Jethro's World

Christmas Time is Here

All of us here in Jethro's World would like to wish all of you a wonderful Christmas.

Every Christmas season brings about mixed feelings for me. While I find great joy in celebrating the birth of our lord and savior, Jesus Christ; I am saddened by the greed and over-commercialism that comes with the Holidays.

It is truly a sad day when the word Holiday has replaced the word Christmas on TV and radio. School children no longer have Christmas vacation; it is now Winter break. Songs on the radio have lines like, "let's give thanks to the Lord above 'cause Santa Claus comes tonight". Every other yard has an inflatable Santa and a Snowman -- right next to the motorized, lighted reindeer. All winter long we hear about retail sales during the Holidays -- and how important they are to our economy. And when you choose not to care about or participate in these secular rituals, you get labeled as a "Scrooge".

But there is much reason for joy this and every Christmas season. As we celebrate the birth of Jesus, we also celebrate the life he lived, his message of peace and kindness, and the hope that he still represents to many of us. Despite all of the frenzied shopping, decorating, and partying; the underlying message of generosity and good will still prevails -- and that is the true spirit of Christmas. I also find much joy in the fact that my little Noey knows who "Baby Deezus" is, but really doesn't know or care much about Santa Claus.

So this Christmas, don't worry too much about what you are going to get. Spend some time thinking about what you are going to give; whether it be a gift, or a kind word, or a smile -- and let the smiling face of the recipient be the real gift.

Merry Christmas everyone!

-Jeffy

My Brother, The Skunk Master

For the last few months we have had a skunk living under our office at the box factory. Last week the odor became unbearable. For the rest of the story, please click on the following link to my brother JD's website, foldedspace.org:

The Skunk Man Cometh

Chocolate Peanut Clusters

This past Saturday, Steph got together with her friends Denise Lapp and Julie Stoltzfus for a day of baking Christmas cookies and candy. At the end of the day, they divvied up the fruits of their labors -- some to be given as gifts; and some to be consumed immediately by family and friends. Steph came home with enough goodies to feed an army; there was peanut brittle, seven-layer bars, pepper nuts, chocolate covered peanut butter balls, gingersnaps, candy cane cookies, chocolate covered coconut balls, peppermint candy, and many other delectable treats.

But the best treats of all were the chocolate peanut clusters that Steph made. I have always loved peanut clusters, but didn't realize she was going to be making any. I was looking forward to the peanut butter balls that Julie and Denise were making, but was very pleasantly surprised when the peanut clusters showed up.

I know they are just clumps of melted butterscotch and chocolate chips mixed with peanuts, but they are soooo good. I quickly sniped the entire gladware container of approximately 25 clusters -- and I'm not sharing! Steph gave one to Noah the other day and he gave half of it to the dog -- so he has been cut off.

Julie called last night to tell Steph how good the peanut clusters were, and that she couldn't stop eating them -- she only had eight of them left! Steph promptly came into the kitchen to count how many clusters I had left -- she counted six. :-)

What are your favorite holiday treats?

I Hurt Myself Today

We have been working long hours this week trying to get some big orders out. 5:00 am has been the starting time all week, and on Wednesday; we worked until 8:30 pm. While all this work does make one a little bit tired, it really is not all that bad -- as long as you don't injure yourself.

We are so busy that I had to take a full load of boxes to one of our customers (in addition to several loads our normal driver is taking) yesterday. I had hoped for it to be a fairly quick trip, but was greeted by brake lights just south of Wilsonville (on I-5) -- a 40,000-pound bridge support (in transport) had toppled over just north of Tualatin and was blocking all but one lane. I crawled my way to the north Wilsonville exit before taking Boones Ferry Road into Tualatin and then 99W to 217. By the time I reached Hillsboro, I had been on the road for nearly 3 hours (the return trip took 45 minutes).

As I was unloading the truck at our customer's dock, I injured my arm. I was using just my left arm to slide the pallet-jack forks over to line up with the next pallet, when they caught on the edge of the pallet. The pallet-jack promptly stopped, but my arm wanted to keep going -- with a "pop-pop". I think I was able to reverse some of the "pops", but it still hurts if I try to do too much -- I think I dislocated my elbow or pulled a muscle or something.

But, work needs to get done; so I can't take any down time. Like my dad used to say, It'll feel better when it quits hurtin'!

Well, have a good weekend everyone!