We're spending Christmas with Ruth's mother in Salem, Oregon, this year. Our plan was to fly to Oregon in mid-December, drive to California to visit our children (and our two grandchildren), and be back in Oregon for Christmas, then home before New Years Eve.

A bit more than a week before we were to leave, Ruth got a call that her father had passed away quietly in his sleep, two days short of his 89th birthday. We quickly put her on a flight to Oregon, and I held down the fort at Brewster House for another week or so, then flew to Oregon myself.

We still planned to visit the children in California, but the weather put a stop to that. While we were having snow in Maine, Oregon, too, had snow and ice, with the mountain passes between Oregon and California becoming too treacherous for us to make the trip.

I suppose it would not be difficult to be discouraged with all this - the weather, death of a loved one, not seeing the children, and it does have its emotional impact. However, for us, these circumstances allowed us to spend more time with Ruth's mother, relax a bit, and remember that Ruth's father is now with the very One who is the Reason for the Season.

For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given;
and the government shall be upon his shoulder,
and his name shall be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Of the increase of his government and of peace
there will be no end,
on the throne of David and over his kingdom,
to establish it and to uphold it
with justice and with righteousness
from this time forth and forevermore.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.

Isaiah 9:6-7.