To have companionship, supper cooked to perfection, and coffee on the stove.  Now that was something a man could look forward to.”
              –Lynette Sowell

Sure was a grand Christmas ’round this homestead.  Hopin’ yurs was fine as well.  To have friends and family around was delightful, and this ol’ fencepost was surely blessed with some nice gifts.  We even celebrated high on the hog with some Kona coffee and Jamaica Blue Mountain.  Whooeee, they’re supposed to be top of the line (and we had some of that hog-meat as well).
    In a few days we can put the nonsense of 2019 behind us.  Well, for the most part–the bureaucrats will still be around.  Sometimes yuh wish someone would just come by and slap them silly, but that wouldn’t do for they are already nonsensical.  Hmmm, maybe to slap some of the silliness out of them would be better.
    One thing yuh can be sure of, without question–the Lord is in control.  He sees the big picture and the culmination of the whole thing.  Trust in Him as you enter this New Year.
    So here’ hopin’ yuh have plenty of coffee, that yur hips don’t squeak and give way, and that you’ll always remember to check yur cinch as yuh begin the journey into 2020.

I smell the hot coffee;
    It floats on the wind.”
               –Red Steagall

Mornin’ to yuh, Pard.  Git yurself in this kitchen, but mind yur spurs; yuh don’t want to be tearin’ up the missus’ floor.  I kept the coffee ready for yuh.  
    Shore has been a crazy, idiotic week.  I never have much good to say ’bout bureaucrats, and this week shore does show why!  My mercy…and let’s leave it at that.
    Drink down that coffee; be careful yuh don’t want to burn all the hair off yur tongue especially with all the Christmas goodies layin’ around.  I was a-listenin’ the other day to one of the good guys, Curly Musgrave (he’s gone on to be with the Lord) sing his song, “Can’t get enough of them Christmas cookies…”
    Makes me wish we had a dozen or so and allow our coffee to wash them down.  It’d make the gizzard smile for shore.  I’ve been doin’ some ponderin’ about the times–the times in which we live.  Why, I read the other day, and I reckon it’s true since it was on the internet.  The headline read:  “Iowa man sentenced to 16 years”.  It seems he confiscated a gay-pride flag and burned it.  It was regarded as a hate crime.  My mercy, a person burns Old Glory and they are honored for showin’ free speech.  Shouldn’t that be considered a hate crime?  
    Yep, the world sure is turned upside-down.  It’s time we begin prayin’ more and lookin’ up.  On our lips should be the last prayer mentioned in the Bible.  “Even so, come, Lord Jesus!”
    You be havin’ a good week, be on the watch for the next thing yuh know those bureaucrats will be tryin’ to convince yuh that yuh needn’t tighten yur cinch.

Christmas…that magic blanket that wraps itself about us, that something so intangible that it is like a fragrance.  It may weave a spell of nostalgia.  Christmas may be a day of feasting, or of prayer, but always it will be a day of remembrance—a day in which we think of everything we have ever loved.”
       –Augusta E. Rundel

Pard, sit yurself down, yuh look some frazzled.  Oh, it’s the crazies on the road.  I hear yuh, hoss, best get out of their way or yuh’ll get plumb run over.  Here yuh go, coffee’s hot, black, and strong, just right to tickle yur ol’ gizzard, make it sit right up and say “howdy.”
    I see where a group of those crazies have given President Trump a gift of impeachment.  Bureaucrats!  Some things just jerk my jaws. Plain stupidity, and a waste of time and money.  Hmmm, wonder what kind of business for the people was accomplished the past few weeks?  Hard to believe we have come to such a time as this, but then aren’t we lookin’ for the Second Advent?  I’ve always believed that something has to happen to America before the Lord returns.  But, Pard, yuh think on this.  The Rapture occurs, the Christians are removed, what will our government look like?  Hmmm, ponder that while yur sippin’ that coffee.
    But me, for one, ain’t gonna let those nuts in Congress spoil my Christmas.  Nope, sounds like a good idea just to wrap that blanket of Christmas around me and enjoy this special time of year.  Might drink me a few gallons of coffee, sigh, do some eatin’ of my sweet wife’s Christmas cookies and pie.  Ahhh, makes me smile to think about the next few weeks.
    Yuh be havin’ yurself a good week.  Watch all ’round for there’s plenty of stupidity aboundin’; don’t yuh be joinin’ that group of fools by not checkin’ yur cinch.

I’m going to drink a gallon of the Kona coffee they serve here, black of course.  No sense diluting the stuff.”
              –Jim Walker

Mornin’, Pard.  Let’s take a moment of solemn silence after I pour yur coffee.  It is certainly a day of infamy, sure hopin’ those youngsters out there don’t forget it.  Pearl Harbor happened almost a decade before my time, but the lives of all Americans since have been changed because of it.  Sure wish I had some of that good Kona coffee to give you, but alas…
    I’m reminded on this day of the fact that God is indeed sovereign.  It is not bein’ fatalistic, but the Lord knows the time when He will call us.  Come on, if He knows how many hairs we got on our head…or how many some folk have lost.  Pard, my Uncle Harold Jones was stationed aboard the Arizona.  Just so happened that he was on furlough on his way back to Hawaii when the attack came.  God is in charge.
    Go ahead and drink it down, there’s plenty more in the pot.  Yuh know, I think that at times we dilute our life simply because we don’t take servin’ the Lord seriously.  In this day, we need to definitely be about the Lord’s business.
    Don’t be too relaxed or complacent.  The ol’ devil might have a surprise attack in mind for yuh.  Be ready always.  Keep yur gun oiled an’ at hand along with a well-used Bible.  Always be checkin’ yur tools, includin’ yur cinch.  Yuh don’t want it to slip if an attack comes yur way.