Right now I have a really crabby two year old sitting on my lap. She should be in bed. It is past her bed time. But we are going through this nap/no nap transition. She took a nap today, so you get the idea.
Like two year olds, schedules are something dairy farmers must stick to also. The ladies (cows) get crabby too when their schedule is messed with. We milk them and feed them twice each day at the same time, seven days a week. This can be kind of tricky when it is the holiday season. Parties, Christmas pageants, Mass, and family visitors sometimes happen while our schedule says we are supposed to milk or feed our cows.
Some years the farm has slowly switched the schedule so that we are milking later at night (so we can go Mass or visit family during the day and evening). This year we are keeping things the same and just making it work. Thankfully, our school does both a daytime and evening production of their Christmas pageant.
I am kind of excited that Tim and I will be milking cows together Christmas Eve. Jon and Lisa will get the “night off” watching the grandkids (don’t worry there will be aunts and uncles around to share the load). There is just something magical about the peace of the evening, listening to Christmas music, the sweet smell of the cattle, and the hum of the milking machines.
This page from Gordon Fredickson’s book Farm Country Christmas Eve, sums it all up.
In the hurry we walk from the house to the barn. Through the night of soft silence embracing out farm. White flakes brush our faces as snow fell aground. And our footstep on snow made a crisp crunching sound.
During this holiday season we wish that you and your kin have a magical and blessed Christmas. May you remember and cherish the reason for the season. Though your schedules may be thrown off, may you embrace those close to you and look for the simple blessings.
Merry Christmas Everyone!
~The Zwebers
