Thoughts for the New Year

The house was, as Bilbo had long ago reported, "a perfect house, whether you like food or sleep or story-telling or singing, or just sitting and thinking best, or a pleasant mixture of them all".  Merely to be there was a cure for weariness, fear, and sadness.
 ~JRR Tolkein, "The Lord of the Rings"

Around here, we love our routines.  Over the years, we've discovered that our family functions better with a few boundaries like regular times to go to sleep and to wake up, some sort of intentional exercise, etc.  We also value family traditions, recipes, and activities.  At the same time, we're open to new things, too!  On New Year's Eve, our German colleagues introduced us to their tradition of watching "Dinner for One" (and the background information for those of us who didn't have a clue).

Years ago, some of our precious friends gave us an aebleskiver pan, but it's been sitting in a box, collecting dust.  We thought New Year's Day breakfast was the perfect time to pull it out again.  Our Christmas gifts to the girls this year were a new-to-us piano keyboard and "Rails and Sails" (yay for gift cards!).   I like the way that good food, games, scripture reading around the table, puzzles, music, and routines all combine so we can say "Merely to be there was a cure for weariness, fear, and sadness."

Sometimes I still need reminders that God is at work among all of those small, daily things.  Especially at the beginning of a new year.  So I take all of last year's pictures and put them on "slideshow", pull up some of my favorite versions of "Great is Thy Faithfulness", and let my heart and mind ruminate on all God has done in our lives in just the last twelve months.