Drowning in Blessings

Christmas has come and gone again and I'm left wondering if perhaps the Puritans were right in avoiding the celebration.

In those days it was the pagan subtext which troubled their consciences. In these days it's a new paganism, a consumerist paganism. With each Christmas comes the earlier and earlier shopping season, the rush to buy the latest new gadget or trinket, and the desire to outdo all others with our gift-giving prowess. Christmas comes and we rip into our toys, oftentimes we are disappointed, or overwhelmed, or perhaps underwhelmed at our loot. We silently feel gipped when someone we spent so much on gives us something worthless. We (perhaps only outwardly) withhold our anger when the recipient of our well-thought-out gift doesn't stand up with great joy and pronounce us the greatest gift-giver ever.

Our pride expects more gifts and more praise than we deserve. It further drives us to cling to the ever-present thought that the more we get the more we are loved, and the more we give to others the more they will love us.

Once again our children are buried in well-intentioned gifts and the house becomes a volcano of toys and clothing erupting uncontrollably until at least June, when their weary parents are finally able to dig their way to a closet and force everything into it.

Maybe it's my pragmatism, maybe it's my growing disdain for our wasteful materialistic culture, but I'm leaning more and more towards that Puritan way of thinking. I have been seeking to eliminate the useless in my life, to rid myself of sentimental attachments to things. Our home (and my parents' storage room) is cluttered enough with the remains of my pack-rat childhood to accept any more non-essentials. While I am no less thankful for the gifts I received, my mind is troubled with the question of what to do with the less practical ones.

Please, dear family and friends, if you love them and value my sanity, next year, buy my children something useful, invest in their education, or invest in their spiritual growth. If you must get them toys practice good economics and buy fewer. Scarcity gives objects value, even children understand this. They will cherish what they receive more if they are not dividing their attention over a million trinkets. They will be far less careless in their treatment of their gifts, your wallet will remain intact, and my house will not be buried in three feet of Chinese plastics. I believe everyone wins. :>D

But Christmas is a time with family, and a time to recognize the gift of Christ, both good things that I would like my children to be involved in. So it will remain a celebrated holiday in my house. I am thankful to be drowning in blessings (even the impractical ones), and I pray that I am able to sort them out before the next Christmas blizzard comes.

Meet The Chooks

From top to bottom, left to right:

Martha- Silver-laced Wyandotte, so named because “Gwen” did not fit her New England snobbishness.

Sadie- Australorp, our best layer outside of the reds, but not much personality.

Anon Red- RIR

Jack- Barred Rock mutt, the friendly if not-too-smart roo that has become the Alpha male to most of the hens

Rufio- Polish/Australorp mutt, also called “Dragon” by the girls, the bottom roo, has a few of the ladies, spends most of his time running from Jack

Princess- Barred Rock, sweet natured and pretty

Paresseaux- Black Copper Marans, her name means “lazy” which she was as a chick. She’s always checking to see if you have food and will try to eat anything shiny. She has the most distinct voice of all the birds, which she pretty much only uses to curse you when you pick her up.

Dagny- Buff Orpington, perhaps the most curious bird next to One Eye, has to be in the way during all outside projects.

One Eye- RIR, so called because of her lazy lid. She was purchased with the other reds as an older group. We will never know what brave or stupid act led to her droopy eyelid. One of the friendliest of the flock, she’s also very possessive of her eggs.

Moxy- Easter-egger, lays green eggs, probably the most tame and sweetest natured of the birds, despite her angry eagle face. Every evil villain should have a bird like Moxy; forget cats!

Sofie- Mutt, yeah, she’s there

Jill- Mutt with Barred Rock, I haven’t quite figured her out yet, but we had to clip her wings because she kept finding her way into the front yard. She would sit on the front porch and scream at us.

Big Red- RIR, she, along with Anon 1 and Anon 2, is pretty much indistinct, but they lay pretty eggs!

Anon Red 2- RIR

The Ugly One- RIR? So called because she is the ugliest bird we’ve seen… ever

Ginger- RIR mutt, named after the Chicken Run chicken because she attempted multiple times to escape her first week with us. She is one of my (Nicole) favorites. She was debeaked as a baby but is super sweet and very curious.

Next we'll show how we built the coop, and introduce the new birds :>)