The Update

   Yesterday didn't happen. Well yesterday did happen...sorta. I had to "punt" on my plans and go with an alternate plan. You know how that goes. The Daughter was having a mad dash scramble to complete the paperwork for her LCSW licensure and she took over my computer. In return I took over her daughter, Little One, for 125 hours...or at least that's how long 24 hours seemed. I was sleep deprived to begin with and although Little One is a dream girl, she IS a toddler, and a very active one. I did not get out of my pj's...all day...and then I slept in them again. I did brush my teeth. Once. I combed my hair at 6:30 p.m. Somehow I don't think Little One even noticed. She was too busy. That's B-U-S-Y.
    My daughter came back in the late afternoon to finish compiling her paperwork and when she took one look at me, she said, "Now you know." Now you know...she says to ME. I say, "Hhhharrrumph...I raised four of these, and I point to Little One who is now trying to take the batteries out of three different remotes." The Daughter raises her eyebrow because I have just taken a deep breath. She is bracing herself. I fall back on the sofa as I say, "But the difference is that I was not FIFTY-SIX years old...I repeat...FIFTY-SIX....all the more reason that middle aged women should not do the toddler thing unless God has called them to do so." I collapse in exhaustion.

   I am just thankful that He just seems to be calling me to do this one day at a time. With periods of rest in between.

  Whew.

   Now you know why the promised update didn't arrive. I am spending today recovering, and I am trying to decide how much of the truth I am willing to tell you.

Another New Year Rolls Around...

This is a repost from last year. Tomorrow I will give you an update, I promise, although I already feel a bit vexed and chagrined. 

  "I quit coming up with New Year's resolutions a long time ago because I don't think I have ever been able to keep any of the many that I have made. So...I am going to come up with a list of things that I will probably HAVE-TO-DO this year whether I want to or not....

    1.The Dentist. After avoiding this for a whole year (plus probably another year if I am honest), I will be compelled by the fact that I can no longer chew on the right side of my mouth to drag myself to the dentist and allow someone who looks like he is wearing a Hazmat suit put his giant paws into my mouth while he and his friends (he calls them technicians) poke around with all manner of shiny metal implements, scraping my gums raw in the process and looking for all those little corners and crevices where things called cavities love to hide. And somehow I am supposed to not only submit myself to this process not once, but twice each year, and to actually say thank you for taking me to the River Styx and back when I walk out of the office. In addition I also know that I am supposed to encourage my children to undergo this same torment all the while reminding them that they will thank me when they are old and still have all of their teeth. I, however, am not yet ready to thank my mother for introducing me to this heinous form of torture at ANY age. I also think dentures don't sound so bad.

   2. The PERPETUAL DIET. I think if Dante had ever been confronted with a post-modern post-menopausal twenty-first century more-than-middle-aged and aging-not-so-gently woman who lives in the midst of an exceedingly thin and body-obsessed culture, he would have included "the diet" as one of his levels of hell. It certainly is on my list. Furthermore it is never any fun getting on the scales at the beginning of the New Year and realizing you are about six or seven pounds away from Your-All-Time-High. This moment of reckoning comes of course the morning after you have consumed a rich and sumptuous four-course New Year's Eve meal accompanied by all manner of high calorie beverages that tasted good at the moment, but give you more than a pause the day after.

   3. The Cleaning. You know when you open the closet where the washer and dryer reside and can no longer maneuver your way through the detritus of life that has accumulated there to even know what lurks within, and your husband (who does his OWN laundry so you cannot assign blame to him in this area) has a slight conniption fit and asserts that he has had to scale the heights of Mount Everest while simply attempting to change the dryer setting, that some radical form of cleaning accompanied by numerous trips to the dump is more than likely in your near future. You are just hoping that he does not go into any other closets in the meantime because the cleaning might have to commence sooner rather than later and today you still want to be a slug.

     4. The EXERCISE. It's bad when you drive by the YMCA nearly every day and feel a deep desire to duck your head in shame because you pay good money each month for a membership that you hold in name only, but the truth is that you would rather go to the dentist, eat a very fattening and delicious meal with friends (even if you pay for it later) and deep clean your mess of a house than climb on a bicycle, lift a weight, or do anything that could remotely be construed as exercise (unless it involves a fork or a spoon and the last time I checked the calorie counter, using those implements did not even register on the scale). It is not that you don't need to, because point number 2 clearly indicates that you do, it is, honestly the fact that exercise is anathema to you. You seem to be allergic to it. Deeply allergic. But this is the year to begin to expose yourself in small doses to see if you can tolerate EXERCISE without keeling over.

