The View from Here

Resolutions

Today I looked in horror at the list of “goals” I made last December. There they are in black and white, numbered,  a full page in my journal. What was I thinking?!? Exercise three times a week? Well, I did get on the treadmill yesterday. Yes, I had to step on it to reach a box of slides stacked in the corner of my office!  Improve my Spanish? Soy loco. Be more relaxed? I’m stressed over the fifteen things on my list of twenty that I did NOT accomplish in 2005. How can I possibly relax? How many days are left? Did you say hours? Oh my goodness! (And you’re sitting there feeling jealous because you just realized I did accomplish five things on my list. No, I’m not telling you which five.)

I’m not sure why we insist on putting ourselves through this torment each year. Most of our resolutions are self-defeating attempts to cure all of our problems in one fell swoop. “I will lose 100 pounds by summer!” “I will quit smoking today!” “I will be healthy!” Such grand ideas. Such nonsense. Real change, real solutions begin with small steps. They begin with sincere desire and motivation. They don’t begin on a specific date.

I’m going to try something different this year. I’ve mentioned before that I have a card posted near my computer that says, “Greatness is achieved when you commit to making even small improvements every day.” Well, this year I’m striving for small changes, small goals, and small accomplishments. There was a time in my life when that would have sounded like failure, or at least a lack of motivation. However, living past fifty has taught me that the human mind and body resist change. If I want to be thinner and healthier or wealthier and wiser, I need to be sneaky about it. I need to make changes so small that my conscious mind doesn’t have a chance to say “hey, hold on just a darn minute!” Studies have shown that if you try to starve your body it will just try harder to store fat. It panics and tries to work more efficiently in order to survive. Our experience tells us that if someone says “You can’t…” we work that much harder to prove to them that we can if we want to!”

This year I’ve decided to have one goal and really stick with it. I’m going to do one thing each day that improves my life or health. I know, I know. I should have included something about world peace or at least something about doing unto others. But you know what? I’ve found that when I’m happy I make others happy! What a concept! (Don’t you just have to laugh at yourself sometimes? I certainly do. I come up with these astonishing “truths” that I’m sure come from the depths of my soul, but when I write them down I immediately recognize them as something I’ve read in my Bible. We humans really aren’t that smart, just well intentioned.)

So anyway, that’s the plan for 2006. Nothing earth shattering. Nothing political. Nothing grandiose. Just day by day changes that hopefully will work their way into my life and routine so subtly and permanently that by the end of the year I won’t have to feel guilty about the long list of things I haven’t done. And just to make sure that I’m not dependent on someone else’s artificial timetable I started today. For lunch I had grape tomatoes with my ham sandwich instead of eating chips.

I said small changes!

Did you think I was kidding?

Happy New Year everyone!

Christmas Lost and Found

My neighbor, who is also my first cousin, came home the other day to discover that his ATV had been stolen. My mind immediately leapt back to the year our oldest daughter turned five. Her little red bike was stolen from our yard and I wrote this letter to the local paper:

“Dear Editor- A little 5-year-old girl is without her beloved red bike. It was a beaten, battered old thing, put together from pieces of other bikes. But it was hers. Then someone stole it from the yard, three feet from our front door. I have only one thing to say to the thief: You had to be very desperate or very cruel to do such a thing. We do not have the money to replace the bike and our daughter will miss it for a long time to come. If you have any heart at all, you will return it in the dark, as you stole it. No questions will be asked.” 

We didn’t get her bike back, but a young boy read the letter. He had just gotten a new, bigger bike for Christmas and called the newspaper. He generously gave our daughter his old bike, which was in better shape than hers. We were touched and she was thrilled! It was a real lesson in the kindness of strangers.

We have often been the recipients of such kindnesses. One Christmas our son was in the hospital. I was amazed by the number of people who went out of their way to visit not only our son, but all the children, during the holiday week. I still have the ornament that a 4H group gave him. We forget sometimes that hospitals are filled during the holidays with children in pain.

There have been times when our children would not have had gifts if we hadn’t received help from our parents or friends or charitable organizations. Perhaps that’s why I make sure that I give at least one “angel” gift each year. This year I was blessed to give gifts to two young children. I love being “anonymous”! It makes the shopping and giving even more joyful. And I want to congratulate my granddaughter on saving enough money to buy her own “angel” gift. That gave me such a thrill!

