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MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL !!!

"In times past, God spoke in partial and various ways to our ancestors through the prophets; in these last days, he spoke to us through a son, whom he made heir of all things and through whom he created the universe..."
Hebrews 1:1 - 2, NAB

"By this hath the charity of God appeared towards us, because God hath sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we may live by him. In this is charity: not as though we had loved God, but because he hath first loved us, and sent his Son to be a propitiation for our sins." 1 John 4:9-10, DRB

"God rest ye merry gentlemen let nothing you dismay
Remember Christ our Saviour was born on Christmas Day!"

I woke up to daylight and peeked at the clock. 8:00am!! Wow we slept late! Time was a-wastin' when we could be diving into the pile of gifts that waited under the tree!! Erlend lay sound asleep so I let out a loud cough in an attempt to innocently rouse him.

"Zzzzzzzzz..." he replied.

I rolled over rather bumpily and watched as my husband was jostled about.

"Zzzzzzzzzzz..."

I forgot. This guy was a farmer. After 40-some-odd years living with roaring cattle right outside his window even The Second Coming of Christ would fail to wake him up!!

Finally I decided it was time to utilize more invasive tactics: I stiffened my first two fingers and gave him a generous poke.

"Zzzz..Uh? Wha?" I heard from the depths of his blankets where he lay rolled up like an enchilada.

"It's Christmas morning and time to open presents!!" I boggled through the layer of downy in the vicinity of where I guessed his ear to be located. An opening appeared in the blanket and a pair of drowsy blue eyes blinked at me. I took this as an invitation and burrowed my way in. "It's Christmas morning!" I announced again. "Merry Christmas!!!"

Hidden message: Get out of bed you lump on a log! There's LOOT to be had downstairs!!

While Erlend went outside to check on the kye I hurried about the kitchen making a special breakfast of fried egg, porridge, sliced apple and banana, yoghurt and hot tea. My husband wolfed it down with an amazingly huge appetite. (Usually he eats like a bird) and then we attacked the gifts before a blazing coal fire.

For the rest of the morning Erlend fed kye and then we tacked some housework and scurried around the kitchen cooking Christmas Dinner. (Baked honey-glazed ham, home-grown tatties, broccoli, mashed neeps grown on a friend's farm, grilled pineapple, homemade apple sauce and for dessert: peach cobbler!)

Ma and Pa In Law arrived at 1pm so we could give them their gifts and we could open the ones they had brought by. Pa In Law got a kick out of Zeb playing away with his new toy. I engaged in a bit of tug-o-war and when I grew tired and hooked my end of the rope to the doorknob and the dog kept tugging away Paw In Law just about pitched off the sofa he laughed so hard! It was pretty funny to see Zeb tugging and growling - and getting nowhere. He soon caught on and gave up and curled up at Pa In Law's feet.

Dinner was grand! We ate like starving wolves and decimated the feast in ten minutes. (To my disgust I've come to realize that it always takes forever to cook a meal and clean up after a meal but the meal itself lasts a nanosecond!!) After stuffing ourselves to capacity we retired back into the livingroom for our cups of tea and coffee. Paw In Law wanted to see the barn but he has a hard time walking. I listened as he and Erlend discussed the possibility of driving the car through the passage. But, alas, it wouldn't fit with all of the silage in the way. I made a comment to Pa but my American accent makes no sense to him so Erlend translated loudly in his ear:

"Meeshell sid we cuid tak thoo in the byre wi the wheelbarrow, dad!"

This caused Pa In Law to roar with laughter and then, gasping for air, he replied, "Aye theen Ah'd be coop'id owar tae the kye!!!" And we all dissolved into hysterics as we pictured him being dumped out of the wheelbarrow onto a pile of silage under the noses of the astonished cattle.

Suddenly I realized something. I HAD UNDERSTOOD THAT! I had actually understood everything that was said!! Wow. Usually Pa In Law and I confuse the daylights out of one another and don't get much said between us without Erlend around to interpret. Yahooo! I was cracking the Orcadian code!!

After a lovely visit Ma and Pa In Law returned home so that Erlend could feed the kye. After he was finished we sat before the fire while I read through the book Erlend had bought me last Christmas: "Wit like the day?" and the book he bought me this Christmas, "Orcadiana" both written by Gregor Lamb. Erlend was in stitches as I tried to read Orcadian words out-loud. But I got him back when I did as Gregor Lamb suggested in his book ("Whit Like the Day?") and had Erlend attempt to pronounce "bars", "cars" and "purser's" in the English way. I was screeching with laughter as Erlend screwed up his face and made a grand attempt to pronounce the "s" with the "z" sound that I use. Ho ho! Now he knows how *I* feel when I am trying to pronounce Orcadian sounds! It's not as simple as a native speaker would like to think!!