So the original forecast for Christmas Day (December 25, not the upcoming January 7), was several feet of snow.
For some, this is welcome. For others, less so. This year, we belonged to the latter camp. We currently own two old and creaky blazers, with Timothy's being the newer and more reliable one. He has a second job now, abotu thirty miles away, and he did fine in yesterday's snow and cold.
Still...
Forty miles one way in crummy weather in a crummy vehicle during a time when other holiday drivers are on the road and back again and then another fifteen to twenty miiles in the opposite direction wasn't anyone's good time.
On Thanksgiving Day, we were the only ones that showed up to Divine Liturgy (our church has a small elderly population). We arrived about fiftteen minutes late (Timothy had worked late and overslept; plus our pastor had bumped up liturgy time), and our priest had already begun the complicated ninety-minute service, alone. Timothy said after he and Daniel had vested and made it onto the altar, Fr. Boris only turned to them and said, "We are on page so and so, if you care for join me."
Ouch!
The only other person to arrive was our cantor, about ten minutes after that. What if Christmas Day was a no-show repeat? (And thankfully, it wasn't).
Furthermore, our January 7 celebration will be in Mendota this year. Joshua, Amber, Ezekiel, and Jessica won't be joining us because of work schedules. Because of Joshua's health issues and the fact he just returned to work after being off for two years, they couldn't afford to buy either a tree (Ours had seen better years, and he had discareded it) or presents (We didn't buy any presents either).To not see them during Christmas was unthinkable.
So after Divine Liturgy, we want to spend the rest of the day with them. As the manager of a local pizzeria, Joshua is allowed to make free pizzas for himself anytime he wishes. Consequently, our dinner plans for Christmas was pizza at Joshua's. And we didn't need recalcitrant weather to get in our way.
We felt those were good reasons why God should hold back the snow. And so we prayed. And He did. And we had one of the loveliest Christmases ever.
Yes, we made Divine Liturgy and a wonderful Christmas dinner at Joshua's apartment. We even had one bonus, but that's for another post. The humor, however, was on Christmas Eve.
Our photographer was checking out the weather forecast, as he was flying out on Christmas Day. He announced that it appeared the bad weather would miss us and then added, "They're calling for snow in Hawaii."
Nice one, God!
For some, this is welcome. For others, less so. This year, we belonged to the latter camp. We currently own two old and creaky blazers, with Timothy's being the newer and more reliable one. He has a second job now, abotu thirty miles away, and he did fine in yesterday's snow and cold.
Still...
Forty miles one way in crummy weather in a crummy vehicle during a time when other holiday drivers are on the road and back again and then another fifteen to twenty miiles in the opposite direction wasn't anyone's good time.
On Thanksgiving Day, we were the only ones that showed up to Divine Liturgy (our church has a small elderly population). We arrived about fiftteen minutes late (Timothy had worked late and overslept; plus our pastor had bumped up liturgy time), and our priest had already begun the complicated ninety-minute service, alone. Timothy said after he and Daniel had vested and made it onto the altar, Fr. Boris only turned to them and said, "We are on page so and so, if you care for join me."
Ouch!
The only other person to arrive was our cantor, about ten minutes after that. What if Christmas Day was a no-show repeat? (And thankfully, it wasn't).
Furthermore, our January 7 celebration will be in Mendota this year. Joshua, Amber, Ezekiel, and Jessica won't be joining us because of work schedules. Because of Joshua's health issues and the fact he just returned to work after being off for two years, they couldn't afford to buy either a tree (Ours had seen better years, and he had discareded it) or presents (We didn't buy any presents either).To not see them during Christmas was unthinkable.
So after Divine Liturgy, we want to spend the rest of the day with them. As the manager of a local pizzeria, Joshua is allowed to make free pizzas for himself anytime he wishes. Consequently, our dinner plans for Christmas was pizza at Joshua's. And we didn't need recalcitrant weather to get in our way.
We felt those were good reasons why God should hold back the snow. And so we prayed. And He did. And we had one of the loveliest Christmases ever.
Yes, we made Divine Liturgy and a wonderful Christmas dinner at Joshua's apartment. We even had one bonus, but that's for another post. The humor, however, was on Christmas Eve.
Our photographer was checking out the weather forecast, as he was flying out on Christmas Day. He announced that it appeared the bad weather would miss us and then added, "They're calling for snow in Hawaii."
Nice one, God!
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