I found something this week that I thought I had lost. Many people know that my husband and I met at a hospital party. He was a respiratory therapist and I was an EKG technician. What they don’t know is that we dated for several months and then for a variety of reasons (mine), we didn’t see each other for a year. The next Christmas I sent him a card. I guess he thought that meant I was over my “reasons” because he immediately called me. We resumed dating and were married the following March. Well…while going through some papers this week I found the Christmas card! Yep. The one I sent him in 1971! When I read the message I started laughing: “May your Christmas be a happy one and may its promise be fulfilled in the New Year.”  Maybe I was smarter than I thought!

I also found a negative of a picture I’d never seen. That little sweetie is me. Don’t know when or where. I’ll have to show it to my dad this week.

Have a great day and get ready…the New Year is sneaking up on us.

Fires

Many of you have emailed to ask if we are safe. So far, yes. However, this is the prairie and fire is always a hazard. The smell of burning grass permeated the air on Wednesday. I was planting daffodils on the hill across from the Dairy Queen when I heard the first siren. A fire that had scorched several acres the day before had once again ignited. I watched as the edge of the fire line turned orange and smoke began billowing. The fire trucks raced once again.

There have been so many fires in the past week that many fire departments are running out of money for gasoline for the trucks. Volunteers are working overtime. Firefighters from all over the state are helping each other. Each morning on the news there is a report of where the latest fire is burning and how many homes were lost the day before. The death count is at five.

I took a few pictures of the scorched pasture just west of town. It was the only fire damage I could safely photograph. I was afraid to stop on the side of the highway to take pictures of the damage just south of town. One of our local ODOT workers was struck by a truck and killed yesterday. I didn’t want to follow in his footsteps.

The fires have been a reminder of how quickly we can lose everything we hold dear.  Just a few years ago we had to evacuate our home because of a fire raging across the road from us. I let my cats out of the house, then grabbed an extra change of clothes and my photo albums. If we had to go tonight I would need three trips to grab photos! I told my daughter I have my memories, but sometimes I need photos to help me with the details. I’ve forgotten so much! I guess we are all the same. One poor man who lost his home this week said, “We’re safe, but fifteen years of memories just burned up.”

The fire danger will remain with us into the New Year. It is unseasonably warm and dry. I think our rainfall level is about 20 inches below normal. There is a ban on fireworks that some fools will ignore. There is a ban on trash burning that several people have already ignored. There have been warnings about throwing out cigarettes. One fire was started by a fellow who hit a power pole with his tractor! Any little spark can be the start of a hundred-acre blaze.

I’ve been watering my yard for the past two days. Other than that I don’t suppose there is anything to do but pray for rain and safety.

Family and Friends

          Each year I look forward to Christmas, not just for the food and cards and presents, but for the chance to reconnect with family and friends. This year was a mixed blessing. My Aunt Doris died on the nineteenth. She was a dear, unselfish woman who will be greatly missed by her community. Her death brought a touch of sadness to the holidays that I’m sure her children and grandchildren will feel for years to come. But her passing also gave us a gift to cherish- the chance to sit around and talk about our lives with those we love. The “family night” brought out family and friends from all over the area. And though I told one of my cousins that we have to stop meeting “just at funerals”, we still enjoyed that brief reconnection. Sometimes as we go about our lives we forget that we are part of a bigger picture, a huge circle of family and friends connected to other families and friends. The “small world” concept is certainly apparent at a funeral in southeastern Oklahoma.

We were blessed this weekend by a call from my husband’s only brother, who recently returned safely from Kuwait. He now begins the task of picking up the pieces of his life. His house has more or less been “in storage” for over a year. His real life has been on hold. I can’t imagine being gone for such a long time. We are so very grateful to all of the friends who helped us pray for him, and thankful to have him home from the war. We plan to get together with him in June when we visit our daughter in California.

Two of my brothers made the trip to our dad’s for Christmas. It was great to see both of them. It has been almost a year since I’d seen one of them and over a year since I’d seen the other. We let ourselves get too busy! We go about our lives and work and play and forget how short this life really is and how few chances we may get to just sit and talk. I hope we all make an effort this next year to get together more often.

