Christmas 2006

The children's Christmas play at church was interesting. Emma was an angel...no, seriously - she even had wings and a halo. She also sang like an angel. She sings with gusto! Maggie was Mary in the play. Unfortunately, the children had no lines or parts to play. The teenagers were the ones doing the play. The children were just stage setting to explain what the teenagers were talking about. But that's cool. Maggie was serene and never cracked a smile when she looked out at us. She was a perfect Mary in her blue bathrobe.

I had the girls come up and help me decorate the tree. Maggie wasn't feeling well, so she laid down in the chair with a blanket and pillow and watched Emma and me. The day before, we made the gingerbread house. What a mess! Icing all over the table, the girls and me. I think Emma planned it that way. She was licking icing from her arms and hands. She "accidentally" stuck her finger in the fresh icing as we were doing the windows. She "accidentally" brushed her arm across the freshly iced roof. Oops! Did I do that again? All the while, Maggie is just eating all the decorations! She managed to build up quite a little stash for herself without my seeing what she was doing. While I was cleaning Emma up for the umpteenth time, she was just quietly and quickly eating all the gumdrops and EmmyEms (M&Ms) she had piled up.

The house was declared to be beautiful by all who were involved.

The town's Christmas parade was embarrassingly simple. Very small townish. Tow trucks decorated with lights and canned music came down Main Street with Boy Scout troops and town dignitaries in convertibles. The usual civic groups and children's groups came by on their flatbed trucks or just walking, throwing out candy. The Shriners in their little cars zipping by, circling and turning around in the street. I thought at one point that we were going to get hit but he managed to steer away.

The only band was from the high school. I miss the "old" days when we would have bands from Warren County High, John S. Mosby Academy, Clarke County, Luray, and Winchester. Someone told me that schools can't afford to travel anymore. Gas is too expensive, insurance rates are too high, blah, blah, blah.

The Community Band had its 21st Christmas concert. That is always fun for me. I especially love "O Holy Night". I love to play that piece. Kara brought the girls and stayed for half the concert, then Jimmy and I took them home afterward for cocoa and cookies.

The children's choir has sung every Sunday in December. What a joy! They look so adorable in their choir robes. They behave so nicely. Just a little squirming sometimes, but their director has crayons and coloring pages ready. It works out just fine. I can hear Emma's voice when they sing. She has a little lisp and her voice is very distinctive. It makes my heart sing to hear her singing! Sometimes I can see them, and I can see that Maggie is singing, but I don't hear her individual voice. It's amazing that they have memorized all the words to all those songs.

Maggie and Emma are the 5th generation to attend our church.

The Candlelight Communion Service on Christmas Eve was nice. I always enjoy that. The choir always sings and Kara played her flute during our anthem. That's always nice. After the sermon and communion, candles are handed out and the lights are dimmed almost to the point of being off. The Christ candle is used to light one candle, then that candle lights another and so on until all the candles are lit. It's very impressive, especially when we all raise our candles high. Then, to close the service, we sing "Silent Night". Lovely.

It's different now that we don't have any children at home. Christmas Eve is usually quiet, but this year, Justin and Nicole were there. He brought his new game, "Guitar Hero". He and Nicole are really good at it. Jimmy and I took our turns - hey, not bad for the old folks! I had a great time with it, until my hands and wrists started to ache! I guess I'll never be a guitar hero.

We didn't open any gifts until after lunch (steak and shrimp! Yum!). It was a little hard for Maggie and Emma to wait, but they managed to live until then. Emma took a little rest on my bed (better than a spanking). Well, that's not fair. She fell off her chair and couldn't stop crying. So I suggested that she might like to lie down for awhile. Everyone perked up when it came time to open the presents. It didn't take long, either. Hours were spent shopping for just the right gifts, wrapping them all in pretty paper and ribbons and then trying to hide them from prying eyes (you know who you are!) It didn't take Maggie and Emma long to undo all my hard work. Someone suggested that I just use gift bags, but somehow that seems too lazy. Hmmm, maybe next year.

Every year, I imagine a perfect Christmas. The tree decorated just so. The ladybugs disappear. The freshly washed windows sparkling in the sunlight, uh, wait...hahaha, I can't stop laughing...ok, phew, that was just too funny! OK, the tree decorated, ladybugs disappear, the kitchen all decorated, pretty wreaths hung...you know, the kind of Christmas in the magazines. I try! I plan it that way, but it just doesn't seem to come off that way. This year, I forgot I was planning on having baked potatoes. I scrubbed them, poked holes in them and threw them in the microwave. We had to delay dinner to wait for them to finish. I forgot to buy more sour cream for the baked potatoes, so we only had a little. Everyone had to take only a teaspoon full. I forgot to put tags on Nicole's and Kara's gifts (in gift bags. How lazy!) so I had to practically unpack the robes to see the sizes. Geeze! I forgot to buy a new battery for my camera. The list goes on and on and on. I haven't gotten it right in 40 years. I probably never will.

But, just as we do every year, we all declared that THIS was the best Christmas ever!