Happy Holiday

The cards were signed, sealed, stamped, and sent. Christmas parties were in full swing at school and there are cookies everywhere. It is the time for the roads to be filled and cars to be filled to the rim with gifts and luggage. Christmas is a wonderful time for most, sad times for others. I personally like the traditions that Christmas brings. In our family we start out by going to Christmas eve service and then opening one present before going off to bed. My mother now, still to this day, waits until everyone is ready for bed and puts things in our stockings. Christmas day we always get up (not so early any more) and open gifts and have a large lunch that normally includes ham and noodles. Christmas in our home use to not be about material items per say. We normally only got things that you have needed all year long like new socks, pajamas, and all that kind of stuff. I only remember getting the unnecessary things like dolls, blocks, and games from my grandparents. Money normally came in envelopes that are placed in the tree resting on the branches. Every year we use to get my grandfather a Budweiser holiday stein that is only issued once a year, since he has passed I have continued to pass that tradition on with my father. When he built the addition on the house he built a shelf to display the steins. Those are my Christmas traditions not counting the way that I decorate my tree after Thanksgiving and all of that jazz.
I have traveled home for break, spent time at my parents, joined my friends for a little girly gathering with games and holiday drinks. Managed to get the flu Christmas Eve, (come to find out like many of my other friends…bla) Christmas day I spent in a chair, eating little, and sleeping as much as I could. John (nephew) fell on a pan and had to go to the emergency room to get staples put in his chin. I came up to my sisters after that, did the sale shopping after Christmas in Des Moines and met up with Mr. Hopper for hot chocolate and a stroll around the mall. I went to Ames and saw some of the formative year gang, lunch with Leah, met with Pastor Osslund and Pastor Mark, then for ice cream with Phil at Cold Stone. I hung out with Anderson and his parents whom I haven’t seen in a while and with Eberly. I was in a room full of too many Josh(es).
I’m heading home on the 31st to Missouri, skipping RUSH, because of the fear of getting stuck or having it take forever to get home on the 1st and having to be at school on the 2nd all day. Without going to RUSH I feel a little empty right now, like I’m missing out on something special. This is Pastor O’s last time before he retires from ministry and becomes a full time grandfather. I miss out on Jason’s birthday and seeing his family, filling up the box of transgressions and lighting them on fire out at the point on New Year’s Eve. I miss the devotions and the game of mafia that we sit around and play out of tradition and fun. I miss the worship and the feeling of renewal of my spirit.
How is your new year starting off? Do you have ambitions, goals for yourself. The typical “I want to loose weight, eat less” doesn’t apply to me and I normally don’t set a new year’s resolution. I do have goals for myself like writing a book or two, getting published in magazines or with a book company, another goal is to redo my resume to get ready for a decision that I will need to be making soon about my future in education…where will I teach? Another goal for myself is to find a new friend or two, to find a companion. That leaves the door open for meaning a dog or a man.
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year