I got a great surprise on Christmas Day! I was standing on my father’s front porch, talking with my brothers, when someone drove down the block, came to a screeching halt in front of the house, backed up, and turned into the driveway. Just as the car made the turn I recognized a dear friend I haven’t seen in more than eight years. The sight of her bounding down the driveway with her arms outstretched was worth more than any box tied with ribbons! We talked and talked, and then made plans to visit next week. Turns out she is only about an hour away. Small world.

A present my husband and I bought for ourselves has opened up a whole new world. We bought a scanner that copies negatives and slides. We have hundreds of both! I have some old negatives that my dad gave me, some my mother left in her files, and some from my childhood attempts at photography. Seems like I’ve always had a camera! Anyway, I played with the new scanner this morning and saw a couple of photos from my childhood that I’ve never seen before. Also scanned some old black and white photos that I recently came across when I was going through my genealogy files. What a treat! I’ll share one here. It’s a picture of three of my brothers with their new guns. I remember when every Christmas included some kind of gun or knife or “action figure”.

Our son visited this weekend and he, too, got a visit from old friends. They were passing through and remembered where we live. They assumed our son would be visiting and they were right. It was good to see them and great to see our son reconnect with someone he hadn’t seen in a while. (I won’t say more because he hates for me to blog about him.)

Family and friends. Those are the best gifts for this or any holiday season. I hope you got a chance to visit and talk and laugh with those you love. Aunt Doris’s passing reminded me again that we need to cherish each other while we have the chance. I hope you will try to spend more time with loved ones. I hope you will call and email. I hope you will not let little differences or busy lifestyles or anything else keep you apart. Just reconnect and enjoy!

Macy's

I began my retail career in October of 1986. I started working at Macy’s like hundreds of other employees, as a “Christmas hire”- temporary, part-time. Little did I know how much of my life was about to change!

The first surprise for this country girl was the training class. I thought I was pretty smart, but the cash register and the paper work and the procedures for everything kept me challenged. And I found out that there was a lot more to “customer service” than just pointing people to the right aisle! I guess at that point I hadn’t had a lot of shopping experience in the “better stores”. But I must have done something right because my first night “on the floor” I passed the most rigorous test imaginable. One of my first customers was the store manager!

I guess all of the regulars knew the manager made her rounds during the first weeks after the new hires started work. They just didn’t bother to tell the unsuspecting new hires! We had met at least a dozen executives during our training classes. Why didn’t I remember what the manager looked like?? I suppose because I was too overwhelmed. Anyway, my first assignment was the men’s department and a very nice woman asked me to help her find some shirts for her husband. About thirty minutes and three shirt purchases later, she thanked me and left. The next day my immediate supervisor told me I’d made a “very good impression”. Funny, I just remember trying to survive my first night!

That first Christmas I only worked 20 hours a week from October 25th to December 27^th. It was an exhausting whirlwind of late nights and sore feet, but I found that I loved it! I worked in several different departments. I met lots of people. I got to drool over the amazing array of gifts and decorations. It was a wonderful experience. Perhaps that’s why I made the coveted “rehire” list. On January 17^th I went back to work as a “flyer”.

I spent the next five years at Macy’s. As a flyer I worked odd hours and was “on call” for any emergency. If someone got sick, went on vacation, or just needed a lunch break I worked their area. If a department lost an employee or was having a sale I worked that department until things were stable again. During the time period I was there, I was the only flyer to work every single department in the store, including the loading dock, personnel office, customer service, cookies, and electronics. I even worked as the store secretary for a few months! I trained employees. I ran the switchboard. And each year I spent the week before Christmas in gift wrap!

Gift wrapping in a department store is a generally thankless task. People expect gift wrapping. They expect it to be beautiful. They expect it to done quickly and expertly.  And they expect it to be free. They also expect miracles! I remember the challenge of wrapping televisions and statues and fragile china. I once wrapped 32 boxes of candy for a woman who carefully watched the entire procedure. Customers love to make suggestions, or demand that a crease be a little sharper, the bow a little straighter. The woman who worked next to me was once slapped on the hand by a dissatisfied customer! I was right there with my mouth hanging open when it happened!

