The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

                The most wonderful time of the year for us is Christmas time.  The crops to feed our cattle are all put up for another year.  Even though we had a drought this year, the Lord still blessed us with enough to see us through another winter.  For which we are extremely thankful.  We know of farmers and ranchers in other parts of the country that suffered much more than what we did, and our hearts and prayers go out to them.

We are also blessed to have our firewood all put up for another year.  We have one very large pile of it this year.  We heat our house and all the hot water we use in it and in our milkhouse with an outdoor wood burning furnace.  So, needless to say, it takes a lot of wood.  But, it also saves a lot of money.  What’s more, we as a family enjoy working together doing it.

So here we are now in December, we just cut a Christmas tree out of our woods a few days ago and have it decorated in our living room.  As I write this, it is lit up with all different colors of lights.  It also has all kinds of different ornaments on it along with plenty of tinsel.  Joanne and Catherine did a beautiful job of decorating it this year again.  So far it only has two presents under it, but I know there will be many more coming. It is always a blessing buying good gifts for the ones we love.  Our tree also gets extra presents under it, since Joshua’s and my birthdays are both in December.  Our birthday presents always end up under one side of the tree separate from the Christmas presents.

It always seems like there is extra love, joy and peace in our home at this time of year as we prepare to celebrate Christmas.  It’s a privilege to go out every day and take care of the cows and all the youngstock.  Catherine has once again set up a small Christmas tree outside the barn for all the cats.  The cats seem to enjoy it every year!

And then it comes, Christmas Day.  We once again go out and milk the cows and feed all the cattle.  We always try to treat them extra special on this day and they know it.  The cows will moo softly and nuzzle us with their noses.  We put our arms around their heads and pet them softly.  We treat them special because they are special to us.  And of course we treat each other extra special too.

Once we have our chores done, we go in and have a wonderful Christmas dinner that Joanne has so lovingly prepared.  After this, we sit down and read the Biblical account of how God gave the greatest gift ever given to us.  Jesus.  He is the whole reason for Christmas.  Without Him there would be no Christmas.  No giving gifts to each other.  No Christmas tree.  There would be no peace with God.  There would be no answers to our prayers.  There would be no relationship with Him and certainly no thoughts of making heaven our home.

But because Jesus was born in a stable for us, we have the greatest gift in the whole universe.  Because He came we celebrate Christmas.  We have life and that so much more abundantly.

It has been a privilege sharing our lives with you this past year again.  We hope this has been a blessing to you.  From our home to yours, we wish you the most blessed Christmas.

Tom Heck, his wife Joanne, and their two children, Catherine and Joshua, own and operate a 35 cow, 159 acre dairy farm in northwestern WI.  Contact Tom at: lifeonthefamilyfarm@gmail.com  Copyright © 2012 by Tom Heck.  All Rights Reserved.

Photo caption:  Tom petting Bossie.

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