.....You might just get it." We’ve all heard that a million times. And this year, it happened to us. More than once I have said, “one of these days I would LOVE to be far away from home during the holidays and have a completely different Christmas.” Guess what -- we are far away from home and we will have a completely different Christmas.
Consequently, we’ve been trying to play up those differences. For our Christmas tree, Vince found a small (dead) mangrove tree that looks like a big piece of driftwood and we have it perched on a table, festooned with mini colored lights and ribbon purchased at the thrift store. It sits like a sentinel in the corner of our living room.(I had to chuckle to myself during a recent tour here of homes that were expertly decorated for Christmas. Our neighbor, Carolyn, had her house featured. Her spare bedroom is exclusively devoted just to housing all of her holiday ornaments.
All in all, she has five Christmas trees in her home, and every room is bedecked from stem to stern with decorations and ornaments. I wish she could see our contribution to holiday decorating -- she would probably faint.)
One of the many streetlight decorations lining Sherman Avenue
The airport is closing early on Christmas Eve, so hopefully Vince will be home in time for us to attend the Christmas eve service at the chapel. We’ve been attending the “Protestant” service on Sundays (that is what the service is called -- there are about a dozen different types of church services conducted on the base).
Instead of cooking a huge meal for about 20 people on Christmas day, we’ll join some other folks at the galley mess hall and take advantage of someone else cooking a ten course meal. And of course, one of the things I MEANT to include in my statement about being away from home at Christmas was that I wanted family with us. It will be very strange to not be surrounded by people we love at our holiday table.
Obviously, there are many families separated at the holidays for one reason or another. And, we are not looking for sympathy -- we are here of our own free will. If nothing else, our circumstances are helping me to really think about the meaning of Christmas.
Besides celebrating the birth of Jesus, we have this amazing opportunity to show the love of Jesus in our actions. And, we can certainly do that wherever we are.
3 comments:
Cathy and Vince,
It was great to chat with you both on Christmas day, it sounded like you had a great day planned.
The turducken we cooked for christmas was quickly dubbed the "double wide" turkey as it filled the entire oven. It turned out well and continues to feed us daily.
Karen and I will be flying to Miami for the Orange bowl on new year's eve for a quick 48 hour turnaround trip and hope to bring home a victory.
Mom and Clark will be heading home in the next week. We all had a wonderful time of eating, chatting and playing long cribbage tournaments ( canadian rules).
That's all for now, take care.
Dear V & C,
Our holiday was wonderful. Of course, we thought about the two of you, and Russ and Karen and Sandy. I worked Christmas day, but Steve and Dee and Rowan arrived the next day, and we've been doing nothing but eating and celebrating.
Rowan got a fire engine for Christmas. Needless to say, he spent a lot of time with it. His little legs don't have the coordination yet to push the pedals, so he would get so frustrated. At one point we heard something banging and some sobbing. We came in and asked Rowan what happened. He said, "I throwed the ladder and I'm having a fit!" It must be hard, being 2 years old, but it's so darned entertaining to us.
I got some acrylic paints and some canvas, along with a canvas stretching tool. Apparently my son and daughter-in-law think I have more assembly skill than I might really have. We'll see.
I love your descriptions of your life down there. It's wonderful to read your entries.
Happy New Year to you both.
Much love,
Julia Lynne
i think the archive you wirte is very good, but i think it will be better if you can say more..hehe,love your blog,,,
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