De-railed!!

Oh, boy.  The train is off the tracks here!  Thursday the little houses were to be put up and there is nary a one to be found anywhere in the house.  They are all still in the garage!  No garlands are up outside.  Terry really wants Ava and Kai to enjoy the houses so he decided to go into think mode and ended up building a shelf, just their height, so they can peek in the houses with ease.  He took an old shelf from the garage, cut it to the length he wanted it and then proceeded to design some sort of apparatus to hold it on the wood burning stove top.  In his intense concentration of manhandling the shelf, for placement, he banged the tree a couple of times, it shook and some gold beads slipped.

Also the new heater purchased Wednesday, our gift to ourselves, was what caused the power outage and not the tree.  The choice for Thursday was...enjoy new heater or enjoy all our lights.  We had a blackout of all lights and chose the heater.  Has infrared and we really enjoyed it.

My mechanic channeling his inner carpenter.  See the heater?

all things banged around can be picked up and put back on!

He is one kind & thoughtful Gramps!

Correct heighth.  house-less shelf.

Our handmade halibut ornament

Not looking on schedule.

And so the day went.  busy with no tangible results on the houses and etc. but the most important thing of all was put out-- the Nativities.  I'm not one that wants statues.  I wasn't raised with it but I do admit to growing in love and appreciation of Nativities, over time.

When our children were growing up we had one Nativity with all the pieces.  I have no idea what ever happened to it.  IF I was raising my children again....I'd buy a nativity every year. (much like people collect ornaments or nutcrackers  or other Christmasy items)  It wouldn't have to be big or spendy.  I'd let them play with it and tell the story over and over.  I wish I'd done that.  Maybe you will think about doing that yourself!

With the world working harder and harder to eliminate Christmas and the mention of Christ, I find myself wanting to take a stronger stand in my own home, that all of these decorations are in celebration of the fact that I/we believe that Christ was born and it's a day, a time, a season to celebrate that fact.

We have a simple white 3 piece Nativity also but it's in the garage, somewhere, with the houses.  It will turn up.  Tomorrow.  Terry will be surprised when a couple of new ones show up this year.  I love them grouped together in pure simplicity.  a peaceful setting.

This one is on an antique doily done by one of our grandmothers.
I love the detail and feeling of this one.  A friend had one and I had to have one also.

This is new and fascinating.  It's called a pillar nativity.  The 9 pillars can be separated and different arrangements can be made to tell the story of the Nativity.  It is some sort of resin.  Just gorgeous.  I look forward to having others see it and enjoy it.  It's a work of art.  Has sort of an antique script on each one, on 2 sides, with a corresponding scripture for that pillar.

 This is an ornament reminding us that two of our children lived in Jerusalem at the BYU Study Abroad for 6 months.  The baby Jesus is olive wood from Jerusalem.  Jeanee sent us an olive wood Nativity set but it was stolen at the post office over there, replaced with dirty clothes and some sort of husks.  The baby Jesus is all that is left.  (Lots of lessons there for sure.)  The animals are reminders of that night.  All of these Nativities can be handled by a 2 and 4 year old.  I look forward to seeing them enjoy them.  

Peace.  Simplicity.  The reason for the season.

Pretty much on track for Saturday!!!

Oh, boy.  The power went out at our house again today and all from the inside happenings and absolutely nothing to do with outside!  The circuits got overloaded and the breaker was a goner!

When everything was ablaze with lights and ornaments and our tree and garlands in full shine, our son came over and had the audacity to start laughing, when there was no power to light up the many lights and said...Mom!!  You are the Griswolds!!  Dad!! get your generator!  I failed to understand the humor while he, gasping with laughter in between breaths, told us it was an old movie with Chevy Chase.  I later checked it out and found it was from 1989.  Christmas Vacation.  Adult kids are sometimes so rude!!!

