Christmas Morn

Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; He is Christ the Lord.                           Luke 2:11

Merry Christmas!   It snowed and the wind howled all day & night on Christmas Eve.  This is a picture of my backyard around 10:00 p.m.   The wind was blowing so strong that the snow was going sideways.  Sounded like the roof was shaking sometimes.  It looked like one of those movies about people lost in the mountains during a blizzard.  It was like a white-out at times.

What a great day we had on Christmas Eve.  It was so peaceful and relaxed around here.  We aren't a large family now that the 3 other kids are grown, but we still enjoyed being homebound in a storm with each other.  It just seemed special to me yesterday. 

Wendy and Hector were supposed to come over about 5:00 p.m. for turkey dinner and to exchange gifts.  But the roads and temps were supposed to get worse around that time so it was decided by all for them not to try to come over.  They will be here today once the roads get thawed and the temp rises a bit.  The meal was delicious turkey, potatoes, gravy, dressing, and green beans.  I didn't put the rolls in the oven because we will save those for when Wendy gets here today.  She loves those brown & serve rolls; I think they are her favorite part of the meal. 

Jon won't let us open gifts until Christmas morning so Jonathan was itching to get this one gift from Wendy & Hector last night.  Jon was busy in the kitchen cooking something and being pestered constantly about opening a gift.  Finally he announced  we could open all the gifts after we eat!!!  I was so excited, like a little kid!!!

I got a couple of Knifty Knitters, 3 skeins of yarn, a new cd/dvd external disk drive for my computer, 2 sweaters, a sweater dress (which will be returned: sweater dresses show every bulge!), Julie & Julia movie (from Jonathan), and a few other items that I don't remember right now.

I really am glad to get the knitting looms.  I had bought one for Lori for Christmas and wanted one myself (wanted one for years).  Well, I've got it now so I'm a happy camper! 

Jonathan is outside playing in the frozen wonderland, probably needing sunglasses because of the glare of sun shining on the snow.  It looks so pretty right now but I know in a little bit it will be a muddy mess  :-(

Upside Down Christmas Trees

Upside Down Christmas Trees: The tree is either suspended from the ceiling, point down at the bottom or the point is somehow put into a special stand.   There is more room to walk in your room because the widest part of the tree is near the ceiling.  Also there is more room at the bottom for the gifts.

I found this information about it:

Hanging fir trees upside down goes back to the Middle Ages, when Europeans did it to represent the Trinity. But now, Christmas trees are shaped with the tip pointing to heaven, and some think an upside-down Christmas tree is disrespectful or sacrilegious. 

 A few of the benefits: If you have little children, you can keep most of the ornaments away from little hands. Cats and dogs won’t be racing around and knocking decorations off the base of your upside-down Christmas tree. And just think how many more packages you’ll be able to pile under the tree!  

She also said, "But as for me, count me out! I love the wonderful season and celebration of Christmas. I know some of the traditions have nothing to do with the birth of Christ. But I love the celebrations of love and family and giving. And I don’t intend to turn them upside-down in my home!" ~ Coral Nafie

Me too!  I feel like it looks very alien or odd.  I wouldn't feel it was Christmas if it hung from the ceiling.  

Gordon Get Together

Tonight we will have our get together as the remaining members of the Gordon family.  It's been hard to get together since Mom and Dad passed away.  Christmas for the family was a big deal to Mom & Dad.  Everyone met at their house and we had a good time eating and opening gifts.  Lots of grand kids around were what made them happy. 

We did meet this last year at Cotton Patch and it was so crowded and noisy.  The restaurant was packed and they had us all on one large table for about 25 so it was hard to talk to anyone really unless you got up and walked to where they were sitting.

We are going to try the R & K Restaurant tonight.  Maybe not so busy.  I think there will be Crystal, Eric, Wendy, Hector, Sherry, Buddy, Lisa,  Me, Jon, Jonathan, Cindy & hubby, kids, Jim, and maybe Steve & Dawn.  Lori & her family can't be there because they are home in Tennessee.  Also missing will be Mike & Michael. 

I think when I had moved in with Mom to care for her after Lisa left (right before I could arrange for her to be moved into my house) we did meet together for a last Thanksgiving at Mom's trailer.  Of course, at that time, I think Mike, Sonya, Carly, and Michael were there too.

This was right before I could get a hospital bed delivered to my house for Mom.  I don't remember how long I stayed there.  It was rough.  I had my own family and had to go there because Lisa had just left.  She was done with taking care of Mom and took off.  It was up to either me or Sherry to take care of Mom at the time, but Sherry had a job.  So I had to leave my family and move in until we could arrange for her to be brought to my house.  I couldn't stay there for very long since I had Jon and a small son at home that needed me too. 

Well, you can't go back to the way it once was.  Some of us stay in touch on Facebook.  We are all that is left of  Dad & Mom's family.  All that they wanted was for us to get along.

Old Gordon Christmas

I remember some of our Christmas times when I was a child.  At our base apartment in Maryland, we had a beautiful silver tree.  I still like them.  We loved to look at all the presents under it and the tinsel or angel hair made the lights look so pretty.

Dad had a very nice cardboard fireplace that he put up each year.  It was some sort of kit and it had slots that interlinked and formed a fireplace about 5-6 foot tall.  I've never seen one like it since I've grown up and don't remember whatever happened to it.  There are some versions on sale if you search on the internet, but they don't go as high as ours did. It was special.   All 4 of us kids would get to pick where Santa would leave our gifts for us.  Some of us picked a certain corner, or near a chair, or near a window or by the fireplace.  That way when we got up we all ran to our spot and got to open our gifts.

As children, we always opened our gifts on Christmas Eve.  I love that, but my husband will not let us do that.  Nope, we have to wait till morning.  : (
Just call me Miss Impatient

Traditions

Face it, Christmas will never be like it was when our kids were little.  Jody died (years ago), others divorced, and then Grandma & Grandpa died.  Some are in jail and Lisa is still not herself mentally after her heart attack and in a nursing home, Steve remarried too.  It really changed after Mom & Dad died.  I guess they were what held us all together.

My parents made it special for every grandchild.  They went all out.  They weren't rich but Mom would spend so much time trying to find great gifts for all us grown kids and the grandkids.  She tried to make sure she spent the same amount on each person.  We'd all bring gifts for everyone also, so the place was piled high with gifts.

She made a huge meal each year; without much help from us, I'm ashamed to say.  There wasn't room for all of us to sit at the table.  Those were the days.  Now the family that is left is fractured & disjointed.  Those that are still around have trouble getting together.  Lots of confusion.  At least with Mom and Dad, everyone knew, Christmas Eve was the time we met each year. 

We will all meet on the 18th to eat at a local restaurant and visit with each other.  Everything changes.  To everything, there is a season...