Have you exhaled yet?

The New Year is here and the holidays are over; time to relax and get back to a normal routine. That’s what I’m doing anyway. Today I put all our Christmas decorations away. There weren’t many, not nearly what I had accumulated for our big house in West Virginia with its 3 fireplaces and staircase with bannister just calling for a pine garland.

This year Christmas felt different for me. But there were some important reasons for that. First, in October we moved from our home of 17 years in West Virginia and we are not yet surrounded with the “familiar”; we are still getting settled, making this house our home.  I don’t have the lighted garland on my staircase this year. I don’t have a staircase to put a garland on. But I put up our tiny tree, loaded with ornaments, colored mini-lights glowing softly in the darkness of early morning. I sit and enjoy my morning cup of tea and look at the lights. Small adjustments.

Another reason the days leading up to Christmas had not felt quite right is because the weeks from Thanksgiving to Christmas were difficult for the family of my daughter in law, Monica (Jeremy’s wife). Her dad’s leukemia became worse just before Thanksgiving, and though he was able to be with the family for Thanksgiving dinner, he got worse and went through chemotherapy a week after Thanksgiving. He fought valiantly for the next 3 weeks, his 5 daughters sharing rounds of time with their dad so someone was there at the hospital with him 24 hours a day.  I spent a week and a half at Jeremy’s home helping out with their 3 children during this time. It was a blessing to me to be able to be there for them in a time of need. Though many prayed for him, asking God to heal and give grace, Jose Avila died just days before Christmas. Though the family still held their annual Christmas-day get together, mostly for the 11 grandkids, plus my son, Seth’s, two children, since the Wallace clan is lovingly included in the Avila clan; for the adults there was the underlying sadness of loss. It will never be the same without their dad, the children’s Tito. At the funeral, Monica gave a wonderful testimony of salvation through Jesus Christ, sharing that her father had indeed affirmed he trusted Jesus for his salvation; she encouraged others to do the same. It was a shining moment. I was very proud of my daughter-in-love.

So this has been a different Christmas time for me. Feelings are what I move on much of the time, especially at Christmas time. Nostalgia plays a big part of the “feeling” of the season for me. I recall my Michigan childhood of cold winters with snow, stone-boat rides behind the tractor, soft colored lights on the tree, gifts piled under it, family reunions, spending time with cousins and aunts and uncles, Christmas programs and Christmas cantatas at church, reading from the Bible the Christmas story on Christmas eve, reading the Christmas stories as well as Santa Claus stories in Ideals Magazines (anyone remember those?). I grew up knowing absolutely what Christmas was about: the birth of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. I also was taught that the concept of Santa Claus came from good men in ancient times and that the modern stories about him were fantasy. There was no confusion and no disappointment for me knowing the difference between truth and fantasy. I have very fond memories.

Living here in central California only 3 hours from our 2 sons’ families, rather than 3000 miles away in West Virginia, we will build more memories, hopefully with and for our grandchildren, helping to instill in them the values of knowing what Christmas is all about, really all about. We didn’t choose to move to California for our own purposes, rather, as we sought God for His purposes for us, delighting in Him, He has been kindly giving us the desires of our hearts. This is what I know.

And we are enjoying it here. Country girl at heart that I am, I am tickled to find we like the convenience of walking to nearby stores and restaurants. What fun! We’ve also been exploring the area further afield, checking out stores around town, driving into the nearby mountains and taking our kids and grandkids to some of the great local parks and bike paths when they come to visit.

We have been attending various churches in our search for a new home church and we think we’ve found the one we will regularly attend and become involved in. It has always been a high value to us to become established in a local church fellowship, primarily because the scriptures are clear about meeting together with other believers regularly. Also, the local church people become our local “family of faith”, the believers we will associate with on a regular basis, encouraging and being encouraged by them, serving and worshiping together. It is true Randy and I have literally scores of Christian friends around the country and even in other countries, but we still need face to face relationships with a local body of believers. This is Jesus’ design for the church and it is good.

So as we navigate the unfamiliar, we are slowly making it familiar. Next Christmas will surely “feel” different to me once again, but perhaps the difference will be familiarity.

Ahhh (exhale).