Merry Christmas to you

Merry Christmas if Christmas is a day you celebrate.

I'm lucky to be able to be celebrating this special day with my daughter and her family. Last night, we had a soup and salad dinner with my daughter-in-law's extended family. What fun to see the elders, in their 90s, enjoying the gathering. One woman, age 98, came on the airplane from the Los Angeles area. I hope when I'm 98 I can still be traveling to visit my daughters.

We enjoyed opening presents under the tree this morning after wrapping them until midnight. How fortunate we are to able to enjoy gift giving and a nice Christmas in a warm house and have enough money for food and clothing.

Today, I'm thinking about those who aren't as fortunate. It appears 2018 will be a time when the safety net tightens and the rich cart off even more of their spoils to the bank. Local communities will need to do all they can to keep people who aren't as fortunate from going hungry and dying in the cold. We all need to think of what we can do to help with those efforts.

Right now, we're making lamb stew from meat produced right here on the farm. Most of the elders gathering spent their younger years working on the farm. After the Great Depression, they grew turkeys. Now, the farm has 1,200 sheep and in addition raises wheat, corn, teff, and other crops.

The family will gather again late this afternoon for our Christmas Day lamb dinner. How thankful we are to the older generation for their wisdom and for paving the way for our lives in this modern era.

I hope Christians throughout the world, on this most holy of days, will remember the Christian teaching "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you," the Golden Rule. We need to help each other through the tough times that are coming.

Merry Christmas and blessings to you.