The Post Christmas Post

Well, it's over, almost.
We managed to get everything together in time for our annual Christmas Eve Celebration. Not our largest crowd but not our smallest either. Dea and I figure we had about 40 people total. In the past we have had almost 70 I think and the place was absolutely packed. Only having the 40 was nice. Still enough room that you don't feel claustrophobic, yet enough people for there to be fun conversations going on in almost every room. The Spirit was here and we all remembered the reason for the season. It was really nice.
I have no idea why I took no pictures. I usually do but I guess I was too much in the the "thick" of things to even think about it. In fact, Christmas day I only took a few. I don't understand why I didn't take more but I'm not going to stress over it. That's for sure. I will try to post a couple if I can arrange the time. I know that the family pic for this page is now a year old and needs replacing. Just...uh...don't hold your breath waiting for it okay?

Christmas Day was Peaceful. I loved it! IT was Such a "restorative" to my soul. The kids were pretty happy with their presents as we fulfilled our family traditions in the morning. We then gathered up some of the leftovers from the night before and headed to Dave and Dottie's. Again, peaceful. There was one spectacular moment involving a present from Deanna to Dave but that may take many pages to explain. Perhaps I'll get Dea to explain it in small "chapters" later. Dottie spread a real nice table and her sister Carrie (aka Doll) joined us and again it was...Nice. Really.

Dea, the kids and I left shortly after brunch for a well deserved nap. Jacob started a slight cough so we "dosed him" and sent him to bed. Jessalyn was doing better so she and I played with her electronic presents (read the directions, try to make it work, use tremendous self control so you don't toss said presents across room, read the directions again, Repeat.). With her help we did get all our missions accomplished.

Today was clean up day. We had spent a whole day last week cleaning out my garage to turn it into living space. In our haste to make room for 40 to 80 people, we had filled up the garage again. Dea had to work today so I let the kids sleep in late. Then, I put on my task-master hat and with Peggy's help we got right to it and put almost everything to rights. We still have a lot of clean up but we are no longer buried. After what I called a very successful morning, I gave the kids the rest of the day off to enjoy their Christmas vacation while I continued our construction project.

There seems to be a strange flu virus going around and apparently it hit Dave and Dottie's after we left. Pray for them. Jacob has a full fledged cold now, but I'm really proud of him. He doesn't let it stop him or get him down and he isn't complaining a bit. Still, whether sick or healthy, we can always use your prayers!
With the love of Jesus!
Will

One step forward and two steps back

Here at the Donaldson house we have been really, really blessed these last couple of days. This weekend was a fiasco of trying to acomplish something, anything really. I just wanted to be able to say that we had finished something. No dice. Every time I looked at something that I finished, something else had happened that "un" finished it again.
For example our 9' decorated Christmas tree fell face down onto a concrete floor on Monday. Breaking many ornaments including some that were on my Grandmother's tree. Oh I know that they were just things, but you have to realize that my Grandmothers were my favorite people in the world. It was like losing another little piece of them again. We saved as much as we could, fixed the tree and decorated all over again. I just sat there and while almost crying said, well Lord, whatever happens let your glory show through and I know that you turn everything for your good, please do that because right now I am unable to see anything good in all of this.
Almost within minutes things turned around. Everything that had been undone went back to done with the help of my parents and Peggy and Amanda (and our new "adopted son" Luke whose parents are in Texas right now while he holds down the fort here in Wisconsin). We went on to have a wonderful birthday dinner for Jacob, while eating tortellini (his favorite). I was quite happy although exhausted. Then time for sleep and I thought to myself, I'll get a good night's sleep and really get something done in the morning. Yeah right. I was up with some type of flu bug from 11:30 until 2:30. I finally got to sleep and then the dog decided he had to get up at 4:00 am. I was afraid if I went back to sleep I would over sleep and not get the kids off to school. I don't use an alarm. My body wakes me up right around the same time each morning ( unless I've had something goofy go on and then Will is usually there to wake me up). I hate the way the alarm jolts you out of sleep. When I set it I keep waking up to make sure I can turn it off before it wakes me up, so why use it? Of course if I had a cleaning lady I would clean before she got here so that she wouldn't see a messy house too, so I just must have some phobia or something about things like that. Oh well, I digress....
I decided to do something that I have not done in 8 years of working at the post office, I called in sick. I have all of this sick leave, so I used some. I almost felt guilty, but then I would have another relapse so the guilt went away. Believe me you never want to be on a mail route in the country with no bathroom near and be sick. Anyway, the work crews showed up and boy did we get stuff accomplished. None of it has anything to do with Christmas, but it sure did help. The entire garage where the apartment is going to be, went from being spread out all over to packed up and put in the shed, brought into the house for sorting or sent off to Goodwill for their use. What a milestone. Our garage which had been used for storage for 10 years is empty of everything except building supplies.
Then Seth and Claire showed up and Seth cut up the last pieces of those huge trees laying in the back yard (Will's chainsaw broke). With the help of Peggy, Luke, Amanda, Vicki, Seth and Claire we took care of splitting, stacking, moving and raking up the mess from this huge pile of wood in the back yard. By 4:00 pm we were all exhausted and pretty much just collapsed. I heated up leftovers made some burgers and iced tea and we sat around moaning......We used muscles that had not been used in awhile.
Today Will went to work and I go back to work. I think we need it just to do work that our body is used to. Dad is going to work on finishing our new "yellow" door and then start working on the apartment. When I get home I will continue the search for the house through all of this remodeling effort and make cookies. Christmas is coming even if it is raining and 40 something degrees. What a blessing this weather has been, but right on schedule we are supposed to get snow starting Thursday. I'm sure it's probably from everyone praying for snow for Christmas.

