Boy, I can't believe how long its been since I posted. I guess I need to get a life worth writing about ... In any event, a couple of things have happened lately. I decided to do my usual decorating for Christmas on Thanksgiving Day. I started it when the kids came over for Thanksgiving, thereby allowing them to be with their respective fathers/in-laws for Christmas. Back when we lived in Divide, Colo., Karl and I would just walk down to the bottom of the hill and cut down a tree and haul it back up. Did the same thing in Fairplay - just talked to someone we knew and go cut down a tree. One year, Karl picked out a tree for his dad back in Denver. It was sort of a 'Charlie Brown' tree and it had to be small, because it had to fit into the little Subaru wagon I was driving those days. But, we dutifully cut it down, shoved it into the car, and then poor little Karl (who at that time must have been about 5) had to sit hunkered down in the back seat, squished under the tree the whole 2 hour trip to Denver. I'll bet he remembers it, too. He has a remarkable memory.

Last Sunday, after Mass, Paul and I met Ellen and Hannah at Starbucks in Princeton and then went to lunch. Ellen and Hannah were having a 'girls day out' and afterward, they shopped for fabric and saw that new movie about vampires. Hannah's on her third round or so of reading the books. I can't criticize her for reading a book more than once as I've read the Outlander series twice.

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving at Ellen's. We were delayed a bit in eating, as Simon accidentally turned off the oven when he intended to turn on the oven light. It was probably off for an hour before Ellen went to baste the turkey and found it in a rather cold oven. That's OK, it gave us more time to chat. The food was great. I used the apple pie filling she made to make an apple pie which was yummy and she did something I've never even contemplated - making a pumpkin pie from scratch. I mean from the raw pumpkin on up. I think she even gathered up the pumpkins herself from the field. How enterprising can one person be? It was excellent pie and it gives me hope we could survive in the absence of a grocery store.

Tomorrow is the First Sunday of Advent. I'm ready for the rhythm of the Church to change as the Liturgical Year rolls on. I signed up to be a lector. The parish has so many volunteers, I only lector twice in the next three months. Oh well, at least it is a start.

In the Liturgy of the Hours for today, there's a reading from a sermon on the Our Father by St. Augustine that I found particularly pertinent. "God is faithful, says holy Scripture, and he will not allow you to be tried beyond your strength. So let us sing alleluia, even here on earth. Man is still a debtor, but God is faithful. Scripture does not say that he will not allow you to be tried, but that he will not allow you to be tried beyond your strength. Whatever the trial, he will see you through it safely, and so enable you to endure."