The End

In the past week we attended three visitations or funerals.  Two local farmers died; an older active farmer from cancer and a retired farmer who lived to a ripe old age.
 Jack Krantz also passed away.  Aside from being close friends and in a potluck with my parents, he was our farm electrician for many years.  Jack was an electrician in the Navy during WWII and was one of the survivors when the Japanese sank the aircraft carrier USS Liscome Bay ( 644 men died) in the invasion of the Gilbert Islands.  The book Twenty Three Minutes to Eternity tells the story.  Jack's information and story are included in the book, but he is not credited because he asked to remain anonymous.

After New Year's Eve services, I began having stomach and intestinal distress so I was in bed by ten o'clock.  I slept in on New Year's morning, but was out working (slowly) later in the morning.

Our family gatherings were spread out over eleven days this year, which was less hectic than some years.  We had our last Christmas gathering on the First, and opened our last gifts on the Second (the California box arrived!).
Over the holidays, I received a total of nine books plus an Amazon gift card (and other exciting gifts)!  Did I ever mention that our family likes books?
It was a good Christmas in many ways.

And thou shalt observe the feast of weeks, of the firstfruits of wheat harvest, and the feast of ingathering at the year's end.
Exodus 34:22