Christmas

I'm glad I decided to let Christmas be good, even if it wasn't perfect (see my last post), because that's the kind of Christmas it was.

It begins with good news: Don got a job!  He's working at Vanderbilt Hospital and seems to like it so far.  He started last Monday, but . . .

He was REALLY sick that day, and all week, so it was a rough first week for him, trying to adjust to a new schedule, learn a new job and find his way around a HUGE hospital, while feeling terrible.  Thankfully, he only had to work 3-1/2 days last week.  He is mostly, but not completely better now, and still trying to find his way around the hospital.

Since business at hospitals doesn't stop for weekends and holidays, he will have to work some of both but, thankfully, he got to be off on Christmas.  However, Cooper had a temp of over 102 most of Christmas day, and I wasn't feeling too great myself.  We had planned to go to my mom's house, but decided to just stay home, which was kind of nice, to just relax.

My brother and his family came to town that night.  I was worried we wouldn't get to see them, but by Friday, Cooper was fine, so they, as well as my parents, came over (even though Don was still feeling pretty puny and ended up going to bed right in the middle of it).

We had a fun visit with them.  Cooper loves hanging out with his cousins.

I had done some genealogical research on both of my parents' families and put that in books for them for Christmas.  I am hoping that Cooper and my nieces and nephew will be interested in this too.

We had a nice meal which my mom, my niece Hannah and I prepared.

On Sunday we all went to church and then out to lunch together before they drove back to North Carolina last night.

All in all, it was a good Christmas, and I am thankful for the family I have to share it with.

An Imperfect Christmas

You may have heard the phrase, "the good is the enemy of the best."  I think the opposite is also true, at least in relation to Christmas, at least for me.  The best, or perfect, is the enemy of the good.

I went to a funeral today for the mom of a friend of mine.  I find myself wondering how she will have a good Christmas, this year or ever again, for she will probably forever associate the season with losing her mom.

We want Christmas to be perfect in every way, but the sad truth is that for most of us, at least by the time we are adults, this is never going to happen.  Maybe we have loved ones who are no longer alive to celebrate with us, or broken relationships in our family.  Perhaps our troubles are financial, and we are unable to give the gifts we want to give.


For a number of years, I had a strong dislike for Christmas.  It always reminded me of what wasn't right in my life.  There were a few things I still liked about it, like the music and going to church on Christmas Eve, but as a rule, I dreaded the whole thing intensely, and couldn't wait to get past it.  (Some of you may remember the year I posted a "grinch" counter on my blog, reminding me of how many days were left until Christmas was OVER.)

I'm not completely past that.  I'm not sure I ever will be, but I've come a long way.  Having Cooper has helped a lot.  He doesn't have the "baggage" that I have, and to him, Christmas is nothing but pure joy.

I don't want to rob him of it, so I am continuing to try to focus on those things I do like, and I find more to like when I see it through his eyes.  Driving around at night and seeing Christmas lights has never brought me such joy as it does now that I get to witness his excitement.

Oh, I still dislike the materialism and the feeling of obligation to give gifts.  And the expectations of perfection that I can't completely get past still stress me out sometimes.

But in my heart I have realized something: Christmas isn't going to be perfect.  Not this year, not ever.  But it can still be good.  It can still be a time to stop the routines of life and just spend time with loved ones, laughing together and making memories.  It can be a precious time of focusing on the one perfect gift: the gift of God's Son. 

Jesus didn't come because we were perfect.  He came because we weren't; we can never measure up to God's standards, so He sent Jesus to die for those imperfections.  And we don't have to be perfect to receive that gift; we just have to be humble and acknowledge that we're not.

So this Christmas, I'm going to try to get past the need for a perfect Christmas and just focus on having a good Christmas.  And I wish the same to you.

Thirty-Five Months Old

Wow -- I can't believe the big 0-3 is just around the corner!

We've been enjoying the waning days of summer.  We've had a little cooler weather, but still mostly warm, and we've been getting in all the water play we can, which is especially nice when Cooper gets filthy "working" in the garden.

Speaking of my garden, it is still doing well.  We've got quite a few things still coming in, including my experiment for the year, loofah.  Yes, just like the sponge you may have used for your bath.  This is what they look like, growing on a vine.  If all goes well, I'll soon pick them, peel them, and wash them, and we'll have lots of loofah sponges . . . probably more than we'll be able to use for the rest of our lives.  Oh well.

We had a visit this month from my Aunt Gene, my mom's oldest sister, and her husband, who live in Richmond, Virginia.  They are both in their mid- to late-eighties but are doing remarkably well.  This is my mom on the left and Aunt Gene on the right, at McNamara's, the Irish restaurant where we ate with them, one of our favorites.

We started back to Community Bible Study a few weeks ago.  Cooper, who had been really looking forward to going, decided when we got there that he was going to be shy and laid down in the doorway of his classroom, refusing to go in.

In the end though, with a little coaxing from Mommy, he went in, and had a wonderful time.  I am loving watch him grow and develop a heart for Jesus.

He also loves music and goes about the house singing and playing his keyboard or whatever other instrument he can find.  Don and I are glad of this too and look forward to seeing what musical talent he will hopefully end up developing.

For Labor Day, we had a church picnic at Long Hunter State Park.  We went on a 2-mile walk around the lake with a few friends from church and saw lots of cool wildlife, including several deer.

