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undeniable proof

undeniable proof

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a repost from almost 10 years ago about christmas!

when i was 2-1/2 years old, my family (consisting of my mom, dad, and myself) went to kathleen and george’s house for christmas eve. when i got older and my family got bigger, we started to host christmas eve at our house. but until i was about 4, we went there for christmas eve.

they opened their presents that night instead of christmas morning, so there was frantic gift unwrapping and sighs of gratitude from all. then there was a buzz circulating the room about santa claus. is he coming? my 2-year-old self was a firm believer in santa claus.

oh, how i hoped he would show up. oh, how i hoped i would meet him and see what he looked like so i could ask about his reindeer and mrs. claus. oh i hoped i hoped i hoped. so i sat on colettie’s lap and waited and watched, mostly the fireplace because it was widely known that santa came down the chimney.

then i heard sleighbells jingling through the kitchen from the porch. my attention swiftly diverted from the chimney to the door where i could glance through the window to the porch.

a flash of red!

the door to the outside was closing as i whipped through the kitchen door to the porch. i had missed him.

but in his wake was a pink and blue big wheel. ecstasy!

a few minutes later my uncle george came through the front door, rubbing his hands together and shedding his coat, explaining that he had seen reindeer tracks and had santa come? and oh boy! a big wheel!

and i was a believer. oh to have that feeling again.

o christmas tree

o christmas tree

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yesterday, i dragged charlie out to help me get a christmas tree. the last time nate helped with that was in 2007, so it was really nice to have someone else help with this process. nate hates christmas. but not really. nate hates retail at christmas.
anyway, getting off topic.
i have specific criteria for a tree, as cha can attest. it needs to have enough room in the branches for me to hang stuff on the inside of the tree without it bunching up. full on the bottom and can be sparse on the top. i think we found a good one!
IMG_2353bonus ralf under the tree.
 

goodwill toward all

goodwill toward all

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in the great blog migration, i lost a post i wrote about celebrating christmas. i remember it being quite good, and i’m going to try to revisit it.
christmastime. the word conjures visions of early mornings and wrapping paper, christmas trees and manger scenes, stockings, flutters of hope, and long-standing traditions. the manger scene is what most will tell you is central – the meaning of the season. belief in the divine humanity of jesus.
what about those who don’t believe in the divineness of jesus? who think jesus was pretty cool, but don’t necessarily think he was son of god? the population of people raised on christianity but leaving it behind – atheism, agnosticism, secularism, non-religious – is increasing in the US. this means there is a group of people out there who have celebrated christmas their entire lives, and over time they decide christianity is not for them. do they stop celebrating christmas?
some do. i would wager that most don’t. on top of that, there are non-christian religious who do celebrate christmas (some jewish people do). personally, i think it’s easy to embrace the christmas spirit without believing in the divinity of jesus.
there are a lot of elements to christmas besides the nativity, many of which are religious in nature, many of which are not. symbols aside, one of the biggest parts of this season is family history and tradition behind it. christmas is something a person celebrates every year, and mostly the same way. sure, there are new family dynamics and refined gifting tastes, but ultimately, the bones of christmas remain. this is a difficult thing to suddenly renounce, especially with a long holiday season such as christmas, which we probably spend more time entrenched in that all other holidays combined. how do you say goodbye to something you have been celebrating all your life?
you don’t. in fact, a lot of christmas spirit can be spread without the divinity of jesus and just by being a simple person trying to be good and empathetic in the world. happiness, family, gift giving, caring for others, joy, goodwill to all, peace on earth, hope – none need the divine to be spread as far as christmas cheer can reach.
and that’s what it’s all about, right? even the nativity story is about family, giving, happiness, joy, peace, hope. so while some may scoff at christmas as a religious holiday, it is so much more, and there’s no reason that everyone can’t partake. in turn, it would be nice to accept non-christians and non-religious celebrating christmas without skeptical looks and questions as to why they would celebrate the season.
because what WOULD jesus do? divine or not, he would open his door, hand you a cup of hot chocolate, and invite you to sing christmas carols ’round the tree.
happy christmas.

movies…

movies…

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i am really not doing well on my movie watching this year. i’ll have to kick it up a notch.

  1. charlie brown
  2. the santa clause
  3. maybe a christmas story?
  4. the lion, the witch and the wardrobe
  5. it’s a wonderful life
  6. babe
  7. love actually
  8. home alone
  9. muppet christmas carol

of my previous list, i’ve watched babe, lion witch wardrobe, santa clause, and home alone. well, actually i’m not doing too badly. i also watched die hard, which has lived up to the hype of a good christmas movie.
but there’s a week to christmas! so i’d better get cracking to get my list done.

night divine

night divine

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windowstonight i drove to zumbro falls, a small bucolic town, population 307, that’s about 35 miles from st. charles, to visit a coworker of mine who was participating in a craft sale. i left at 6:30, after the sun had made its early wintertime descent into the western sky. i drove northwardly cross country, hitching rides on county-road blacktop.
one thing i noticed immediately when we moved from austin to new london was the farms were far and few between in west-central minnesota, while farmhouses popped up all over the south end of the state, like mushrooms after a rainy day. after moving back, i was comforted by the plethora of farms, and as it turns out, christmastime is when they shine.
many of the farmhouses were strung with copious lights, the yards populated with reindeer, santas, snowmen, and candy canes. tonight was a little hazy, and the moon shone muted, yellow in the sky, just enough to bring a white sheen to the ground where the few inches of snow we got lay.
as my tires hummed over the asphalt, bringing me to farm after farm, i was suddenly struck with a homesickness for the drive between new london and the st. cloud area. after spending christmas with my family – food prep, o holy night, buffet, stockings, presents, bad movies – i would drive home on highway 23, then veer off on county road 2 in cold spring, and slide through garrison keillor’s lake woe-be-gone backyard. a couple miles before trundling under interstate 94, there was a home that had done its lights right: the massive tree in the front yard was strung in vertical white lights from top to bottom. you could see it coming a mile down the road, and i looked forward to seeing it every year.
i won’t be seeing my lake woe-be-gone tree anymore, and there are some definite wild cards to this christmas (like…will the new church choir sing “o holy night”?). but the basics will still be the same – family and fun and snow and cheer. i know i’ve said in the past that home really is where your family is – it’s not about the place or the atmosphere. but it sure is hard to remember that sometimes.

movie time!

movie time!

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i’ve already started on my christmas movie watching.
1. rudolph – my mom and i watched it when it was on tv before thanksgiving. sacrilege, i know! but dang, it looks good remastered and on a decent tv! ready, santa!
2. national lampoon’s christmas – i actually watched this t-day night, i believe. i was waiting for old navy to start their bf sales, and popped this up on amazon streaming. i think i like it more each time i watch it.
3. elf – it was so early to watch this one! but i did anyway since my mom requested it and jane was in the area. i might have to watch it again closer to the date.
what else is on my list?

  1. charlie brown
  2. the santa clause
  3. maybe a christmas story?
  4. the lion, the witch and the wardrobe
  5. it’s a wonderful life
  6. babe
  7. love actually
  8. home alone
  9. muppet christmas carol

i’m sure i’m missing something. we’ll see as the day gets closer!