christmas is over...

this year christmas was really low key.. but i'm glad for it. it gave me time to pause and think about what i would like to do for future christmases. as cody is growing so fast, i often wonder, how can i make this event more meaningful for him to understand next year? i dream about what i could do with him the following year. so far, i've decided that i'll hit the 50% off sales rack for christmas stockings for next year. i tried to find them today, but it looks like the shop i went to got pilaged, so i'll have to find others... i have my list. keep your fingers crossed for me. i would like to start telling cody about santa. and start it off right. that he isn't some jolly old tubby man that comes down our non-existent chimney to bring us gifts. i want to tell him how that story came about. i want to find a child's book, written at a 3-year-old level (he'll be three next christmas), telling the story of st nicholas. about how he gave dowry money to three sisters in their stockings. and appropriately start a family tradition of stuffing stockings.

okay, before you all start wondering, but this isn't really what chirstmas is about. hold your horses! since we moved to phoenix, we've already started a few family traditions. the most important one is reading the christmas story in luke. we do that every year before opening gifts. this year, chiyang read the NIV luke, and i read a boardbook version (for cody's sake). it worked. cody understood we were celebrating Jesus' birthday, cos we also sang happy birthday to Jesus, several times throughout the day. it helped that cody likes that song... actually he kind of added new verses to it, throwing in other people's names. but we had to stop him and remind him we were only celebrating Jesus' birthday on the 25th (we don't know anyone else with birthdays on that particular day - phew...).

we also went to a candle light service of a church who's purchased land close by our home. this church had purchased land, but hadn't built their building. that was all we knew of this church. but as we approached the grounds, we noticed an office trailer was parked on one side of the property, and close by was a big open-faced barn. freshly painted white stripes marked in the dirt indicated where we were to park out cars. pathways lit with luminaries were clearly marked. and at the end of the path stood a simple white barn (which by open-face, i mean one of the longer walls was knocked out), there was a screen for projection, a keyboard, maybe a guitar... as we got closer a greeter welcomed us telling us to settle in to some hot cocoa, and while we did that, the faint smells of cattle warfed through the air (did i mention, it was kind of an agricultural plot of land). there was a chill in the air for the sun had already set, but peppered through barn were both gas-powered and traditional wood-burning fire pits. we sang carols, 4 people gave testimonies of how this church community has been a blessing in their lives. it was wonderful to praise God in candlelight, in a humble barn and with sincerity.

yeah yeah... this sounds soooo beautiful... but wait... now, this wasn't too easy for me... i had really wanted to go to this service. i had found their ad in a local newspaper, made sure chiyang knew way ahead of time, and planned for it, made sure we had directions... however, right after we had settled down, cody started to fuss... so i decided to carry him, hold him close, hug him to keep him warm, then out of nowhere, a gut wretching sound came from our chests (actually his not mind, but he was so close to me), then warm vomit spewed out all over me!!! my coat, my sweater, my hair, my jeans, my hands, my body, everywhere! i put him down and instinctively called for chiyang, and a second and more powerful hurl came from my little baby... he had projectile vomitted all over the (thankfully simply) dirt floor. he had vomit running down his face, down his big giant winter coat, down his pants, on his shoes and his poor poor eyes looked up at me like, "what's happening?!?!" thankfully a few people noticed and quickly directed us to the trailer where there were two toilets. chiyang took one with cody and i took the other. we then proceeded to frantically scrubbing the puke out. i had given up on our outerwear which had taken the brunt of the horrifying incident. but we were left to wonder, do we stay? i remember chiyang looking at me while asking that question. i knew he felt sorry for me. i could see it in his eyes as he looked at me with puke in my hair and all. he had done a good job cleaning cody up, but i hadn't faired so well. i could still smell the puke in my hair. chiyang said he couldn't, but he's never had a good nose. he told me it was my choice. i paused... i was going to say yes, then i thought, we don't live that far away, we could get home quickly. and more importantly, i didn't want to miss celebrating christmas with people i've chosen to celebrate christmas with, even though i didn't know them, i secretly wanted to be there, with them. you know what i mean right? sometimes you have to spend christmas with people you don't prefer to. but this year, we got a choice... i really didn't want to ruin it. it wasn't that wanted to make new friends or join a new church. but, i wanted to silently support their presence in our community. i wanted to celebrate christmas with true believers, people who mean the words when they sing carols. not at some big church where maybe a quarter of the people there only come to church once or twice a year (easter?). honestly, i always felt i would take up space at a place like that. please, i don't mean to offend. i've done that too! i would never give up moody church's annual handel's messiah when we lived in chicago!!! but you know what i mean...

okay... i think i have to end right now... cody's calling... chiyang wants me off the computer... sorry... keep in touch... yup! that was my christmas... what was yours like?