I had questioned Terry if he thought we'd gone overboard. No.  Don't you think the poinsettia tree topper is to big for the tree?  It's beautiful.  Maybe the gold string beads are way to much on the tree?  They are beautiful.  I don't like the garlands when they aren't fluffed out.  I think they look better full than sort of flat.  Don't you? They look great just as they are.  I like the garland pulled tight in a line.  Don't you?  No.  I like that dip.  I like them over the top of the window and not down the sides.  Don't you?  No.  I like them down the sides also.  He is the hanger of the garlands-- so winning of question challenge... goes to the worker bee!  Not the sluggard spouting suggestions and questioning every move. There were times of looming storm clouds over our heads!!! 

Out came the ornaments.  It seemed hundreds!  we waxed sentimental and reminisce over the crocheted snowflake purchased in Utah the year Greg went on his mission, a flat Styrofoam Santa purchased at a Boise Hospital when my Dad had heart surgery, a bluebird in honor of David's first Christmas (you know.  bluebird of happiness.), an apple for our first Washington Christmas.  Wooden ornaments painted by each of us in 1971.  Great memories of that project.  We spent ages looking at these worn out small trinkets .  We talked about each one.  Well, the ones we could remember. There was a halibut ornament and an Eskimo one, made by a talented friend.  Bells and rocking horses and everything imaginable.  We missed our children.  Do you think we have overloaded the tree? No.  it's beautiful.

2 spools of strings of gold beads.  Used for so many years.  Purchased in Homer at the lone floral shop for what seemed a high price but used for some 35 years.  40 years?  Maybe.  so long ago there is no recollection of the date or the price.  Enjoyed over and over.

We do the bead dance.  I take the loose end of the bead string and he holds the spool.  he walks ahead of me and un-spools as I drape, drip, cascade, droop, the golden bead string, over the overload of lights and ornaments and poinsettias and ribbons and red berries.  round and round we go.  trying not to trip.  Hoping against all hope that the 4 year old little girl, coming for Christmas will be awestruck with it's sheer splendor!  Maybe her sweet 2 year old brother's eyes will sparkle with delight also.  We hope so.


Sitting we look at our masterpiece.  Is it just way over the top?  Too much?  Why would you ask that?!  It's beautiful and you did the beads perfect.

Wonder how many more years we will do this?  Who knows.  Maybe this will be the last.

Could be.  I'm glad we did it. 

Me too!  I say in agreement.

painted in 1971 by Jeanee.

selecting which to hang next

Eskimo, halibut (small grey hanging from left hand), Santa from 1971 family project

loooongggg garland being festooned! (does it look flat? squashed?)

Tree on steroids.  We love it anyhow!  That Martha Stewart tree skirt has to go buh-bye!!  

                                 

Let there be Light

We moved ahead!  The tree was attacked first thing, a hearty battle with he and tree,  and he ended up putting some new lights on and we called it good.  Looks lovely.  ready for ornaments, bows, beads.

Tomorrow is hanging ornaments on the garlands, finishing tree,  and putting outside garlands on the porch.

Saturday will be here in a flash!!!

Tree!!  You have met your match!!

Ta-dum!!!

Garlands are hung all over the place!  Dining area....

and living room...

and over bookcase...

and beam....

everything seems lit up!!!

We enjoy greenery and small lights, all white!  We like them on the tree and on all the garlands!  The garland that will go over the mirror above will have some special small candle lights.

Christmas lights are a very important part of celebrating the Saviors birth.  He proclaimed Himself as the Light of the world!  We are to let our individual light shine through our gift of the Holy Ghost.  Today as we were working with so many lights, and everything came to life as cords were plugged in,  I thought of two incidents that have impacted my life. 

1) One was my wonderful Baptist Sunday School teacher, Mrs. Billie Koestner. I really knew nothing about her except I knew she loved the Savior, or as she called Him, my Savior. She never missed a Sunday it seemed.  She weekly sang the song below- with some hand movements. Sometimes she'd sing it several times in a row....      

This Little Light Of Mine Hymn

This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine.
This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine, let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.

Won't let Satan blow it out.
I'm gonna let it shine.
Won't let Satan blow it out.
I'm gonna let it shine, let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.

Let it shine til Jesus comes.
I'm gonna let it shine.
Let it shine til Jesus comes.
I'm gonna let it shine, let it shine, let it shine, let it shine. 

