Christmas Eve cannot end without a host of Rider Family traditions. A family picture by the tree, Hobo Dinners cooked on the fire place, Dad reading the Christmas Story, hours of wrapping presents, sharing Favorite Christmas Past stories, and making cinnamon buns for Christmas morning breakfast.
Every year, Dad (with lots of help from Mom) makes a Christmas ornament for Rebecca and me that symbolizes something that we accomplished, did for the first time, or was unique to the past year.
This year Rebecca's was a beautiful billboard fence, proclaiming the "career" change from horse riding, to airplane flying. "Rides Boarding -->" that way! The airplane on top is a twin engine Grumman Cougar.
My ornament was a blackboard emblazoned with "APT" (Advanced Professional Term, my final teaching practicum). On the top right corner is a gold-tasseled grad cap, and hanging on the left side is a tool belt (I worked as a construction worker this past summer). The reverse side has 1 Peter 1:6-7 paraphrased, which speaks volumes to the spiritual journey that has marked this past year: " Your faith - of greater worth than gold... may be proved genuine.
One gift is opened Christmas Eve... new pajamas! Then, and only then, is it time to crash and wait to welcome Christmas morning.
Christmas Day
The morning stared slowly, with stockings and cinnamon buns before enjoying giving gifts to each other. Becky has grown a little since she started curling up in Dad's lap, and Tiny, the cat, refused to give up her lap spot when Becky showed up.
It was a lot of work to get to Christmas morning, but it was a joy to give a painting to Becky for the first time. She has been asking for a painting for a while, and I have been mulling on this work since August. This painting is inspired by a photo Becky took while flying last summer, and it showed up under the Christmas tree twice this year! Once enlarged and framed for Dad from Becky, and once painted by me for Becky. :)
Mom and Dad gave Becky and I beautiful matching quilts that Mom has been working on for months. I was home at Thanksgiving to hear coded talk about mom going to "Belly Dancing Class". Well, Belly Dancing Class turned out to be Quilting Class, but the giggles started again when we learned the club was legitimately called the "Strip Club". Haha. Not because of what you might think innitially, but because of the style of quilting with 2.5" strips of fabric.
Tiny's favorite gift is always the box. :)
And Bandit attempts to be a little lady.
The afternoon progressed with our family's favorite Christmas dinner (rice with a sort of stirfry on top... chicken, shrimp, tons of veggies, and cashews), and calls to all the out-of-country relatives and friends. As a family we watched "The Lake House", played a few rounds of Mexican Train (dominoes), and enjoyed a crackling fire in the fire place.
All the expectations, all the frenzied work and last minute wrapping culminated in a wonderful day with the family, as always.
0 comments:
Post a Comment