NEWSFLASH!!!!! Jacob is now officially taller than his mother. We just measured and he is over 5'9" tall. Now I suppose that the shorty jokes will start now.

We are trying to get everyone to sit still long enough for a family picture. I hope sometime this weekend to do that. Not a chance before that.
Have a blessed day.

Christmas central reporting...

Well, the power shopping is over. We managed to shop for almost everyone in one day. Had a great time doing it too! Lunch at our favorite chinese buffet. We enjoyed every minute of it. Now we are back to the getting ready for Christmas Eve stuff. Peggy and Amanda came over and we made about 60 dozen cookies. Now I have to quick crank out another 60 or so dozen and that will be done.
Friday was Jacob's birthday. I rented some movies and we all sat around and watched them. Well, the kids did anyway. Will and I were busy off and on with other things so we kind of wandered through the room at different times.
Will had to work Friday, Saturday and Sunday, so we will have Jake's birthday dinner tonight. Tortellini of course. It is what Jake wants every year.
Jessalyn was gone from 3:30 pm Saturday until last night at 7:00 pm. She was doing birthday parties, sleepovers, Christmas programs and movies with her friends. She had a great time, but for some reason didn't even complain when I told her to head to bed last night.
We are actually pretty much ahead of schedule for Christmas this year, in comparison to the last years. Of course with me being on the smaller mail route this year, even when I work extra hours it is less hours than what I worked last year. I sure do love this route. Although next month they are set to add at least 1 hour per day. At least that is the plan so far.
Well, Jake is almost ready for school, so it's time to get the next one up. I hope you have a great day!

A shopping we will go.....

Today is the day....Will and and I HAVE to go shopping. Christmas is coming and we take this time to get a day alone with each other and shop for gifts. Jacob and Jessa will go to school and then we are out of here. I call it power shopping with a twist. The twist is that we usually try to fit in a nice lunch and just sit and talk over coffee. We enjoy it and it is one of the few times that we can be together without the world rushing in. As it is we have to be home earlier than usual for the Christmas concert for Jake at the middle school.
This week marks the 17th anniversary of the first official date for Will and I. We managed to get unofficially engaged 17 years ago. Boy how time flies. It's hard to believe it has been that long. Believe it or not Jake turns 14 tomorrow. My son is still supposed to be 5. I don't know who this tall drink of water is.
Work on the garage apartment goes on. They managed to get alot done yesterday. I am proud of them. Of course they changed the whole floor plan while they were at it, but I expected that anyway. I think it will be really nice. When Peg and Amanda are done with it, there will be a great little apartment there for visitors.
Well, time to go and get kids off to school.
God Bless,
dea

Work Work Work...

