Keeping Christmas well - Day 9

I have a special friend who I have known for over 20 years. Back in the day we played sports together, we've served together in the YW organization, we've been V.T. comps and now Rick is her home teacher and I am his companion and we visit her home regularly.
She has been through a lot in those 20 years. She has some mental health challenges and it is amazing to see all that she can do in spite of those challenges. She is employed full-time and supports herself. She volunteers at the library every week. She tutors students who are having a hard time in math. She is very smart and earned her MBA online. She knows a lot of things and it is always interesting to talk to her. We go on a walk each Monday night at 5:30 pm. Rain, shine, snow, hail, we walk around the track by our house. She tells me about her life and I tell her about mine. She is a good listener and I enjoy her company. I've seen her go through some very hard situations and I've seen her shine in the best situations. She is pretty much alone in the world. She doesn't have a lot to do with her mother, her sister and her brother. She sees them about once a year if that. She doesn't spend holidays with them and they don't make any effort to spend any holiday with her.
She has two cats who keep her company since she is single and lives alone. She has some interesting hobbies that fill her time when she is home from work. One amazing hobby is that she makes paper from all sorts of natural fibers. She makes gift cards and other paper and she is getting very good at it. If you've been lucky, then maybe I've sent you a gift card that was hand made by my friend. She also collects vintage children's books. She collects series books from the 1900-1940s. She has an impressive and valuable collection. She travels all over the country to various bookstores to find the titles she needs to finish off a collection.
Why do I mention her at this time of year? Because she is a generous Christmas gift giver who anonymously gives to others without them ever finding out. She involves me in her gift giving. Usually it's my handwriting on the card instead of hers. Or I'm the delivery person or the drop off person. She decides who she wants to help and she never wants them to find out about it. She swears me to secrecy and I'll take those secrets to the grave. She gives generously and she gives with love in her heart. Given her challenges, she could easily be the one to receive, but she determines that in order to really enjoy Christmas, she wants to be the one to give.
I admire that about her. She has helped support many missionaries (especially sister missionaries including our own daughter) and does it because she doesn't want to miss the opportunity to support a missionary even if she doesn't have one of her own.
I admire people who do hard things. I admire people who forge ahead against very difficult odds. I admire people who know that their problems will become lessened if they will get outside of themselves and give to others. She is a perfect example of the kind of person I admire for the selfless service and kindness that she gives to others.

Keeping Christmas well - Day 8

12 days until Christmas

I'm not a huge fan of "the 12 days of Christmas" song. It gets annoying after the "partridge in a pear tree." I am a huge fan of the 12 days until Christmas giving tradition however.
I'm not sure when it started. I just know that it was a long time ago when our kids were little. We would choose a family or an elderly person in the neighborhood and for each of the 12 days before Christmas, we would take a little something over to their house and leave it anonymously on their front porch. We'd ring the door bell and run. This would go on for 12 days and then finally at the end, we'd give them the best gift of all and usually they would have figured out who we were or we would stop by and wish them a Merry Christmas.
One year a family did the 12 days of Christmas to our family! It was so exciting for our kids. This special family started out on the 13th day of December and brought one gift that was left on your doorstep and a note announcing that they would be giving us gifts for the next 11 days. Our kids were so excited. Day one brought one gift, day two brought two gifts and so forth. They were nice gifts too. Our little kids watched from their bedroom windows faithfully and tried so hard to figure out who was "doing" the 12 days for our family. The givers were very good and very fast. They could come and go without a trace. The doorbell would ring and the kids would run to the door and to the windows to try and spy the givers. Nothing. This went on for days! Finally towards the very end of it, we discovered that the Livingston family was our special giving family! They ended the streak with a Christmas book that we still have. It made the days before Christmas so exciting and we appreciated them so much for making such a special Christmas memory for us.
This year we have chosen a family who needs an extra special boost. I hope they enjoy it and I hope we can build the same kind of suspense and mystery that the Livingston boys built for our family all those years ago. One problem however. We can't run as fast...
Oh, on a side note. My little elf has started delivering little gifts to my car seat again this year. It annoys Rick to no end that some little elf gets into our locked garage to leave the gifts, but I LOVE it. I look forward to it every year and hope that he comes again. And he did!

Keeping Christmas well - Day 7

Count down to Christmas! It's such a fun thing to do.
30 years ago our neighbor and friend Ginger Lantz designed the darling and ingenious little advent calendar seen above with the dark green fabric. It has been a favorite family activity through all these years and our kids loved counting down to Christmas using the nativity calendar. The scene builds until finally the Christ child arrives on Christmas day.
As our kids have left home to start homes of their own, they have requested that I make them their own advent calendar so they they can enjoy it with their spouses and/or kids. I made one for Jord and Jake their first Christmas with Lauren, and this year I made two more for Claire and Rich and Dave and Courtney. We put the finishing touches on Courtney and Dave's calendar when we were down there visiting a month ago. Courtney did a great job of coloring the individual pieces and in printing the lettering and assembling the whole thing. She reports that she and Dave hurry to get up in the morning in order to be the first to put on the next piece. I'd say that is keeping Christmas well and anticipating the arrival of baby Jesus on Christmas morning!

