I LOVE Christmas!  I always have.  In the early years of our marriage, I wore my poor, overworked, retail manager husband out by dragging him from one event to another.  If the word “Christmas” was on the marquee, I didn’t want to miss it.  And Chuck just wanted to put up his feet whenever possible during the busiest shopping season of the year.  As I’ve grown older and more tired, I have toned down my desire to go, go, go.  But my enthusiasm for the holiday remains as high as ever.  I love the music, the movies, the live shows, the presents and the decorations.  I think I can trace my love affair with Christmas back to my childhood.  I blame my parents.  They were both school teachers, so they had a solid two weeks off from work every year.  So my sisters and I not only got them to ourselves, but for 14 or more days, they had plenty of time for baking and wrapping and special events.

As I write this now, I am looking at my Christmas tree.  It is so beautiful to me.  I can’t pretend it’s always fun to put it up.  Fluffing the branches of an artificial tree that has been stored in the attic for a year makes my top 10 list of un-fun things to do.  And watching my husband’s frustration level rise as we try to determine why yet another strand of lights is not working is no picnic.  The finished product, however, fills me with joy.  The warm lights are so inviting and the colors so festive, but it is the lifetime of memories held in the ornaments that pull at my heart strings.  The dough ornaments I made with my mom and then made again with my step-son.  The crocheted snowflake made by the busy hands of my late grandmother.  The angels engraved with the names and birthdates of my daughters.  The commemorative Hallmark ornaments my great-aunt gave me when I was a little girl.  The elf in a boot that sat on my Aunt Katherine’s coffee table that I just had to have at the age of 2.  The picture of a preschool Allie Rose (she’s 10 now), dressed as Mary.  I could bore you to tears by going on and on.  I even love the hideous ones that have to populate the back of the tree.

Because of my love for all things Christmas, I was appalled my first year with my husband and new step-son to learn how few Christmas carols 7 year old Chandler knew.  So I made him a binder with the lyrics to dozens of songs printed out.  I still have it and got it out to flip through today while studying my tree.  (I warned you I was a nut for this holiday.)  I stopped on “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas”.  The first verse in particular gave me pause:
     “Have yourself a merry little Christmas
      Let your heart be light,
      From now on our troubles will be out of sight.”

Hmmmm.  It’s just not true is it?  Just because there are so many pretty things to look at this time of year doesn’t mean that we can’t see our problems too.  So many songs and stories and movies set up an expectation for our celebration that just isn’t attainable.  Heck, here in Texas, even the weather can put a damper on your holiday spirits.  It’s hard to feel festive at 75 degrees in the shade.  Right now, I’m reminded of the Christmas we didn’t get our ornaments out of their boxes.  We put up our tree and decorated it with teddy bears and other stuffed animals Shelby received while in the hospital.  On December 5 of the year 2000, Shelby had her first grand mal seizure before she was even 5 months old.  We spent several frightening days in the hospital running every test on her that we could imagine at the time.  Blood tests, MRI’s, cat scans, and spinal taps.  In the end we had no real answers.  Many scary seizures and anxious nights followed, and as we filled the tree with those gifts from concerned family and friends, our troubles were most definitely not out of sight.

It’s hard to relate to the cheery lyrics we hear in every public building when you are facing the first Christmas without a loved one, an injury, an illness, a rebellious child, a job loss – or any number of scenarios.  We have to remember that no matter what the lyrics say, Christmas doesn’t come in a well protected bubble.  It comes into this messy, broken world.  In fact, that’s why it comes.  We celebrate Christmas because Christ was born to be the long-awaited Savior of this world.  As Joseph was told by an angel concerning his future bride, “She will give birth to a son and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”  Matthew 1:21(NIV)  Even if things aren’t perfect (and they never will be this side of heaven), we have much to celebrate.  Jesus was born for you and for me.  Immanuel – God with us.  That’s why, no matter what else is going on, I can still say, “It’s the most wonderful time of the year”.

