Tonight (Dec 24th) Everyone will go to church candlelight services. Then we will all converge to the "Candlebark Castle." for Toni's chili and I am sure we may play a game or two. Dustin/Candice, and Rick/RaeAnn + Reagan will spend the night so we can all enjoy Reagan's excitement on Christmas morning.
At 3 years old she will certainly have fun this year.
Christmas traditions are fun to start and keep. Our Christmas family has grown since Toni and I had our first Christmas in Imperial Beach, CA. We loved talking and envisioning Christmas' in the future. In those early years we ate hot dogs on payday. I drove a moped to/from work. Toni worked at a the base and sold Avon. It took both of my checks to pay the rent. We would have liked things to be better but we had each other and that was the most important thing. We began these traditions:
- Decorating the tree with memories. Meaningful ornaments.
- Open a gift from distant family on Christmas eve, then open our own gifts Christmas morning.
- We did not go to church in those early years but we always read the story from the Bible in Luke chapter 2.
- As more family started moving to San Diego we started having bigger meals on Christmas day.
- In the early 1990's we started writing on the table cloth. It became a way to record memories and a guest book for visitors.
I mention this because Toni and I are enjoying our 30th Christmas together surrounded by greater gifts or laughter, hugs, joy, peace, food, and love. These are treasures we hoped for and God has blessed us exceedingly.
Rick (my son-in-law) is a wonderful husband to my daughter ReaAnn, (my princess) a provider and super-dad to his and his little girl, Reagan (my princess' princess). He runs his own business building custom fishing rods. He is a highly praised craftsman from local TV sportmen and has an am radio spot every Saturday. I am proud of his character, he gets knocked down by situations and circumstance in life and he keeps getting up and overcoming. He is a successful man in many ways. Thank God he is my daughter's mate.
Candice (my daughter-in-law) daily lives out the nick-name her mother gave her, "Sunshine." She is bright, devoted, and warmly lifts the spirits of us all. She is to Dustin what Toni is to me. I have often told Toni that she is living proof the God loves me because she is perfect for me. Candice is that way for Dustin. He is a very happy man. Additionally, Candice brought her mom, Roxi (Toni's bestest friend). Roxi is a wonderfully devoted Christian mom, mentor, and minister. She instilled courage, caring, and committment into her girls. We are blessed to have her in the family too.
We are not a family without challenges, but we are a family with faith, hope, and love. . . That is really what Toni and I had in the early years at Christmas. So we are deeply thankful for traditions but even more so for the three most important thngs we shared -
Faith in Him who came as a baby to save us from ourselves
Hope in the better days and better ways to work out that faith.
Love for each other, our children, our family, friends, and the One who reaches across the universe to lift our chins and breathe His favor upon us.
May God bless you all and Merry Christmas!
No comments:
Post a Comment