Whew. Just thinking about the dentist, the diet, the cleaning, and the exercise has exhausted me. I think I am going to be forced to comfort and console myself with a bowl of homemade macaroni and cheese made with real cream, real butter, real eggs and real cheese and wait until tomorrow....What a realist I am!

Happy Twenty Ten!"

Find out tomorrow how I fared with last year's list and what's going on now!

Time Away and Layaway

   Every couple needs to take some time...for just the two of them. It doesn't have to be an expensive trip, or include a plan to do something exciting. When The Husband and I were younger, we used to do all of our Christmas shopping together on Columbus Day in October...crazy, huh?!  Nope. It was actually a huge budget saver and a lot of fun. Back in the day, we used something called "layaway" to pay for Christmas for our children. We would pick everything out on Columbus Day and make payments every two weeks until we had it paid off. We found it was the only way to survive the "Year of the Bicycle Christmas" which rolled around every so often for all four of our children. We tried the hand-me-down bike thing and that worked for a while, but our kids played hard and rode their bicycles hard so they were usually not in a condition that allowed them to be passed down to a younger sibling.
     Back to Columbus Day--since The Husband worked for a financial institution otherwise known as a bank, we could always count on him having Columbus Day off. Sometimes we would get a babysitter and eat dinner out after shopping and there were even a couple of memorable years when we managed to farm everyone out and get away to a local hotel to spend the night. Those were the best Columbus Days on record for me and were something that I dreamed of all year long.
     It wasn't that I got a lot of rest...because no matter how hard I tried to sleep in, I was always wide awake at no later than 6:30 a.m. However, I still felt refreshed and rested because of the simple fact that I could leisurely drink my coffee in a hotel lobby and read a newspaper without someone hollering, "Mommy," at the top of their lungs at least 100 times before breakfast (okay, that's a slight exaggeration!)
    But as I said, time away from the children doesn't have to be exotic. It doesn't have to be costly. One year dinner out was not in the budget, so on our way back home we stopped at our favorite frozen yogurt shoppe for a treat. As our family expanded, the time away became infinitely more precious and important for me. As a mostly stay-at-home mom, I longed for that time with my husband when we could have an uninterrupted conversation that did not revolve around children's schedules, disciplining issues, trips to the dentist or doctor, or figuring out who needed new shoes.
   Now I have the time. It's just the two of us. We really enjoy being able to sit together quietly in the same room. We don't have to fill our space with conversation. After thirty-six years, we can really communicate without words. It's the nod of the head..."It's your turn to let the dogs in!" Another nod, "Are you sure?" Yet another nod with a firmly raised eyebrow, "Yes, and puhleeease do it now before they scratch all the paint off the door." Then some more eye-rolling accompanied by even more pronounced eye-rolling. And if the chair potato (both of us fall into this category in the evenings) does not move, there will be all manner of body shifting accompanied by loud sighs. The house is empty save the two of us and the two family dogs. It means we have plenty of opportunity now for deep and meaningful communication, can't you tell?!

    Seriously...despite the good and the bad moments, the great and the not-so-great days, the glorious and the difficult challenges, and the divine and the mundane aspects of life here on earth, as believers The Husband and I are still managing, by God's grace, to lay up for ourselves treasures in heaven where moth and rust cannot destroy and where thieves cannot break in and steal. It's the secret strength of our marriage and it has nothing to do with either of us and everything to do with our great God.

 

Reflection

   I offer today a tender and beautiful poem by Elizabeth Madox Roberts:

        Christmas Morning

If Bethlehem were here today,

Or this were very long ago,

There wouldn't be a winter time

Nor any cold or snow.

I'd run out through the garden gate,

And down along the pasture walk;

And off beside the cattle barns

I'd hear a kind of gentle talk.

I'd move the heavy iron chain

And pull away the wooden pin;

I'd push the door a little bit

And tiptoe very softly in.

The pigeons and the yellow hens

And all the cows would stand away;

Their eyes would open wide to see

A lady in the manger hay,

If this were very long ago

And Bethlehem were here today.

And Mother held my hand and smiled --

I mean the lady would--and she 

Would take the woolly blankets off

Her little boy so I could see.

His shut-up eyes would be asleep

And he would look like our John,

And he would be all crumpled too,

And have a pinkish color on.

I'd watch his breath go in and out.

His little clothes would all be white.

I'd slip my finger in his hand

To feel how he could hold it tight.

And she would smile and say, "Take care,"

The mother, Mary would, "Take care";

And I would kiss his little hand

And touch his hair.

