Christmas

  • Give

    My mother loved to give gifts. She loved hunting for and concocting just the right present, and she loved nothing more than watching me and my sisters open something great on Christmas morning.   As we got older, she would pick up on some small thing we might say during the year, and make it into…

  • Me

    I came across a picture of me as a child that was reminiscent of a picture of me taken this Christmas. Our faces are turned at the same angle and our coloring and features are similar. I never grew out of that unruly hair. But there are differences, of course. Nine-year old me had some…

  • 11:04

    I know lots of people who see significant numbers everywhere they look….on clocks, receipts, in line at the grocery store. 11:11 is a common one, and when you happen to catch it, it’s supposed to be a little hello from someone you love who has died. My sister sees her birthday numbers, 3.16, as a…

  • Pineapple, orange soda, chicken salad

    I rounded the corner of the produce aisle, almost done with my hectic Christmas food shopping trip when I felt my mother. She was pointing me toward a display of whole pineapples and urging me to bring one to the family gathering on Christmas Day. I have learned to listen to that still, inner voice,…

  • Last Day

    Given the choice, how would you spend the last day of your life?  On November 2nd, 2012, we were told that our Christmas-loving, enthusiastically gift-giving mother had very little time left.  Dealing with end-stage ovarian cancer, we had hoped she would make it to enjoy her favorite holiday.  She had already online-shopped for all of…

  • Dear Julie,

    Dear Julie, I am truly thankful to God for letting our lives intersect.  It was clear almost from the start that He had a hand in putting us together, and I am grateful.  When I think of you, memories come rushing in, and I want to hold on to them all. I remember… After seeing…

  • Orange

    Amid the hustle and bustle of the preparation for Christmas, I had been finding myself a little breathless. Even though I knew I should be spending more time praying, reflecting, and enjoying the season, it seemed my mind was full of things to be done, tasks to check off. In every Advent sermon, I heard…

  • Blessings

    Ever since my children were in preschool, I have said a little prayer over them as I’ve dropped them off for the day.  In those early years, it was so hard to leave them in someone else’s hands.  Until they went to school, they grew in an environment that was controlled mostly by me.  School…