The weather outside is nothing but dreary,cold,and damp.Inside, in an attempt to keep electricity and gas bills low I am sitting here freezing. It is set at 62* on my thermostat but using an old furnace and having drafty windows, my body feels colder than that. I added on a fleece and am warming up some, but soon I need to change from iced tea as my beverage to a cup of coffee.
Yesterday I was all set to blog about my happy day. The reason I wanted to write was so obvious that I had an impulse to share the good news. I reached contentment, a rare, yet coveted place for me, and wanted to share how it happened. You can see how far that impulse carried me.
Yesterday was my annual self-proclaimed and continuing tradition of Christmas set up the Saturday after Thanksgiving.This tradition used to contain the fun of gathering the 7 kids in the car, putting a pot of chili on the stove and heading out to cut down our Christmas Tree at a local farm or woods. That was then , this is now, as they say.
My Christmas boxes were stacked in the kitchen and Joshua kindly helped with that task, so he sort of participated, but basically I was on my own. Quite a difference from 9 people and a pot,[I am speaking here of the chili] yet I was not to be deterred, the music went on and the candles were lit. Having talked to my mom early in the day made me decide a pot of soup was a necessity so on went the soup. It was leftover 'everything but the kitchen sink' soup, my specialty. Mom and I often talk of food, well, admittedly we have never had a conversation that didn't include food, so the challenge was on. Would I prepare an edible, delectable soup or would it be a disaster?
Back to the five senses and my contentment factor. The house smelled of garlic and onion, sage and thyme, the candles adding a blend of pine scents to the mix. The flickering lights around my windows made me feel again that perhaps Christmas would be exciting this year. I had been doubting the possibility because of a sluggish emotional time typical of the holidays and my alone factor. My CD player continued pouring out the sounds of Christmas, carols mixed with ballads, classical pieces mixed with Amy Grant and her vocals. Occasionally I picked up an ornament reminiscent of days gone by, and the feel of the textures against my skin brought back memories - happy moments set in time. Soon it was time to taste my soup, that salty hot broth that at one time had been stuff in the refrigerator, somehow evolved and simmered into a deliciously flavorful Saturday Soup!
Had I happened onto something here? All of my senses involved in my Christmas tradition seemed to be causing an unexpected response from within my weary spirit! I was so content! I was so thankful that Jesus was indeed the reason for the season, no matter what the stores tried to steal away with their crazy tunes and ridiculous gimmicks.
Then I remembered another very small , seemingly insignificant event from many,many years ago. It was around Christmas and perhaps in 1990 or thereabouts. Daughter Becca was beginning her Hope Chest, an old tradition of gathering together a box filled with Hopes for a future life filled with a husband and babies someday. Grandma had one and spoke of it lovingly, so Becca wanted one too. She and I were shopping in Sears and horror of horrors their Winnie the Pooh blanket sleepers were being DISCONTINUED! "How can this be?" she cried! "I need one when I have babies!".
So, as any doting mother would do, I secretly purchased a bright yellow sleeper and gave it to her that Christmas for her Hope Chest. I remember asking God, my Heavenly Father, to please give this sweet baby of mine,her own babies someday, especially since her medical condition probably did not include such an event happening.
Imagine my complete and utter surprise, true astonishment, when last week Becca called and said she was sending me an email picture to see. "Hey Mom!" "Remember that sleeper you bought me for my Hope Chest?" Well no, frankly, I did not. "I'm sending a picture of someone in it".
Indeed, years ago, a plethora of Christmas decorations going up and coming down and stored away, a baby had been planned. Evelyn was unknown to her mother, father or even adoring grandparents, but already known by a Heavenly Father whose life we celebrated, very inadequately and quite purposefully at Christmas time each year. Jesus Christ, son of God, Father of all creation, You are the reason for my contentment and the senses you gave me to decorate with each year are thankfully accompanied by Common Sense to worship YOU.
2 comments:
What a lovely story. I love the way you write.
Caelen and I drove out in the terrible rain Sunday morning to go find a tree. We saw a sign for trees on sale, pulled a quick U-turn, went out in the rain and pointed and boom. Suddenly we had a tree. Much unlike the situation last year where we cut down our own tree.. Sounds great but they were all terrible trees.. and it took forever to find one half way decent then we had to cut down the thing.. Sounds more family oriented and traditional that it is. But the 5,000 spiders that were hatched into my warm home later that month were happy.
So that was last year. This year was fast and sweet. Just get the thing up. Hoping that when we have kids we'll have more of a warm cozy family oriented tree decorating tradition.
To me, the greatest joy of cooking and baking are the wonderful memories that are sparked by all those intricate smells! Sometimes I will be at someone's home, or a business, and smell pastry or stew...and all of a sudden, out of nowhere, a memory comes to me! Isn't it amazing? I also echo that feeling of contentment! But probably because I just downed a fat bowl of beef stew. Jesus is the reason! If Jesus was not the incarnate Son of God, then we would just be useless, biological pieces of junk waiting to die. But He IS God's Son, and we DO have a reason to rejoice at His birth! Merry CHRISTmas!
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