The blog is back!

Hello everyone. I've received many queries regarding our blog. It's true that nothing has be posted since November 12. So now, on New Year's Eve, my resolution is to make sure and add to it very often!

So ... what has happened at Holden since November 12? Just Thanksgiving, Advent, and Christmas! All of those things are done with great style, festivity, and hilarity. Tonight we marked the New Year at 9 p.m. Pacific Standard Time to match the time the New York City.Then Holden children can go to bed! We have 154 people in the Village right now, and it's a fun crowd. The New Year's celebration was preceded by a Variety Show that had lots of variety! Now there's a dance - mostly the 20-somethings, and the night will close with a few of us gathering to sing Compline.

We've had lots of snow today, which is a big improvement. There's been a fair amount on the ground - three feet or so - but with the two cold snaps this month it's all been frozen in place. It's nice to have clouds, snow, and warmer temperatures! Larry has the the stoking duty tonight, keeping three furnaces up to temperature and most of the Village warm. Two people have the responsibility each day - one shift from 6 a.m. - 3 p. m., the second from 3 p.m. to midnight. Larry and I are supposed to share when each of us is scheduled, but he just does it. Much better that way, and I'm very grateful.

Christmas, Advent, and Thanksgiving were as festive as New Year's. Holden is a place where celebration happens with ease, and that is great fun. As the pastor I get a little anxious when things aren't exactly in place, but it always comes together and is wonderful. So we've had lots of music, lots of great food, and lots of laughs, all under-girded by the blessings of a Village gathered for worship.

We had a lovely Christmas with family here: Pat, Sarah and the boys, and Mike. It was fun to go out in the woods and cut our own Christmas tree with everyone - well, we had to dig it out of the snow before we could cut it!

I haven't had a lot of time to read, but I did finally finish Snow by Orhan Pamuk. It's kind of tedious but worth the read, I think. It just takes a while.

I always like to get a new Christmas book each year. This year I picked up a novel (what a surprise) called An Irish Country Christmas by Patrick Taylor. A very enjoyable read. It's about a small-town medical practice in Ulster in Northern Ireland, and is set in 1964. The author does a good job of describing setting, culture, and practice, and it's a nice story. He also includes a glossary for the Irish terms scattered throughout the dialog.

Now I've picked up another Andrea Camelleri Inspector Montalban mystery. These little gems are just terrific. (They aren't very long.) Montalban is a totally unique character. I'd recommend reading them from the beginning: the first one is The Shape of Water. They take place in Sicily. The descriptions of the food are worth the reading, but they're great all the way around.

Well, this is a good start for the new year. I'll look forward to more conversations in 2010. How did we get there?