Christmas shopping doesn’t always bring out the best in people. We’re generally frustrated, exhausted, and on the brink of financial ruin. We’re at our wit’s end trying to figure out what to buy for people we barely know, or how to impress the people we care about the most. The week before Christmas the stores stay open later and later. The shoppers get more and more desperate. I always hated to help a man who was shopping at eleven o’clock on December 23^rd! I hate to see a grown man cry!

The loading dock was always an interesting assignment during the holidays. Just ask my husband. He was a Christmas hire a couple of times. The staff was kept hopping, not only with new merchandise for the departments, but with customer purchases. Spur-of-the-moment shoppers would take advantage of a sale on televisions and then drive around to the dock in a Volkswagen bug. Oops! Or they’d make so many purchases, they’d have to call a friend to bring a second car.

The best thing about working at a major retail store during the holidays has to be the decorations. The number of people who work behind the scenes to design, build, buy, and put up the decorations is astounding. And the result is always phenomenal. Macy’s had a whole forest of Christmas trees decorated in different themes. Each department had swags and bells and ribbons and glitter. Harp music floated down from the upper floors. I loved going to work!

People often asked me if I envied wealthy customers, or found myself coveting pricey items in the store. I really didn’t.  I spent so much time at the store that it actually felt like my second home.  I gazed at the pretty china every day. I spent lunch hours looking at expensive jewelry. I felt the fur coats and soft silks. The merchandise was around me all the time. I didn’t need to wear it or take it home or own it. Plus I had the added bonus of not having to pay for it. I just enjoyed it!

Working at Macy’s taught me some hard lessons about people. I had to smile and give my best “customer service” to people who annoyed, repulsed, or even frightened me. I was shocked by the shoplifting and vandalism that took place year-round, but especially during the holidays. I was disgusted by people who abused the return system in order to wear a fancy dress and jewelry for an evening. I was embarrassed by the things people did in the dressing rooms! I was outraged by a manager who stole money from her own register. But I also met some truly wonderful people on both sides of the counter. I worked with some women who are still friends today. I worked long enough to have some regular customers who were a joy to help. I met people from different cultures and careers who added to my knowledge and experience in ways that can’t be measured.

Even though I loved my job, it took a toll on my health, and I eventually grew tired of the hours and demands of retail. I worked the last year in the personnel office and took that experience with me to another personnel job in a hospital. But I have never regretted my time at Macy’s. I still love the store and I try to visit when I get the chance.

To all of you who work in retail, I wish you a Merry Christmas! I have a profound respect for you. Hang in there, it will be over soon!

Lights

This morning on my way to work I made a very pleasant discovery. A dear friend who lives off the highway has erected a huge lighted cross in his yard. It’s beautiful, inspiring, reassuring, and just plain wonderful! I can’t wait to see it tomorrow. I love lights! I’m usually too timid (afraid of heights and electricity) to put any on our house, but I love to see them. We drove around town Saturday night and just looked at lights. Some are funny, like the moving reindeer, and some are traditional, like the lighted nativity scene.

My husband and I grew up in a city in California that had a prosperous neighborhood famous for its Christmas lights. There were huge old evergreens on each side of the street and they were lit from top to bottom with streams and streams of lights.  Driving down “Christmas Tree Lane” was a tradition. We’d pack everyone into the car and “ooh and ahh” through two miles of lights and displays. There were carolers and sometimes a live nativity scene.  It was the highlight of the holiday.

Each year I watch the news for reports about those houses with a million lights. Did you see the one this year that was such a traffic hazard that it had to be shut off? Or the controversial “pink” yard display for someone’s idol? Some yards have lights and music. Some have themes. Others are a hodgepodge of everything from Santa and reindeer to camels and shepherds. Most are just meant to be enjoyed!

Remember when Christmas lights were dependent on each other? I’m sure that’s not an electrical term, but you knew what I meant didn’t you! My dad would spend thirty minutes figuring out which bulb needed to be replaced so the rest of the string would light up! Then of course there was the task of untangling the wires so they could be strung on the tree again. When our children were little we had to have lights on the tree. By then you could take out half the lights and the rest would still glitter and twinkle. Ah, progress. Now I pass on the lights entirely because I’m afraid my silly cats will get into them. I have enough trouble keeping them away from the ornaments!

