Living-Deliberately.com

Christmas Day 2005. All is calm and peaceful. What a blessing!

• yesterday I spent most of the day in the kitchen. Baking the weekend’s bread and rolls, putting together the corn casserole for today’s dinner, making the gumbo from scratch for christmas eve dinner. The boys built a fire in the backyard, had an adventure walk through the woods with daddy, cleaned out the van. Celia played with her doll, helped me a bit, and played with the boys. It was, as David requested, a day “to take it easy” and purposely not do a whole lot. Mission accomplished!
• I had a most interesting flare up of something yet to be specifically defined. Rhumatoid artheritis? Maybe, as it was in the 3rd and 4th toes of both feet. Weird and I’ve never had anything like it. Sore to the touch, swollen, and warm on the last joints of my toes. I spent more than a little time of those kitchen hours contemplating what it would be like to have such limited use of my feet….it kept us home from christmas eve service as well. By the evening I just wanted OFF my feet and to snuggle in my new slippers!!!! I’m so glad they came!!!
• After the dinner of gumbo and rolls and a dessert of christmas cookies, the kids opened thier ‘Eve Gifts’: a box of jammie “hugs” from Grandma and the books “The Giving Tree” and “Pat The Bunny” (for the baby). Andrew read the passage from Luke for our family worship time and then later read The Giving Tree. I always cry in that story! They scattered off to bed early to listen to thier story CD’s in thier new jammies. David drifted off reading a new book of Bonehoffer sermons and I had tea while watching British comedies. All was quiet, the garland lights glistened, and it was enormously restful and uncluttered.
• the baby was subsequently up most of the night; we are unsure of what his problem was. Between his crying and my feet, sleep didn’t come easy, nor was it plentiful. The chickens were in our bed at 6 with thier stockings….Christmas Day was here!!!
• watches, wallets, candy, SOCKS, spatulas, my first U2 CD, licorice, hair bows…the baby got a play phone that records our voice…it was all a happy pile of babies and love, easily cleaned up and hung back up under the warning, “no chocolate before church!”
• showers, Eggs Benedict and hot chocolate, sweaters, dish washing, The Messiah….we were actually out the door ON TIME today!
• Church was wonderful. It’s impossible to relay how much I love having Communion every sunday. And probably just as impossible to put into words how the lack of sensationalism and people pleasing leads to a consistant and focused worship service.
• In the car, I noticed how a day like today brings forth every earth tone, every shade to vibrant life. It was chilly and rainy and foggy…the kind of weather that lays on you and wraps around you. And outside were a million shades of grey, both warm and cool. Olive greens, christmas greens, evergreens. Reds and rusts and purples and golds. Fires and browns. Mist and water and life. We came home and donned flannel and fleece and got cozy for what is surely, a most relaxing christmas.
• Dinner was ham, green beans with almonds, “Hot Corn”, cranapple relish, and chocolate pecan pie for dessert. Clean up was a group effort and we played “Clue” when we were done. Phone calls from family, an afternoon movie, books to snuggle up with.

It may have taken courage to sacrifice a tree, a long gift list requiring debt to obtain, and an “eyes ahead” focus when we were out in stores being tempted. It’s taken that same focus to deal with perceptions that we were scroogy, misguided, or pitiful to not have a classic American christmas. It’s sometimes been hard to say no to little voices wanting what it seems every other child can have. But what is absolutley worth it is the peace and calm conscious that:

• we lived within our means
• we worshiped and kept our gaze on Christ and what He means to us ALL year
• we were not hypocritical before our children, nor did we manipulate situations to mean things they don’t so that we can hold onto trappings we’ve become sentimentally attatched to
• our baby got to play with what he loves most…wrapping paper!
• our kids REALLY savored the simple pleasure of new socks, getting to eat ALL thier candy (because they weren’t given it excessively), and time playing games with mom and dad
• I learned that “family holiday traditional dinners” is an area that I could improve in…I’m not very practiced!
• we are for the first time, okay keeping things up and are not sick and overwhelmed with the idea of “christmas” ending in January, at epiphany. We aren’t rundown. Amazing!
• every single aspect of the holidays that we observed was manageable and a true, valued favorite, from the cards to the cookie baking to the simple decorations to the in-perspective gift giving.

What a journey it’s been since David first suggested we move in this direction! He was right! And it is a MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

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