Things I'm thankful for:
- my dear husband, who sticks with me no matter what. He has so much patience. He makes me laugh and smile.
- my mom seems to be doing better. She has actually gotten out of the house, and visited with friends, and she even went to the Christmas Program that FBC Buna put on last week.
- my new little nephew, Nicholas Ryan. What a precious addition he is to the family.
- that God has once again spoken clearly to me about some things in my life. and that He is opening the door again for me to once again sing on the praise team.
- that John and I are trying for baby.
Things I'm looking forward to:
- waking up with John on Christmas morning
- singing Away in a Manger with my dad playing the guitar at the Candelight service Christmas Eve.
- singing with Heaven's Breath at the Candelight service
- leading music Sunday morning (dec. 28) at FBC Buna with one of my dearest friends, Mitch.
- Christmas eve with my family - Singing Christmas Carols, listening to dad play the guitar, hearing the Christmas story, and singing Silent Night, as we all think about my brother Jeremy, and how he used to sing it in German every year.
- refreshing old memories
This year is the first year I've really been in the Christmas Spirit since Jeremy died.
Now...For my favorite Christmas memories...
Every year, the day after Thanksgiving, Jeremy, Dad, and I would always go out to Double S Tree farms, and pick out the perfect Christmas tree that we were going to decorate that year. We'd go get the saw, pick it out, cut it down, and off we went. We'd go back to the house (we even did this after my parents split up), and turn down the lights, and it would begin. Dad would pull out his guitar, and Jeremy and I would begin to decorate the tree. Mom would sit back, listen and watch. We'd string the lights out, find out which ones were working, and which ones weren't. After we strung the lights on the tree, we'd pull out the ornaments. We'd laugh, and cry, and make fun of the poor little angel I made in the third grade. You see, my third grade classroom had a terrible leak in the ceiling, and one day, part of the ceiling collapsed. I'll never forget Mrs. Gerald saying "well, a couple of your Christmas Angels were crushed, but we managed to save them." Of course, mine was crushed, and wet, so the marker smeared, and well...I hope to get a picture of her while at mom's to share. Then there are all the silly little ornaments made of sweet gum balls, and lifesaver wrappers, and popsicle sticks, and then the ultimate ornament. I must preface this with - I AM NOT AN ARTIST. I should not have taken art my freshman year in high school. We made paper mache' ornaments. We blew up mini balloons, and paper mache'd them, and then painted them. My forementioned angel above looks like she came from heaven compared to my paper mache' sorry-excuse-for-an-ornament-made-by-a-14-year-old. :-) It's all caved in on one side, and it looks like I took it to a Mission Friends class and let one of the kids paint it.It just hasn't been the same since Jeremy died. I took to some of the traditions with decorating my own tree, and still do what I can when I decorate mom's tree. Sadly, the Christmas tree farms in town have all closed, so if we want a real tree, we just go to wal-mart and pick it up. I throw on some Kenny G Christmas music, and decorate by myself.
I'm hoping as each year comes, John and I can start our own Christmas Traditions together, and that just as my parents' traditions have been passed on to me, we can do the same with our future children.
Do you have any favorite Christmas Traditions? I'd love to hear any!
I will post plenty of pictures next weekend when I'm back in San Antonio. In the country, it's hard to get any kind of good internet connection, so this will probably be my last blog for a week or so.
I hope that each of you has a very Merry Christmas, and a happy New Year!
Here's to a better year in 2009! *clink*
:-)
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