Keeping Christmas well - Day 6

Christmas City USA Rupert, Idaho
There is no place like it on the whole planet.
Beginning in 1987 Rupert actually "owns" the title "Christmas City, USA"
and no one else can have it.
And what makes Christmas City, USA so special?
How does Rupert keep Christmas well?
What is all the fuss about?
Well, have you got a minute?

The beautiful Historic Square sets the town apart from South Central Idaho where most celebrations, such as the Fourth of July, Fish Fry, Potato Fest, and Christmas celebrations take place. Rupert became, officially, "Christmas City, USA" in November, 1987. The City is decorated beautifully with Christmas lights through the town and square, beginning the Friday evening after Thanksgiving. These are paid for from the proceeds of a "Christmas in July" breakfast the end of June to kick-off the Fourth of July Celebration.

When I was a kid we would always go into town to watch Santa arrive on the Rupert fire engine and flip the switch to light up the town square with Christmas lights the day after Thanksgiving. It was a sight to behold. There was darkness one minute and then the very next moment, brilliant lights were activated that took my breath away. Christmas music was playing over loud speakers and it was always a very exciting event to attend. This event officially started the Christmas season and we went into high anticipation mode from that day forward.
I can still see in my minds eye the Rupert town square of the 1960s. Back when I was a kid, it was a real going concern. On the south side of the Rupert square were two "large" department stores. JCPenney and Idaho Department Store. If they didn't have it, you didn't need it. There were two drug stores on that side of the square as well. One had a soda fountain and it was a treat to get something to eat there. There was also a fabric store and a shoe store.
The west side of the store had a bank, Kings variety store (with that distinctive plastic smell that I love!) another drug store, another shoe store and a home decor, flower store. I can't remember that name of it. Anyone, anyone? It had the most lovely Christmas displays each year. At the back of the store was a Christmas village and the best part of all is that is smelled just like Christmas! This was before highly scented candles and such were available. It had such ambiance and you could just feel Christmas by going in that store. There was also a bar called the Drift Inn on the west side of the street (and as kids we use to call it - Drift Inn, Stagger Out.)
The grand Wilson theater was located across the street from the bar on an angle street and we spend many happy holiday nights watching the latest movie at that theater.
On the north side of the square was the swanky and upscale store called Ropers. If you could afford to buy something in Ropers, you were really rich. Next to Ropers was Stocks music store, a jewelry store and Hogans western leather store. Further on down was a photography store called Sinclair Shutters and a pizza place called Grizzly Bear pizza. Another bar was located on the corner of the north side.
Turning east, that side of the square had a small grocery store where we use to walk from the junior high school and buy candy during lunch hour. We'd look at the pickled pigs feet in jars and scream with disgust. Red Hot Tamales were new to the candy world and they were shaped like a pill. I would eat them sometimes and pretend that I was being cool and experimenting with a drug! I digress...
Catmulls furniture store was located on the east side of the square. It took up a lot of space and they sold not only furniture but appliances and other household necessities. There were a few other sundry stores on the east side and at the end of the corner was a liquor store.
These stores were our whole world. If you needed something and these stores didn't have it, then you would have to travel to neighboring Burley or to Twin Falls to make your purchase. We often did our of town shopping in Utah when we visited the grandparents to enjoy a larger selection. For the main, I think our little town use to have most of the things we actually needed. The choices were few, but they were practical.
In the center of the town square was a large park with swings and playground equipment, a water fountain, benches, and lots and lots of trees. A little house would be set up for Santa and a kid could go visit him and sit on his lap on some Saturdays and evenings. It was a trilling time.
The sights, the sounds, the smells and mostly the good will that abounded are what made Christmas City, USA so special. The people in the community of about 5,000 mostly knew each other and there was a good feeling there. The streets leading in and out of town were all lighted with Christmas lights. There is truly no place like Christmas City, USA!

(Here is a little more I've written about growing up in Rupert.)

Keeping Christmas well - Day 5

Pay it forward.

It was Christmas 1983. Dad had passed away from cancer five months previously. Our little family had also gone through a crisis that changed the course of our lives (for the better as it turns out, although we didn't know it at the time) and we didn't have very much money. I was kind of dreading Christmas because dad wouldn't be there and because we didn't have hardly any money to buy our little girls a few gifts.
Then two wonderful things happened. Someone played sub-for-Santa and left a box of food and a few toys on our doorstep. That gesture meant so much to us. We never knew who did it, but we appreciated their generosity and awareness in knowing that we were struggling.
The second thing that happened is that my sister Janet and her husband Dave came to town to visit. They took us to dinner at Marie Calendars and we enjoyed clam chowder and corn bread. How can I remember a dinner menu from almost 30 years ago? It's because of what happened next and the fact that what happened next is seared into my memory.
They gave us an envelope and told us to open it when we got home. When we did open it, we found a $100 dollar bill inside. We cried for joy! That $100 could as well have been $1000 because it meant so much to us. It meant we could buy our little girls a few gifts and that helped raise our spirits in ways you can't even imagine.
We went shopping and got the little dollies pictured below. We bought some paint and refurbished a doll cupboard that my dad had made years previously. We bought a few little dishes for the cupboard and we were set for Christmas!
We have tried to pay it forward over the years and it's been a pleasure to do so. That kind gesture from a beloved sister and her husband still warms my heart. They did not have a lot themselves and they had their own little children to provide for, but they gave to us nonetheless. That is the true spirit of Christmas.