Youth cannot know how age thinks and feels. But old men are guilty if they forget what it was to be young.

This is a time when generations meet often. They gather to learn from one another. They do NOT always appreciate one another. Wisdom says, “You don’t eat too much” or “You don’t go out in the snow in PJ’s”.

Youth says, “it’s the first snow and I cannot wait to get dressed” or “I want to taste everything”.

For this season of generational gatherings, we need to keep the quote above in mind.

Did you guess where the quote is from? J.K. Rowling in the Order of the Phoenix.

I was doing my yard walk today. I found this funny trail to my bird feeder. I seem to be filling the feeder more every day, so the tracks interested me. I followed them backwards to see if I could identify them. And there on the driveway I got individual tracks. Ricky Rooster, the pheasant, is eating my bird food.

Tracks are fascinating to kids. Because they are most often seen in the early morning and at dusk, they are perfect for homeschooled kids. No matter where you live, there are tracks. Squirrel tracks by garbage cans, cat tracks and dog tracks. Here are several books that really have helped me check out tracks with kids.

Big Tracks, Little Tracks: Following Animal Prints by Millicent E. Selsam and Marlene Hill Donnelly

Animal Tracks and Signs: Track Over 400 animals from Big Cats to Backyard Birds, by Jinny Johnson.

Both are available at http://www.amazon.com These will lead to lots of discovery while walking and exploring outside. Have fun finding the Ricky Rooster in your area.

I bet you have a red and green sweatshirt or tee shirt for Christmas. I have several dorky ones including a snowman sweater I got for $5.00 the week after Christmas. What a deal! I always wear these red and green clothes when the grand kids are around.

When the kids are 3-5 they think the clothes are neat. When they get older, well you know the story. The toddlers never notice. But I know I’m wearing this cool stuff.

So what does this have to do with an asparagus fern? For some reason, the pink summer blossoms become green berries and in December the berries turn red. I think the asparagus fern is dressing up for my grand kids. Why not? I do it, so my faith garden might as well know that my grand kids are worth all the silly red and green clothes.

Have fun!

Do you feel like the pressure of December bends you? Look at the bending birch trees. Watch them and then close your eyes.

Bend at the waist and imagine your own back bent under the weight of extras worship services, holiday commitments, lists, piles and the extra noise. Now imagine God pulling you up slowly by a string on your back. Imagine Jesus pushing you up from your center. As you slowly stand, imagine the Holy Spirit helping you straighten your entire body. Look up and see the faces of all the saints that came before and gave you a glimpse of love during past Decembers.

Smile. Your core is strengthened by your faith. Go forward in faith.

I taught preschool and kindergarten for about 10 years. In that time, I saw many boxes of colored crayons, pencils, markers and paints. I watched first day kindergarteners smile as they showed their new box of crayons. I even had a little one arrive with 64 crayons instead of the prescribed 8. She told me she wanted as many colors as God made.

A walk in winter will show you God’s Color Box. Is this blue found in any crayon, pencil or marker? Is the dark green of evergreens even available in a box of 200 colors? And white is only truly white if the sun is shining on it.

Take a winter family walk. You may not have snow but you have colors made by God. Everything else is a far second place. God’s color box has texture and depth that is seldom found on paper or canvas. It is fun to see the colors and then return and draw pictures of your walk. Try oil pastels found in art stores.

Happy Walk in God’s color box!

For three months I’ve kept my mouth shut. Not an easy job for one who loves to talk and write. Spark Family is a resource by Augsburg Fortress. I was blessed with the job of writing the premier issue. You won’t find it in stores or online until late January. But you need to get a copy and give a subscription to a family with kids three through ten. This magazine is all about holy and all about families.

Spark Family has many parts. It has photographs of real families in real situations. It also has pictures from the Spark Story Bible that illustrate stories in the Old Testament and the New Testament. There are activities for readers but also for non- readers. There are interesting activities to connect the story to daily life. There are prayer activities that jump right out of the publication into the life of a family.

Spark Family is about daily life and faith. Spark Family happens in the home where families live. Check out the discussion.
http://www.facebook.com/sparksundayschool

Smell is a potent wizard that transports you across thousand of miles and all the years you have lived.

This quote is from Helen Keller 1880-1968. Although blind, Helen’s life was an explosion of senses.

Take a moment and close your eyes. Think of the smells of December. The smells of winter are completely different than any other season. Smell is considered the sense that is most connected to memories. What memories do you smell from Decembers past? December has both inside and outside smells. Experience them all and pull in memories.

May your day be filled with the December smells.

Now don’t panic, this is not a blog about your hips. This picture is rose hips. Those wonderful little left over from the beauty of a rose. If you are in my generation, you can recognize that something is special about rose hips but you probably can’t remember what.

Rose hips used to be used as tea. They have lots of vitamins and lots of uses. You might even take “vitamin C with rosehips”. Rose hips always remind me of the necessity of mixing my older knowledge with the culture of today to help my grandkids stay aware that everything new is not better. It’s just new.

I once took two grand children on a prairie walk. We have 15 acres of native prairie we are restoring. There is a path through the prairie and the kids and I often take a post breakfast walk in the summer. We have wild roses so, of course, we talk rose hips.

An astute five year old once said, “Grandma, where are the roses feet if those are the hips?” After a moment to collect my thoughts (otherwise known as figuring out how to get out of this mess I got myself into), I replied. “Feet hold us up so I guess the rose feet are the roots.” I went on to reply with way too many words all about the roots bringing good food for the plant and holding it up with strong roots. A little hand found mine and said, “You are my roots, Grandma.”

Well, okay, so maybe there were a few tears from my eyes, but this story reminds me that sometimes all that old knowledge results in strong roots. The knowledge of today’s culture also results in strong roots. Maybe the combination of the two is what brings the strength.

So quick worrying about your hips and spend some time sharing knowledge from the past with your grand kids.