A Different Christmas

    I mentioned to Connie that we had no decorations except a twig and three pictures on the wall so she and her kids got busy and sent us a tree with lights made of poster board and a ton of snowflakes.  It brought some life to the place.  To add to that there were See's chocolates that we are working at finishing because we are going to try to go off sugar again after New Years. It is such a sacrifice to try to get them finished. ^0^

 

Growing up and even in many of my married years I think that Christmas Eve was more special to me than Christmas Day.  For some reason it seemed that all of my siblings and I were able to gather our families at Mom and Dad's or another home and have a light supper and then we would stand around the piano and sing carols and sometimes have more program and the Christmas story.  I can still "feel" how I felt at those times.  It was family bonding at its finest.  I always went to bed or later to our home full of Christmas joy. 
     I have lots of fun memories of Christmas eve since then but those will always be what Christmas eve is to me.  Perhaps because Mom could play so well, we had all four parts of the music covered (most of the time) and everyone liked to sing we really made music and lots of it. It was caroling at its finest.
     Yesterday we spent the day cooking (I'll write about that in a minute) but between the potatoes and the cookies we took a break to do some service.  I cut up potatoes, dipped them in butter and put them in foil packs in the oven and Mike ran to the store and got some soft drinks and two whole baked chickens.  We took two big brown paper sacks and put two oranges, two soft drinks, three foil packs of potatoes and a whole chicken in each and then got in the car to find homeless people out begging in the rain.  We found three men about a block from here and another two about another two blocks from there.  We had included a Christmas picture and message in the bag which we handed to them and told them to remember what Christmas was really about, wished them a Merry Christmas and then drove off.
      Once we got home I started baking cookies and once they were finished it was just two people in two different rooms doing two different things.  Mike was watching some TV movie that I wasn't in to so I came to the office and watched church Christmas videos.  They touched my heart and I saw some things from a different perspective but I have to admit the "magic" of the evening was missing. 
     Presents are pretty well a thing of the past here, too.  We are always thrilled to hear of the wonderful experiences that our families have as they take turns providing Christmas for needy families instead of doing family gifts.  Those gifts are so much more important and meaningful than the "What can we give to?" gifts that sometimes happen.  It has changed the "under the tree" picture in our home, however.  My siblings and I still exchange a gift and Mike and I usually give each other something but those three gifts are usually it.  This year Lanny sent us a check and we bought a shared computer program for each other on line that hasn't arrived yet so we opened the one wrapped gift, a booklet of the life of JoAnn Murphy Britsch and then got to work cutting cookies and warming potatoes for the party at the Mission Home.                                                                                                                                  

       A few weeks back, at the Friday night Couples Conference the President's wife mentioned that she was going to have all of the missionaries near Eugene come to their place on Christmas day and she didn't know how she was going to get it all done.  She said that the sisters in the office usually help but they would be out delivering gifts that day.  I offered to help and she said that would be wonderful.  I asked if she would like me to do the cookies and funeral potatoes and she said that would be great and for me to save the receipts.  I sent her a text about a week ago reviewing what I had figured out and again she said that would be great.  We spent all day yesterday shopping and cooking.  I made 4 pans of lemon bars, 4 pans of brownies and 4 huge pans (15 lbs of potatoes) of funeral potatoes.

     I was happy to feel like I was really donating something helpful to her.  When we got there it blew my mind.  They had bought a huge cake and 3 mammoth trays of cookies at Costco, she had made cookies and the sisters that were going to be gone came in with-----yes----funeral potatoes and lemon bars.  I couldn't believe it.  There was so much food that not one piece of cake was taken, 3 store bought cookies were taken and a few brownies and lemon bars.  Certainly not one pan of anything was taken when the first wave of missionaries left.  I helped wrap up much of what I brought for the freezer and then we left.  It was obvious that they neither needed us or really even the food. We each did enjoy a plate of lots of delicious food, however.                                                                   

  The rain had stopped and there was some sunlight outside so Mike wanted to take a drive and enjoy it.  There is one street that is named Green Hill that we pass every time we go to Veneta that is so fittingly named and I have mentioned wanting to see where it went.  I got to today.  The pictures don't do it justice.  We usually drive through the traffic light going east or west and it is to the south of us.  The second picture is taken looking back down the hill. 

Yes, that was a "sunny day" compared to the rainy days that we regularly live with.  The blessing of all that moisture is that things are so green and trees are everywhere.

We got to talk to three of our kids and many excited grandchildren.  That was the most fun of all.

After we got home I cooked a chicken, mashed potatoes, gravy, corn and rolls and we feasted and then read the Christmas story from the bible.  That was a nice touch for the day.