My friend Debby decided to do an art class for preschoolers at her house.  We have just been one time so far, and Cooper really enjoyed it.  We will probably do that twice a month.

  

Whew!  It's been a busy month, but a fun one, for the most part.  Don still doesn't have a job, though he has a few possibilities in the works.  This has definitely become a lesson in relying on God.  Hopefully he'll have something soon.  Meanwhile, we're making the most of his time at home and enjoying the extra time we are getting to spend with him.

A Happy Easter

In the years since we've been married, we've had a tradition of having family and friends over after church for homemade pizza and an indoor egg hunt for both adults and children.  Last year we didn't get to have it because my brother and his family had moved out of town and were unable to come, though we did have my parents and some friends from church over for pizza.

This year, we were back in business.  My brother's family came to town for a few days and the egg hunt was on!  I thought his kids might be getting too old for it (ages 7-12), but they seemed to have just as good a time as ever (which may have been helped by the extra challenge of finding hidden $5 bills in the house).  Even Cooper participated this year, though he had his own eggs and didn't compete with everyone else.

He had a blast hanging out with his cousins.

We also had a belated celebration of my brother's 40th birthday

and had mini flute and piano concerts.

We had lots of fun,

good pizza

and lots of silliness.

It was a day I think everyone enjoyed.

A Blessed Christmas

I enjoyed Christmas more this year than I have in the past.  I think this was mostly due to Cooper.  It is much more fun to share Christmas with a child, and now he is old enough to be excited about it, though he still doesn't completely "get it."

A lot of people asked us if we were doing the Santa Claus thing.  No.  We read him books about Santa Claus, but told him they were just stories.  We gave him gifts, but didn't try to pretend they were from Santa.  I'm not judging other parents who do things differently; that's just the way we decided to handle it.

We're also trying to keep the focus on Jesus and not on materialism.  Even though he got gifts, we didn't really play that part up beforehand.  We talked about Jesus' birthday.  As it got close, I told him that Jesus is so important, that we all get presents for His birthday.

I intended for it to be small, but we ended up getting him quite a bit.  The poor boy just wanted to play with the presents he opened, but no, we would take one away from him and shove another one at him to open.  Oh well.

My brother and his family weren't able to come, but we invited a couple from church (the lady who introduced Don and me) over for brunch, along with my parents.  It was kind of quiet, but nice, really.

Don has been off for about 3 weeks and, other than spending a night in the hospital just before Christmas after passing out in church (another story for another day, but he's fine now), we've been enjoying all the extra time we've had together.  It's going to be hard on Cooper and me as well as Don when he has to go back to work, but I guess we'll adjust.

Happy New Year to all of you.  May 2013 be a year full of blessings.

Twenty-Six Months Old

Wow, long time/no blog!  It's been a busy month.

We went to Michigan to visit with Don's family for Thanksgiving.  Cooper had a good time hanging out with his cousins.

While there we had a belated celebration of Don's parents' 50th anniversary.

Cooper sang in the children's program at Community Bible Study.  His teacher had to hold on to him the whole time so he wouldn't run away.

We put up our Christmas tree and began getting ready for Christmas.

We went to a birthday party for Jesus.

We went Christmas caroling in our neighborhood.  Cooper and I are on the far left (he's in a stroller).

So, as you can see, we've been doing a lot of celebrating various things.  It's been a fun month.  I am looking forward to Christmas more this year than I have in the past because Cooper is excited.  We are trying to play down the materialistic aspect of it, but still . . .

This month also brought a brief stay in the hospital for Don after he passed out twice last week.  Hopefully that problem has been resolved though.  It hasn't happened again this week, which is a good sign.

Merry Christmas to all of my blog readers!

Halloween

I just don't know how I feel about Halloween.  I have read a lot and talked to a lot of different people, and the perspectives vary widely, even among Christians.  I've heard everything from it's evil and we should have no part of it, to it's just for fun and there's absolutely nothing wrong with it.  Up until now it wasn't really a problem for me not to take a stand either way, but now I have a child to raise.  This year, he doesn't really know the difference, but likely by next year, I will need to make a decision about what I am or am not going to let him do.  Don leans more toward the "harmless" end of things.

For the last month or so, a number of people have asked Cooper what he was going to be for Halloween.  He gives them a blank look.  He doesn't even know what they're talking about.  Rather than get into a philosophical discussion, I just tell them that he isn't going because he doesn't know any different yet, he has never had candy before, and I don't want to start him on that before he is old enough to even care.  Which is true.  Why feed a kid something that is bad for him when a bowl of applesauce is a "treat" to him?

But in the end, I did cave a little and decided to go to a celebration at a local church called "Awesome Autumn."  After all, someone had given us a cute doggy costume that just fits Cooper right now, and it all sounded like something he would enjoy.  Maybe this type of thing will be a good compromise for future years as well.

They had "trunk"-or-treating, plus hayrides, "bouncy things" to jump in (I couldn't get a good picture of that), games and even donkey rides.  It was a nice day (though a little windy), and we all went and had a really good time.  There was nothing scary or potentially evil involved.

I'll be giving out candy on Halloween night.  I figure maybe it's a good way to minister to our neighbors in some sense.  Anyway, hopefully Cooper won't feel like he's missing out on anything.  And maybe by next year I'll have made a prayerful decision about how I'm going to handle it all.