December 24, 2006
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Christmas. more happiness and more sadness than almost any other day out of the year. You always have both extremes…happiness of being together, getting more stuff to pile on your other stuff (cynically stated), sleeping and eating LOTS. time off work, vacation…and sadness when you are alone, when you are not able to be with those you love, when things don’t work out, when family members bring up the same argument from last year, when you ate too much and can’t move…
and most Christmas’s i find to be a mixture of both. can’t seem to have all one or the other no matter how hard i try. that’s life.
We passed out Christmas presents around the neighborhood with the Youth Center on Thursday. This meant i grabbed 8 kids, loaded them up with toys that had been donated, and then drove down the street, stopping everytime we saw a house that might have kids (meaning they had stay balls, toys, and whatever littering their porch) and had the kids knock on their door, asking if they wanted any presents for their family. After a couple awkward moments where some people looked down their noses at us or kids said the stuff wasn’t good enough–the evening was really good. We sang a couple carols and had a very enthusiastic version of “Jingle Bells” involving lots of complicated banging on the sides of the van. it was Christmas time. even with the rain soaking everyone and getting the toys muddy.
We got our wet selves back in time to find out i was doing the Bible study for the Jr.s–about 11 very hyper ones. i was halfway through it when i realized i really wasn’t saying anything about Christmas, but then again…i was. Revelations 3:20.
i took my first and only vacation day of the year on Tuesday to be with family. instead, Anna, John, and i all woke up Tuesday morning coughing and sick. mom and dad went around administering juice and vitamin C to our rooms. Welcome to Christmas vacation. cough cough. But i have had such wonderful times with so many people–Jessica, Aunts and Uncles, Myssi, Sara, Dani…even if Dani did keep ditching Sara and i in the mall…just because i happen to like singing Christmas carols and wearing the reindeer ears they gave me at Old Navy. goodness.
i am surrounded by stuff! ahhhhhh!
that was my after-shopping blurb. sometimes…it is just too much.
and “It’s a Wonderful Life” really is a good movie. even though “A Muppet Christmas Carol” is still my top Christmas movie.
God. i don’t want to just write pretty words about you. i don’t even want to release all the thoughts that swirl my head. i want them to well up and show You. well up and touch You. to be all that i know is You. Happy Birthday.
