Oh Christmas Tree

As I decorate our Christmas tree tonight, I am overwhelmed. Our tree isn't an elegant tree.  It isn't a tree that any designer would recommend.  Our Christmas tree would not be featured in any home decorating magazine.  But honestly, I don't care.  Our tree is a memory tree.  It's filled things that fill our hearts and minds.  It's filled with years upon years of memories.  Nearly every ornament we hang on our tree represents someone and something special.

We have handmade ornaments from the years we did youth ministry with 5th and 6th graders.  Perfect, no.  Beautiful and from the heart, yes. As I hung those ornaments on the tree tonight, I remembered the love in the eyes of the kids who gave their special creations to me. Those 'kids' are now in their late 20's. Our tree has precious ornaments from our grandparents. There are handmade ornaments from our parents, and our nieces when they were wee little ones.  Our tree has handpainted ornaments from my husband's dad, who has been gone for nearly fifteen years now.  The ornaments that adorn our tree all have a memory attached to them. 



One Christmas in our early married years, things were pretty tight.  We had a lot of medical bills that year, and wages were very lean. We had many speed bumps in life that year, particularly the latter part of the year.  Three weeks prior to Christmas, the UPS driver showed up at our door with a box.  I hadn't ordered anything, as there wasn't money to order anything, so I did not know what we were receiving. I opened the box and it was a beautiful octagon box that had old time Santa Claus pictures all over it.  I opened the box, and it was filled with twelve beautiful ornaments.  I grabbed the box to see who the sender was, as I knew these ornaments had to be fairly pricey. There was a company's name. I searched the box for a card, but there was not one. When my husband arrived home from work that evening, I showed him the ornaments and asked if he had ordered them. He said no. We called both sets of parents, grandparents, but no one knew anything about them. The following day I called the company listed on the shipping address. The kind customer service lady looked it up and said they had the order, but that the order came from us. I said we didn't order them. She looked a bit more, and said "well, they must be from Santa so just enjoy them, and please keep them." I offered to send them back, but she insisted we keep the ornaments as apparently their company sent them by 'mistake' but it was their mistake, so therefore, it was a gift for us to enjoy.  We did, and twenty years later, we still do.  I think of that hard year every time I pull the box out, and how God knew we needed that little reminder that even in the hard times, the lean times, there are gifts around us, we just need to enjoy and appreciate them. We also need to take the time to see them.

We have one wooden dog bone on the tree that has the name CODY engraved in it.  Cody was our first dog after we got married.  He died a couple weeks before Christmas in 2001, so that ornament brings tears to my eyes as I place it upon our tree.  When I pulled out the bone that says MADDIE, I shed quite a few tears.  14 years ago, Maddie came to warm our hearts and home two days after Christmas.  She left a big hole in our hearts when she left this year, right after Easter.  Both Cody & Maddie LOVED Christmas.  They would get so excited when the Christmas boxes came out.  Maddie would spend every evening sleeping under the tree during the month of December. She was like a little kid.  Our new pup, well, let's just say she needs some work on this whole Christmas thing and not eating her stocking, the tree, or the ornaments on the tree. 

I love our tree. I love the memories that flood our tree. For each ornament, each memory, I am grateful. 

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Pollywog Creek

Give Thanks

Speak thanks, make it a part of your every day life.  

Let your life reflect gratitude, in all things.  

Good days, bad days.  

Be thankful.

Remember on this Thanksgiving to put your family and loved ones first, not food, not football, not shopping.  

People.  

They are what truly matters.  

Time with them is precious.  Make your moments count. 

Life is short, appreciate and be thankful for the moments you are given.  

Psalm 100 Living Bible (TLB)

 Shout with joy before the Lord, O earth!  Obey him gladly; come before him, singing with joy.  Try to realize what this means—the Lord is God! He made us—we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.  

Go through his open gates with great thanksgiving; enter his courts with praise. Give thanks to him and bless his name.   For the Lord is always good.  He is always loving and kind, and his faithfulness goes on and on to each succeeding generation.

Colossians 2:7New Life Version (NLV)

 Have your roots planted deep in Christ. Grow in Him. Get your strength from Him. Let Him make you strong in the faith as you have been taught. Your life should be full of thanks to Him.

Hebrews 12:28The Voice (VOICE)

 Therefore, let us all be thankful that we are a part of an unshakable Kingdom and offer to God worship that pleases Him and reflects the awe and reverence we have toward Him. 

A Week Of Pondering and Memories

A week ago, we were in Sandpoint, pre and post storm.  The area was hit hard by a storm early evening, and the destruction was crazy.  Sandpoint, being Sandpoint, pitched in and got it cleaned up rather quickly.  I was up there a couple days later for my dad's birthday, and if I wouldn't have known what the area looked like on Sunday morning, I wouldn't even have known a storm went through except for a few homes that still had trees on them.

