CHRISTMASES PAST

Every year around Christmas, my thoughts go back to 1963. That was the year I entered college, President Kennedy was assassinated, and my German Grandmother Rosina died on Christmas eve after hosting a family Christmas party.

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After all the trauma, probably my first experience of losing family, I remember sitting on a hill behind a baseball field near our home. I sat up there on that damp mound of earth and looked out as far as my eyes would carry me. The world seemed so big and a little unkind, too. It was then that I opened the city paper and found an article titled "Reach Back" that I clipped out and saved in my scribble book.

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I will share it with you later this Christmas season, however, my mind races onward to my first Christmas with Don, my DH. We were living in Columbus, Georgia, where Don was an Army chaplain's assistant at the time. We didn't have much money that first Christmas, so I thought I'd shuffle over to the local blood bank and give (ahem, sell) some blood. I hadn't eaten anything that morning and after giving blood I stopped at a store to pick up supplies. I was just about through the check-out line, when I passed out. The next thing I knew I was home and Don was being transported back to the store to pick up our car. I was so embarrassed! Under the tree that Christmas for Don, however, was a red, hand-made flannel nightgown created by Yours Truly. The gown was a little short but Don tried it on anyway, once. We just laughed and laughed together ... think I laughed more than my DH did, though.

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My last hallmark of Christmases past is our first one with sweet Stephanie. She was just six months old and fit nicely into her little Santa suit and hat. It was the best Christmas ever for both of us!

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This Christmas, however, we have six of us in the family at home with Steph's Katie and, of course, the grand-pups, Missy and Wolfie. What I want to share with you, however, is although we received many gifts from our trip to the outlet mall and beyond, there is one gift I have this Christmas that makes this the best Christmas yet. It is the peace I feel in heart that God is here with us.

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