Our only son’s family, four hours away (Twin Cities), moved to a new neighborhood Thanksgiving week, so they didn’t come down this year as they’d planned.  They were here the Thanksgiving of 2024, but I was ailing (with what was diagnosed as Crohn’s six months later) and not a very fun grandma. Friend Lynne had sent darling paper dolls which Kate (then age seven) and I enjoyed playing with. She even came up with a play to act out and record.

That week our lighted half tree was in the front window atop Great Grandma Laura Goff’s old library table, but it had no decorations on it. Kate’s brown eyes (hazel, she insists) perked up when I asked if she’d like to decorate it. Out came her dad’s old Cub Scouts ornaments and ones her grammie made long ago, even small frames with photos of Kate’s great grandmas. Son Dan even got in on the activity, recognizing relics from his childhood.

Even from a step ladder the top of the tree was hard for a seven-year-old to reach. The star kinda leaned to the left, but I loved it that way so it stayed through Christmas, 2024.

2025 – Welcome to the new neighborhood?

Early this month, just two weeks after Dan’s family moved in to a new neighborhood, daughter-in-law Renee took aging rescue dog Luna for a walk. Luna was attacked by two pit bulls. Renee ended up in urgent care for a very bruised thumb, and Dan at the vet with Luna. Luna needed several stitches and one wound was deep enough it needed a drain. Dan and Luna got home at 2 am. Luna is still in recovery but a more comfortable wrap-around to keep her from licking wounds has replaced the horrid cone.

(Another woman had tried to help in the pit bull attack. She got bit and turned in the owners, who live a block away. They haven’t heard more from animal control, yet.)

So we’re having a quiet Christmas this year, savoring our cozy home and each other, thanking God for his gift of the birth of the Christ Child!

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Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. – Luke 2:11