"Leafing" Fall Behind

Thanksgiving weekend helped us "leaf" fall behind. But not before we had a little fun in the bountiful leaves in Manhattan.

We rendezvoused at the Riley County Historical Museum Wednesday afternoon for family photos for our Christmas cards.

Photo credit to Jill Grogg Photography, Manhattan

After the pro left, I couldn't resist getting my camera.

 We all had some fun - the girls in the leaves and Grandma attempting to capture the moment.

 It's not so easy with amateur equipment (and an amateur operator)!

That evening, we went to the K-State women's volleyball game. Brooke was getting tired, so any attempts at documenting her first volleyball game photographically were unsuccessful.

However, Kinley was a fan. She said she understood the game much better than football or basketball. Randy and I couldn't believe how small Ahearn looked. When we were K-State students, that's where we cheered on the Wildcat basketball team. Now it's home to the volleyball team.

We made more photo Christmas card attempts with my parents on Friday morning. (I took most of those on my mom's camera, so I think the better ones are on there.)

Grandpa Randy took the girls to the park while Jill and I did a little Christmas shopping Friday afternoon. But then it was time to usher in the Christmas season with the Manhattan tree lighting that evening.

 (You can barely see the girls, Jill and Eric as they went through the candy cane tunnel.)

The Blue Earth Plaza has 100,000-plus lights. Santa was there. But I think our local celebrity - football coach Bill Snyder - got just as many cheers.

We skipped the line for Santa and for hot chocolate. The girls indulged a little hot chocolate with marshmallows at home instead. 

The perfect end to the weekend with a last-minute victory in "Farmageddon," the football game between Iowa State and Kansas State.

 

Yes, Brent, Randy and I stayed to the end so we saw the Wildcat touchdown as the time expired.

 We also watched the Wildcats take a victory lap around Bill Snyder Family Stadium.

As the "society page" used to read in the weekly newspapers, "A good time was had by all!"

Lessons from a Christmas Tree

I saw this cute graphic on my friend, Linda's, Facebook page. I think those are all good things to remember during this busy holiday season. But I've learned some additional lessons from my Christmas tree this year, too.

In the olden days, we'd chop down a tree from a St. John tree farm. I loved the whole process.

Christmas 1990

We'd wander the trails at the tree farm and do a Goldilocks search for one that was "just right."

The smell of pine would permeate the crisp, winter day.

Christmas 1995

The tree farm folks would shake and wrap the tree while we went inside the store to drink hot spiced cider and crack open a few peanuts. Putting up the tree in the living room was the prelude to Christmas and all its sights and smells.

Christmas 1990

OK, so maybe I'm waxing nostalgic and forgetting the pine sap, the prickly needles all over the carpet and the spilled water. Just this morning on the news, I heard that live trees can bring an infestation of aphids into the house. We had enough aphids in our milo fields, thank you very much! And maybe I've forgotten squeezing two kids into the center seat belt of the pickup for our 25-mile excursion to the Christmas tree farm.

By the time the kids got into high school, I was the only one who still cherished the tradition. So, now we have a pre-lit tree. Let me clarify. It's supposed to be pre-lit. But this year, only about a third of the lights came on when we plugged it in.

"Ho, ho, ho! Merry Christmas!" was not Randy's first thought. Some traditions never change. These days his only job is to help schlep the plastic tubs of decorations up from downstairs and get the tree set up. This year, he had to add lighting back into his holiday schedule. He added two more strings to the tree and we called it good.

I think some additional lights flickered out after we did the light positioning - or so it appears when I examine the photos I took.  They seem congregated around the middle, kind of like Santa's jolly belly.

It was not the only light fatality. The evergreen swag I use over the grandfather clock also didn't light. Another extra strand of lights fixed that problem.

I can't even find my miniature Christmas tree. Did it quit working last year and I tossed it? Did I think I'd remember to replace it before this holiday season? Well, if that's what I thought, I clearly was mistaken.

I think I need to actually read one of the books that I use to decorate my mantle, "Why Christmas Trees Aren't Perfect." It was given to the kids by our minister and dear friend, Cheryl, long ago.

No Christmas trees aren't perfect. Neither are Christmas decorations (unless they are on those fancy schmantzy HGTV shows).

But you know what? The Savior of the world was cradled in a smelly manger. So if my Christmas tree lights aren't placed with algebraic precision, I think it's going to be OK.

As I pull the ornaments from the boxes, it's a trip down memory lane. The elf my Grandma Leonard made when I was a little girl lost its hanger long ago, so I nestle it in the tree branches.

One of my newer ornaments was made by our former pastor Amy, who used stain glass to resemble the ceiling panels at our church.

My favorites are the photo ornaments which capture moments in time.

Other decorations remind me of my crafty mother-in-law. Marie added to our Santa collection year after year.
But Marie didn't ignore the true message of Christmas with her creations either. I have her quilted nativity scene on the piano.

