Christmas Eve

No pictures today. Just spending time visiting with family and going to church. We went to the church Corey grew up in. Very small Lutheran church here in Northumberland County. This will give you an idea of scope. Corey told me that all of the members of the choir (about sixteen of them) were in the choir when he was a young boy AND when he was older and in the choir himself. Things change slowly out here.

There seem to be a finite number of houses out here, too. Sure, that's true everywhere, but here it's more finite. Or maybe there are just a lot less. Corey's always pointing out to me a house that someone grew up in, that now belongs to the school principal, but it used to belong to the town grocer, and before that it was a pool hall and bowling alley . . . I keep joking to him and his parents that we've been talking about buying the old Branford place up the street. (I'm just assuming that there's an old house up the street that -- at one time or another -- belonged to someone named Branford). So far, no one has laughed at my little joke.

Joking or not, you get a lot more land for your money out here. Corey's parents own the better part of a mountain, in addition to the several acres their home sits on.

I can imagine, though, what it might have been like to grow up in this area as a teenager. There's really nothing around, and if you're not interested in hunting, farming, or . . . well, stuff like that . . . then you're going to find yourself very bored. Or you're going to use up a lot of gas driving yourself to the mall.

But there are things to love about it. Real starry skies. More trees than people. Space. Quiet.

I know I keep rambling about all of these things, but I'm really just enjoying the time here, sitting with the differences in our home now, and the home where Corey grew up. Life is full of compromises and trade-offs. Interesting to sit and contemplate what we are willing to trade . . .

And I think that's going to be it for tonight. No big plans for Christmas Eve. I'll be working on my lesson plans for next semester tonight, and Corey is working on some last-minute Christmas-ey things. But I wish all of you a Merry Christmas, a Bright Solstice, a Happy Hannukah, a Wonderful Kwanzaa, and a beautiful day.

Posted: Wed - December 24, 2003 at 06:56 PM

getBlogName(); > getCategoryName("C1535677201"); >

Christmas Eve

> >