Christmas happenings (long)

Yeah, that's Sue Hillis' "Stitching Santa" pattern. And yeah, he's on my wish list. Sue's Santas are all so darn cute. I'm not normally a Santa fan, but I love the serenely benevolent expressions on all of their faces. Sue has done about five or six of them, each with a different theme. Offhand, I recall a Noah's Ark Santa, a Santa with birdhouses, and a cooking Santa.

I posted a picture of a Santa because I wanted to make an observation about believing in Santa Claus. My bro and I were brought up believing in Santa. (Although, weirdly, we didn't believe in the Tooth Fairy. Although we left "her" our teeth in hopes of gaining cash; we knew Mom & Dad were responsible for the nocturnal exchange.) Anyway, I remember how betrayed I felt when I found out that Santa wasn't real. I felt my parents had lied to me. They had, but it wasn't a purposeful lie; it was just what everyone's parents did when we were kids. Most kids probably didn't take it as personally as I did.

Well my Bro and SisIL aren't bringing up our nephews to believe in Santa. They understand he is make-believe. As we were discussing all this, my SisIL's mom quietly made the observation that if a parent tells a child that something make-believe is real, and then later recants, the child could take that one step further. "Mom and Dad lied to me about Santa being real. They say God and Jesus Christ are real. Are they lying about that, too?" I thought that was rather profound.

DH and I survived our trip up to DFW for the Christmas holidays and attended three celebrations with various relatives.

On Christmas Eve, we went up to my Aunt Lynda's and Uncle T's home to celebrate with my mom's side of the family. Everyone was there. DH and I usually only see these folks at Christmas. Each year, I am reminded of how quickly time passes. Our family tradition is that after eating, we gather around to pray and then read the Christmas story from the gospel of Luke, and then we sing Christmas carols. This tradition was started by the patriarch of our family, my Grandpa, who is now deceased. Initially, he read from the Bible, and as we grandkids grew old enough, we took turns reading it.

Well, when the mantle of patriarch passed on to my Uncle T, he read the from the Bible until his own grandkids grew old enough to read it. This year, the middle of his five grandchilren read the story, 10-year old Caroline. I was holding my five-month-old nephew as we sang Christmas carols later. I felt old as I looked across the room at my cousin Renea's oldest daughter, Kathryn, and realized that 14 years ago, I had been standing in the same place holding her as a baby and singing Christmas carols! ACK!

As an aside, Kathryn is a gifted athlete whose passion is basketball. Her parents are Baylor alumni and she hopes to play basketball for Baylor. Silly girl. I keep trying to convince her to play for Texas A&M! Wisely, her father says she will play for the school that offers her the largest and most complete athletic scholarship.

On Christmas day, we celebrated with my side of the family at midday at my Bro's and SisIL's home. We draw names for gift-giving and I was lucky enough to have my name drawn by my SisIL's mom who is a baker. I have a tea ring pastry and homemade rolls in my freezer which I'll share with DH. The homemade loaf of rye bread (that I've been munching on all day long), I'm not sharing with anyone!

In the evening, we went to DH's Sister's and BIL's home. We had a lovely dinner (homemade lasagna). We met our youngest niece's boyfriend who will be entering medical school in January. Our oldest niece's young man is currently serving our country as a soldier in Afghanistan. May the Lord watch over him and keep him safe.

Yesterday, we drove home, stopping in Ennis for our usual mint chocolate chip shakes from Braum's as there are not any Braum's stores down in our part of Texas. I've been stitching a lot, but sporadically because I'm stitching row after row of boring fill-in in ecru at the top and bottom of my bellpull. But I hope to persevere and get this project done this weekend. I'll post a picture when I do.