Category: friends

A Christmas Conversation

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The neighbor girl, age 8, came past today as I was mowing the lawn and since I hadn’t seen her for a couple of weeks I stopped the tractor for a chat.  I asked her how she was and it led to a conversation that went something like this…

“So how have you been lately?”

“Great, my school had a “one”derful Christmas thing and my mom gave me $20 to spend. I got all my shopping done for my whole family. Everything was one dollar.” She named off her five family members that she had bought for and confessed that she had spent most of the remaining money on herself.

“What do you think this whole Christmas thing is about?” I asked.

After a bit of thinking she explained that it was the birthday of Jesus.

“So isn’t it kind of weird that we give presents to everybody else on Jesus’ birthday?”

“Well, not really,” she said. “ It’s Jesus’ birthday but lots of people just don’t care and they want presents because it’s fun to get them. I really believe in Santa.”

“Oh yeah? You mean he’s a real person? What does he do?”

“He gives presents to kids when their parents can’t get them anything, so they can have fun too.”

“And he wears the red suit and the cap and all?”

“Yes, and he comes down the chimney.  I saw the reindeer too once.”

“What do you think about all the other people who dress up like him and say they’re Santa?”

“They’re fake.”

“So, he must be pretty skinny if he fits down peoples’ chimneys?”

“No, he eat cookies at everybody’s house.”

“Oh, so he’s fat. Isn’t that a problem?”

She wasn’t used to being grilled on her Santa knowledge and by this time she was getting at a loss for words and frustrated with me.  “Santa is magic, that’s how he gets in.”  This was followed by an expose about her dad who had played a trick on her a couple years ago, saying he was teleported into their house, when really he had snuck around through the back door.  “Now he tells me!” she says, rolling her eyes and explaining that Santa is different, magic.

“And does Santa get stuff for you?”

“Yes, three or four things and he puts them under the tree.  My dad said he quit getting presents when he was four, and I said, why would you quit getting presents?! But his family didn’t keep Christmas after that and they didn’t have a tree.”

“What? If you don’t have a tree he doesn’t leave any presents?”

“Well, he has to have a tree. I have a friend who has little Christmas trees  in three different rooms and Santa left presents under every tree.  My mom tells him what she’s getting me so he knows to get different stuff. “

“How does she tell him?”

“She has his number. She calls him.”

“Well, I have to get back to mowing the lawn, and you probably have something to do too.”

“Yeah, see ya.”

And so ended our conversation.  I was so fascinated at the intricacy of the fabrication she had constructed that I didn’t even attempt to address the reality of Santa.  Her parents had put some time and trouble into reinforcing  the story and although I had started a relationship with her, I didn’t feel it was my place to break the news.  Perhaps I should have given her more to think about, and maybe I will the next time I see her.  How does one begin to tell the real, deeper story?

I couldn’t help but think, as I rode around on the mower, how much effort we put into various distractions on the Christmas theme – time to decorate, time to bake, shop, party. It has to leave the birthday boy feeling a little left out, if it’s really his birthday.  Something to think about.,,

photo credit: laursifer via photopin cc

    • Unusually Long Silences

    Shirleyjdietz1 Comment

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    sunny gift from a guest
    Unusually long silences in which readers get bored and lose interest are a dreaded reality for me in my blogging life.  I think I speak for many people when I say that sometimes the things we generally like to be doing (writing) isn’t what we want to be doing most (entertaining out of town guests) or have to be doing (work).  But it is crucial that we avoid guilt over things not done if we are being true to our priorities.

    What I’ve been doing:

    – a pre Thanksgiving event for the husband and other friends and relatives that I won’t get to see on the actual Thanksgiving Day.  This took me days of prep, planning, cooking and cleaning. Twenty two of us had a great time and a good meal.

    thanksgiving thoughts from guests
    thanksgiving thoughts from guests

    – reconnecting with a long time friend and her family, visiting from afar. We kayaked, walked the beach, swam in the ocean, braved the mall, and ate several meals together. Oh, and Mexican Train up to number 7.

    dining out with Cheryl
    dining out with Cheryl

    – worked for my employer, who is having trouble with staffing right now.  I am a so called resigned, retired nurse who works about as much as I did before I resigned. Go figure.

    – spent  much enjoyed time doing music for my church (for my God).  Volunteered a little more than usual since others were out.

