My friend Elizabeth Nichols Ross gave me two unusual Christmas gifts today, a plastic sheep mask she found in the attic of her Funeral Home, and a jar of sauerkraut, both gifts were a first for me. I wore the mask out to do the afternoon chores, and Ted the ram got a little too interested in it, so I took it off and put it in the sheep feeder, Kim seemed to like it. Elizabeth is one of the most interesting people I know, she handles people at both ends of life, she is a minister and an undertaker. Maria and I have decided to have another marriage ceremony on the farm soon to re-commit ourselves to one another.

We both have loved being married to each other so much we want to do it again, simple and with a few friends right out in the pasture with the donkeys and sheep. Elizabeth is a friend and a blogger, she writes with great passion and feeling about death and her business, you can find this work on her new blog. Elizabeth is funny and bright and passionate about her work, she wrote a powerful piece today about her struggle to reconcile money with the suffering people who come to her in mourning. She has peculiar taste in gifts, we are very happy that she has agreed to marry us again. We hope to do it in January.