Silent Night

When my husband hears the song "Silent Night" he almost always says "It was not a silent night."  If you think about all the throng who were in Bethlehem for the census and tax, there was probably lots of clamouring!  I can imagine all the Jewish people in the homes complaining and yammering to one another about those awful Romans and their heavy handed taxes and rule.  I think of how it is when our family talks about politics!

The night Jesus was born, I'm sure Mary would have cried or even screamed during her labor.  It would not have been silent.

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My home is now silent.  The children and grandchildren have gone home.  I have put Christmas decorations away.   Al is back to work.

When the kids were here, it was not quiet!  It was a joyous noisy.

Mindy and Jason were the first to arrive, coming Christmas day in the afternoon.  We got the news that our daughter-in-law had been exposed to Covid-19.  Jason and Mindy didn't want to chance getting exposed so the hard decision was made that they would leave early, and the Arkansas kids would wait a extra day to come.  Since Jill's and us have had it, we weren't worried.

So we had a quiet Christmas time together, just the 4 of us.  Or, I should say, the 5 of us!  Mindy had a new picture of our grandchild.

I had a stocking for the new baby. 

We watched "Babies".  It was delightful to watch about how babies are raised in 4 different cultures.

I told them the story of the real St. Nick, who was outspoken (not silent) of his love for Christ and was tortured for that.  He was jailed, branded with hot irons and his skin pinched with pliers.  After the persecution ended, he founded orphanages and helped the poor.  For some people, Christmas is all about the jolly fat man, Santa Claus, but the real St. Nick would have been all about pointing people to Jesus Christ.

The next day was a quiet day.  Mindy worked on putting together a gender reveal board.  We did some reading.  In the evening, we went for a walk in North Newton.

Someone had some fun with these hedgeballs!  One of my grandkids used to call them hedgehogs.

Evidently, they are supposed to keep spiders and other bugs at bay.  If you place hedgeballs around the foundation of your home, or in your basement, they say critters are repelled by these.  Although this belief is widespread, some scientists debunk this notion.  I read that the wood from the osage-orange tree is the best for making archery bows!  You can also extract bright yellow dye from the wood.