Hide it under a bushel - NO! 
I'm gonna let it shine. 
Hide it under a bushel - NO! 
I'm gonna let it shine, Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine. 

Let it shine over the whole wide world, 
I'm gonna let it shine.
Let it shine over the whole wide world, 
I'm gonna let it shine, let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.

 Luke 11:33 --"No man, when he hath lighted a candle, putteth it in a secret place, neither under a bushel, but on a candlestick, that they which come in may see the light." 

Matthew 5:14-15--"Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.

2) A couple of decades ago we had a family tragedy that caused such pain and heartache for me that I wondered if I would ever recover my inner equilibrium.  I personally feel there are life experiences that are worst than experiencing the death of a loved one. I was in the midst of one  This was agony to me. It happened about this time of the year. I knew that my testimony was still intact in spite of the happenings and uncertain future of the outcome of all that was challenging us.  My devastation just broke my heart.  I couldn't hold myself together very long. Christmas and celebrating and decorating were not on my to do list.  Survival and not having a breakdown was what I hoped for.  

Something within me pulled/pushed me to purchase and put up a tree indoors, tie bows on a real tree outside and hang the lone garland we had.  Not to long after that was done, within the first 2 weeks of December, a sister said to me... how sad to have this happen at Christmas season when everything is decorated and people are so happy. You will always be reminded each year of what you have suffered.

I knew she was sincere and concerned and cared about me but it didn't feel good to absorb those words.  I felt myself tear up and then I told her what I'd learned...

I love things that are symbolic.  The decorations reminded me of the fact that Jesus Christ was born.  Because He was born, and I truly believed He was, my life was very blessed in many ways.  Christmas is about hope.  Every single Christmas light was a personal reminder to me, a symbol, of the Savior.  A reminder to me that because of His Atonement He would help me.  Shelter me.  Walk with me.  Encourage me.  My heartache, my anguish,  came at the perfect time of year.  It could not have been at a better time.  No matter where I looked I saw lights.  Christmas lights.  There were lights on trees and yards and porches and eaves and glimpses into houses showed lights.  There were lights in stores and on TV shows and commercials. There were lights on the annual Christmas broadcast on TV.  Pictures of lights on Temple Square.  Everywhere I turned I was facing light.  Healing and strengthening Light.   

It was a long journey with a lot of heartache but that initial feeling/healing of being bathed in Christmas lights, sustained me and got me through a part that I thought would destroy me.

20+ years later and I remember that time. My heart, with that sorrowful remembrance, etched as a faint line of scar tissue,  has gratitude for answered prayers and the miracle of personal application of the Atonement.  It was a long siege.

In our little house we can never have to many lights!  Symbolic reminders that He is the Light of the world.  Our world.  Your world. My world.

                                                

Power Outage. No Outrage.

"Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds." --  Inscribed on a New York Post Office.   And it wouldn't stop, nor even slow down, the connecting the lights on the indoor tree BUT when the power went out (and that was several hours) things became a real challenge.  So I guess the gloom of night nailed us!

The tree has 7 or maybe 8 rings of branches with lots of small lights.  It's in 2 sections and you slip that top on, plug it in and it lights up!!  Gorgeous!  Then you fluff the branches, put old family ornaments and some ribbon and some gold beads and it's done!

Houston!  We have an electrical problem.  Only part of the tree lit up!  Then the power went out in a few towns, one being ours, and the man got creative.  After being deligent in changing numerous bitty lights with not results, he got a bit irritated.  Maybe perplexed is a better word. Even with his Light Keeper Pro- no glow!.  the results were not forthcoming!!

It was not for want of trying!!  ....

plugging in his little generator

getting comfy for work- lamp and music

decided to try a new approach.  head lamp in place.

Working with his "gun"

gas ran out of bitty generator so he got this one out and plugged in

a day's work.  a few lights.  bottom of tree left alone.

top of tree awaits on couch.

