Puzzling

 This morning, Jingle Bell was happy to give us yet another puzzle - a thousand piece puzzle!  But in true mischievous Christmas elf fashion, this one came with a surprise:  each one of the thousand pieces was individually gift-wrapped!

The story behind this one is an old one:  my friend Alan actually gave this to me when I was in high school.  He did the wrapping, and this was of course back during a time when we were super creative about how to present a gift to another person.  At one point, we left a gift for him in Kansas, and wouldn't you know it?  He actually left a present for me in Colorado, which I went out to get the following summer, on a road trip with him.  It was still there waiting for me.  We used to mega wrap things, with about sixty layers of wrapping paper around one gift.  Or sometimes the gift would be in concrete with spikes coming out of it.  There were so many variations, and it was all super fun.

Tonight, we went to watch the Black Belt Ceremony, the same one that Madison will be a part of in a year's time.  It was more limited this year than previous ones, as usually there's a bit Christmas celebration with games and fun.  But the pandemic has limited things greatly, and erring on the side of caution, the celebration portion was cancelled this year.  Still, the ceremony must go on, as you see above.  And Madison wanted to see it to support her friends.  She also brought us along as well!

You can see us here amongst the proud parents.  Like I said, next year, Madison will be a part of this ceremony. It'll be nice, although it's a long wait between the moment she actually earns the black belt and the actual ceremony.  That's okay!

We were making reindeer mix today, eating cookies, and dropping by the library to return a book or two.  We picked up some movies, and even got a new Christmas puzzle to put together.  Today was the last day for work in the office, as the pandemic again has brought us to a point where everyone is working from home from this point on the rest of the year.  But that's okay, as it is the holiday season, and it'll all be fine.

We prayed tonight, and we read tonight from "The Silver Chair," which is getting close to the end.  It's been a quick read though, quicker than one would think.  We read an entire chapter each night, sometimes two, and it moves along quickly.  Each night we pray, and there's much to pray for, and there's much to be thankful for too.  Despite the bad rap, it's been a better Christmas season than any of us deserve.