Ok, so worst is an exaggeration. It was actually one of the best Christmases ever, just not exactly what I had in mind. Being that this was going to be our first Christmas home I had many glorious visions of what it would be like. In the end, God had different plans. You see, we got back from Montgomery (where my family can be found) around 2pm on Christmas Eve. The weather had begun to turn frigid and snow was on the loom. Richard and I unpacked our ton of stuff and got ready for church. Soon we were on our way to the Christmas Eve service and it was began to snow.... yes... we live in Texas and yes it was snowing....
During the wonderful celebration at our church I realized that after being gone for a week we had no groceries at our house. “No problem,” I told myself (in my mind of course). I figured we would just zip on over to Walmart on our way home. With this comforting thought in my mind I continued in my enjoyment of the service. How wonderful it was to spend Christmas Eve with other believers worshiping the King! By the way, this was also my first “candle-lit” service. That is right, I had my own little candle that I got to raise as we sang about the light of the world; it was pretty cool.
So as we were about to leave the church I ask Richard if he wouldn’t mind stopping by Walmart on the way home. He then proceeded to look at me as though my mind was still down in Montgomery: “Really? Do we really need to?”
Well, I was pretty certain that we did, I mean how else would we have our first traditional spaghetti dinner that night and then a big fancy Christmas meal the next day without some groceries?! He was not impressed by these reasons: “I would really rather not; it is like a blizzard outside!”
Ok, so in my mind “blizzard” was a little over the top. Last I had seen it, beautiful little snow flakes were falling outside making the world seem romantic, not treacherous. Well, after braving the BLIZZARD and safely making it into the nice warm car I was less enthusiastic about my Walmart scheme. After an hour car ride home (usually a 20 minute drive) I began to wonder what we would eat. I had absolutely nothing planned and I wanted it to be special. Solution? We picked up some Buca di Beppo.
As we ate our glorious spaghetti and meat balls, Caesar salad, and luscious garlic bread I began to envision a newer yearly tradition and it involves Mr. Buca. So there we were eating our “traditional” spaghetti dinner and watching The Nativity Story. (At least the movie had been part of the plan from the beginning.)
Christmas morning we awoke to a blanket of snow and a beautiful sunny day. Elliot woke up and found the soft blocks I made him under the tree. Thankfully they were a big hit... it would have been very sad if he hadn’t like them.
Soon I was wondering what I would make for breakfast without any groceries. My Grandmother’s coffee cake and breakfast casserole had been the plan, but that was impossible now. Being that I am pregnant I get very hungry very fast and before I knew it, I just had to eat or I was going to die. Suddenly the Mc Donald’s down the road was sounding too scrumptious to ignore. We decided to take a little walk with Elliot over there so that we could take some pictures of him in the snow.
Well, the pictures turned out great, but the result of our brisk walk didn’t. Who knew that Mc Donald’s is closed on Christmas! I mean, its Mc Donald’s I didn’t think they were ever closed. Soon we were back at home and Richard was off to Starbucks (which we knew was open... those tyrants).
When he returned with our breakfast (yes, they have breakfast sandwiches now and they are very yummy) I began to contemplate whether or not Walmart would be open today, and after looking it up online realized that they were not. So I scrounged up what I had in the house to make Chicken and Dumplings with some homemade bread for our Christmas meal. It wasn’t exactly what I had in mind, but it was tasty and warm-perfect for that snowy day.
The best part of our Christmas day was this meal. Not the food, but the time that we spent in the Word and and singing praises to our King. Richard read to us from God’s Word and then we sang a few Christmas Hymns before we left the table. It wasn’t all that different from a normal family worship night, but it was focused on the birth of the Messiah. Later we read a little bit from James Montgomery Boice’s The Christ of Christmas.
I am so blessed to have been bought with Christ’s precious blood and to have something to celebrate on Christmas. I am additionally blessed because the Lord has given me a husband who loves the him and wants to honor him in everything. I am grateful that both of us were saved early on in life and were able to start our family on the rock of Scripture. Because are lives are marked by a love for God, our traditions will be as well.
Though my grand visions for a our first Christmas at home were not fully realized, I believe that God’s were. We were not overwhelmed with activities and gifts, but were able to focus on the one thing we wanted to focus on-Christ.
