December 26, 2008. Harper, Texas. Boxing Day.

Not today. The children are not boxing up their old toys to deliver to the poor. Not today anyway. We are doing what everyone else does on Boxing Day, which is to enjoy the rest and relaxation. In the U.S. it is really only called The Day After Christmas, but I still call it Boxing Day. For many years when we were in Hamilton for Christmas, all Family and friends went skating, and my sister rented a rink just for us, which was very nice, because Andrew and David were just learning to skate. In Canadian rinks, the skaters move very quickly and the crowds are often dense, so when we had the rink to ourselves with just friends and relatives we had the space for our lack of skill not to get in the way of everyone else on the rink Ken of course grew up in the north and skates very well. I grew up in Vancouver. My sister bought me new skates for Christmas, 1953, and I used them for the rest of my life. By now we lived in Toronto where everyone skated a lot, and I had skated when we lived in London and Calgary, but those years in between left me without great skill on the rink. But I was not dangerous. We have pictures of both boys being helped around the rink by a kind relative, and always on Boxing Day. As an aside, I sold those skates when we moved from our Franklin Street house.

Now we are going to spend the weekend at the ranch. Ken and I woke at seven to find a very quiet house, so we left after breakfast but before anyone else was awake. This is unusual, as normally the little girls are the first ones awake. They are now on the road to the ranch after a good sleep-in by both children and parents, a well deserved rest I must say. Ken is now replacing a screen in the porch at the Top House, and I soon will walk down to the ranch house to hang the latest family picture in the hall. As is my custom, I keep family pictures in every house. They will soon be here for lunch, at least I hope so, as we have not brought any food.

This is an article worth reading: " Speculators, Politicians. and Financial Disasters," written by John Steele Gordon, and published in the November Commentary. This article goes back to 1836 and gives an excellent assessment of the present from the past. You can probably find it on commentarymagazine.com. It is worth the time and effort. As you can see, I am still not up to the present date for my magazines, but soon I will get to at least December. Sometimes being compulsive is tiresome!!