One year we had one of those aluminum trees with the rainbow light wheel behind it. I can’t remember what that was called either! (Someone will have to jog my memory- it was the sixties!) I just remember everyone had to have one. Then just as quickly everyone was tired of them. These days you can buy lights in the shape of nearly anything from chili peppers to tractors. They’re fun for a while. But I like green trees and traditional twinkling lights.  I want a tree to look like it did when I still had dreams about Christmas. I want a tree to look like it used to look at 3am when I breathlessly awoke my parents so I could get started on my presents. I want a tree to look like the one in “It’s a Wonderful Life”.

Christmas lights bring out the kid in us, but they also remind us of the true meaning of Christmas. When I see Christmas lights I think of that star long ago, guiding the wise men to baby Jesus. Perhaps that’s why lights seem so reassuring. We know they guide us. They light up the darkness and illuminate the beauty of the most ordinary things. Jesus is our light. He guides us. He illuminates the beauty of our ordinary lives. What could be more reassuring in these troubled times? So I’ll look for the beautiful cross in the morning. I hope there is a guiding light in your life. Merry Christmas! 

Christmas Cards

I can’t remember the first Christmas cards I sent or received. If I had to guess I would say that either had to involve a grandmother. With all the moving we did when I was a child I can’t imagine anyone except one of my grandmothers keeping up with us. I still have a few cards saved that were written by my grandparents and aunts and uncles and cousins. However, the majority of the cards I’ve received over the years have been from friends. The majority I’ve sent have been to friends. Perhaps that’s why my favorite holiday movie is “It’s a Wonderful Life”.

By the way, my VHS copy of  “It’s a Wonderful Life” broke this year and my sweet hubby bought me a DVD of it. I don’t think he even likes the movie, but he knows how much it means to me. I watch it every year, and each year it reminds me that friendship is more important than money or position.

When I was younger I sent cards to everyone we knew. That included friends, acquaintances, business associates, church members, former church members, and relatives. Our Christmas card list once included nearly 400 people! But over the years we have lost touch with some people. We’ve stopped corresponding with others. A few friends and relatives have died. I hand deliver many cards. The list has diminished and I now send out about 40 cards. We receive about 40-50. I treasure each and every one!

Christmas cards let me know that people still care. They are a sign that everything is okay and the person sending the card is well enough and happy enough to keep in touch. And I love keeping in touch! I love personal notes. I love hearing about their children and travels and travails. Which leads me to the “Holiday Letter”.

Now I know you’ve all received the HOLIDAY LETTER that everyone complains about. It’s the one that tells about all the promotions and raises and the trips to Fiji. The writer’s children are perfect and their job is perfect. Even the dog is perfect. It’s the letter that makes a point of saying I’M THE BEST.  Well if you are friends with someone like that, then you deserve the letter! J I personally don’t care what a person chooses to write about. I just like the letters. I’ve gotten funny ones, bragging ones, sappy ones, sad ones. Keep them coming! I even save most of them.

If you don’t get a card from us this year, I’m sorry. Consider my blog your year-round card! I do hope that with the increased use of  the internet people don’t stop sending paper cards. However, I receive some email cards and I don’t object to them. I read one of those “Dear Abby” kind of letters about a man who was very angry because he lived with his daughter and some people addressed cards to both of  them, instead of sending one to him individually. My message to him is GET OVER IT! Let’s not spend this celebration of our Lord’s birth being nit-picky about who sends a card or how they send it. Let’s just enjoy the season and praise God for our friends! Now go check your mailbox!

Snow

             I stayed home today. No, I didn’t accomplish great things with my extra time. I didn’t walk five miles on my treadmill. I didn’t clean the house or do the rest of my laundry. I didn’t work on my novel. Didn’t even curl up with someone else’s novel! I just wrote a few Christmas cards, finished my online shopping, read a magazine, did a little writing, and spent some quality time with my husband. We both stayed home today because winter arrived last night and our hill was a snowy, icy mess. We decided it was better to be safe than “dedicated”. A few years ago I suppose I would have headed off to work no matter what. But age has taught me that my life is more important than any job, even one I love. I felt a little guilty this morning, but as the day progressed I was sure of my decision. Only one car ventured out on our normally busy road. Even the highway had only minimal traffic until about ten o’clock.

