More Than Ordinary Lives

Christmas has come and gone. All of the excitement of looking forward to celebrating with family and friends has subsided. New Year’s gatherings don’t generate the same anticipation for us.

You probably know that Drew and I love the lights, decorations, special foods, and gatherings Christmas offers. The gifts too, of course. We enjoyed all this year. But, the most meaningful moment of our celebration is when on a chilly, dark Christmas morning, I put baby Jesus in each of our three nativity scenes.

One small action speaks to my heart more than any other tradition. The promise of Jesus’s birth permeates all our festivities but then it is fulfilled. The wonderful temporal joys of Christmas gave way to the eternal, Immanuel – God with us. All of human history is forever changed.

This will be Kit and Drew’s forty-fifth Christmas together. We’re at home experiencing cold rainy weather and recovering from the challenges of 2024. You might think that would indicate a dreary Christmas for us. Not at all.

We find joy in memories, especially Christmas memories. Recalling memories of good times over 74 years allows me to relive the happy emotions of those moments.  Memories of hard times give me the joy of no longer being in those circumstances.  We’ve enjoyed many remarkable Christmases including  traveling internationally during all or a portion of fifteen yule seasons.

Kit has given me a special gift, a book of photos of our Christmases together.  The photo on the front is Kit in Vienna at an outdoor Christmas market in 1997.  I also have a pre-Kit picture album with heart-gladdening memories. My hope for you is a Christmas that will give you joy both this year and for the rest of your life.

Drew

When younger, I wore my hair over my ears.  Although men’s hair styles  trend much longer and less neat now, I wear my hair short. It’s more comfortable and easier.  I wouldn’t know how to describe men’s clothing styles now. But I have a closet full of old fashioned preppy clothes. When I look in the mirror I like the way they look.  Neither Kit or I have piercings, tats, or pink-green hair streaks. 

The result is that in many Washington settings we stand out like a neon light. Here’s the surprise: many people are curious, talk to us as an oddity, and are non-judgmental.  People I would have once labeled as “a bit strange” can be quite nice and interesting. We meet self-proclaimed witches, UFO trackers, and paranormal investigators. Our eccentric appearance makes our lives richer.

A friend who reviewed this blog before publishing suggested that being a couple in their seventies who enjoys chatting with people from all walks of life is our real eccentricity. In our current tribal oriented culture, I’ll accept that as a compliment.  

Drew came out to the garage to find me looking with dread at the Christmas bins stacked three rows deep and nearly to the ceiling.” How many do you have?” he asked.

“Twenty not counting the outdoor decorations.”

“Twenty?” His expression showed concern.

“Well, I used to have a lot more.”

“The lit trees are enough. Save yourself the trouble of all that work.”

With the holidays come decorations, lights, sweets, family, and faith. As we get older, some of the traditions become more meaningful and some less. I have always enjoyed a house filled with Christmas. You can thank my mother for that. Everywhere you look you see a little glimpse of the season.

But after downsizing and being another year older, I wondered if all the decorating was worth the effort. I thought, This year it’s just you and Drew. While he likes some of the decorations, mostly the lights, he can enjoy Christmas without the rest. But then I realized, If I don’t take the decorations out of their bins, they will be hidden away for a whole year. And worse, I might start a pattern that they would never come out of their bins again.

I needed a new perspective. Although Jesus wasn’t born in December, we still celebrate His birthday on the 25th. I thought, The decorations are like the house putting on a party dress to attend Jesus’s birthday party. What little girl–sorry guys–doesn’t delight in having an occasion to wear her party dress? To feel the crinkle of a dress not often worn. The perfect shoes–black patent leather for me–and socks with those cute ruffles at the top. Pure delight.

There are of course more meaningful ways to prepare for Jesus’ birthday. But there is also real joy in seeking to look my best in honor of the one I am celebrating. Oh, I mean my house looking its best. Look out bins here I come.

Kit and I both grew up in frugal circumstances where money was a concern. Home mortgage interest rates when we married were 18%. Buying our first home, we felt lucky to assume a loan at only 14%. For our long-term financial health, we set a goal to pay off the mortgage in seven years and succeeded.