Things are really off schedule for this Saturday, Dec. 1st, deadline.  The plan will turn out okay and whatever is done on Saturday is enough!  I told him as long as we have the two trees up and some garlands and a few decorations, I'm fine.  We have some family coming and we do want it sort of overdone because of 4 year old Ava.  He likes to put up these little houses that we have and that takes forever but they are fun to look at and little kiddo's love them.  He wants Ava to see them.  So we will see what happens.

He took a break, after several hours,  and watched TV and I went with a friend to a movie!  

Came home and found a treat begging to be eaten, from another friend. Delicious! 

Sleep is rejuvenating and we will be up and at 'em and finished by Saturday!

We multi-tasked much better when we were younger!!  
  

   

Decorations going up!!

When I was younger I used to try and do all of Christmas things in the month of December.  Often I'm a slow learner.  December is chock full of wonderful festive celebratory things like: choirs, plays, RS, Ward parties, BookClub, VT.  Things to attend to.  Things to go to.  Things to help with.  Visiting family to get ready for.  Stake Sec. RSP assignments to do. Sister's birthday.  Having plates of goodies ready for those who give you plates of goodies. How many should I make up?  Dr. Appointments- Terry's ears.  My dreaded oral surgery!!  Gifts to buy and mail or making the decision as to what to do about that.  Son's wedding anniversary. Feeding the Missionaries and sending something to our Grandson Missionary/Ward Missionaries.  What to cook and what to buy and when to buy it.  Shopping for friends.  Haircut. Daughter's birthday.  Gift for Missionaries.  Decorating the house- inside and outside!  Did I mention cleaning the house like a frenzied fool?  I mentally contemplate all sorts of candlelit dinner parties.  evening gowns?  boas?  whatever! 

Used to be.... in this, desperately needing Prozac or it's kin moment,  is exactly when I decide to make everyone I've known since grade school, a quilt + home made fudge + WW bread.  And of course, I don't want my family left out,  all 22 members of my immediate family will get the same thing!  I just get totally ridiculous and then feign innocence like...oh, Christmas is on the calendar.  again?  So soon?  Really? 

All of this mentally scrambling in my brain is fragmenting my wild thoughts like a bomb went off!

Wearing myself out with stress, hyperventilating to the point of carrying a lunch sack in my purse!, inwardly swearing on a stack of Bibles that I'll never ever delay like this again.  Even knowing it's wrong to even think about the swearing, I can't help myself.  

Perhaps it was the day I realized that I was not enjoying Christmas that made me rethink it all.  I thought about my personal creed and a couple of points hit home....Nothing changes if nothing changes and also Einstein saying... the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

At that time frame of my life, I was also very co-dependent and wanted to help everyone to be happy and merry and jolly.  I felt their enjoyment depended on my actions. 

No more.

Now I absolutely love Christmas and the entire process.  From the day after Thanksgiving to Dec. 1st is the time we decorate.  There are just the two of us so we are very free!  We do as we please.  And quite love it!  We don't move or work fast but we are on schedule to have the inside and outside done by Saturday, Dec.1st.  We will teamwork, piecework it together and it will be just as we want it!

We like an inside tree and an outside tree.  We no longer use a "real" tree.  They just got homelier and more expensive and didn't stay as fresh plus they dropped their needles.  We enjoy our 2 trees.

Here is my clever man, inventor extraordinaire, using his pulley system to get our inside house tree down from it's rafter repose.  A collapsed tree, with a pump, that extends tall.  then we fan the branches and finish decorating beyond what came on the tree.

Clever man!!

working his system!

Yes...that is our tree!

Just you wait and see what happens!

I told you so!!  All pumped up!!

Here is our outdoor tree.  for you to enjoy when you drive by!

It's old but still shines!

Fixing lights that are being temperamental!!

I wish I'd known about planning to enjoy Christmas years before I figured it out!!  It's all about giving and sharing and doing and thinking, all the time/over and over, about the Savior and His goodness and that He is the light of the world and the light of my life.  Wishing to give to Him but instead giving and sharing with others- my love of Him.  I needed a plan to carry out my heart's desire!  It's in motion!  Decorations going up!!! 

