CHRISTMAS DAY 2007

Written by Luz Leigh – 26 December 2007

      The hustle and bustle of the last few days is in the past. The house is quiet and relatively in good order. Because our family is small in number, the clean-up following the Christmas dinner and exchanging of gifts is not a major undertaking.

      This year’s Christmas day celebration was marred by the absence of two family members. But, in their place we had two new “almost” members. Sickness kept son number one away (first time in his entire life he has not sat with me on Christmas Day after helping prepare the meal). Older grandson was required to be absent due to an obligation to his other grandparents.

      But we had the two “newbies”, Terrie, who will marry my younger son in the spring, and her little daughter, Krissy. Maybe it was well that the older son was not here. Terrie and Krissy were introduced to the “Christmas at Momma’s” which is sometimes a little strange when both of my sons are present.

      I began to really feel the impact of Don’s absence when he was not in the kitchen doing all the little things that must be done before the others arrive; there sat the ham waiting to be carved; the glasses had no ice in them; the rolls were almost forgotten in the oven. These are things that he sees to without being told. But, little sister stepped in and carved the ham, and without using her electric chain saw.

      Following the meal, as I began reading the Christmas story from Luke chapter 2 and Matthew chapter 2, I realized two members of the group had received video cameras for Christmas and I was their subject. I tried to smile, look intelligent and pronounce all the words correctly…..all at the same time. It wasn’t working, so I just concentrated on the words from His Word; the beautiful story of His birth and later the visit from the Magi when He was about two years old.

      I mentioned that we don’t know that there were three wise men….could have been two or three hundred….or a number in between. Because three gifts are mentioned in the Bible, someone way back when, decided there were three wise men. Someone even wrote a song, “We Three Kings” depicting the arrival of the Magi. Bob said he knew there were three wise men because that was the number of camels they had. “How do you know that?” I asked. He replied that he saw three camels on a Christmas card. 

      At this point, David said, “Well, I do know this……the wise men were firemen.” Oh, please, not the redneck joke. “Yep, they were firemen alright ‘cuz they said they had come from afar.” (East Texas = a fire)

      Heather spoke up, saying, “Be serious. Momma is trying to share her knowledge of the Lord’s birth with us.” I smiled a big thank you in her direction and continued to read. My hope is that Terrie does not share that clip with her family…..traditional redneck Christmas at the Hardee household.

      All in all it was a good day. We remembered Whose birth we celebrate; simple, practical gifts were exchanged, and there were no unkind words among those gathered in my crowded living room. Of course, at this point in my life, son-in-law feels secure enough with his place in the family to tease me every opportunity he gets. He spent much of the day telling my children that they really need to check on me at least twice a day….just to be sure I have not fallen over the milking stool. That is another story in itself. One day I will share it with you. 

      We had a happy Christmas.