Before the storm, we took our nieces to a couple parks.  Both were in the neighborhood my hubby and I lived in for 17 years.  One park was a few feet away from our old place.  At both places, memories flooded my mind. I have been to both places several times since moving, but on Saturday my mind was playing a slide show of past memories. On our first stop, I walked by our old place, so many memories.  I also walked by my aunt's old place, now with a new house on what used to be here beautiful garden/flower area.  What once was her big covered patio, where we rode a big, old time tricycle until we were 10, played, and enjoyed swinging in a big wooden swing my uncle made and had amazing conversations, was now a scraggly lawn, no remnants of what was once my aunt's place left.  At Lakeview Park, I looked over at the pavilion and memories of a surprise party we had for my parents 19 years ago came back like it was yesterday. I remembered taking the kids we worked with in 5th and 6th grade youth group to that park, and playing games and laughing.  Those kids are now 28-30.  Now, I had my nieces there that were the same age those 'kids' were so many years ago.  Nostalgia.  Memories.  

After being at the park, we took a drive down Selle Road, over to the Grouse Creek area where again memories of my childhood swirled through my head.  I remembered riding snowmobiles and sledding with my friends, 4-H meetings, time at our adopted grandparents home, spending time with friends laughing and being kids, as we drove down the roads.  I remembered friends and loved ones who lived in homes we drove by that are not with us any longer, and I was thankful for the heart prints they left on my life.  

Our drive home was a whole different story, as it was like driving in a war zone, with trees coming down all around us, barn roofs lifting off the building, flying through the air, and exploding into a million pieces as they hit the ground.  There were trees falling on wires, sparking fires, and chaos everywhere as strong winds ripped through the valley.  When we arrived back at my parents house, there were trees down as well, and their horse/llama shed was smashed in.  Fortunately, the animals are smart and were at the back of the pen, away from the trees.  The storm lasted for what seemed days.  Total, it was about an hour and a half of some of the worst wind I have ever experienced. I was in a tornado as a kid in Iowa, but this storm at least compared to that one.  This sounded and acted like a tornado, but lasted a long time.  

On Sunday morning, we drove through town.  Tears ran down my face as we went through our old neighborhood.  Many homes had trees on them.  Old, giant pine trees uprooted entire lawns and were strewn across lawns like toothpicks.  The park we were at the afternoon before with my nieces had trees broken off and parts of those trees laying everywhere.  Some areas looked like someone threw a bomb in the middle of the trees, causing a mass explosion.  It was a mess.  When you grow up in a small town, and live there for the majority of your life, you know people, and we knew plenty of people who were facing some serious destruction.  I knew that Sandpoint people are resilient and would come through fine, as that is the way Sandpoint people are, but it was tough to see.  We helped do some clean up around the area, with many other people, but the shock continued, as did the memories.

Memories....they continue.  Tomorrow is the Celebrate Life walk/run which benefits the cancer center in Sandpoint.  My dear friend is the reason that walk/run started.  Tonight, I am thinking of her.  I went to her blog and read entries from  parts of late December 2007 and into 2008.  One entry was about how God needed to keep her around for 2008 because she had so many plans.  She made it part way through the year before she went home to be with Jesus.  I miss her.  I miss our emails.  I miss chats.  I miss her quiet strength.  I miss her outlook on life.  I miss her challenging me.  I miss her faith. I miss her smile.  I miss her writing, but I am glad her blog still exists so I can go read her words.   I miss her kind heart.

I am not sure why God is taking me down a road of vivid memories this week.  It almost makes me worry that my life is flashing before my eyes, but maybe I just need to remember.  Remember that life is short, that the people God puts in our lives our precious and we need to love with everything in us, and make a difference.  We need to forgive, laugh, have soft hearts, help others, and be kind. We need to live like today is our last day, because it could be.  What if it is? What difference did you make, did I make and what memories will others have as they think of each one of us?  Were we kind, filled with love, giving, or were we harsh, angry, self-centered?  Think about it and make course adjustments as you need to, TODAY.  

30 days of Thanks, Day 17

Today I am thankful for memories.  I am thankful for memories made with those still in my life, memories we make and continue to make.  I am thankful for memories of loved ones who are no longer on this earth, as well. 

Memories can never leave our hearts.  Memories are precious gifts that we can hold onto and treasure for the rest of our lives.  God gives us precious moments, fun times, good talks, words of wisdom, and time with others as a gift.  Keep that gift open, and remember with fondness and love those memories, with both those who are still in our lives, and those who are not.  For those still in our lives, continue to make wonderful memories.  For those who have gone on, don't close the gift of memories, but open it up and remember.  Most important, live each moment of life completely and enjoy time with those special to you.  Celebrate life!  Build a treasure chest of memories for all in your life, so when you are gone, they can look back at the wonderful gift you left behind.  

Life brings simple pleasures to us every day. It is up to us to make them wonderful memories. 

Memory is a way of holding onto the things you love, the things you are, the things you never want to lose. 

Creating memories is a priceless gift. Memories will last a lifetime; things only a short-period of time. 

Memories are the most beautiful pictures our minds can paint, and nothing can ever erase them.