Food Room Saga

The "food room" is now mouse-less.  Note the trap set and sitting just waiting to snap at any fool hardy rodent daring to enter the shelves of bounty!  In our Alaskan life we always had a food room as did everyone we knew.  Traveling to Anchorage a couple of times a year to stock-up was the norm.

Ours was an actual room that was kept stocked like a grocery store.   A big freezer.  A center shelf you could walk around and access from both sides.  Wrap around shelves special built with the bottom shelf tall enough to give headspace for the many 5 gallon buckets placed on floor- assorted grains, beans, flour, honey etc. etc.  When we moved to Stateside civilization, and our current abode, there was no such room.  Not even a garage!

I had gone to Boise, one time,  to help my parents and when I got back, as a surprise for me, Terry had built our current food room!  Brilliant!  He built shelves on one bedroom wall.  (The bedroom that visiting family stays in.)  From the window wall to the door and from floor to ceiling and 24" deep.  24" is actually to deep but I'm not complaining a bit!  5 shelves and the bottom tall enough for buckets, to clear, should we choose.

Clever man that he was- he put 4 doors up and wallpapered them, to match the room he'd just wallpapered.  (NO.  I don't rent him out.  He's not for hire.  It's all about love and longevity of marriage!)  It's a huge amount of space but we can never have enough, it seems. 

His creative handiwork!!!

I so enjoy my food room.  2nd door from left. on floor.  see tiny trap guarding door?

Olives anyone?

Speaking of food and storage.  Eventually we built a garage and oh my, yes-sir-ee, we have a food room cordoned off and filled with things that we feel essential to sustaining life!!  Much like our giant can of olives.  Okay.  Terry is more practical about this than me.  So I do go overboard.  But he goes overboard on other things like Coleman stoves etc.  so it evens out.  As I said before, we are obedient in food storage!!  True it could be wiped out in seconds but that's okay.  I believe we will be blessed because we did it and should the need arise,  if you didn't lose yours, then I'm bringing my sleeping bag, roll up mattress, Coleman stove (maybe both of them!) and I'll eat with you.  If we all do our part and are willing to share then we will make it.

Our children will store gasoline and just come home!!!  As will our Grandson!!  They all laugh at us but hey!  didn't they do that snickering with that ark building story in the OT?

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Always on Plan B!!!

Nothing in our Thanksgiving plan went as planned but it still turned out great!  We had some invitations to join others for their feasts but opted to stay home, relax, and do our own cooking.  Just the two of us!  We looked forward to hearing from our children and just cooking a traditional dinner, somewhat downsized (like a teeny but tasty 3# turkey breast that I'd bought at Safeway ages ago and had them in our freezer).  

I even braved Safeway the day before the big day to get some last minute items.  I decided to not do that sort of silliness again!!!  so many people.  it was like being stuck in traffic on the free way.  

The plan was that Terry would do his usual cooking of some side dishes and I'd do the other more basic dishes.  He wanted to try something new....a Buttermilk pie!  He wanted to make a favored bean salad.  Then we sorted through all sorts of things that we've made/make like oyster loaf, sweet spuds, mashed spuds, gravy, dressing, cranberry salad and on and on.  We planned on eating around 2pm.

The plans of mice and men do change things and that is what happened to all our grand plans for a meal fit for royalty and large enough for the entire kingdom (we'd decided to freeze the leftovers and make TV dinners!)  The mice won!!

He found evidence of a mouse in the house and more specific in the shelves in our food room.  Granted it's not a room.  It's shelves in a room but we call it the food room.  So he announced that he would need to empty out EVERY SINGLE OUNCE OF FOOD, check it, clean it, check dates for expiration etc. etc.  We are obedient in storing commodities so this was a major task.  I was glad that he jumped on his white horse and charged forth and I took the role of fair damsel while he slaved.  Hours on end.

Sidetracking here.  Once in awhile in my food storage frenzy I will think about my neighbors and feeding others.  Terry raised a quizzical doubtful eyebrow, when he found these gigantic cans of spaghetti sauce and tomato paste and black olives and a case of marinara sauce and a case of tomatoes and oh, yes...coffee creamer.  Take a number and get to end of the line if you are hungry for tomato soup when we need food and the stores are short!!

