We envy mom and dad their bird feeder right on the deck where you can watch it while eating breakfast and for the many birds that come to it, including LOTS of colourful cardinals! A hawk arrived while we were there, which is most unusual, and all the birds scattered. The hawk sat around for a bit, then swooped down into a bush, but missed the bird that was still there, probably because it hadn't been able to escape when the hawk first arrived. I was lucky enough to catch the hawk swooping back up again empty handed!

We were able, for the first time in probably 10 or 12 years, to join dad's family for Christmas. Everyone was there except for Ralph and Anne and their family. That's Greg and Krista at the left alongside Tim and Carolyn. At the far right are Katie and her dad, Tom. The celebration was held at Jim and Gwen's house in Ionia and we were able to arrive by 3 p.m. on the Saturday before Christmas, shortly after the party started.

Joe is the focus of attention here as he opens what turns out to be Christmasy reindeer antlers. The idea was for everyone to bring "white elephants" to this part of the gift exchange. Dad tried for a Jenga game, but it was too popular, so he redirected his efforts and ended up with a singing fish, Bass Bill Bob! Melanie (on the right) is overcome with laughter at her nephew while Bob and Jean look on along with Katie and Tom again.

The other video is so much more wintry with the snow falling, but here we are digging out the next morning. Mom said to say that Dad did most of the actual shoveling, but someone had to be behind the camera!

We have never had such wintry weather in December in our memory. This weekend we had a major winter storm come through, forcing the cancellation of our candlelight services. In the 28 years we have lived here, I recall only one time that we ever canceled a worship service, and that was for an ice storm over 15 years ago. This short video shows you what you're missing, guys! (It's just someone around the corner on Victoria shoveling a driveway.)

This is the view we woke up to this Sunday morning! Winter seems to have arrived with a vengeance... and we wanted to post this for the sake of those living in Vancouver... and Malawi.... This is what you're missing!

Staff and council held a retreat this year, organized mainly by dad. He also took the picture of the group, using the time-delay feature on his camera. It was a marvelous weekend, considering that two weekends later we have winter!

We always take a photo of mom's class every year - one serious and one where they make weird faces. Guess which one this is!