The People Eating in Darkness Have Seen a Great Light
My apologies to the prophet Isaiah. But, I can't think of a better way to retell our Christmas story. But, like that annoying episode of Seinfeld (wedding in India) I will work my way backwards. Buckle up, it's going to be bumpy!
Christmas Dinner was scheduled for 6:30 p.m. at my parents' house. They only live about 6.2 miles from our house, so naturally I didn't start getting ready until 6 p.m.
Actually, that is not the reason, but I digress. I had made my swiss cashew lettuce salad. (WOW!) I had also made my green bean casserole, Hawaiian cheese ball, and a plate of cookies & fudge. However, I hadn't yet showered. After getting ready, we flew out the door at precisely 6:31 p.m.
About halfway to Mom's house, I saw this blue aura-ish thing in the sky. I noticed that everyone seemed to be away from home. No lights. I saw a more prounounced blue aura-ish thing a few hundred yards later. And even more noticeably, no house or street lights.
Sure enough, by the time we got to Mom & Dad's house, we decided that we were either in the midst of a chapter of Left Behind, or indeed, there was a power outage. It was a power outage.
Imagine 14 people gathered for Christmas dinner. No lights. No fans. No oven. No ice dispenser. Not a single luxury. No problem.
Candles and flashlights illuminated our evening meal. I joked that if people didn't like the salad, it was because of the power failure. (it was a new recipe)
However everything tasted wonderful. Caroline didn't seem to mind the distraction of being in the dark. She ate her applesauce, au gratin potatoes, ham, and cheerios with glee.
Sometime after everyone had gone through the line the first time, the lights came back on. There was this collective sigh. We left the candles lit--just in case. But, I think we were a little nostalgic for the gentler Christmas Dinner.
It was all very good. Lots of fun conversation, games being played, and crocheting lessons being imparted from my dear friend, Jane. I still don't know if I'm able to make the leap from granny squares to this beautiful pattern she attempted to teach me, but I will try. I also don't think that in Scattergories "Fried okra" counts as a vegetable starting with the letter "F" but that's just me.
All in all, it was a great Christmas. I think Dad said it best in his prayer before dinner. . . (loosely quoting here). "Father, thank you for friends and family. Friends that are like family, and family that is your best friend." Very cool.
Rather than stretch this entry out into an even longer saga by working back to yesterday's three Christmas Eve services, I'll end with this bulleted update, and give it more oomph later in the week. By "oomph" I mean I'll add pictures or digital layouts of the festivities. Here's the list:
Christmas Dinner was scheduled for 6:30 p.m. at my parents' house. They only live about 6.2 miles from our house, so naturally I didn't start getting ready until 6 p.m.
Actually, that is not the reason, but I digress. I had made my swiss cashew lettuce salad. (WOW!) I had also made my green bean casserole, Hawaiian cheese ball, and a plate of cookies & fudge. However, I hadn't yet showered. After getting ready, we flew out the door at precisely 6:31 p.m.
About halfway to Mom's house, I saw this blue aura-ish thing in the sky. I noticed that everyone seemed to be away from home. No lights. I saw a more prounounced blue aura-ish thing a few hundred yards later. And even more noticeably, no house or street lights.
Sure enough, by the time we got to Mom & Dad's house, we decided that we were either in the midst of a chapter of Left Behind, or indeed, there was a power outage. It was a power outage.
Imagine 14 people gathered for Christmas dinner. No lights. No fans. No oven. No ice dispenser. Not a single luxury. No problem.
Candles and flashlights illuminated our evening meal. I joked that if people didn't like the salad, it was because of the power failure. (it was a new recipe)
However everything tasted wonderful. Caroline didn't seem to mind the distraction of being in the dark. She ate her applesauce, au gratin potatoes, ham, and cheerios with glee.
Sometime after everyone had gone through the line the first time, the lights came back on. There was this collective sigh. We left the candles lit--just in case. But, I think we were a little nostalgic for the gentler Christmas Dinner.
It was all very good. Lots of fun conversation, games being played, and crocheting lessons being imparted from my dear friend, Jane. I still don't know if I'm able to make the leap from granny squares to this beautiful pattern she attempted to teach me, but I will try. I also don't think that in Scattergories "Fried okra" counts as a vegetable starting with the letter "F" but that's just me.
All in all, it was a great Christmas. I think Dad said it best in his prayer before dinner. . . (loosely quoting here). "Father, thank you for friends and family. Friends that are like family, and family that is your best friend." Very cool.
Rather than stretch this entry out into an even longer saga by working back to yesterday's three Christmas Eve services, I'll end with this bulleted update, and give it more oomph later in the week. By "oomph" I mean I'll add pictures or digital layouts of the festivities. Here's the list:
- Caroline totally gets exchanging gifts
- Edison was blown away by a new TV
- There's no such thing as too many Christmas Eve services
- Not everyone will have a "Merry" Christmas, but we'll all have a "blessed" one.
- I am one blessed girl
That, my friends, is a Christmas to remember!
posted by Angie at 10:36 PM
2 Comments:
Good thing everything was prepared already. It's not good to eat uncooked turkey!
Glad it went all well - sounds like the candlelit meal was just lovely!
Thanks for sharing your beautiful Christmas - glad it was so merry!
Love Melly :)
Now I know where it comes from....between you and your Dad, well let's just say it's a joy to read :) Merry and blessed Christmas to you my friend ~ love Helen
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