The best sport in the world!!!

Let the hunt begin!!! 

Every couple needs 6#'s of Tomato Paste....

and a case of marinara sauce and tomatoes.....

plus 6#'s  Spaghetti Sauce!!!!

 On Thanksgiving day, he started in again, on his pest control.  And I became chief cook and bottle washer.  I enjoyed the puttering and fixing and all that goes with putting familiar foods together.  It took me 3 hours but I can say I enjoyed every single minute.  Usually he is the main cook (by choice) and I do a few more ordinary things like salads, table setting etc.. those sort of things but today it was nice to just do the cooking myself.  I didn't do his bean salad and he never made the Buttermilk pie but we had so much of everything else that we definitely weren't in want for a single thing.

During that time I thought of you and wondered what you were cooking and eating and doing.  I thought of my children.  A lot.

The older I get the more I realize that the time they are all at home is just priceless, never to be retrieved, once in a lifetime time period that is worth it's weight in gold.  It's a time when no one has to figure out if they'll be home as they all live there 24/7.  Once they leave it's really hard to get everyone back together and many of us aren't fortunate to have family in the same town.

I wish that I'd taught my kiddo's how to make some quirky recipe or traditional dish in our family while they lived at home.  In our house it would be Poor Man's Mush or Sausage/Gravy with biscuits or oyster loaf- that might be classed a bit different, just by virtue of what it is.  Sourdough pancakes or Whole Wheat bread.  I never taught them bread and Terry never taught them Sourdough pancakes. Our children have called asking how to make Poor Man's Mush or Sourdough Pancakes.  Even when David was here, in October, for Terry's birthday,  he asked for a lesson in how to do it.  And that isn't the first time.  This milk/flour porridge is so enjoyed by our children and not a one knows how to really make it.  I think they enjoy it!! Now that would have been a nice gift to leave home with!!  A part of their childhood memories.  

So I thought about you and how nice it would be if you watch for something, a little different that you cook or something that you consistently do together, in the food world....bake cookies or fudge or whatever.  do it often enough so that it becomes a tradition and teach your children to make it and when they leave- they have that tucked in their back pocket, tied in a hanky, like a little stash of home.

Oh, I'm am so nostalgic and sentimental and all that but that is my nature and make-up!!  

So we had planned a full blown Broadway Hit Musical for our Thanksgiving celebrating and ended up instead with a Reader's Theater!  I love all sorts of drama productions and this one was a hit also!!!  Plan B...once again!!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Have you ever read this?  By George Washington. 1789.  President George Washington.  (there is an easier to read copy- below the original) It is beautiful and this partial line had me comparing it, to the current reality of our wonderful country,  and brought tears to my eyes.....

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

....“to recommend to the people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness:”...

Thanksgiving Proclamation - The Original

Thanksgiving Proclamation

Issued by President George Washington, at the request of Congress, on October 3, 1789

By the President of the United States of America, a Proclamation.

Whereas it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor; and—Whereas both Houses of Congress have, by their joint committee, requested me “to recommend to the people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness:”

Now, therefore, I do recommend and assign Thursday, the 26th day of November next, to be devoted by the people of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being who is the beneficent author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be; that we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection of the people of this country previous to their becoming a nation; for the signal and manifold mercies and the favor, able interpositions of His providence in the course and conclusion of the late war; for the great degree of tranquillity, union, and plenty which we have since enjoyed; for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national one now lately instituted; for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed, and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and, in general, for all the great and various favors which He has been pleased to confer upon us.

And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations, and beseech Him to pardon our national and other trangressions; to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually; to render our National Government a blessing to all the people by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed; to protect and guide all sovereigns and nations (especially such as have shown kindness to us), and to bless them with good governments, peace, and concord; to promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the increase of science among them and us; and, generally, to grant unto all mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as He alone knows to be best.

Given under my hand at the City of New York the third day of October in the year of our Lord 1789.

Go. Washington