            This is an early snow for us. It began yesterday with a few light flakes during recess. The children were so excited! They ran and jumped and screamed. Several told me they were going to build a snowman. However, I’m told my students never got enough snow to fulfill their dreams. On this side of the state (remember, I live 57 miles from work) it was a different story. On my way home it became whiter and whiter, until I was in a full-fledged snowstorm about ten miles from the house. The cold temperatures and some ice added more danger to the mix. I was so grateful to get home! And too tired to build a snowman.

            I’m not sure why snow excites us so much, or how it came to symbolize the “picture perfect Christmas”. We had huge snow drifts for Christmas when we lived in Iowa and I don’t think it made the holidays any happier. Maybe we’ve just become accustomed to the idea that Santa is happier with snow. Or perhaps we associate snow with staying home.

I think the only time we are truly blessed by the snow is when there is enough of it to keep us all in our homes! Perhaps that’s why we get excited. There is something special about sharing a day of forced relaxation. There’s a quiet eeriness when traffic stops and neighborhoods are covered in white. There’s a feeling of esprit de corps in knowing your neighbors are also curled up on the sofa with an afghan and a cup of hot cocoa.

            I remember the first time I was “snow-bound”. I was around ten. We lived in California and about ½ an inch of snow fell in the San Joaquin Valley. It was such an unprecedented phenomenon that all the schools cancelled classes! I remember how odd the huge sled we picked olives with looked covered by a layer of snow. And I remember thinking how strange it was that something so pretty and calming could change everything, including my school schedule. That’s the power of snow. It’s quiet and pretty, but it can pack a lethal punch if you don’t respect it.

            Thanks to a very smart driver’s ed teacher, I learned to drive in snow. I was living back here in OK by the time I was old enough to drive. Our teacher knew that we wouldn’t be driving in perfect conditions all of our life so he took us out in the snowy parking lot and taught us to drive and turn and park on the slick surface. He took us out in rainstorms and after dark. He made me drive when I was afraid, and I’ve been grateful to him ever since. The first time I drove in a real Iowa snowstorm I asked God to bless him!

            I drove through a Pennsylvania snowstorm a few years ago when we went to Vermont for Christmas. That was one of the happiest Christmases we’ve had in years because we finally got to watch our grandchildren open their gifts. However, I wouldn’t live in Vermont if someone paid me. Sorry kids! My old California bones have enough difficulty adjusting to the one or two light snows we get in southeastern Oklahoma. The 60-70 inches a year that Vermont gets would put me into rigor mortis.

            So…I’m perfectly happy to call today’s snow my “White Christmas”. I don’t need any more. I’ve had the experience of a day of relaxation. I’ve seen the birds prancing about looking for seeds. I’ve watched the ice drip off the lingering rose buds. We can move on to spring. Anytime. I’m ready. Did the weather man honestly say that it’s going to be 9 degrees tomorrow??? Is that even a real temperature? Is he kidding me? The official first day of winter isn’t until December 21^st? Bummer….

            

Happy Birthday

Yes, this blog is still about Christmas! When I wrote about special Christmas gifts earlier, I neglected to mention the greatest Christmas gift I ever received. That’s her on the left in her favorite dress, with her best friend Zippy. Both of my girls were winter babies- Karen, born on December 8 (I won’t tell how many years ago), and Katrina two years later, on January 4 (Your blog is coming!). I don’t know what I was thinking! It was so difficult to make the girls’ birthdays special in the midst of all the other holiday plans. I suppose Katrina was the most neglected. After the rush of all the Christmas festivities we were just plain tired by the time January 4^th rolled around! Sorry hon! Even now I try not to wrap birthday gifts in Christmas paper. I try not to be late mailing birthday cards. I said “try”. J

I didn’t spend a lot of money on Karen’s first Christmas. After all she was only weeks old and everyone had already given us baby presents. Two churches had blessed us with baby showers. Even the nurses sent her home with a little stocking.  However, the NEXT Christmas I broke the budget and our house looked like Santa made our stop and just forgot the rest of his route. I still laugh at myself when I look at the photos from that Christmas. I spent more on Karen’s little coat than I spent on my own! And she got toys and dolls and games. But it was such fun! I’d never before had a child to give gifts to, and by then we were alone. Divorce makes you a bit crazy and puts you into the “I’ll make up for it” frame of mind.

