For me, Christmas is a happy time. I like to listen to happy songs about jingling bells and figgy pudding or songs full of hopeful expectation like O Come O Come Emmanuel. I do try to keep our Christmas focus on celebrating Christ’s birth and personally want it to be all joy and celebration. The local Christian radio stations played Christmas music throughout the holidays and I only changed the channel when one song came on. It is a good song and I know many people love it, so I don’t wish to offend anyone, but it makes me sad and I don’t want to be sad during Christmastime. On Christmas Eve, for our Manry Christmas service, each of the kids played a Christmas song on the piano. My eldest son thought it would be funny to play the song when I couldn’t change the channel. Two of his siblings joined in with the singing.
Patches loves to sit next to Abby while Abby is practicing piano. She must have a great affinity for Christmas carols, because she started keeping time with her tail. Meanwhile, Shadow continues to try to steal the show in his daily pursuit to become the next bad kitty.
We had a mild autumn and winter has not yet arrived. I took some of the flower photos while on a field trip with Zeke this autumn in the gardens behind the Kenmore Plantation in Fredericksburg. Although there have been nights below freezing, my fourth of July rose was still blooming on the fourth of December. On Saturday, 7 January, I saw my quince shrub blooming. The quince must have decided we are not going to have winter at all. Dale put the photos together for me over the weekend and I planned to post them today. Old Man Winter must have been annoyed at being mocked, because he decided to show up today with a brief snow shower.
The Meloch family does a name exchange for Christmas gifts each year. The adults swap names and the kids swap names and each person makes or buys a gift for one other person within a certain price limit. This year, my brother Rob and sister in law Michelle had Dale and I for their names and they went above and beyond with their Christmas gift giving.
Rob had a ring made for me by a jewelry maker in Colorado which I love and Michelle made Dale a present that brought the most laughs. Awhile back, Michelle witnessed Dale stealing one of his children’s desserts, and upon their cry of complaint, Dale replied, “You should know by now to guard your desserts.”
For Christmas, Michelle built Dale an elaborate dessert fence to put around a box of specialty chocolates.
Because I spent most mornings of Christmas Break driving Abby and her friends to and from driver’s ed class, the boys (who enjoyed their sleeping in) were on their own for breakfast. On the days another Mom drove, I woke Abby and then went back to bed. By the morning of New Years Eve, Zeke was feeling greatly neglected. I had slept late and was about to head out the door for a run when he asked, “Is anyone going to make breakfast today?”
“I’m going for a run,” I replied.
“Oh well,” he said sadly, “I guess I’ll just have a handful of cereal again.”
“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”
Romans 8:28 (NIV)
“The neighbor just ran her car into the tree in our front yard. What do I do?” my eldest son, in a harried voice, asked me over the phone. He had been left at home to baby sit his siblings. I responded with questions, “Were the kids in the car with her? Is everyone alright? Was it the Cherry?” Afterwards, I can never fully explain why I say and do certain things during a crisis. My neighbor and her children are a million times more important than my cherry tree. I know this. However, during crisis, correct perspective often eludes me.
