Also enjoying.....

This is Tom Jones

Gift

It is possible that the gift I will appreciate longest was given to me by Corky, who knows me well. (Ironically, I had already purchased it for Hope!) The gift was Caroline Kennedy's A Family Christmas. Kennedy has collected many well-known and some lesser known readings on Christmas including Scripture, familiar stories such as "The Gift of the Magi" and "The Night Before Christmas", letters ("Yes, Virginia....", her letter to Santa from 1961, JFK's letter to a young girl about Christmas and the Missile Crisis) and other genre by writers including Twain, Keillor and Elliot. One of the most enlightening is the 2006 instructions to those employed by Macy's to portray Santa. Kennedy's introduction is wonderful as she reminisces about her mother's traditions. I look forward to enjoying this beautiful work for years to come.

Christmas Memories 2007

My friend Mike McMullen posted recently with the title "I Just Sat Down". I concur. This has been one of the busiest holiday seasons ever. And we weren't pastors! I was, however, along with Hope, Josh and Emma, in "The Christmas Post", the Lovell Heights Christmas musical; the girls were also in the a youth cantata. Both were very successful and beautiful. There was a horse show in December and a total of 9 parties, only one of which I was unable to attend. Leslie had a chorus concert; Emma worked her "part-time" job at Bath & Body Works every day. Corky preached last Sunday at LH. I attended a taping of an event at TL's Global Ministry Center. Then there were final exams and papers to grade, and I had to prepare for my sabbatical (!!) by packing all the books and files I could possibly need for six months.

I got some of my decorating finished, but not all. I did no baking after creating a buche de noel last year! Both of those things were discouraging to me.

We had good trips to Virginia and SC for Christmas week, though Josh was sick. Lots of loot, games and food. Our traditions include a game and appetizer party at my sister's, taco soup on Christmas Eve for lunch, lasagna for dinner, Christmas morning brunch and a more traditional turkey-dressings-ham dinner for Christmas night. Our baked goods traditions are fudge, cookies, cheese wafers, peanut brittle, seven-layer cookies, homemade Chex Party Mix. Added this year were several other decadent things including some great mincemeat bars and those wonderful chocolate covered peanut butter Ritz crackers!

Perhaps the thing that added the most to the "busyness" was that I "crafted" for Christmas gifts this year, something I haven't done in decades. I made a huge scrapbook for my sister, Michele. Lots of fun, lots of work, lots of emotion! Going through all the old pictures was nostalgiac and brought up lots of memories. Then I decided to re-upholster my old rocking chair for Lex. My dad and mom had fixed it for Hope when she was a baby. I haven't sewn in years and was thrilled to find out that my sewing machine (which was my mom's) still worked after sitting in the garage for years. It was well worth it, as Lex loved sitting in the rocker, like a big boy!

Now, I have to take down the tree, organize my home office (thanks to my thoughtful husband, Corky, for a desk chair!), set a new budget, and get back on some sort of sensible eating plan!