A Good Christmas

We has a good Christmas at the Seitz home.  The Christmas Eve service at the church had wonderful music and a good sense of energy.  I sometimes worry that the services we have every year will become routine and uninteresting.  The music this year was so good that it carried the whole service.

We enjoyed having Jonathan and Emily with us.  They arrived Sunday night and headed on around noon today to visit Emily's family in Cincinnati.  Our visits are often low key, relaxed, and happy.  We did a lot of talking with one another.  There were irregular sleeping patterns and lots of naps.  We also spent a lot of time on the speaker phone talking to family in other parts of the country.

This afternoon I am back at work at the church.  Things are pretty quiet and I have been doing planning for the coming year.  I am writing a sermon from scratch for this Sunday, even though I know this will be one of the low attendance Sundays of the year.  I have about five days here before Jonathan and Emily come back to see us for a couple more days.  I love these quiet periods in the year.

We heard this morning that Jean's Dad had completed a medical procedure today to reopen one of the arteries near his heart.  Hopefully this will allow him to keep up his active life style.  Jean's brother, sister, and brother-in-law all made the trip to Boston with Dad.  We are grateful for their kind care.

Choir program

This afternoon I will be at the church to rehearse with the choir.  One Sunday each December the choir presents a cantata or concert.  My role is to write and read the commentary that connects the musical selections to each other.  I have my manuscript in hand and will head into town soon.

One complication is the weather.  We are on the edge of a cold front with precipitation.  It is not clear if we will have rain, snow, or ice tonight.  We can live with everything but the ice.  The temperature now ( 2 p.m.) is just above freezing.

Yesterday Jean and I made a shopping trip to Parkersburg, West Virginia.  That is about 40 miles east of here.  As we crossed the Ohio River we were amazed to see thousands of dead trees and other debris that has been carried from smaller streams into the big river.

The shopping trip was a success.  My finds included several books.  I also purchased new eyeglasses.  They will arrive in a week.  We also found more Christmas gifts for the family.  It was a good day.

Closer to Christmas

We are now about two weeks out from Christmas.  The pace of life is getting faster at the church.  Some of the Athens ministers met today.  I enjoyed being together with them a lot.  Everyone seemed especially open to talk and willing to listen.  A great time.

I am also enjoying the computers a lot these days.  I have set up accounts on Google, Windows Live, Facebook, and other things.  I am learning more each day.  I also have found several podcasts that are helping me learn and understand more.  Several of my old friends -- the brave ones -- are showing up on Facebook now.  These new projects provide a good break from the busy routine.

Things are picking up

December has arrived and the pace of life is picking up.  I try hard to keep a good attitude during the high activity periods.  It seems wrong to be presenting the Advent season as a joyful period if I am not keeping my inner attitudes consistent with what I am saying to others.  I try to plan the work load so that it is not overwhelming, and I create early deadlines to prepare for important events.

This week we are planning the church services (and preparing the bulletins) for December 9 and December 30.  Next week we will prepare December 16 and December 23.  Then we will have our full energy to prepare a good service for Christmas Eve.  This has worked well in the past.

We can help others around us deal with stressful periods if we keep our own spirits more peaceful and calm.  Hope life is good for you.