A Christmas Recap
Well, Christmas has come and gone with very relatively few injuries. We did the Trading Spaces/Surprise by Design/I Love Lucy type of Christmas this year. We redecorated the girls rooms and made our garage a hang-out spot for the kids. Wednesday I drove the kids halfway to Muleshoe to meet Kendra's mom and then rushed back to Abilene while Kendra got started on the rooms. Then we worked like mad and by the time we were done we were so sore that we could barely move. We went back to Muleshoe then on Friday night.
It reminded me of the time a few years ago that we were going to give the kids a trampoline for Christmas. Scratch that Santa was going to give the kids a trampoline. We had this great idea to get started early on Christmas Eve. The kids were going out with friends and would return under cover of darkness. We started out with everything going well. We got the trampoline together in record time (really- look it up in trampoline assembly records) and started on the enclosure only to find that it was the wrong enclosure for our trampline even though they had been sold as a set. I called the store and found we had the right enclosure but the wrong trampoline. We had to disassemble what we had just put together and rush back to the store before they closed for Christmas. I struggled to maintain my composure and took everything apart and carefully repackaged it in the very manner in which it had been received. (No, really. I did. Don't you believe me? Well, perhaps you're right. I don't think I would call crying like a baby maintaining my composure nor slinging everything in shreds of cardboard strapped with tape to hold it together with parts akimbo careful packaging.) I showed up at a store that I am careful not to name (Hint: It starts with Wall and ends with Mart) and was met by the manager. He worked out the exchange and helped me load the correct stuff and I wished him Merry Christmas and started to get in my truck. He thanked me and said he was afraid I was going to be a lot more angry with him. I stopped and turned to him. "Are you working on December 26th?" I asked him.
"Yeah," he said. "Why?"
"You're closing in a few minutes and there are about to be parents all over town trying to put trampolines together for Christmas morning that won't go together. They'll be here the day after tomorrow. You don't need me to be mad at you right now."
I'll never forget the look that came over his suddenly pale face. I really felt sorry for him which made the task of building my second trampoline in as many hours seem less taxing.
Anyway, back to this year, our kids seemed to love everything and we loved watching them love it.
I hope you and yours had a similar experience but I especially hope that the wonder of the season was captured in your heart; that you pondered how Christ was born both Heaven and the cross in mind and each of us on His heart. It is beyond comprehension.
It reminded me of the time a few years ago that we were going to give the kids a trampoline for Christmas. Scratch that Santa was going to give the kids a trampoline. We had this great idea to get started early on Christmas Eve. The kids were going out with friends and would return under cover of darkness. We started out with everything going well. We got the trampoline together in record time (really- look it up in trampoline assembly records) and started on the enclosure only to find that it was the wrong enclosure for our trampline even though they had been sold as a set. I called the store and found we had the right enclosure but the wrong trampoline. We had to disassemble what we had just put together and rush back to the store before they closed for Christmas. I struggled to maintain my composure and took everything apart and carefully repackaged it in the very manner in which it had been received. (No, really. I did. Don't you believe me? Well, perhaps you're right. I don't think I would call crying like a baby maintaining my composure nor slinging everything in shreds of cardboard strapped with tape to hold it together with parts akimbo careful packaging.) I showed up at a store that I am careful not to name (Hint: It starts with Wall and ends with Mart) and was met by the manager. He worked out the exchange and helped me load the correct stuff and I wished him Merry Christmas and started to get in my truck. He thanked me and said he was afraid I was going to be a lot more angry with him. I stopped and turned to him. "Are you working on December 26th?" I asked him.
"Yeah," he said. "Why?"
"You're closing in a few minutes and there are about to be parents all over town trying to put trampolines together for Christmas morning that won't go together. They'll be here the day after tomorrow. You don't need me to be mad at you right now."
I'll never forget the look that came over his suddenly pale face. I really felt sorry for him which made the task of building my second trampoline in as many hours seem less taxing.
Anyway, back to this year, our kids seemed to love everything and we loved watching them love it.
I hope you and yours had a similar experience but I especially hope that the wonder of the season was captured in your heart; that you pondered how Christ was born both Heaven and the cross in mind and each of us on His heart. It is beyond comprehension.