How can we, in the midst of our culture's conspicuous consumption and demand for perfection, turn our focus on the Child who was born into poverty as a sign of hope and salvation for a broken world? While it may seem the world demands perfection, the Gospel message demands nothing from us. Rather, God invites us to gather around the manger just as we are: unfinished lists, burnt pies and all. No matter our imperfections, great or small, God invites us to peek into the manger and gaze at the real Christmas message: That Christ came for us all to be a beacon of hope for the hopeless and to bring peace.

Rev. Amy Slater, 

Stafford UMC newsletter, Christmas 2012

 So, yes, I am still learning from my less-than-perfect Christmas tree this year.

Christmas in a Small Town

Stafford Christmas 2015 - Intersection of Main and Broadway, the "main drag"

With its millions of lights and perfectly-crafted displays, a trip to Botanica is like entering a fairy wonderland of Christmas finery. All the parts and pieces fit together like a symphony orchestra building up to a crescendo. I loved it (as evidenced by the photos I shared earlier this week).

But there is beauty in simplicity, too. Too often, I get distracted by the hubbub and the "noise." The thing that is "squeaking" the loudest captures my attention first. That to-do list with items still not crossed off seems to scream the loudest right now.

Stafford may not have thousands of visitors clamoring to see synchronized light displays. But there is beauty nonetheless. And isn't that the meaning of Christmas? Christ didn't come to Earth in amazing 3D technicolor.

Mary was a young, unwed mother. She had her first baby - not in a well-appointed delivery room - but in a stable with animals all around. She laid Him in a manger filled with straw, not a crib with sheets that matched a nursery theme. It wasn't all that pretty.

How can we, in the midst of our culture's conspicuous consumption and demand for perfection, turn our focus on the Child who was born into poverty as a sign of hope and salvation for a broken world? While it may seem the world demands perfection, the Gospel message demands nothing from us. Rather, God invites us to gather around the manger just as we are: unfinished lists, burnt pies and all. No matter our imperfections, great or small, God invites us to peek into the manger and gaze at the real Christmas message: That Christ came for us all to be a beacon of hope for the hopeless and to bring peace.

Rev. Amy Slater, 

Stafford UMC newsletter, Christmas 2012

When I went to choir practice last week, the Christmas tree in the church foyer was like a beacon in the darkness.

 Through the multi-paned door, I also caught a glimpse of the cross hanging at the front of the church.

Inside, in the dark foyer, it looked perfectly appointed. But I remembered the little hands that hung the ornaments only a few weeks ago at our annual Hanging of the Greens. Without a little creative rearranging by adults, there might have been a "blizzard" of snowflakes on the lower branches of the tree. They guided the helping hands to other parts of the tree. The cooperation and guidance lit a dark night.

O God, prompt me to shine a light on Christ’s coming through my words and actions.

From Sight Psalms

So maybe not every single treat will get made. Perhaps the dusting won't stand the "white glove test." And it will still be OK. It will be better than OK ... 

... especially if I sit in the living room with my glasses off. It's the only time that being really nearsighted is a benefit.

Maybe I should be nearsighted in another way, too. Rather than looking at the big picture, I should remember the central message.

A treasured nativity from friends

"Noel!" Christ is born!

These two photos taken at Stafford United Methodist Church

 Let the list go and enjoy the time with your family! (Now, if only I can take my own advice!)

Ho! Ho! No! No! No!

A Christmas Story

By Kinley Marie

Give me a tiny Mickey Mouse hat for my head.

 

Give me a tiny horn to toot.

Make me fluff the Christmas tree. (I'll hold my mouth just so!)

Make me examine old Christmas tree ornaments from my Mommy's and Daddy's past.

I'll hang the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse ornament that Grandma and Grandpa brought me (after I carry it around awhile).

 

Yes, I'll even stand on my leg to work, even though it's in a cast. 

I'll supervise the parents' decorating efforts while I rest my leg and check email on Mommy's phone. 

But do not make me go see that big guy in the red suit and the beard. Ho, Ho, NO, NO, NO!

Last year, Mommy & Daddy made me sit on that guy's lap.

This year, they said I could decide for myself. (I heard my Mommy tell my Grandma that I didn't need anymore trauma when my leg is already in a cast.)

And I decided, "No, no, NO!" (even though Santa probably would have liked my Christmas sock and my jingle bell. He probably would have liked my cast, too, now that I've switched to pink. It's just a lighter shade of red, you know, which the Big Guy seems to like.)

Santa seems to be popular. There was a line to see him at the mall. I graciously decided that someone else could take my place.

This year, I think I'll just stick to a Christmas portrait with Mommy and Daddy.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Until next time,
Kinley Marie

Christmas Lights Au Naturel

I finally got my Christmas tree and other decorations up yesterday. (The photo is from another year. There are no presents wrapped -- let's be realistic, people -- but at least there's progress from Winter Cold Central.)

But, even before I hung the last ornament on the tree yesterday, I'd realized I'd had Christmas lights all along. They just came au naturel during a beautiful sunrise yesterday morning.

It was another one of those mornings when the pink from the morning sky was so insistent that it peeked through the tiny basement windows and beckoned me upstairs ...

and outside, despite the frigid temperatures.

You can't beat these lights of the Christmas season. They don't even get tangled.