Christmas in Alabama...day 6

 

Wednesday December 25

 

Merry Christmas everyone.

With our new pj's on we all eventually gathered by the tree. Today was like the Christmas days of my youth. There is a strange glow about, and I like it. Why can't we (humans) feel like this every day? This and many other realizations quickly float to the surface. What about those who don't have a family to share this day with? What about those who just experienced a loss? Will Christmas ever be the same? For me though, I quickly bounce back to this here-and-now. Grandkids are running wild with excitement. There are new traditions for Kerry and I to experience; the Alabama Malan Family Christmas tradition, and we, for the first time, will do this day their way.

After eating a hearty breakfast of bacon and monkey bread, with a tall side of orange juice we got down to business. By 11:00am, the tree was bare, as far as gifts go. We took our time opening one gift at a time, so the excitement of opening that gift could be appreciated and shared. Jared made an awesome Santa.

 

The ham was in the oven and Kristin kept busy with all of the other fixins. While Kristin was busy with preparing the holiday feast, Nick, Kerry and I went outside to continue with the shed construction. Previously we got as far as various beam and foundation assemblies. Then we reached a point where the instruction manual said, "STOP NOW." Apparently the remaining assembly would take SEVERAL hours and to avoid wind damage to incomplete walls, it was recommended that we wait until we had enough time to finish this section. We didn't have that much time...the sun was already setting.

 

 

 

Today we had several hours of sunshine to work so we continued where we left off...building (or should I say assembling) the walls. We worked nonstop, until the sun started dancing with the western horizon. All four walls were now up with supports in place. Tomorrow we tackle the roof.

For now, our goal is to spend the rest of Christmas day basking in the "Reason for the Season." After eating dinner, games were played, toys explored and  moments cherished. As you guessed, we closed this Christmas Day with our Sleepy Time herbal tea. We had a full day of beautiful moments, each one devoured. No nap time today ... Deep sleep tonight.

A family with an old person has a living treasure of gold.

CHINESE PROVERB

Christmas in Alabama...day 5

Tuesday December 24  

Today we went to see Santa. Kristin was right...getting there first thing in the morning we only had to deal with a hand full of people in line. Kristin held a spot in line while everyone else explored the Bass Pro Shop and all of the stuff they had on display (clothing, sporting goods, boats, dead stuffed animals and a huge fully stocked aquarium.)

 

There were tons of activities set up for the kids, just to keep them busy while their folks waited in line (target shooting, a race care track, bow and arrow shooting and a writing station where one could compose their letter to Santa, and post it too). Shortly after Santa was open for business the photo op was here, with Jared and Landon by his side and a concerned Karis upon his lap...and just like that, it was over.

  

 

 

 

 

There were toys stacked everywhere. Kerry even noticed a display of Daisy riffles, which brought to mind how much we missed our other two grandkids in Washington State...Daisy and Brandon.

 

 

 

 

The morning seemed to pass by quickly. By the time we got back home, gave Jared a hair cut and ate a light lunch, it was the infamous nap time once again. We all slept well.

 

By 3:30pm we were once again loaded into the van, heading back to church for the Christmas Eve Candle Light service. We listened to a children's holiday story while all of the kids sat on and around the stage. Then we sang some of our favorite Christmas carols before finishing off with the actual lighting of the candles, started from one flame, spreading throughout the entire worship center. I always get choked up during the candle lighting portion of a Candle Light service...it's just so beautiful. 

 

 

The plan for the remainder of the day is a Beef Stroganoff dinner followed by a traditional Christmas Eve gift opening. I love tradition and Nick's family had plenty. It was fun watching the boys bake some cookies for Santa (and me).

  We all received a new pair of pajama's. These were for us to wear while spending the rest of the Christmas Eve evening sipping our hot chocolate while watching A Veggie Tales Holiday Movie. Once the kids were all tucked in for the night, Nick, Kristin and Kerry assembled a toy car for Karis and filled up some stockings...or should I say Santa filled up some stockings? No time to work on the shed today...there is always tomorrow, Christmas Day!

Fond memories of my childhood flood through me...warm and fuzziness, and it isn't even Christmas

Day yet.

 

Family traditions counter alienation and confusion. They help us define who we are; they provide something steady, reliable and safe in a confusing world.

SUSAN LIEBERMAN, New Traditions



Christmas in Alabama...day 4

Monday December 23

Kerry and I woke up and eagerly greeted the eve of Christmas Eve.

Hooray, today the rain has finally stopped. The humidity was replaced with cooler weather and with the constant rain yesterday, there is a damp coolness in the air. Usually as the day progresses the weather is supposed to get warmer. Today the opposite happened and by late afternoon it was downright chilly. Time to layer my clothes. I was glad I brought cold weather clothing,

One of Nick's bedrooms is called the garage. Because they really don't have a lot of storage space, this bedroom has been utilized for extra storage; mostly with items one would find in a garage (shelves, tools, suitcases, and other odds and ends), Kerry and I thought that if Nick and Kristin had a storage shed, the "garage" could be converted back into a bedroom. By having an extra bedroom, visitors (like us) would have a dedicated room to use during overnight visits. A shed was one of the items on Nick and Kristin's "wish" list. Can you say, "Ho Ho Ho?"

 

For Christmas, we bought them a shed and today's agenda was all about assembly. The first phase was putting together the various parts that would eventually come together to form the basic structure. We got as far as getting the wall bases in place and screwed together. We also managed to get the main I-beam and 2 side beams assembled! thanks to Kerry and her organizational skills. She kept Nick and me on track and on schedule. Oh, and I was the first one to bleed.

 

After dinner we headed over to Bass Pro so the kids could see Santa, but when we got there,  there were hundreds of people in line ahead of us (well maybe not hundreds but you get the idea).  It would take hours to reach Santa if we stayed. Kristin immediately came up with Plan B. We will return tomorrow morning when they open and hopefully the lines will be a lot shorter.

As we settled in with kids in bed Nick started making Lefse, a holiday tradition he learned from Poppi and a tradition Nick was going keep alive and hopefully pass on to his kids some day.

For Kerry and me, it was  time to say, "Nighty night."

Every family has a story that it tells itself, that it passes on to the children and grandchildren. The story grows over the years, mutates, some parts are sharpened, others dropped, and there is often debate about what really happened. But even with these different sides of the same story, there is still agreement that this is the family story. And in the absence of other narratives, it becomes the flagpole that the family hangs its identity from.

A.M. HOMES, O Magazine, Apr. 2007