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From Marcie Foley, December 23, 3005

Merry Christmas, Everyone!

I love our view this time of year! As I look out the window beside me I’m looking through the large cedars lining the highway to the mountainside that climbs steeply from the river below, and the mist rising from the river each morning creates beautiful scenes as tufts of it wax and wane, sometimes shrouding the trees at the top, and hugging the small curves of the mountain as it rises skyward. It is ever-changing, and beautifully serene to watch.

It snowed on Thanksgiving and for a couple of days, but that melted within a few days and we’ve had none since. After last winter’s deluge, we’ve not had nearly as much rain this year, at least at this house. I saw an interesting statistic the other day that said that once you start down Hwy. 96 from the bridge to Yreka, annual rainfall grows almost an inch per mile! Actually, however, it’s not an even growth all along the river. From about 10 miles east of where we’re located on to the west, you can see a major difference in the forest, signifying the increased rainfall. It has been raining already this morning, but that’s very normal for this time of year here.

I’m writing because I just uploaded a new page to my website that’s very appropriate for this time of year. It always seems to me that I hear of more deaths, more depression, and more tragedies this time of year, and this page is a very uplifting one, something many of us can use, and all of us can enjoy.

When I last went for tests and my chemotherapy, I picked up a magazine in the hospital lobby, and while glancing through it, my name (Marcia) jumped out at me from one of the pages. The magazine is called “Today’s Christian Woman,” and the article was called “Radical Gratitude.” As I read through the article, I knew I wanted to put this on my website, so I asked permission to either take the magazine or to have them copy the article for me. They told me to take the magazine. I was able to find the author and contact her to ask for permission to use the article on the website, and in due time that was received. This new page, called “Radical Gratitude” is the result, and it’s message of “being thankful in all things” is very appropriate for this special time of year. I hope you all can make time to read it, as it will remain with you, if you have the same reaction I did, to it. Just click on the link above.

I want to be sure that you know that the “Marcia” in this article is not me – the Marcia in the article is a friend of the author who has the same name.

While it has taken us much longer than we planned, Jim and I are finally almost ready for Christmas… we will each finish wrapping the last of our gifts and put them under the tree along with the others, and I have to say that while there is nothing of great expense there, we will have a lot more presents under our tree this year than at any time since we’ve been married. We are determined to make cookies today, and while there are many Christmas cookies we love, our favorites are the wonderful peanut butter cookies I bake, so that’s what we’re going to make, and that will be sufficient.

We’ve been receiving and making calls to family this week, and have had some wonderful conversations. If you can’t be with family, it is wonderful to have that special contact that a telephone call gives you, and since it is so difficult to get through on a holiday, and things can get hectic, I really prefer to make calls either before or after.

Our wish for all of you is that you have a wonderful Christmas, and are spending this Christmas closer to God, and with your families around you.

Marcie and Jim