Christmas Present

As people reflected on the winter solstice, I wrote this note.The hardest thing about moving to Reno, Nevada had been separating from my community of friends that  we’ve cultivated over the past 20-30 years.   They’d become “the family I’d chosen.”  I decided to hold on to my long time tradition of getting together with girlfriends for a cookie exchange and spend a week in December in Bonny Doon.  I would still miss our annual paella on the beach for New Years Day and our little Bonny Doon Christmas Eve Candlelight Service, but at least I’d have some time with my friends and church family.  In that week, I was able to connect with friends in our Higher Grounds community, light the Advent Candle of Love and was enchanted by my little friend’s performance as a “party girl” in the Nut Cracker.  

The greatest gift I’ve received this Christmas, is the gift my friends gave me by hosting my annual cookie exchange at one of their homes.  One of my girlfriends organized the enchanting craft of making our own holiday swags. Others prepared lovely dishes to share for brunch.  I prepared my annual gift bags of homemade preserves as usual.   I was grateful for the opportunity to offer a Christmas prayer for all of us before we sat down to lunch.   I shared how grateful I was for the love of my friends and the love of God descending from heaven to become a humble child in order to restore intimate relationship with us again.  When I arrived back in Reno, after the party, there was a ton of snow.  The Christmas lights and snow make our little community look like a little Swiss villiage.   As soon as I was able to once I got home, I hung the holiday swag I’d made at the cookie exchange beside our garage; it’s been a wonderful reminder of the friendships I’d left behind.

Although I miss being near my friends, it’s been great to be closer to my brother.  One of the highlights of my Christmas was helping my brother put up this little Christmas tree.  He wasn’t able to find a small tree in his town.  I found one in Truckee, drove it to his house and found the decorations he’d forgotten he hadn’t o help him decorate it to his style.  So many of the ornaments were ones Mom must have given him from when we were kids.

After getting back to Reno, I baked a cookie tin of Christmas cookies like Mom used to make, then drove back to my brother’s house in Grass Valley with a Christmas stocking for him and Mom.  We both drove to Mom’s house in Hamilton City and delivered her her stocking and a tin of cookies.  

Over the summer, I went through our Christmas boxes and packed up items like the German windmill we’d put out for Christmas for over over 20 years and the pomegranate I’d brought back from Israel.  I wanted to bring some of our Christmas traditions from Bonny Doon to our new home in Reno.   I also invited a few of my new friends from Reno over for a small cookie exchange to help me feel more at home here.

There are a ton of events in Reno and there were many special traditions I was missing from Bonny Doon, like attending the Santa Cruz Coral.  We decided to volunteer at Grace Church’s Christmas Village and to give the “A Christmas Rock Story” at the Grand Sierra Resort (GSR) a try.  It was sweet to see so many local families attend these events.  Dave kept four fire pits going at “the Christmas Village” and helped people roast hot dogs while I helped server almost a thousand hot cocoas.  The highlight was petting the two live camels from Susanville.

We attended our neighbors holiday gathering too.  Without having children, we often travel to visit our families in different locations.  Often times, we visit one side of our family for Thanksgiving and another side for Christmas.  Since we’d spent Thanksgiving with my Mom and brother, we wanted to spend Christmas with Dave’s Mom who is living alone and housebound.  Sadly we had a bit of a challenge getting there, but in the end received our own Christmas miracle.  It was fun decorating her tree with the “Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer” ornament her daughter, Marsha, had made as well as with the Jesse Tree ornaments we’d gotten her a number of years ago.  Tonight we are excited to dress up and take her to the church she helped plant for their  Christmas Eve candlelight service.