After the Holidays

 December 30 2007 (Dad does not lead The Gathering)

Hello Readers,

This week's service marks the end of 2007. I remember as a kid our family would usually start the year by taking down the Christmas decorations. With this task, a lot of emotions came -- it wasn't nearly as much fun as putting them up. Later, as I raised my own family, my own kids seemed to have little interest in decorating, let alone putting things away- and so I stopped getting a tree and just strung lights around. Eventually, we had a tree again when they each expressed that they wanted one. 

One thing my own kids enjoyed was exchanging gifts. My daughter once stated to me when she was a teenager that Christmas brought out the best in us. I often felt like it was too much fuss, but she reassured me that we showed our love this way and that it was a truly joyous time. My son also got into the spirit, he liked to purchase his own wrapping paper so that he would be the only one with that particular design. 

As our family grows, we are not always together, thankfully some traditions remain.  I like to keep my decorations twinkle-light focused, both in and outside.

Next week I plan to start 2008 services and then for Thanksgiving I'll take a break.

Thanks for reading.

Stay well,

Amy BH

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Shall We Gather at the River?

  November 25 2007 In this service: Dad opens the gathering with Shall We Gather at the River?, sister does much of the worship leading, niece and brother-in-law share about recent travels to El Barbasco, Honduras.  Hello Readers, I like how this hymn opens with a question and then answers it over and over with each refrain. Similarly, I gathered this week with my loved ones to remember my Uncle Butch who died 10/19/2025 at age 81. He lived a full life up to his final moments. He coached a runner on Saturday. He called his sister and niece (me) on Tuesday. He sent a birthday card to his great, great, nephew. He even went out and finished a serving of shrimp scampi with his wife of over 50 years, who had no idea this would be their last meal together. Uncle Butch delighted in his yard and especially found pleasure in decorating for the holidays. He told me on the phone last week that they had some lights out and a big spider for Halloween. The tradition was to exchange the spid...
Read more

Traditions

Hello Readers, This week I found myself pondering the question, 'If you could have something from your childhood (such as a toy/album) what would it be?' I instantly knew my answer, but it was not something I could find on E-bay or Amazon. It was my father's Christmas poems. Every year, on Christmas morning, we would get up before the break of dawn, and find many things: loaded stockings, massive amounts of colorfully wrapped presents under our lit tree, and in the tree itself a handwritten note. Our names, Leslie, Helen, and Amy would each be easily found on the outside or top. Inside was Dad's distinctive drafting-learned handwriting. He always used thick colorful construction paper, the type every child of the 1970's remembers. Dad's style of poetry was a mixture of Dr. Seus' rhythm with a sort of third-person Mark Twain storytelling. The daughter was Tom Sawyer and Dad used her current life as content. The Dr. Seus-like rhythms often made us stumble and ...
Read more

Testing, Is This Thing On?

Welcome back Readers! I am excited to write and share with you that it is not too late! One thing I have enjoyed this past summer is listening to  Pop Culture Preservation Society  a podcast hosted by three women from Minneapolis. The hosts call their research rabbit holes versus their vulnerability, which they call getting a twisty feeling in their tummy. As I relate their podcast to my Blog, I have been encouraged to go for it and to remember to seek things I enjoy.  My dad also believed this sentiment. After he retired, he decided to take up the guitar and to make it a priority in his daily routine. He also took on the role of leading music. I will share more about this in the future. To close, I leave you with a sample of what seems to be one of the first times Dad used the microphone in this setting  Father's Day 2007 . If you listen to the end, you get to hear a loving sermon lead by my sister. Thanks for reading. Stay well, AbH
Read more