As I think back over my lifetime, I have had some great Christmas's with my family as I was growing up, a magical Christmas in the Swiss Alps while in college. But as I think of Christmas since I have been married, what is the most memorable? We have had some wonderful, idyllic times. However, 29 years ago, I approached the holidays while being pregnant with my first child, he was born 10 days before Christmas. When you have a baby this time of year, a woman has an incredible identification with Mary, the mother of Jesus - the hopes and fears for your baby child.
That year, we had been having a hard time financially. We were living in the mountains of Colorado - an absolutely magnificent place. We had a construction business but the recession of the early '80's had hit Colorado. Business was drying up and we were anticipating a move back to the homeland in the heartland.
Because of the impending birth and lack of resources, we decided to make something for our family members for Christmas. Ed went out and cut up one of our fallen aspen trees. He bored out the middle and made it into a candle. Suddenly Christmas had real meaning!
We were attending a very small church with a few families with big hearts. Just before Christmas, a couple came over to see us. They said that they knew that we probably were not giving each other gifts that year, so they wanted to fill the gap for us. It was a very touching moment. We weren't used to being on the receiving end.
In the years to come, we had so many great memories with our kids at Christmas, but that one is tucked away into a holy place in my heart.
