Page 161 - People & Places In Time

My Family Christmas
Maby the ugliest tree or maby not ~ it was our first tree.
sat a white spinate piano. The hardwood floors and coved ceiling imparted an elegant feel to the room. At the far end of the room was an almost floor to ceiling pained glass window that curved upward to a Gothic arch at the top. At each side of this cathedral style window were built-in bookcases. Our first tree would sit at this window . . . in a room that was quite simply made for a Christmas tree.
That fall Holly’s mom planned a surprise a combined housewarming and Thanks- giving gathering for this first holiday season in our first home. Our respective extended fami- lies showed up unexpected for this I can never offer enough gratitude for the generosity toward me and Holly from Mary. With out doubt the best mother-in-law anyone could want.
Earlier in this same year I had also begun with my new store, Interior Dimensions. If ever there was a year to be thankful as we entered our second holiday season together, this was it.
We decided to have our own Christmas party this year with our many friends invited, and it was a success, until the Sunday morning following our gathering the night before. I woke early because it was Christmas and my store needed to open. I just couldn’t have an employee go in early this morning. Interior Dimensions was in its first Christmas season and for retail it’s a demanding time. We had had friends from out of town who attend the party and who spent the night with us, our first guests. While in our kitchen alone as I made coffee, I just wanted to cry, I didn’t want to go to work, I wanted to stay home with Holly and our friends.
Unfortunately, this Christmas was the last of the two that Holly and I would share together in our own home. These two Christmas’ and the ones at Mary’s house were the hap- piest of my life and can never be reclaimed.
Later on, there is one Christmas past, while living in an apartment located behind Fig Garden Village shopping center in Fresno . . . this may have been the loneliest I ever spent. There isn’t much to be said except that I was alone . . . yet I was determined it would still be Christmas, with a decorated tree. Some of the decorations I bought that year are hung today, forty years later, to decorate our current tree. That year’s tree became one more that I can never forget, midst the many I’ve so taken for granted how does one recall a lifetime of decorated trees?
Life is persistent, in that we move on, one way or another. We were not created to be alone. I appreciate solitude as the necessary balance to a sometimes-hectic life, but I do not want to live a solitary existence. Just as we surround ourselves with friends and family we also seek to be with God. After all this is what Christmas is about; the birth of Jesus Christ, and
we can’t forget that. The holiday season is a celebration of all that Christmas is about, but it’s also a time of thanksgiving and a celebration of Gods abundance in our lives. Without time together with family and friends this abundance loses its value, we’ve nothing to give. Our existence depends on giving to others, to give love and receive love; this is the joy in living,
it is the essence of this time of year. It is the spirit of Christmas . . . it is God’s gift to us by his choosing to be with us through the birth of Jesus Christ.
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