Boxing Day with the Knox Family

Boxing Day is the day after Christmas. But, this is not about THAT Boxing Day. Instead, on Christmas Day, while we were visiting family in Alabama, our family had a boxing day. Margaret's brother, Ben, brought his Wii, and we all enjoyed playing various games while we were in Alabama. At one point, Jeremy and Miranda both challenged me to a game of boxing. Since I was champion of all the various games on the Wii, they thought they could get the best of me by fighting me back to back.

Thanks to our new videocamera (a Christmas gift from my parents), Miranda and Margaret captured much of the action. (Of course, this means you'll probably see many, many more videos on this blog.) I put the video clips together for my first attempt at making a movie. Miranda helped me - she's already a pro at making movies. So, here is Boxing Day with the Knox Family. Enjoy!

Jeremy's Birthday

Yesterday, December 22, was Jeremy's 14th birthday. For some reason, it seems more strange to us to have a 14 year old than to have a 13 year old. But, there's nothing we can do about it! Plus, we are very proud of Jeremy. He was given some video games for his Playstation 3 for his birthday, so this is how he spent much of his birthday.

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Family Christmas Picture

Here is a family picture that we took yesterday:

Caroling with the Disseaus

Last Sunday, December 16, we went caroling with other friends in the neighborhood of our good friends Maël and Cindy. It was very cold, but we all had a great time. And, the taco soup that they had prepared for us helped to warm us up after caroling. Maël and Cindy were able to deliver gifts to most of their neighbors as we sang Christmas carols. They were also able to meet several new neighbors.

Please pray for Maël and Cindy. We heard that Cindy's grandmother passed away early this morning.

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Busy, fun week

So, this has been a very busy week for us. Yes, I know, this is a busy time for everyone. I thought I would give you a rundown on some of the things we've done this week.

Sunday, after our church's normal weekly meeting, we provided lunch for some children in a nearby neighborhood. A family that's part of the church works with a group called 40 West Ministry, which goes out to the neighborhood a couple of times a week to play with the kids, provide lunch on Saturday, and have a Bible study. We invited the kids and their parents, but none of the parents came to the lunch. We were glad that the children came, though.

Tuesday night, I attended a homeowner's association meeting for the first time ever in my life. Even though we've lived in neighborhoods with homeowner's associations before, I've never attended a meeting. Margaret told me that I had to promise not to volunteer for anything - and I did not volunteer for anything at all. She was proud of me. I learned alot about our neighbors and their concerns about the neighborhood.

Wednesday night, we hosted some friends at our home. A few years ago, Ron and Isabelle, some friends that we knew in Georgia and North Carolina, moved to Canada to start a church. They were back in North Carolina this week, and they came to our house that night. Several people who knew them also came by. It was great to hear from them and what God had been doing in their town in Canada.

This afternoon (Friday), Margaret and the kids and some friends went to see another friend in a Christmas play. Our little friend, Caleb, will be 3 Monday, and this was his first play. They say he did a wonderful job, smiled alot, and sang the songs. I wish I could have gotten off of work to watch him.

These are the highlights from the last week. There's more fun coming up this weekend.

Caroling WITH our neighbors

So, last Wednesday night, some of our friends came over to our house, and we all went caroling TO our neighbors. But, tonight, we went caroling WITH our neighbors. Our neighbor across the street planned everything. We simply walked across the street and joined a group of neighbors who walked around the whole neighborhood, occasionally stopping to sing a few songs.

To be honest, we were not sure how this would work out. We've never heard of a neighborhood caroling to itself. We thought that all of the neighbors who cared about caroling would join in. So, the only people we would be caroling to would be those people who do not care about caroling. But, it worked out well. Sure, many people were not home. But, many people were home and we were able to share a little joy with them through music.

Plus, we were able to meet a few neighbors that we have not met before. It was a great mix of people - young and old, men and women. In particular, since Jeremy went with us, several neighbors talked to us about their teenage boys - who did not come caroling, but who were looking for friends in the neighborhood.

After caroling we returned to our neighbors' house to eat a few treats and to talk. All in all, this was a great idea, and I recommend it to other people looking for neighborhood-wide activities. (We did not take our camera, so we do not have pictures.)

Caroling in our neighborhood

Wednesday night, we invited some friends to come to our house in order to sing Christmas carols to our neighbors. Margaret made chili and vegetable soup along with lots of candy and cookies and goodies. Our friends brought more soup and fixings and drinks and cookies and brownies and stuff.

We spent an hour or so eating and talking and catching up with everyone. Then we went around our neighborhood singing Christmas songs and greeting our neighbors. Margaret had filled Christmas tins with more goodies, and we gave those to our neighbors as gifts. After caroling, we came back to our house to finish off the goodies and spend more time talking.

This Saturday, one of our neighbors has planned another round of caroling, and our family is hoping to take part in that as well. Then, next weekend, our friends Maël and Cindy have invited us and others to their house to sing carols to their neighbors. So, we'll be singing for the next week!

We have a few pictures below. Unfortunately, the camera batteries died before we reached the first house.

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Meeting another new friend

Monday, we had the privilege of meeting another new blogging friend: David Rogers from the blog "Love Each Stone". David was in town for a couple of days, and we were able to spend lunch and dinner with him Monday. Also, after dinner, he came to our house to spend a couple of hours with some of our friends. We had a great time getting to know David, and we hope to see him again. Perhaps next time we will be able to meet his family as well.

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The Weak Week after Thanksgiving

So, after our wonderful Thanksgiving, Margaret and I both developed bronchitis. She was coughing and not feeling well Monday morning. I followed a couple of days behind her. We went to the doctor Thursday and were diagnosed with bronchitis. I guess that's good news, because its not strep or the flu. The good thing is that Margaret and I are starting to feel better. The bad thing is that Miranda woke up this morning (Sunday) coughing. So far Jeremy hasn't started coughing. But, we have to watch him closely because he develops pneumonia so easily. Anyway, I'm (Alan) staying home with Miranda this morning since I'm still a couple of days behind Margaret in recovering, while Margaret and Jeremy meet with our church this morning.

More good news: Miranda and her friend Lindsay participated in another Craft Sale this weekend. The craft sale was Friday evening and Saturday morning and afternoon. Again they made and sold pot holders and greeting cards. They sold 24 (all but one) of their pot holders and 82 greeting cards. They were very excited about selling so many of their crafts. Unfortunately, we don't have pictures this time.

Even more good news: We finally started decorating our house for Christmas last night. If you know Margaret, you know that this is probably the latest in the year that we have ever gone without decorating for Christmas. Even last year, when she was recuperating from ankle surgery, we decorated earlier than this - of course, my father was here to help decorate last year. But, since we have both been sick, we have not been able to decorate. So, like I said, we started last night. Believe it or not, I gave in and bought icicle lights this year. I'm not sure what came over me. But, I'm sure they'll look great. We'll post pictures once we've finished decorating.

This coming week is going to be a busy week for us. Actually, the next few weeks will be busy. We have friends coming over. We're going carolling a few times. We're going to Christmas parties. So, just like everyone else, this will be a busy time. We'll try to at least post pictures of the carolling - which is always alot of fun.