While Mary put the blankets back

The gentle talk would soon begin.

And when I'd tiptoe softly out

I'd meet the wise men going in.

The Cup is Full

    Dinner tonight with the family. Three were in Birmingham and absent from our table but present at another. Deeply missed. Yet still the joy abounded. Baked brie with raspberries in puff pastry. Yum Rum (boiled custard with spiced rum). Nuts and Bolts (homemade of course). Laughter. More laughter. Silliness. Then seriousness. Deep gratitude. The Christmas Story from Luke. No words. A time for prayer and reflection. Sigh.
     The dinner bell rings: Beef tenderloin. Bearnaise. Green Beans. Southern Fried Corn. Twice-baked potatoes. Sweet Potato Biscuits. Then Happy Birthday Jesus. Joy. More joy. More laughter. Bingo. A winner. Another winner. Santa arrives. Silliness and laughter. Love. Love. More Love.

    A house for Little One, Little Two and all the Littles that will follow. Wonder and joy. Worth the price and more!

Honey, Pappy and Little One!

Sheer Happiness! Oh My!

The best lap in the house belongs to Pappy!

The sweet momma, The Daughter, and precious Little One.

Making a joyful noise unto the Lord!

Uncle Bear. Uncle Brother, and Little One's Daddy!

Happy Birthday Jesus!

How could we forget the true meaning of Christmas...

Impossible!

One for You and One for Me

   Let me tell you, when Honey gets a bee in her bonnet, you better watch out. She has been talking about me coming over to make Christmas cookies for the past year. It's something she calls a "tradition." Oh brother.
    She and my mom (The Daughter) set the date and even invited my Uncle Brother to come over to help. They just didn't know that Honey and I had it all under control.
     Here I am arriving at Honey's for the big day. I am getting a personal escort inside by my Unky -- he's the who belongs to Nanny and Little Two. He stopped by Honey's house to pick up something before he heads off to B'Ham to be with his wife (my Aunt Nanny) and brand new baby girl (Little Two) for Christmas. I guess my cousin Little Two will come to the cookie making party next year. Oh no, I am gonna have to learn to share before then. At least I have another year to work on it.
  

This is the cookie making station. You can see
 that Honey has taken a few short cuts.
Yes, that's store bought icing.

     We didn't waste any time and got right to work. That's my very own bib I am wearing, but that apron is almost an antique. It's the one my Mommy wore when she and Honey made Christmas cookies long long ago. Honey is going to add my name to the apron. When she gets around to it.


Uncle Brother came over to help me out. I offered to let him taste some of the cookie dough but he said he was watching his waistline. I not only tasted the dough, I also had to taste all of the cookie cutters, too.

I think I might be able to get a job in a testing kitchen one day.

What do you think?

    Mommy was there to keep an eye on me. She didn't want me to eat too much of the sweet sticky stuff. But Honey reminded her how much my Mommy loved to eat the dough and said that she would even sneak around behind Honey's back to eat some more. I decided not to be sneaky. I was completely up front with my dough eating. Can you tell?

     I offered everybody some of my dough, but I didn't have any takers. That's fine with me. I just ate it all.
I say forget the cookies, just eat the 'makings!
     The final touch was shaking out the red sprinkles all over the cookies. This was my favorite part next to...yep, you guessed it...eating dough.

         Believe it or not this is hard work. You have to hold the shaker just so. I think I have it down to a science now.

        I was all dressed and ready to leave when I spied Honey's Christmas tree. I was hoping that maybe one or two of those packages under the tree just might be for me. Too bad I can't read or I would have opened a few. Instead, I just knocked them around a bit. No harm done.

      In case I don't see you again before Saturday, have a Merry Christmas! 

Guest Post from The Husband

    This is a first. In my two year blogging history, I have never invited The Husband to comment (I am just glad that he reads the blog on a regular basis), much less submit a post, but this was something too special to pass up.
    The Husband works for a financial institution here in Nashvegas. As with all large publicly owned companies, it is a secular institution.  Each year The Husband sends a Christmas letter to every employee of the bank, all 800+ of them. He does so with gentleness and respect for each employee, but no matter the personal cost to him, he feels compelled by deep conviction to share his thoughts regarding the true meaning of Christmas. It is a great blessing that the leadership of the bank does not prohibit him from sending the letter, which is so very rare in this day and time. I tell you all of this by way of introduction so that you will be able to understand how remarkable and precious the Christmas letter really is...
   Without further ado, here is the Husband's 2010 Christmas letter:

Merry Christmas!