Seven years of pinching pennies established a habit pattern. Although our finances are now secure, we still try to cut costs. Here’s the surprise: hunting bargains has become a sport. Finding an item we will use regularly—and some we won’t—on sale or discounted gives us tremendous joy. The happiness we feel far exceeds the actual savings. We tease each other that our favorite stores recognize us as scavengers. This is undeniably eccentric behavior. But it’s fun. And we take satisfaction knowing that every dollar saved will eventually go to worthy purposes.

Kit and I are making tremendous progress in writing quality and distributing our work.  In 2025, we hope to find a national readership for our books. A key factor in doing so is accumulating high ratings and reviews. If you have read any of our books, we would be grateful for ratings and/or reviews. To help us, you could go directly to Amazon, Goodreads, or BookBub. But an easier way would be to go to our safe website where links are provided. 

You could use the QR code above or click the link in the toolbar above.

 If you haven’t read our books, any of the eight would make excellent Christmas gifts for yourself or another. Contact us directly by phone (501-821-8886), email (kitndrew@comcast.net), or through our website. Here are a couple of recent reviews:

Challenge for Two – Unknown Amazon reader

“I could smell the coffee and the baked goods and feel the beautiful cold snowy weather in Minnesota and the warmth of the old Victorian mansion. The criminal element was intriguing. The romance and interpersonal relationships were meaningful and sweet. The ability to mix the criminal element without any horrifying scenes was brilliant.”

Better Together – Full time missionary

“This treasure is like a healing balm, a warm hug and filled with hope. Life brings about unexpected challenges. Our marriage gives us someone to walk through trials and triumphs with. This little book reminds readers that there is always purpose in our pain and that God is with us in that pain. Kit and Drew share honestly about their own struggles and point the reader to the lasting hope found in God’s Word and His unchanging character. Included are meaningful questions for personal or group consideration. This little book is one that I will re-read and surely gift to others!”

Thank you !

Kit and Drew

I’ll confess that I struggle with workaholic tendencies. I’ve thereby endured prolonged pain; physical, emotional, and psychological. But recently I’ve discovered the joy of being comfortable while doing NOTHING. Laying on the couch is my favorite indulgence. No TV or other distractions, just comfort and perhaps drifting off to sleep to pleasant dreams.

But doing nothing is an exaggeration. My mind can be very active. Recalling adventures—not necessarily pleasant at the time—is fun to relive in my mind without the necessity of the unpleasantness. I enjoy replaying parts of our written stories visualizing the scenes and frequently get new ideas. I remember people, some from over fifty years ago, with fondness and often pray for them.   

The couch can be my eccentric time machine or a magic carpet to take me anywhere I wish.

Kit and I put up our first of three Christmas trees late this year . . . mid October. We dearly love the red and green Christmas season. Why not prolong it?  In Little Rock, we had seven lit trees decorating our 4,400 square foot home and kept at least one up until April.

Acting like others was ingrained in many of us as teenagers. What teenager wants to be labeled as odd? The trend continues to college, then many workplaces. One of the joys of getting older it that you can feel less constrained by norms.  Conforming to norms often robs us of joy.

This post begins a series that will reveal our quirks and encourage readers to embrace their own heart-gladdening eccentricities.

My parents were quietly reading in their favorite chairs when I, their nine-year-old son, approached with a question. “May I start a vegetable garden in the backyard?” They looked at each other in wonder. Neither one of them had any interest in gardening. “Ah … well … sure,” my dad answered. After a while, curiosity brought Mom and Dad out to the backyard. There they found me manfully laboring away with a shovel longer than myself.

Thus began my lifelong passion for gardening. However gardening in Washington State has proved difficult mostly due to the short growing season. For example, everything I’ve tried has failed to get tomatoes to ripen before September.    

I’ll bet you know what does grow well in Washington. Apples!  Our town, Port Orchard, was named so because of the many orchards here. You can literally see Seattle from our shoreline. The fruit could be boated to markets. Even today many apple trees grow wild here. You can collect edible fruit for free, which Kit and I do, but not the most modern varieties.

Pictured is our first crop of honey crisp apples. Kit and I planted the patented tree and have grocery store quality fruit without any fertilizer or spray. We buy off the deer and the squirrels using the inferior varieties. Every place has its advantages.