Merry Christmas!

Sunday Morning Freeze

Today being the first official day of winter, I'd like to lodge my first official protest of winter:

Enough of the below zero temps already!

Now, I don't mean to be a big whiner, and I have lived my entire life in the northern parts of the USA, but c'mon! -40 windchill?!?!?! Is that really necessary?

I am very relieved to see that the forecast for the rest of the week has us in the above zero temps. Christmas itself should be quite nice, in the twenties. But this is the second Sunday in a row that I've had cancellation in services!

Last Sunday all services got cancelled. Today, it's just the 9:45 service. It's a bummer, because it was supposed to be the Christmas program that Lil' Princess is in, but its been rescheduled for next Sunday. The 11:15 service in the church in the town down the road is still on, and the church 30 miles away is having their Christmas program service at 4 pm today.

The high is supposed to be -5 today. Whooppeee!

It's -14 right now, and I worry about the many elderly folks going out in the cold, about my folks far out on their ranches traveling 30 miles to get to church....

Dad, I blame you that for the big worrying part of my nature, just so you know.

So Lil' Princess and I will bundle up in a ridiculous amount of layers in a little bit, and head to the 11:15 service. Which will probably have 6 people at it. But despite the cold, the Word will be preached, and Holy Communion will be shared, and the Holy Spirit will do it's work. Even on a grumpy heart like mine this morning!

Friday Five - Christmas To-Do List

Given the craziness of this time of year, RevGalBlogPals are keeping the Friday Five simple this week.

"Tell us five things you need to accomplish before Christmas Eve."

1. Mail Christmas gifts - I just have my nephews' gifts left to send, so I'm doing pretty well this year. They are wrapped and in a box, so just need to seal it up, put a mailing address on it, and actually make it to our local post office during the tiny window of time that it is open for business on Saturday mornings.

2. Write sermon for this Sunday - two of my churches have Christmas programs, which will be oh so very cute and inspiring. (Lil' Princess stole the show at rehearsals, her enthusiam is awesome!) I have a part in the services, but don't have to preach. BUT at the third church, which has no children, I am on for the sermon. I am finding it very hard to get motivated to write it, though I love the Gospel lesson. Adding to the uncertainty of it all, the temps are supposed to be between -10 and -17 Sunday morning, with a high of -4 for the day. We usually cancel worship when it gets that cold, since we have alot of elderly folks. So who knows what actually will happen on Sunday?!?!

3. Write Christmas Eve sermon - for reasons I can't quite figure out, instead of a worship service of lessons and carols sans sermon, I created a service with sermon. Fa la la la la, la la la la. Don't get me wrong, I love preaching Christmas. It's just knowing that time is running short, and that Lil' Princess is going to be home full time now...which means I will have a constant little shadow wanting constant attention!

4. Finish baking - I did baking for our open house, but those treats are long gone. Now I need to do some for our Christmas celebration. I don't plan to do a whole lot, since it's just the three of us this year, but at the very least I'd like to get some spritz cookies and candied pecans made.

5. Finish planning our Christmas meals - this is the first year of my ENTIRE life that I won't be celebrating with my family, and won't have lutefisk and swedish meatballs on the table. So, I'm thinking ham, since my family members really like it, and it's a no-brainer to cook. I am planning a special Christmas day brunch that I'm excited about; Belgian waffles with blueberries, strawberries, Cool whip and maple syrup to choose from for toppings. Yum!!!! Add some hot chocolate or hot tea and a long lazy morning spent in pajamas, and I think we will have an absolutely lovely day! (Especially once Lil' Princess sees what Santa left her in her stocking - my girly girl's cup will be running over)

Below Zero

Today the temperature is negative fourteen, with a windchill bringing it down to negative fifty-two.

Needless to say, we're not straying far from home today!

All our services were cancelled yesterday, and Lil' Princess had school cancelled today. We'll see what tomorrow brings.

I find I'm feeling a little stir crazy - after being stuck inside for four days in a row, I am so ready to get out! I still have some Christmas presents to get, so I'm hoping to get away one day this week.

Well, back to Mary Poppins...we're about half way through, so that means we're almost to one of my favorite songs, "Chim Chimmini"