Monday, January 3, 2011

Christmas Day

     Christmas day was to be spent with my whole family.  What a great treat that was.  Russell, Rachelle, and Lucas.  Roger, a friend, and Miranda, that was a surprise.  Lyle, Kelly, Lexis, Dana, Keagan, and Michael.  Everyone was present, well, except Adrienne, and Chris.  Uncle Norman and Marcy showed up and we began to eat.  Since we were in the club house near mom and dad's duplex, we decided we would do soups and snacks.  Plenty of food.  You would think we were feeding an army.  I made chicken chili,  Roger made Zuppa Tuscana, Lyle made chili, mom made homemade chicken noodle, dad made oyster stew, Russ made little smokies in a blanket.  Lots of candy, cookies, cheese and crackers.  It was not a good place for a dieter!  I ate 3 bowls of Rogers soup.  LOVED IT.  Tasted lyles.  Could be a little more zing.  I ate a half a bowl of noodle soup.  Sipped on dad's stew.......YUCK, and didn't even try mine.  LOL!  (in fact its in the microwave now cooking down to make re fried beans)
     After we ate we played games.  The girls were playing Hokie 6 while the guys played Trouble.  We  had a great time.  We brought out BLURT.  Mom didn't want to play, dad was getting sick, and Lyle was a party pooper.  Ha, he was still eating. We made mom play and she was good at it and she loved it.  We even caught her cheating and she had to give up the points.  NO BLURTING FOR THE OTHER TEAM!  haha
     We had a white elephant exchange.  I ended up with a John Deer Sweatshirt.  Justiced ended up having to choose 3 times, people  were stealing his gifts.  He got a tea cup.  Karrea got some stuffed animals and a Yankee candle.  Shai picked one of my gifts (mine were the last ones left, sheesh) she got a friends picture frame.  Ron ended up with Wild Country Cologne from Avon.  It was a good time.  I'm already for next years gift exchange, I picked up some clearance blankets.  Everyone was fighting over those!
     We cleaned up the club house and went over to mom and dads.  There we got out Pictionary man.  We are not fans.  We even had Lucas Crying because he couldn't figure out how to draw FIRE STARTER.  You got me!  Who the heck came up with something stupid like that.  JUST MY OPINION, and about half of the other people in the room.  We hung out for a couple hours.  Rachelle was starting to feel stuffy, Roger just got back from an Omaha run.  We snacked a little bit and then it was time for us to get back, it was almost midnight.
     On the way to Grand Island Justice wanted to know if he could stop at T.A. and check out a knife.  I made Ron pull over at T.A. just so Justice could check it out, even though it was after midnight.  Justice felt bad because "what if I change my mind and don't get the knife?"  I said, Don't worry about it Son, You'll know if you are supposed to spend your money on it or not.  Money has been really really tight around here. Ron has never seen his bank account so low since he started his own business.  Let that be a lesson to him.  I don't have any money coming in to pull up the slack either.  My day care is half the load it used to be since they are all in school.  I want Justice to be aware of money situations, but I want him to learn that God will tell you where your money should go.
    The boys were in the store about 15 min.  Justice came out and said He wasn't going to buy the knife.  Ron came out and said he wanted me to come in and check out the leather jackets for motorcycle riding.  I was reluctant.  They were normally 140.00 on sale for 59.99.  We were in there trying jackets on, and trying to decide if we really needed them.  Now, I have ridden with my Heaven's Best coat on.  It was not fun having that hood flap around smacking me.  This Jacket has a zip out liner and inner pockets too.  Its black with Roses embedded on it and the sleeves can zip up for a tighter fit.   Ron bought 2 of them.  I truly feel spoiled and blessed this season.  I just need to buy some cycle gloves and maybe some chaps and we will be set (he needs chaps too).  We found out boots for 8.00 on clearance.  The helmets were a gift from the man we bought the bike from. 
     I was overwhelmed by the great day we had participated in.  I walked to the Denali quickly, it was cold and late.  A young man stopped Ron at the door.  I'm a people watcher.  I had seen this man pacing back and forth, stretching out his legs on the bench.  Going in the store, running up the stairs a few times.  I didn't know if he was waiting for his Truck to fill up with Gas. I've heard that takes quite a bit of time.  To have him stop Ron puzzled me.  I watched.  I could see the man tearing up. I reached for my purse.  I grabbed a 20.00 (i had two of them for the rest of the week).  I walked outside.  Ron said he was pulling his car around to the pump. 
     Ron wasn't sure what to do, the man asked for some money, but he didn't want him spending it on booze or cigarettes, so Ron offered him to FILL UP his P.T. Cruiser.  We walked over to the pump.  I held out my hand.  He thought I was going to shake his hand.....in my hand was the 20 dollar bill.  He started to cry.  He asked for our address, he stated that when he got paid he would send us the money to repay, I gladly said......NOPE. YOU KEEP IT.  We love to help.  Thank you for letting us help!  Emotion over came him.  Ron and I started to tear up too.  He finally choked out....I'm in the military.  My mom gave me all she had, and 20.00 doesn't get me from Missouri to Colorado.  My aunt and uncle borrowed 40.00 and I am stranded here in the cold.  I have to be at post at 9:00 am.  Thank you for being so kind and helping me.  I couldn't choke anything out, I just nodded and wiped my tears. 
     We watched as he got in his car, wiping his tears.  We hugged each other and I choked out......That is what Christ and Christmas is all about.  We got into our warm Denali and drove off.  Satisfied!  As we passed our new friend, we honked and waved and prayed that he would make it safely to Colorado.  It was foggy that night, but our vision was CLEAR.  Jesus is the reason for the season.
    

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