I believe in a spiritual Christmas, but I can't quite pull it off. The closest I get is a Christmas full of laughter, loving family, treats exchanged between neighbors, one hour of Church, and the reading of the Christmas story. That mix is rich, if not fully Christ-centered. On Christmas Eve 2022, my brother Scott's family joined us, as usual, for a honey-baked ham dinner and a Christmas program. Jonny was back, in rare form, with an original song, accompanied by his guitar. He crooned about Christmas on the Mississippi, with "a woman on my hip", beer, and a mustache. I doubt it was autobiographical, but it did bring the house down!
The Calder men--Scott, David, Grant, and Grant's son, Truman--sang "Hang Up the Baby's Stocking," as they do each Christmas Eve. Ever since she was little, Elizabeth has chimed in "Beep, beep!" for the baby doll in the song. This time Elizabeth added her "Beep, beep!" by Zoom. After three attempts to fly back home from Houston on this holiday weekend, she was still stranded in Houston by a massive storm across the Southeast.
The other essentials of the holiday program were Scott reading "'Twas the Night Before Christmas," my handing out the annual family history gift, and my reading the Christmas story from Luke 2 from the old Calder family Bible. The family history gift included Aunt Sally's recipe for fruit cake, written in her own handwriting, and her recipe for hot chicken salad, from the Bel Aire Garden Club. It also included photographs of young Rose Eyring at her first teaching job at Globe High School, from the 1932 and 1933 yearbooks which Dave and I searched through at the Globe county museum last winter. Mom was the faculty sponsor for "The Papoose."
Each guest told about something special that he or she had experienced this year. Some things were huge, like Naomi getting her Ph.D. and baby Calder being born.
The program was the highlight, but eating together as a family was a special treat, as well. The Flindts are spread across several states, and they love being together.
Scott is my partner in the festivities. "Costco is my store," he said, as he unloaded pies, ice cream, and bowl after bowl of fresh fruit. Scott even left me his secret for coaxing the most sweetness from a green Costco pineapple--let it ripen crown-down in the kitchen sink for a few days until the top leaves are loose, and then sweeten it up even more by a few days in the fridge.
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