Christmas Memories and Ponderings

There is a plethora (I learned that word in high school playing Balderdash) of Christmas devotional guides available these days. At least 2 good ones were available for free via Amazon for Kindle this year. I chose Adam Hamilton's The Journey: A Season of Reflections. Hamilton is the pastor of a United Methodist church in Kansas City. His teaching is thought-provoking, and I need to be thought-provoked to feel alive, even it is uncomfortable at times. The Journey is not disappointing. I hope to share a few of my thoughts in the coming days. This first Christmas post (There may actually be more than one....) is not directly related, but it is a place my heart goes every Christmas.

Advent is a time of preparing; an expectant time of year. My favorite Christmas of all time was the Christmas I was expectant with our first baby. It was rich with wonder and dreams; with preparing and with expectancies of all things unknown in the gift of parenthood. We were living in Kansas City - far from family, but our life was relationship rich. Tanner's actual due date was December 25 (my hope was for a late arrival). Steve's job included time off for Christmas. As he wrapped up his last day, we settled in to wait out our last few days of being married without children. Several of our closest friends were expectant with us awaiting their firstborns in December 1997.

Mark and Sherry Evilsizors's home was our home away from home. They chose to stay in KC for the holiday to settle in with us, and wait out the arrival of Tracht Baby #1. We spent many hours (and I mean MANY HOURS) playing Nerts over the holidays. Each night as we would leave their home, I'd struggle to get my swollen feet back into my shoes - eventually Mark just loaned me his slippers. We sat in narrow wooden dining room chairs to play Nerts. Moving the game around the living room recliner to suit my comfort was offered, but I refused with visions of Gilbert Grape. As I decorate for Christmas each year, I relive the Christmas of 1997 - especially when I hang this ornament, a gift from Sherry:

The Christmas of 1997 was indeed special! It was the year we became The Tracht Family. Family is Christmas. For me, I know Christ more intimately because of family. The goods, the bads, the beautiful, and the ugly are represented in family - in my family of origin, in my immediate family of 4, in my family of God....