“Joy to the World, the Lord is come!

Let earth receive her King;

Let every heart prepare Him room.”

     "I am confident that you, as I, have probably sung these verses over a hundred times. However, as I recently pondered these words, I asked myself how many times have I truly reveled in the power of these words and celebrated their meaning? With the birth of Jesus, the Lord has truly come and we on earth can receive our King. Equally as important, and perhaps more so, these words entreat us to prepare Him room in our heart such that as we ask Him to be our Lord and Savior,  the Holy Spirit lives in us. Then when we pass from this earth, we awake in the Heavens to forever be with our Messiah. Indeed, what joy we should have as we celebrate each and every Christmas.

   As Christmas day approaches and I think of the various “happenings” related to this wondrous event, two words have resonated in my thoughts, “obedience and promise.”  The initial act of obedience centered upon Joseph – sometimes referred to as the forgotten man of Christmas. Joseph was forced to accept a situation that was certainly humiliating and as difficult as any which one could imagine as he excitedly looked forward to his marriage day with Mary, only to learn that his wife-to-be was pregnant. Once he learned the truth, out of obedience, Joseph remained fully devoted to Mary. On the other hand, Mary – reflecting the obedience of submission as seen in Luke, was chosen by God, and accepted her role as the one who as a virgin would give birth to the Son of God who came to earth to transform our world as no one else could ever do.

     With the birth of Christ, the shepherds were obedient in their role to go to this child bearing the gifts of worship and adoration. It is particularly important for us to realize that the shepherds were the lowest of society, pushed out of their lands by Egyptians and despised by many, yet chosen by God to be the first of humanity to whom the birth of the Son of God was to be revealed. What does that tell all the world? – no matter how low you are as judged by the world, you are never beyond the reach of the Lord; He came to reach out and touch us in a way no one else could.

     We must also ask ourselves, “Why was there no room in the inn for the Prince of Peace, the King of humanity, to be born?” There is nothing like Christmas in all of culture, in all the history of mankind. Never before has a King been relegated to such impoverished conditions, such that royalty would actually invade poverty. Contemplate the truth that the royal robes of eternity were born in the poverty of a stable surrounded by the stench of animals – even in birth rejected by humanity, a precursor to the end of His life when man would once again reject Him even to the point of death on a cross. Born to a peasant woman, God, by His son Jesus humbled Himself to become a man so that we might have access to Him for all eternity.

     The second word which I embraced was “promise” especially as related to the words of the Old Testament. The words of the prophets of the Old Testament clearly promise us that a Savior is to be born to this world. He is to be a King unlike any which the world would anticipate – a King who would come not to conquer by sword and physical battle, but instead a King who came to battle for the soul of each of the Lord’s precious children on earth. His battle was to conquer the natural sin to which we are all held hostage and provide us an avenue through God’s grace and mercy to be cleansed of these marks and through His grace and not works to be able to be reunited in eternity with our Lord.

     Christmas is like no other time of the year. The little boy or little girl in all of us begs to come out and join in the festivities. However, as believers we quickly determine that the true joy of Christmas is the knowledge that through the birth of Christ, we are promised that we will never be alone. No matter the circumstances which we face, we must claim the victory that in His sovereignty God is always intimately involved. During 2010, we at [this financial institution] have faced an array of challenges ranging from difficult business circumstances to seeing many impacted significantly by the May flood to severe illness of associates and loved ones and even to the passing of life on this earth. We, too, have experienced the blessings and joy of sacrificially helping others; witnessed the healing of those dealing with sickness; seen changes for the good in decision-making on the part of our children; and even prayed for an organ transplant recipient who has seen much improvement in her quality of life.

     For all that has been given to us, what perhaps might be the greatest gift which we might give to our Lord? I say that it is our obedience to Him, for in that obedience we give Him our heart; our soul; our spirit. When He came to earth as Emmanuel, God with us, that is what He desired from us. And through His birth into humanity, Jesus has opened the door to eternity for all who choose to believe and accept. I pray that we all embrace this truth: that we should not merely celebrate Christmas this season but instead we should celebrate Christ – some of us possibly for the first time. What a gift that would be to the Lord and surely a Merry Christmas for that person. Through this, what better present can ever be received? – The guarantee that one day, because of Jesus and Jesus alone, everything will be made right in this world! I pray that you find great joy in the truth that you are a special creation of the Lord, loved by Him in a way that we can never fully understand while on earth. In that and because of that, I wish for each of you a truly “Merry Christmas”!!

                                                                                                God Bless"

I couldn't have said it better if I tried...