Merry CHRISTmas!

It's Christmas Eve already! A typical Christmas Eve in the parsonage goes like this: it was a hasty day of Pastor finishing a sermon for candlelight service, wrapping something for the wife, coming up with something to say for the Children's program, answering last minute questions about music, costumes, candles, hymnals and whatever else we think the pastor might know, and remembering to shower and put on a clean clerical. The Pastor's wife runs off copies of music that was lost, cooks the ham for the pot luck, finds some games for the kids, washes and irons the pastor's clothes, cassok and surplus, irons the baby's new dress, and frets endlessly about things that are not done, may never get done, and probably don't even NEED to get done!

Add to this year of our Lord 2005, we have a BABY to worry about!! A very tired baby, I might add, who's been awakened from every nap she's had all weekend to go over to chruch to work on 'something'. Approximately five mintues after putting Eden in her adorable Christmas Eve dress, she spit up all over the red velvet. Al doesn't like the feel of velvet, so him holding her is even more limited than it normally would be on a Christmas Eve. Regardless, we pose for our annual 'tree' photo (there were several previous attempts, but the dog was always looking at the tree instead of the camera). And here is the result! Approximately two minutes after the Children's service, just before potluck, Eden has the messy diaper we've all been waiting for, smothers her new dress in it, and ends up in her ducky pajamas for dinner and candlelight service!

Christmas morning comes along and, after church, we throw a frozen lasagna in the oven and kick back in some comfy clothes to open gifts. Eden smiles for the camera, then gets set on the floor, immediately becoming fussy.



















Gift opening is now postponed for a clean diaper (followed again by clean clothes), a bottle and a nap. Consequently, Eden misses all the festivities, ends up sleeping ALL day, only waking to eat and go back to sleep, and Al and I open gifts, pack the bags, the blazer and the day with tasks that only result in getting to go home for 'after' Christmas!


The train is scheduled to leave at 0130 and we all plan to be on it!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Current Hobby Progress

I have been working on a large nativity that I purchased while on vicarage and added significant numbers of pieces to last year. I thought the best place to begin after adding so many pieces was a manger. While constructing the manger, I ran into a few snags on getting the plaster moulds of rock to adhere to the wood. (since historically, Jesus more than likely would have been in a rock/field stone/brick type building) After months of pondering what to do, I changed my entire plan, which was to have plaster molds covering all of the wood, to this more simple design with carved in stone. After nearly completely wearing out a dremel bit with probably about 6 hours of carving individual rocks, here is the rough draft.














Here it is after primer. I added some plaster filler between some of the moulds after this picture was taken, because I felt it just looked like a bunch of pieces simply slapped onto wood.















And here you see it with the new plaster, and a couple layers of airbrushed paint.
















Next up will be getting the base color of the logs and adding more color to the rock. This will probably be done by Christmas 2025, but I will at least set out what I get done each year. ;-) It has been a great way to remain focused on the God/man behind all the preparations, and a great stress reliever as well.