1967

Mark and Dawn (Mom supervised) made their gifts to their homeroom teachers tonight. The hardest part was trying to ignore all the help they were getting from Arik and Jené. Saturday morning we made and decorated cookies. This year I had three decorators - will it be all four by next year? One of these nights will be giftwrapping and then I think the tree will go up over the weekend. We don't dare put it up too early. And so the tasks get done and the days go by. Christmas will soon be here. Have we hurried and scurried too much? Are we too tired to appreciate Christmas? Did we miss its real significance? I pray not.

I suppose we notice most that another year has passed by looking at our children. Dawn is ten and in the fifth grade. She thoroughly enjoys school. With church choir, piano lessons and girl scouts, she is kept busy enough. Oh yes, she started on the flute this year. The fifth and sixth grade band had their first concert last week, and it was surprisingly good. The director is very informal and kept making funny remarks in his announcements. He must make band fun for the kids.

Mark is eight and in fourth grade. He started taking piano lessons this fall and is coming right along. He is in Cub Scouts too, so is on the go. He hates to miss school - the other week when he was sick during the night and knew he wouldn't be feeling well the next day, said, "I wish tomorrow was Saturday." It wasn't!

Arik is three and started church school this fall. His class meets on Wednesday morning because of space problems on Sunday morning. He is an active, energetic, teasing little boy who loves to go get a haircut because the barber gives him a Tootsie Roll, and to go to the bank with Daddy because the teller gives him a sucker. And he never forgets! He keeps the whole house in a dither most of the time till we get to the point where we look forward to bedtime, his bedtime.

And then there is the baby - no, not a baby any longer. She is a year and a half, and is beginning to talk in sentences, at least to mimic our sentences. Jené has progressed in the past year from crawling to walking, to climbing and running. She is more often on top of the table than she is walking on the floor. She loves books and sits on the davenport for long times looking at them; lately it is has been the Christmas catalog with its pretty doll babies. Her sweet smile at times, and her quick "Don't" at other times show us she is developing her own independency - it doesn't take long!

I suppose if you would look at Vince and me you could see the passage of time, too; Vince with his balding pate and me with my strands of gray!

Vince has taken two fishing trips to Canada - one last spring with his brother Spence and one this fall with three other Decorah fellows. Fishing was real good both times, so they all had a delightful time. We also went to the State Dental Convention in May at Des Moines, and to the ten-year reunion of Vince's class at Lake Okoboji in August. Mom came down and stayed with the kids while we were in Des Moines. And for the reunion we took Mark, Arik, and Dawn with us and left Jené with Mom.

Our vacation was a real "mom-vacation." We spent two weeks in July at a cottage on Gull Lake near Brainerd. Mark and Dawn went swimming every day and thoroughly enjoyed the convenience of the lake. We got so we ate only two meals a day, one of which was breakfast usually prepared by Vince. Mark and Dawn usually did dishes once a day, so I really felt like I was a lady of Leisure. Oh yes, my Mom had Arik and Jene for those two weeks, and she was the one in need of a vacation by the time we came back to pick them up.

Vince's folks haven't felt too good through the past year and we've tried to be as much help to them as possible. It must be difficult to grow old and have to admit that we can't do as much as we once did and would still like to do.

(Forgive the typographical errors - I'm going to have to take this old typewriter in for repairs. It keeps using the wrong keys.)

It is our prayer that we may realize anew that it is the Christ whose birth we celebrate now who will come again to take us to be with Him eternally.