Holiday Memories

I was recently in a group setting where we were asked about Thanksgiving traditions with our families. I realized that I was the only one in the group who did not grow up with lots of family joining us for Thanksgiving or Christmas. We never lived close to other family members, so we typically had just our immediate family at home for the holidays. And some of those were without my dad while he was deployed during war time. I can still remember sitting around a reel-to-reel player listening to a tape my dad made while onboard his ship as he wished us all a Merry Christmas. I don't remember if he was home for Christmas, but I can remember that tape as well as the hours of Christmas music that he had taped from the Armed Forces Radio Network that was piped throughout his ship.

Even though it was typically just my parents, my sister, and my brother, we usually sat down at a table with more food than we could eat in a week. My dad would always have something to say or some scripture to read followed by a prayer before we could eat anything. I can still feel the torture of smelling so many wonderful things just inches from my mouth, knowing that it was getting cold and less tasty every minute it took my dad to finish, and wondering if I could sneak something in my mouth undetected.

The tradition of living far from relatives has unfortunately been carried on for my own family. We have rarely had family visiting on a holiday and have rarely been home on holidays. When you have to drive 4 days roundtrip to see relatives, it makes it difficult to get home for holidays. Besides, in the ministry our busiest seasons are centered around holidays.

But those precious few times that our boys have been around their grandparents for a holiday have been special memories. Our youngest son, Zachary, was just talking today about his only White Christmas when he got to ride on a sled with his Paw Paw. And then there was the Thanksgiving day that we stopped at Piggly Wiggle somewhere in Louisiana to get our nearly 1-year old Ashton some Gerber's turkey and the rest of us ate turkey lunch meat for our Thanksgiving meal. Then we arrived in Mississippi in time to attend my niece's wedding and watch as she walked down the aisle wearing the wedding dress she had borrowed from my wife. Our boys will never forget the large Florida Thanksgiving with family members from Mississippi, Canada, California, and Florida all enjoying turkey and salmon and countless other delicious treats set-up on tables outside. Yes, the weather was so nice that we had a Thanksgiving picnic. We even went swimming some when we got too hot from relaxing in the hot tub.

While we may not have relatives close by or often get to spend the holidays with them, we have generally been blessed to have good friends invite us to spend time with them for holidays. I don't think Wendy will ever forget our Thanksgiving in Jordan and I know I will always cherish my Christmas Day experience of visiting all of the church members and taking the Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes to the children: that is the day that Abu Zohair, the pastor of our church in Jerash, put his arm around me as we walked down the streets of Jerash overlooking the majestic Roman ruins, and he told me that, just like the relationship between the apostle Paul and Timothy, he was now my father and he was Ashton's grandfather.

We have many fond memories of holidays with friends. Whether it is spending the Fourth of July on base at the Aberdeen Proving Grounds for a picnic and fireworks, or enjoying some board games and a cookout and fireworks in the heart of Bel Air. Our Thanksgivings with friends have included rousing games of football before, or a quick dinner and then the movies, or a nice brisk walk around the neighborhood after our feast. We have generally made a point of reserving Christmas Day as a time for our immediate family, but we certainly attend lots of parties and special services during December.

So what are your holiday traditions? Is spending the day with extended family relaxing or stressful?