Karen didn’t really get attached to one particular toy until the year she got Zippy. He was probably one of the best gifts I’ve ever given. Never has a toy been as loved as that stupid monkey. Once he came into our lives he went everywhere with us. I can’t tell you how many times I had to find that monkey before we could get in the car! Or how many times I had to wash his face or repair his clothes. He was hugged and loved and wagged around until years later when I finally had to put him away for his own protection. (I understand that he’s still carefully stored in someone’s closet.)

     I probably shouldn’t tell this, but Karen was terrified of Santa Claus. We couldn’t get her near the guy at the mall! And forget pictures. I can’t even remember how old she was before we finally got her to sit on Santa’s knee. Maybe she remembers.

Karen had three Christmases to be the spoiled “one and only” child and grandchild. I learned so much from her experiences! I discovered that she had just as much fun with some of the boxes as she did with the toys. I learned that it was more important to do things with her, than it was to buy things for her. She loved to bake cookies and decorate ornaments and go outside to see the pretty lights. I found out that I didn’t have to spend a lot of money to make Christmas an enjoyable holiday for her. I think that’s a lesson she’s learned from her first child. It's nice to see traditions carried on. Of course now I'm the "spoiling grandmother", but hey, it's my turn.

So that’s my Christmas blog for today. If my scanner was working properly I’d show you more pictures. Guess I’ll have to go sit on Santa’s knee and tell him I need a new scanner for Christmas!

Happy Birthday Karen!

Of Christmases Past and Presents

I just returned from choir practice. Each year I try to sing in our church’s Christmas program. The songs and the fellowship of our choir bring me such joy! And the programs always bring back precious memories of other churches, other choirs, other Christmases. Christmas is a time for memories, so for the month of December I’m going to indulge in mine! Every blog this month will somehow be tied to Christmas. Even if you don’t like Christmas or you are having a very difficult time this year, stick around- there will be something for everyone.

I have some great Christmas memories- some funny, some sad, some sappy. One year we ended up in the hospital emergency room for Christmas! I worked at Macy’s for five years and each year I found myself working in gift wrap for at least part of the holiday. I still remember my first Christmas as a new mother, and I remember my first Christmas as a motherless child. We’ll get to all those stories later.

Christmas is about presents. It’s about God’s present to us and our presents to others. It’s about generosity and caring and forgiveness. We’ve made it about shopping and money and food. However, if you spend time with children, as I do, you never lose that wonder, that expectation that Christmas is about possibilities. What if…?  I helped my students write their letters to Santa last week. They were funny and creative and wistful. One little boy asked me if it was okay to ask for a “real monkey” and a “huge cage for it”. I told him there’s nothing wrong with asking.

You can make someone so happy just by giving them something as a token of your love. You can make something, bake something, or do something that just says, “Hey, I care about you!” It doesn’t have to be expensive. It doesn’t have to be the latest “it”, the “must have” of the year. All it has to be is something you took the time and care to choose. I have loved all the things my children have made over the years. I love the things my grandchildren make. I love them because making something takes time. Today, especially, time is a precious gift.

          We think that our children are going to remember all the games and toys and gadgets we buy for them, but they won’t. If we’re lucky they will remember one or two perhaps that make an impact. My memories of gifts are like that. I remember a few from my childhood: a paint-by-number set, a doll, a tea set, a dollhouse. However, two gifts stand out.

          My grandfather was an alcoholic. I’m not sure exactly when I realized it, but I think I was about nine years old. He was a talented carpenter and craftsman before he gave his life to wine. My grandmother kept a few toys that he’d crafted of wood and several people have told me of his skills. When I was four, or five, he decided to build a table and chairs and a little cabinet for me. I can’t imagine the time it must have taken to build it and paint it. It was the best Christmas present ever! I remember sitting with him and eating pie from tiny plates and then washing them in the sink he had fashioned in the middle of the cabinet. I felt so grownup!

          When I was about nine years old my parents gave me a record player for Christmas. My grandparents had bought a café by then and I spent a lot of time in front of the jukebox. Well, Dad got a whole stack of 45’s from the guy who stocked the jukebox! I played those things and sang until I was hoarse! I just knew I was going to be famous someday. That’s the magic of a special gift. It shows us that the giver has an insight into our dreams, our hopes, our wishes.

My gift to you this Christmas season is my prayers. I pray that you find peace and joy. I pray that you are surrounded by good friends and family. I pray that you get and give a special gift.