on at church? Wooden pews, padded seats, cushions on wooden pews, plastic ‘bucket’ chairs, etc.

And if you don't attend church, what's your favourite chair at home and why?

I Made a Website!

I just had to tell you!

I started working on a website for my church in Glenavon, SK this past Monday morning and I finally put it on-line a few hrs ago! That's just over 4 days to get the job done using a 3rd party template and working with the html coding.

I would've been finished earlier on Friday except Book in a Week (BIAW) started with the Saskatchewan Romance Writers (SRW) so I had to write. It was only tonight when I returned from the city that I went back to working on the website. I only have the blog and the sunrise photo links working and I will add the other web pages later on because I'll be working on Emma's story for the rest of this week.

Yeah, I know the website and blog colors don't match but they will - at a later date - and it'll be the blue, not  the orange.

Also, you might see ads popping up and that's because I'm still working with our host, Bravenet to give us the best price possible.
Okay, it's late, gotta go to bed.

Making a Website

I've been busy for the last 2 days making a new website for my church which is located over in Glenavon, Sask. I'm starting to go googley-eyed from all the html coding. I searched for about a year to find a website template that would really suit our small country church. The choice was between a ready made one where you fill in the blanks and a template where you change all the html coding. There weren't any suitable ready made ones so I had to find a template I could work with since I only took the html course a couple years ago. I finally found 3 that would do, one of which was exceptionall. I showed them to the family and they all liked my favorite. That was last summer.

I looked at it every so often while continuing to search, just in case. Then last week I had this overpowering feeling that I should be setting it up. It's been a couple years since the pastor's wife asked me to make it so it's not like they've been real demanding but it would be a good thing for the church and the community.

It's just that I've been working on Emma's story since I'm kind of on a deadline to submit it. But while I've felt this urge to make the church website, I've also kept thinking that if I give time to God for his work first, He'll help me make time for mine. I really believe that.

So far I've got most of the segments worked out where I want them. The images gave me about 3 hrs work until I figured I needed to resize them first. I'm still having trouble figuring out how to publish the header along with the content so I guess I have at least another day to work on it. And that's just the home page.

Meanwhile, the temp was up to about 0C which is the freezing point. Such a far cry from our -47C/-54F weather just a week ago. Almost felt like sunbathing in that bright sun today except I needed to work on the website. :D

My bruises are healing since I started the anti-inflammatory meds on Sat. It's been about 10 days since my fall and it feels like an elephant is sitting on my chest in the mornings but it gets better during the day. Probably due to the meds and Tylenol. Still hurts to cough, sneeze, blow nose, hiccup and yawn, though. They're only bruised and just need time to heal. At least I have a job where I can sit and rest.

This is a pic of Monday night's sunset - looking towards the south! Taken about 5:30 pm, it was very weird because of the colorful southern sky but nothing in the west.

I'd like to bring it up in Photoshop and get rid of that power line but it's getting late. The laptop I was working on the website froze up in the middle of checking to see if I got the images done right this time so I've powered it down for the night. I don't want to check and see that it didn't work because I'd feel compelled to try to fix it. Time enough tomorrow, I guess.