Christmas cards were finished and mailed off late this afternoon. Holla! I can now truly sit and enjoy all cards that come our way, knowing I've finished at least this one small part of our holiday duties (not that it's a duty to send out love to our loved ones, but you know...)

This afternoon our elderly neighbor Julius came over with a Christmas card and plate of goodies as he does each year. We've been back in Yankton in this house for five years, and before that we were here for two years before moving to Mitchell. We kept in touch with Julius and his wife Ruby during those two years we were gone, so it's been nearly a decade that we've known them. Wow! It's hard to see his slow decline after seeing how active he was even just a year or two ago. His arthritis in his back is so bad now that it takes him a long time to get going in the mornings, and he can only walk about a half block before getting winded. He's waiting to get an electric scooter, and his eyes lit up as he talked about that.

The big news that he had to share with me was about an article written about him in this weekly newspaper. Unfortunately, the article isn't online, but it's about the part he played in helping construct the Bishop Marty Chapel on the campus of Mount Marty College in the late 1940s. There were hundreds who worked on the construction, but only Julius and another man were with the construction from the bottom all the way - 187 1/2 feet high - to the top of the steeple. He helped put the 600 pound cross in place that sits on the top of the steeple.

It was neat to talk with him about this today because I've just finished reading Ken Follett's "Pillars of the Earth", which revolves around the building of a cathedral in 12th century England. Amazing book. When I finished yesterday I felt like crying because I had just left these people and their lives that had been with me for nearly 1000 pages. Awesome.

Accalia is bored, so I must now see what would interest her. Why isn't it ever sleep?