We had a meeting with Dave and Dottie the other night concerning turning my garage/workshop into a couple of extra bedrooms with a little living area. We were basically deciding on a tentative layout. There will be no bathroom and the bedrooms will be teeny tiny, but this way we can give Amanda and Peggy a place to live. They are such wonderful people with hearts for God that we just adopted them into the family. When we originally bought this place it was still a store. What has become my garage and workshop used to be the "hardware store". So, I did the opposite of what most people do. I took a large room and made a garage, instead of making my garage into a large room . It was a very nice insulated and drywalled garage, so it shouldn't be too hard to turn back into rooms. Where the garage door is now we will install two windows and a door. This way they will have their own way in and out, even though they will need to come into the main house for the bathroom. At least it's not like they would have to go outside to find the out-house. It will just be a long walk through what has become a ridiculously large house!
We went shopping for the windows and a door yesterday in Marshfield (about an hours drive). We knew what we were looking for, so it shouldn't have taken as long as it did at the store...except, I had just been complaining about the door to our dining room -which is literally falling apart. The Jams and Sash are all splitting and we have to cover the entire entrance way with plastic just to keep the cold out.
Well, while we were there, we came across a close-out "display model" that was 360 dollars off. of course that meant it was still...ahem, pricey. Especially at this time of year. So we wandered around the store looking at doors and trying to come up with a scheme to replace my dining room doors with something cheaper than the close-out price on this door. We couldn't come up with a thing. So we bought the door. Right now it's a ridiculously bright yellow that will have to be painted the first time the temperature is warm enough.
The temps are in the 40's today so we are going to try to install it. Hopefully we will have it in and still have time to get ourselves cleaned up.
This afternoon is the reception for Seth and Claire. I have really been looking forward to that but of course ("...best laid plans of mice and men...") My work planned their Holiday party for this same evening. So, we will attend the reception for an hour or so and then hit my office party until it is politically okay to dive out and then try to make it back to the reception if possible. It should make for a nice long day don't you think?
Tomorrow I'm teaching Sunday School and I think I will ask the other smaller classes to join us as well. What I am planning should be pretty basic and easy to understand. Your prayers of course are always welcome!
Well, lunch break is over (Dottie made some great soup! I think she said she got the recipe from my Sister in law Rhonda. If so, then Thanks Dottie and Rhonda!) so I got to get back to work!
Merry Christmas!
Will.

Just a quick update...

Things are busy here at Christmas Central. The season for giving is here and I am glad, but boy am I trying hard to catch up. If I just can get in a couple of hours of non-interrupted work, things will be much better. Jacob went to an "Acquire the Fire" Christian youth ralley in Madison this last weekend. They had a wonderful trip and then hit a deer within 2 miles of Warrens on their way home. No one was hurt, but the minivan. He says that he had a great time, except for sleeping in a hotel room with 7 other boys and not getting any sleep.
Jessalyn had another swimming birthday party on Sunday. That is the popular thing with the kids her age around here. They all go to the Holiday Inn and swim for a couple of hours. She sure was tired when she got home.
I have been working lots and lots of extra hours babysitting a couple of new substitutes that they have at the Post Office. They have hired 5 people to replace me and we are still trying to find someone to do the job. Now that I have my own route, I can only help out on the others, not take the whole route for a day. Since I was "the sub that knew all 7 routes", it takes 3 or four people to cover those same routes now. Before I just worked most days and did a different route each day. Good money, but sure can fry your brain. Now I'm on all 8 routes because I still have to know the other 7. No wonder, I'm half crazy. (be quiet! no silly comments to that one, please)
Jessalyn was home three days last week with cough, fever and congestion. She shared with her brother and he is home today. He woke up with his eyes almost swollen shut. Not a good look for him. I dosed him with meds and when it did not get any better, he headed back to bed. I hope he gets better quickly.
We went Christmas Caroling around Warrens on Saturday evening. Our church always hosts it and the other churches are invited. We go and sing to all the shut ins and pretty much anyone else who will listen. Usually we ride around in a wagon sitting on hay bales. Not this time. The wind chill factor was below zero and so we all piled into Dad's motor home and other vehichles and sang our hearts out. Then it was back to the church for soup and Christmas cookies. We had a good time.
Will and I are planning on about 18 gift baskets full of baked goods this year. I say "we" because he loves to be the "taste tester" and the "handing out specialist". Although I'm sure he would help with the baking (don't laugh) I usually don't ask him to. Usually he is putting up the Christmas lights, but this year he already has that done. Hmmmm....Maybe he could help this year......Now there's a thought.....The theme this year is divide and conquer. I usually make all the cookies at once, but I think I'm going to make them in segments this year. That way, I don't have to find a place to store them while I'm baking others. I will get both our places of employment done this week and then go on to the others. I just love it!
We will have Christmas Eve here again this year. It is about my 23rd anual (Will's 16th). I just love it when everyone comes and has a good time, although this year I will be downsizing things a bit. Instead of having about 28 different appetizers, this year I plan on only about 15. We wrote down the most popular ones last year and I'm making those and then just adding a few new ones this year. We usually have anywhere from 30 to 80 people here. We open the whole house and everyone just eats, laughs and sings. It's wonderful!!!
This will be Sam the dog's first Christmas with us. He already goes out and just sits and looks at Will's Christmas lights. He's such a smart dog. We sure love him. Gabberdeen the cat just hides for most of Christmas (she's shy) and the other cat Stinky Pete-just hates people, so she is our Grinch.
Well, it's time to run get things done before I head into work. It's snowing today. Not a whole bunch of it, so it won't be too bad, but enough to make you watch the road carefully.
Have a blessed day!
dea