Christmas is coming

Ah ha ready or not; Christmas is coming! Visions of snow, decorated trees, stockings hung on the mantel, presents, happy and excited children. Family. Yes, that is a vision of our happiest holiday in this place we have chosen to live. It would be different in say Australia or South America south of the equator and hence in the middle of the hot season—summer. There too they celebrate but no matter Christmas is about family your traditions and those of our family.

When I was a child family consisted of my parents and we four siblings. All my grandparents were deceased by the time I had reached much awareness. Christmas morning was when we opened presents after the farm chores, milking and feeding, were done. Probably my most wonderful gift, shared by brother Tom, was a brand-new Whizzer Motorbike. Oh, we put a lot of miles on it over the years and now I wished I’d never sold it, kind of like several cars that I’ve owned and wish I still had. After the gift exchange mom always fixed a special Christmas breakfast/dinner and the rest of the day was spent playing with the new toys and visiting nearby neighbors. Not a care in the world—just surrounded by love from our happy family.

I think of our friends and neighbors that have to work and are away from home on Christmas Eve or Christmas Morning. Do they have family connections to enjoy that special time? Maybe their Christmas is not that special.

Our Pastor Kelley summed it up nicely. He spoke about how surprised he was to see one parishioner in church on that special day and spoke to him about it. He asked why he wasn’t back home with his family as was evidently his usual practice. The gent’s response was “Why are you surprised? This is my family.”

Yes, that has been my own experience. When Air Force duty called I too have been far separated from family in places like Hawaii, it seemed strange to see evergreen wreaths hung on palm trees, or one memorable time in Alaska. I was with a long-time friend, his family, plus my flight crew and we celebrated the joyous occasion together as family. Unknown to me at the time Grannie and our children were having a very sad experience back home in Oklahoma. Sadly the little girl, about 5 years old, living next door died of Chicken Pox on Christmas Eve day.

It is a wonderful thing that our God chose to send his only begotten son, Jesus, to live here on earth to show us a better way of life. Jesus came to forgive our sins, erase our guilt from those misdeeds, and teach us how to show love to our fellow man. Treat each other with respect and show a healthy attitude toward their lives. It works. If you can make others around you happy you also make yourselves happy.

I am reminded of one of my fellow pilots in the air refueling tanker outfit where I served on Cape Cod. Shelly was of the Jewish faith and therefore did not observe Christmas. In that outfit we pulled alert for a week at a time, isolated on base in a facility with our airplanes parked on the ready just outside. No provision for family to visit except outside the fence in a parked car. It was a time of the Cold War with the USSR. When alerted we were to start engines and take off as soon as possible, five minutes, and meet to refuel B-47 bombers on their way to nuclear bomb targets in Soviet Russia. Each Christmas Shelly would volunteer to pull alert duty in place of a fellow Christian pilot. Quietly with no thought of being honored for his sacrifice to enable a fellow Christian have a better time with his family at this important time of the year. Yes, that is the spirit of Christ in action. Bless him.

Things to do in this community. Grannie Annie with me as escort attended SWNCTA’s performance of Scrooge—oops the Christmas Carol. Talented actors, lots of work involved and we are fortunate to have them. A couple special events coming up will have the Peace Lutheran Church presenting their Live Nativity on the 17th and 18th at 4 and 6 PM. It will be at the Fairgrounds Alice building, so will be a lot warmer than in the past outside in the frigid Nebraska winter weather. Authentic costumes and live animals we don’t see every day. Then Dec. 14th Camp Comeca is one of my favorite places in the whole world. It is a wonderful ecumenical church camp for our youth and older folk family gatherings too. Comeca will be doing a virtual Christmas Special. Find details on www.comeca.camp.

So what are you doing for Christmas this year? Will it be with blood relation family or will it be with the non-related family that surrounds you? Grannie Annie and I will be blessed with the presence of our daughter and her husband, a grandson plus a granddaughter with her husband and five young sons. Our cup runneth over!

That is the way I saw it.

Dick Trail