Archives for December 2006

Miss Heidi Fredrickson, Miss Angie Novotny, and Miss Hope America Pierpont at the annual ice-skating evening during the Indianapolis Christmas Conference. See all the pictures here.

One Saturday morning in December of 2002 the Pierpont guys made a trip to Lansing from Flint, were we lived at the time. We stopped for coffee, visited a unique guitar shop to drool over the Taylor guitars, and drove downtown to look for a Christmas present for my wife, Lois.

Gary Chapman says there are Five Love Languages. Lois is bi-lingual. Her love languages are acts of service and gifts. I want her to always feel real, real loved– especially at Christmas time. I want her to feel secure in my love like a little girl with a warm quilt tucked under her chin.

So we scouted the shops of downtown Lansing, sipped our coffee, and enjoyed the festive Christmas atmosphere. It was snowing that morning just enough to make it beautiful but not so much to make it difficult. We discovered a little gift shop called the Mole Hole. It was a delightful little shop filled with unusual gifts. I found some little mouse figurines. I knew Lois would love them. There were kayaking mice, tennis-playing mice, golfing mice, baking mice, ballet mice, and others.

My favorite mice were a group of mice in a little shed that included wise men mice, shepherd mice, Mary and Joseph mice and even a little mouse in a manger. That year I bought the mouse in the manger and the Mary and Joseph mice had them gift-wrapped in separate boxes.

From Christmas 2002 to Christmas 2005 we made our pilgrimage to Lansing in December to browse the Mole Hole and every time the Lord send a beautiful seasonal snowfall for us to enjoy. Every year we added some mice to our mice manger scene until last year I was able to buy the stable. Now we have wise men, shepherds, angels, Mary, Joseph and the little infant mouse, and we have the memory year after year of time together with the boys, playing guitars, enjoying the season, the snowfall and the local coffee.

Whatever you do to make sure the people you love know that you love them is worth the effort. Christmas is a time to love. When you do things at Christmas time you make memories and if all goes well, big snowflakes will fall while you are making them. Thoughtful acts of love are like a glue that holds our families together when so many things are trying to pull them apart.

Ken Pierpont
Brook Place
Hinsdale, Illinois
December 5, 2006

This is the view from my chair. (Of course, Lois took the picture)Early in the morning I read my Bible just inside this window before the rest of the family rises. In the evening I like to be with the family here. I try to read them something every night. Every night we are home in December I plan to read them one of my Christmas stories. I have a perfect brass reading lamp beside my chair that I found at a resale shop for five dollars. I repaired the cord and it is one of my prized possessions now.

After the most beautiful, balmy month of November I remember in my life, winter hit the western suburbs of Chicago on the first day of December. God has a way of displaying his power in spite of our plans.

It is an exceptionally beautiful winter day today… I rose this morning at five to drive to Momence for the first of what I am calling “Men of Momence” meetings. Now it is late afternoon. The sun is at the top of the trees. The boys are milking the last few moments of light from the day to snowboard.

Hope America and I are enjoying a quiet afternoon with the London Philharmonic Orchestra Christmas music and a fragrant pine candle. She is puttering in the next room and humming along with the music. I can’t imagine life without her. She wants to know when we are going to get our Christmas tree.

Hope America