Fah who For-aze, Dah who Dor-aze....

Somehow, just like in the Grinch, Christmas has managed to arrive - despite all of our human tragedies and woes...even though the lights on my Tree don't give me the shivers this year, and the Christmas cookies don't go down quite so easily ( some would argue that this might just possibly be a good thing, given the size of my ever expanding rear end....). The presents are wrapped, the baking is done, and the Christ Child is ever ready to be born in a manger. Soon, the soup will be simmering in the crockpot - awaiting our most beloved Christmas tradition - It was a fluke,really...born out of desperation. The Christmas of 1998, I was great with child...like, Biblically....like, miserably....Babiest girl was a few short weeks away - we had just moved into our storybook cottage - all 1200 feet of it (bear that figure in mind, so you can be properly astonished when you hear how many house guests I received!). Faced with the imminent arrival of  John's Mom and Dad, his Sister, her husband and their 2 teenage daughters - I was somewhat panicked, and believe it or not, my main concern was NOT where to put everybody. ( In Law's in our bedroom, John on Den sofa, Me on recliner, College Boy and Baby girl in his room, Sister In Law and her gang in Baby Girl's room - easy peezy lemon squeezy, as long as you don't dwell on the fact that there were only 2 very small bathrooms!) My main concern was how to feed everybody for a WEEK! I was a stay at home Mom, and most times it was a challenge to stretch the budget just to feed ourselves - much less at Christmas, when I was pregnant  and for 6 extra people for 7 days....Lots of casseroles, and a cheap cut of Roast - slow cooked for Christmas Day, but what to do for Christmas Eve? It needed to be special, but it had to be cheap....SOUP! Soup is cheap - but not very special....unless.....what if you paired it with a story.....the greatest story ever told?! So on that first Christmas Eve, all snug in our cottage - after Christmas Eve service, and a ride by the tallest ever decorated Christmas Tree (our second favorite Christmas tradition), I lit every candle in the house, squeezed 10 people around my dining room table - and served up the Christmas Story....Crackers, Cheese, Fruit and Nuts - to symbolize the traveling food that Mary and Joseph might have eaten on the long, uncomfortable journey to Bethlehem.....Soup to represent the warmth and safety of the dark little stable......and cookies to represent the sweetness of Jesus' birth. That year, the soup was Potato, this year - Chicken and Tortellini... it changes from year to year - depending on our taste - but the thing that never changes is the feeling we get - as the candlelight flickers on each dear face, as the Story is retold.....as our personal story unfolds and our laughter fills the air.....the feeling that we are blessed beyond measure - to have each other,  to have food to eat and a home in which to eat it - to be able to share it with what ever guests might be at our table, to celebrate the birth of a baby - Emmanuel - God with us....that is the true gift - the gift that changeth not. "For unto you is born this day, in the City of David - a savior which is Christ the Lord......".....My Christmas wish for you this day is that you will be filled with the "peace which passeth all understanding" - no matter your life struggles....that in whatever direction you journey, you are filled with the knowledge that you do not journey alone.....that you find warmth and safety in the presence of those you love.....and that you find the sweetness of the season as you sit down to your dinner tonight.....that you wake in the morning, singing along with Cindy Lou Who...."Fah who For-aze, Dah who Dor-aze, Welcome Christmas, Christmas Day....".....God bless us, everyone.......