Here in North Texas it’s the last week of school before Christmas break.  The children are excited, the teachers are even more excited, and there is very little blank space on our calendars.  The kids are cramming for finals, invitations to parties and programs are vying for our attention, and we are all shopping until we drop for the perfect gifts for family and loved ones.  The items on our to-do lists are jockeying for positions in our day, but we have little time to accomplish them because we don’t want to miss a parade, tree-lighting, or holiday TV special.  In order to present a Pinterest-worthy Christmas, we decorate and bake and wrap and ribbon curl until we have tinsel coming out of our toenails!  Between the twinkling tree lights and the shiny new gifts, we can be blinded to our need for slowing down to spend quiet time with God.

I want to show you my view as I write this.

Every year I get lazier and cheaper.  No, that is not the Christmas news.  Just a fact.  Many moons ago, I typed a Christmas newsletter, printed many copies on cute themed stationary and snail mailed them to everyone in my address book.  A few years back, I decided that using a Microsoft Word newsletter template and e-mailing it to everyone in my address book would be just as good.  And now, I am using this blog format to share my news.  I will post the link on social media and call it good.  I am not deluding myself into thinking that this is “just as good” as my previous efforts.  I know it’s not.  I know it would be much more fun for you to get something festive in the mail.  At least I assume it would be more fun – because I know getting cards and letters at Christmastime is fun for me.  But alas, this is what I have to offer in this busy season.

Chuck continues to oversee the Fresh departments of 14 Sam’s Clubs in the DFW area.  He still leads our couples’ Life Group at church and is now volunteering, alongside Allie, in the Creationland area (bible classes for birth-preK).  They are both so gifted with children.  He is relishing his role as “Pop” to our grandkids Chayton and Lola.  Chandler and his wife Emily have also stepped into the rolls of foster parents, so we have had the joy of loving on some extra small blessings this year as well.  Chan is excelling in medical school in Ft. Worth and we are enjoying having them close to us.

Shelby (age 15 and in the 10th grade) has started taking a new supplement this summer and is experiencing extremely good health as a result.  Where she WAS suffering through 5-15 seizures every night, she is NOW down to 1-2 a month!  We are all sleeping better and she is so bright eyed and alert.  We have been able to take her off of one seizure med and decrease another with no lingering affects.  Her speech is starting to explode and her little personality is blossoming.  It has been such a fun 6 months!

Adaptive skiing at Ski Apache

Allie (age 10 and 5th grade), continues to play volleyball under her mother’s coaching (bless her).  She is taking musical theater classes again and loves to ham it up.  Her school activities include Running Club, Choir, anchor on KGES – the campus TV station, Bank security, and National Elementary Honor Society.  She got a new dog, Monkey, recently who is as sweet as he is small.

I am still teaching a couple of classes at 24 Hour Fitness and have recently been hired at the new REC center in Grapevine.  As I write this, I am waiting for a call to schedule me for training.  I’m excited about this new part-time opportunity as well as my reenergized focus on writing.  I also volunteer a bit at the crisis pregnancy center and at church, rounding out my busy but fulfilling schedule.  

Even though we have had many moments of fun and excitement, 2015 has not been without incident. It shall forevermore be referred to as our injury-plagued season.  In April, I took a tumble off of Shelby’s bike and tore my ACL.  I had to rehab my knee to get it healthy enough for surgery.  So I finally had my ACL reconstructed in July.  The surgeon found 2 meniscus tears as well and repaired them – which led to 4 weeks on crutches and weeks of painful rehab.  I still have some residual discomfort and numbness, but am back to most normal activities.  Allie joined injury nation the day before Thanksgiving by falling off of her cousin Caleb’s hover board and breaking her wrist.  She is in the middle of her 5 week cast sentence.  The day following Allie’s incident, Chuck stubbed his toe so hard that the majority of foot was bruised and swollen.  So far, Shelby is in the clear.  Please pray for us lest we bring additional harm on ourselves.

And once again this year, I finish with what is of first importance – God’s Word.  Whether you and yours are currently experiencing happy times or an “injury plagued season” of your own, we can all take courage in God’s faithfulness.  “For no matter how many promises God has made, they are ‘Yes’ in Christ.  And so through him the ‘Amen’ is spoken by us to the glory of God.”  2 Corinthians 1:20 NIV

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!