Making friends with the neighbors |
Do you ever start looking back through old photos and sort
of get lost in time. Our Decembers have
often been interesting months. Most
notably, of course, was two years ago when our daughter was born in the midst
of an Alaskan snow storm.
So Tiny! |
But both the year
before that and just last year, December was the month the temperatures finally
dropped low enough and long enough for our pipes to freeze despite our pipes
being wrapped with electric heat tape and in frequent use.
The inside of our windows come December |
It was a bother, but really, not that big of a deal. Especially in the lower 48 here, we can
become so used to having things a certain way, anything else becomes shocking
and pitiful. But so many people up there
live in dry cabins anyway, our being without running water for those few weeks
at a time was generally regarded as a minor inconvenience.
There were water stations in town where you
simply hauled your tank (be it pickup bed sized or the 7 gallon blue ones like
we had) and filled up whenever you were in town. We were thankfully close enough to the Fox
springs to be able to fill up with that pure water without having to drive into
town. Or, if we were really in a pinch,
we had all the water we wanted right outside our door. All we had to do was set pots of snow on the
stove to melt and boil.
He loved this job! Good science experiment, too! |
Being careful to
avoid the yellow or brown patches, of course.
An older, single nurse from the hospital I worked at up there said she
felt much more prepared to survive in the winter than in the summer should
something happen, because she had all that fresh water all around her and a
stove to heat it on!
December 2012 |
December 2014 |
Tiny bits for washing dishes. Showers were obviously out of the question,
but washing up with a washcloth was usually sufficient. We would give the babies shallow baths in the
galvanized tub. Then use that water to
spot clean laundry. An outhouse would
have been nice. And I really understand
the relatively high density of outhouses in the area. One flush takes a lot of water! You just get used to thinking about things
differently and learn not to waste something even so common as water.
At the plumbing store...again. |
And then the electricity would go out every
so often, but every house out of town had a stove. Maybe this sounds crazy, but looking back, I
really appreciate how those times grew me and caused me to get creative and see
things in a new way. It’s so rewarding
to be thrust into a potentially dangerous situation like that and come through
with flying colors. Like a victory. I am very grateful for our new home here in
Oregon and love that we get to settle here, but I hope I never lose the lessons
I’ve learned nor forget the adventures we’ve had in Alaska.
Okay, enough reminiscing.
I guess what I was leading to is gratefulness. I know Thanksgiving is over, but it really
should be a mindset rather than a single holiday, anyway. Choose to be content, to be grateful for the
things you do have, especially during this crazy month of gifting. Remember all we have been given, the best
gift of the offer of Living Water with the birth of Jesus! Yeah, that’s “Christianeese.” I’ve got to stop that, but I like the
analogy. Jesus Spirit living with those
who love Him is likened to Living Water that is vital for full life and
quenches the thirsty soul. ! I love Christmas as much as the next person,
but it’s just the beginning of the story!
The climax will have to wait until Eastertime, though! =)
We haven’t really started celebrating yet, mostly waiting
until after our upcoming birthday party, although Christmas tunes are finally
playing regularly. We did do one activity
in preparation for Christmas that I thought I would share because I feel like
it was a fun learning activity for my littles.
We had an apple that was starting to look like it was dehydrating from
the outside after it had sat on the shelf for much too long. I brought the littles over to watch for the
hidden star as I sliced the apple around its girth. What delight when they found the familiar
shape in the middle.
As I continued to
cut thin slices to (finish) dehydrating for our popcorn/cranberry garland, I
told them about the star that shone when Jesus was born, that the shepherd’s
saw in the fields and that the wise men followed for their long journey. The star was there for everyone to see, but
the wise men knew what to look for, sort of like how we knew how to look for
the star in the apple. I’m not sure if
the analogy played out perfectly, but it was fun to talk about as we worked
together. I’m always up for new Christmas
ideas and I know there are tons of amazing traditions and ways to celebrate
Christmastime out there. I’m curious,
how do you start off the season?
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Sorry for the dark photos! Sometimes life doesn't happen in perfect lighting! =) |
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