Monument — So are you all socked in with snow? Praise the Lord for the snow! Overnight, we got 6 inches and there is more to come. The temperatures have dropped really low as well. It has been predicted that the last week of December, we are expecting to be in the single digits. I am so thankful for a warm home.

Terry Cade and Diana Harvey made us lasagna, garlic bread, fresh green salad, and yellow cake with chocolate frosting.

It was a good meal. We thank our cooks immensely. There were 21 of us dining in and we enjoyed the warm meal as well as the fellowshipping. There were 25 takeouts.

Kristi Guimont and Jan Ensign were the greeters at the table. They checked in the guests and collected and counted up the money. Kristi made the announcements and yours truly prayed the blessing over the meal. The free meal ticket went to Phoebe Yukawa.

Please note that at the beginning of the new year, the price increase will take effect. Seniors who are 60-plus will be $5, non-seniors $6, children under 12 years of age $2.

We are still very blessed to be able to eat at our senior center. For such a small town as Monument, to have something like our senior center, having a meal on Tuesdays is highly unusual. We are all so very grateful for our senior center.

I am reluctantly going to say, hmm, well, umm, OK, I think I may have too many goats. But, shh, don’t tell that to my husband! Ha. I really need to butcher three wether goats. I just have not had the time. Now that the weather is colder, it would be good to butcher them. I did taste that goat meat and it was fabulous. I am in the process of selling the kid goats. That should bring the number down a few notches and pay for their winter feed.

Belle and Scotty have been officially weaned. It’s been really nice not having to make their milk to feed them. I just give them some grain and their hay and they are good. But one thing I have noticed is that Scotty has been a little bit of a food hog. He tries to butt Belle and tries to keep the food for himself. I have had to push him off and stand between them so she can eat too. Belle is actually passive and won’t stand up to Scotty.

Scotty is beginning to smell a little like a billy goat. The good thing about them being bottle babies, they know me as their mama and they follow me wherever I go! So I guess I can never get rid of those two. I don’t know if I can keep having to take care of bottle babies. They tie you down, ya know? I will have to think up a solution to that issue.

Hope you all have a wonderful New Year’s celebration. May the Lord bless you all.

Psalms 95:1 O come, let us sing unto the LORD: let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation.

Prairie City — Hey! The white Christmas got here. Boy, oh howdy did it get here! Derrol was busy shoveling 4 inches of snow off the walks around both our house and the senior center. We thank the city of Prairie City boys for plowing out the parking lots for us at the center. Could we call that a donation? Tee-hee.

Anyhow, we were all able to get to the front door and inside to get our meals, and the delivery people were able to make their rounds with no problems. Thanks to our drivers and helpers Gwynne, Mary, Carla, Carlos, Tom, Ruth, Pam, Ginger and Del. Our excellent cook Pam and her helper Misti prepared BBQ pulled-pork sandwiches, macaroni salad, tater chips, pears, chocolate pudding and … birthday cake! And today happened to be Derrol’s birthday. How about that? Many happy returns, honey.

We all had Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve with eight for the meal. Then we all attended the candlelight service. Christmas Day was spent resting up for Sunday. Since the family from Portland did not get to come due to illness, I sent their gifts via the Canyon City family patriarch. More than one way to skin a cat. … (Wonder where that expression came from?!)

Since so many other things were happening, I just didn’t get around to decorating. Then I discovered that two decorations I had received last year were still hanging on the bookshelf. Aha! There. I did decorate! (Ahem.)

Prairie City is doing fireworks for New Year’s Eve, too. There will be other activities before and after to welcome in the new year: Grace Chapel will have a New Year’s Eve candlelight service at 6 p.m. And some kids are going to have an activity at the teen center from 9 to 12.

We will probably watch a movie from our collection … or most likely sleep through it. I don’t know why they say that watching TV will keep you from sleeping. … Doesn’t work that way around here.

As I was setting the table for Christmas dinner, I found that a lot of my silverware was tarnished. Except for the knife blades. Why is that? Only thing I can think of is that the knife blades are not usually placed in the mouth like forks and spoons are. So what is it in our mouths that causes silver to tarnish?

But hold on. Silverware that is stored also gets tarnished. How come? And why does silver tarnish but stainless steel doesn’t? And it’s made from iron that will rust. Oh, the conundrums. …

So here comes 2022. What can we do differently in the new year? Here’s what the Creator of time says:

Zech. 8:16-17 “These are the things that you are to do: Speak the truth to each other, and render true and sound judgment in your courts; do not plot evil against your neighbor, and do not love to swear falsely. I hate all this,” declares the LORD. :19 … “Therefore love truth and peace.”

The staff and volunteers want to wish everyone a Happy New Year. 2022 will be a better year than 2021. We will be the ones to make this happen. Do nothing, get nothing. Work at it and good things happen.

Volunteers have asked me to tell everyone thank you for being patient with the way things are and the weather restrictions at our location.

Even though we cannot meet as a group, we are still feeding folks. On Monday several drivers, some with a helper and some without a helper, deliver two meals to many homes. One ready to eat now and one frozen meal for the next day. We that can get out to go get our own meals call early on Monday and Thursday to reserve one and then pick it up between 11:30 and noon.

Someone has donated a beautiful table for our library. I finally got to see it. It is really nice. Two glass panels in the center and it is rectangular. The library looks great. We have Linda Stoltz to thank for it. She works super hard to keep it organized and attractive. Thank you, Linda.

A big thanks goes to Jerry and Linda McClellan for a large ham several months ago. We finally used the last of it last week. Then for Christmas this couple donated our complete Christmas meal. These donations are greatly appreciated. Thank you, Jerry and Linda.

Tomorrow, Thursday, Jan. 6, lunch will be hot hoagie melt, lemon chicken orzo soup and the birthday cake will be dessert. Then on Monday, Jan. 10, lunch will be cabbage casserole, lemon roasted potatoes, French bread and apple pie bars for dessert. Thanks, Shay and Kim for your time and care in preparing all this food.

Jesus told us to do unto others as we would have others do unto us, and if we do that, we will be successful in all we do.