Holiday Cactus

This cactus is blooming a little earlier than we anticipated.  It's a Christmas cactus, but we might as well call it a "Holiday Cactus" instead.  It has some very pink blossoms, and is a nice greeting as we walk in the front door.  

It was a quiet night tonight, although we had a pretty busy day with Christmas production preparations.  We were super busy with KidPak preparations too.  I was trying to frantically finish up the devotional for December, one that I finished over a month ago before the rug was pulled out from all of us about the general plans of the church.  I've been a part of the ministry here for decades now, and as much as we joke about planning ahead next year a little earlier, I don't ever see that happening despite our best efforts.  No need to get all frustrated about it - you just do the best you can with the short amount of time you have, and then God steps in to clean up the messes.  There is a lot going on with season, and it can be a bit overwhelming at times.  We've sort of got a handicap too, which adds a bit of stress here and there.  The mood swings are sudden and mighty, but we're continuing to do our best.  We're focused, one thing at a time. 

So tonight we were watching "Home Alone."  This season we've watched three of those "Home Alone" movies, including the new one, which is interesting.  We might even watch "Home Alone 3" for the first time ever this year, just to hit for the cycle.  Speaking of Christmas movies, we were saddened to read about the passing of the Molinator, or at least the actor who portrayed him in two "Santa Clause" movies.  He was a great character actor.

Maddie had taekwondo tonight, and I brought along a Terry Pratchett book that I've read a few times, one called "Hogfather."  It's a Christmas-themed book, and this year I might watch that movie of the same name before it's all said and done.  But the book is obviously a lot better.  Terry Pratchett books seem to be very difficult to translate to television and movie screens.  We saw "Monstrous Regiment" on stage a few years ago, and that was decent enough, although it's probably my least favorite of his novels.

One way we decked the halls today was by putting up all the pictures of Maddie with Santa over the years.  We have a good collection of these that we put up on the book shelves each year, these classic photos put into decorative Christmas frames.  You can see Maddie in each picture, every photo telling a story of its own about a magical Christmas memory.  

We did our reading tonight, and we prayed too.  It's a busy season, and we need to get some rest so we can keep up with it!