Christmases Past

Like most people, I love Christmas.  I love the lights, the decorations, the music…the general feeling of goodwill that just naturally seems to permeate the surroundings.  There is also a general sense of nostalgia that happens.  I don’t know if it is because it’s so close to the end of the year, or because people are reminded of their childhoods, or what they wish their childhoods were like, but people love to look back.  

When decorating, most people look at ornaments and remember where they were when they got it, or who gave it to them.  Anything from pretty store-bought ones that mark a special occasion, or the sweet, funny-looking hand-made ones from children, people remember.

I remember…I remember…

Like others, I have some favorite Christmas memories:

One year, right before Christmas, a popular store was closing and was having a close-out sale.  My husband, father-in-law and I decided to check it out.  At one point my FIL found a beautiful set of owl prints: my husband loves owls.  He took me aside, gave me the money, told me to buy it and hide it in the car.  I rushed to the task and hurried back.  A little while later my husband found a deep fryer.  My FIL had wanted a new one.  So, my husband took me aside…you can guess the rest.  There I was, quite literally sitting on TWO Christmas surprises!  I don’t know what was better: their expressions when they both opened the loved gifts, or their expressions when it was discovered when they were purchased!

Going back, when I was in my early teens, I had noticed a rather large box with my name on it.  I wondered and wondered what it could be.  I thought it might be a TV…MY VERY OWN TV!  I took a tape measure and measured the box, then measured the smaller TV in my parents’ room.  Nope: the box was too small.  OK, so it wasn’t a TV…what could it be?  One day my brother called me.  He knew about the box, and asked that I not open it until he was there to see me open it.  That REALLY piqued my curiosity!  Finally, Christmas morning came.  My brother arrived.  I opened the box…and it was…A TV!!!  A small, “wood” framed, black & white TV.  I loved it.

I worked in retail for a few years.  One year I had gotten a kit to make a nativity scene out of plastic canvas with needlepoint.  I would take the kit to work every day and work on it during breaks.  It quickly became a spectator sport, with people trying to take their breaks at the same time so they could see the progress.  I did get to finish it right before Christmas, so I put it on display in the break room that year, and the Christmas after that.  (Sadly, the year after that there were a lot of newer people who thought it was funnier to take parts of it and hide it, so I stopped after that.)

The first time I was ever able to take part in a church Christmas pageant was unforgettable.  I had always wanted to be part of one, but never had the opportunity.  Finally, the opportunity came.  I played an angel.  My older daughter, who had just turned 2, was also an angel, along with another woman who had a 2-year-old son.  The funny thing was, I was 40, and the other woman and I were both pregnant!

Side note: the next year we got to do the pageant as a family: my husband & I got to be Mary & Joseph, our new baby daughter was Baby Jesus...and our older daughter was a lamb.

 

And, to wrap up, a few memory bits:

The Christmas when I was maybe 5, when I got a gorgeous rocking chair and a life-sized rag doll.

The Christmas I got Barbie’s Country Camper: I kept the box to put my dirty clothes in, and called it my Barbie’s Country Hamper.

The Christmas eve of 2004, when I sang “It Was a Starry Night” in a duet with one of my favorite people, while 7 months pregnant with our second daughter.

The Christmas I received almost everything Kliban Cat, including sheets, a towel, a t-shirt, and a diary.

The Christmas when I first FELT like a parent; when our oldest just turned 2 and really “got it” for the first time.

Merry Christmas, everybody.  Enjoy celebrating our Savior’s birth, and creating new memories.

Punch WHAT?

There is a new phrase that is going around nowadays.  It’s a phrase that is used to show frustration against a person.  If someone bothers you, this is the phrase that is in use:

“Punch them in the throat.”

Graphic, much?

However, THIS is the way people are showing frustration!  I don’t think that they will actually DO this horrible thing, but to even say it is deeply disturbing.  It’s not even like people say it about someone who does something horrible, like physical abuse, murder or assault.  They say it over annoyances.  Minor annoyances.

The first time I read it, I really didn’t think much of it, figuring that it was just one person.  However, I have been seeing it pop up more and more…and the more I see it, the more disturbing I find it.

It used to be “slap them upside the head”, which, while still physical, isn’t nearly as hurtful or dangerous.  It’s actually a little funny.  Kind of like “He hits my hair!” from the movie Saturday Night Fever.   

You want to smack some sense into the person.  Fine.

But…”punch them in the throat”…?

The very thought of it is horrifying.

#luvyabye

My husband and I love the movie “Courageous”.  It’s a fantastic film about men taking fatherhood – and husbandhood – seriously; putting God first and being leaders with love and compassion.  The basic plot is about a man, who is a police officer, who discovers how he is lacking in this area after a tragedy strikes, and how he, and his friends, pull themselves up.  The movie has both drama and comedy.

All of this is leading to something…trust me.

A running gag in the movie is when the officer is talking to his CO on the phone, but is mildly distracted by his wife.  He and his wife are in a bit of a rut, so without thinking, he always ends phone conversations with her by just saying, “Love ya; bye.”  The gag is, the officer accidentally says to the CO, “Love ya; bye.”

Next to the “Snake Kings”, it’s our favorite scene.

(No, I’m not going to explain “Snake Kings”.  Watch the movie.  You won’t be disappointed.)

My husband and I love “Love Ya; Bye” and have adopted it as a little humor bit between us.  We say it when we leave for work, and at the end of phone conversations.   We even end text conversations with #luvyabye.  It’s both a cute little inside joke AND a reminder not to take each other for granted.

Little things like that – inside jokes, private endearments, connections – help to maintain a strong relationship.  I challenge couples to find their #luvyabye, and use it…with love.