Wednesday, December 26, 2007

Christmas





Another Christmas has come and gone. It is always a bit of a let down when it is over. I wish it could last longer. But, if it lasted too long it would not be as special. I try to keep the spirit of Christmas alive all year. The world is in need of more peace, love, and goodwill.

On Christmas my family attended a church service at the Village (Presbyterian) Church in town. I am not a church going person, but I went because my niece, and nephews were taking part in the children's Christmas pageant. Also, my family was chosen to light the advent candles and sing a song. My mother, sister, brother-in-law, niece, and nephews belong to the church. I am a lapsed member; my father and brother never were. Since my father never attends church, my mom jokes that people think she's not married; they probably didn't know my brother existed until tonight. It was enjoyable to see the kids act out the story of the nativity and sing. They forgot their lines a few times, and the donkeys were wrestling and pulling each other's tails. My niece, Dallas had a solo singing and my nephew, Sterling had a speaking part and a singing solo; my other nephew, Stetson was one of the shepards. I was so proud of them. In the minister's sermon, he said that it would not be Christmas without children. How true that is.

After church we returned home for a small family gathering. My Uncle Richard and Aunt Carol stopped by. My cousin Greg and his wife Teresa and their kids Shannon and Rory came. Last was my cousin Toby, his wife Yada and their five week old daughter Mel (Mel means honey in Portuguese; the mother is from Brazil). We sat around the dining table eating a traditional Swedish Christmas dinner which has always been our custom. My mom likes to keep alive the traditions of her homeland. I miss not being able to eat it. There was a lot of talking, reminiscing, joking, and laughing. The kids were bouncing off the walls with the anticipation of the presents to be opened. The wait must have seemed like an eternity. When they finally got around to opening gifts, it was a chaotic whirl of ripping wrapping paper and bouncing kids. It is so nice to see the joy in the faces of the children.

Christmas Day my sister, her husband and their kids came back to open more gifts and spend the rest of the day with us. It was another nice Christmas.

4 comments:

alex schaefer said...

That's a great post! Christmas really is about the joy in children's faces! How cool for your niece and nephews to perform in church in front of so many people! Amazing.

Anonymous said...

Dear John,
That was a very nice Christmas Story, and since I know all of your family I enjoyed reading your comments about all of them. I like your mother also try to keep up the Swedish Jule bords tradition with the some of the typical foods, but have cut down a lot of the foods we use to have in my childhood. Do give my Freetings to your whole family Johnny and a Happy New Year to all of you.

BiBi & Harold and Dusty of course

Unknown said...

Greetings of the Season to you and your wonderful family!

My brother, Alan Watson, gave me the link to your Blog and I enjoyed it very much. You are such an inspiration!

We just returned from a surprise visit to our parents, Earl and Melba Watson in Fresno, California. It was great to see my brother, Earl Jr. again and to see him looking better and happier. It was also great to see Alan and his wife Kathy.

Feel free to take a look at my web site when you have a chance:

http://www.coleenpatterson.com

Wishing you a joyful, peaceful, easeful New Year,

Coleen (Coco Watson) and Fred Patterson

Anonymous said...

Happy New Year John!
I am so happy to have "run" into you at the VA and to read your blogs. Your Christmas Eve was definetly what it should be; church and family. Keep going John!
Your RT