Merry Christmas!

This year, we traveled south to Missouri to visit my parents' farm for Christmas. My brother and sister-in-law and their two adorable daughters were coming as well. We arranged with Santa Claus, on Facebook of all places, to come to our house when we got home instead of on Christmas Eve, and prepared the kids for the change.

They took it really well! I like to think that the prospect of spending a week with Grandma and Papa, Uncle Brian and Aunt Amy, and two cousins whom they rarely see trumped the materialism of a traditional Christmas morning. They're pretty great kids if I do say so myself.

The kids were sent on a treasure hunt using our Garmin Handheld GPS Navigator. Between all of us, we have three of them that we use for geocaching. The younger kids found treasures that were closer to the house and easier to find, while the older two kids had clues leading them to more clues, eventually leading them to a treasure box full of little gifts and candies which was hidden under a tree root at the big pond in the sheep pasture. We had a good time, not only finding the treasure but also exploring the pond area.

The girls found a turtle shell that had been gnawed by an animal of some kind, as well as various rocks, tree nuts, animal tracks, pretty leaves, and other bits of nature that only a kid truly knows how to treasure. I'm glad they can still see the beauty in the natural world and I hope they will continue to do so forever.

John Denver said it best in his poem, Alfie the Christmas Tree, which you can see him recite here on YouTube.

"...You see, life is a very special kind of thing
Not just for a chosen few
But for each and every living, breathing thing
Not just me and you

So when you're at Christmas prayers this year
Alfie asked me if I'd ask you
Say a prayer for the wind and the water and the wood
And those who live there too."