    -spent hours and dollars on my computer, resurrecting it from death (or near death). Now if I can just figure out where all the missing files are, we’ll be fine and functioning.

    – put out my fundraising letter for medical supplies for the Cambodian orphans.  I don’t want to go empty handed. God will supply what is needed, but I have to ask.

    – overseeing major house washing.  Who knew it could take a week to pressure wash a house? It looks great again, except in the places where the paint needs to be replaced – but we knew that would happen.  All the accessory trees got trimmed too.

    In the big picture, I think I made good choices,

    putting God first,

    people second

    and things last.

    I have to say, being a consistent writer is not easy when you have another life of any kind …

    Hold On, I’m Thinking…

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    20131008_095842
    Green to you?

    I am, without a doubt, a work in progress.  You would think that after six decades of thinking on different things I would have settled, but it’s not that easy.  The challenges come on a daily basis. I can’t even think the grass is green without wondering what green is and whether it’s the same to everyone who sees it.

    I read.

    I listen.

    I consider.

    Sometimes I read to affirm what I already think. When I recognize my own thoughts in someone else’s words I feel a kinship. I am not alone.  Great comfort, that is.  And the more eloquently it is expressed the more I love it and “like” it, follow it and repost it.  It’s not aimed at anyone. It’s about me and who I am.

    Other times I read what I do not think, in order to know someone else – someone to whom I attribute great value and respect, or maybe someone who has taken a curiously different path.  I am glad to be reading them.

    The funny thing I find is that their path has some of the same landmarks that mine does.  The landmarks, the questions, the struggles are much alike but they are certainly viewed from a different angle.  Seeing things from a different angle is helpful and healthy for me.  The challenges I face make me who I am as I read, listen and consider.  I’m just sayin’ I think it has to be this way and I’m ok with it.

    Thoughts on a Clean House

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    It’s embarrassing to be reminded.  Some people clean their houses every week, on the same day of the week.

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    I’ve come so far from that, and I don’t necessarily call it progress.  My house gets… no wait, a room in my house may get cleaned when it becomes difficult to navigate through it.  My whole house gets cleaned only when I’ve lost something and need to find it. Of course, I might find it in the first room I clean, in which case only one room gets cleaned.

    Spot cleaning is my specialty.  Spots on the floor, piles of mail on the table, sink full of dishes, a cat mess, a dead plant, are all within my 15 minute tolerance for housecleaning.  In fact I often turn to these obvious, flagrant crimes against clean to avoid other things I don’t want to do.  High levels of anxiety over other areas of life can be temporarily muted by these small but visible improvements.

    My most effective tool against messy, dirty house is to invite company.  I like to have dinner time company and that is my most compelling reason to clean the living room, dining room and kitchen. If it’s the first time in my house for a visitor I am aware of how important that first impression can be.  I can get close to being fussy clean for those people.  If the company “knows” my kitchen from having been there many times, I skip being tidy because I’m counting on that first impression over-riding everything they’ve seen since.   It works.  Kind of…

    Overnight company is more of a problem. I should really clean the whole house, except for rooms I keep locked (!!?) My solution is to only invite family, meaning people who have lived in my house before, to stay overnight.  I leave the cleaning supplies where they can find them and if they’re bothered they can do a little cleaning in their spare time. They are on vacation and have lots of that.

    My bottom line is keeping relationships as the most important thing.  Remember that little poem?

    Cleaning and scrubbing can wait till tomorrow

    For babies grow up, we’ve learned to our sorrow

    So quiet down cobwebs, dust go to sleep

    I’m rocking my baby, and babies don’t keep.

    I don’t know who wrote it but I have it memorized from those days in the rocking chair with my little daughters.  It applies to company too, of all ages.  Better to let them know I like them and want to be with them, if they don’t mind my messy house. I’m just sayin’ they might even be relieved to see that my house looks kind of like theirs…

    Cle Elum

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    Cle Elum

    Don’t you love that mysterious sounding name? I could live there.  As it was, I was just visiting a friend for an overnight stay in this small Washington town which was about the same size and “feel” of the town where I grew up.  It’s over the pass and on the other side of the closest mountain range to Seattle and it’s geography gives it a whole different climate.  Over the pass, the sun came out and it got up to 90 degrees (again, not like Florida’s 90 degrees, but drier and with a cooling breeze).

    The sights along I-90 going there were tree covered mountains, valleys, and all the expected natural stuff but in addition the marvel of the road itself.  The difficulty of maintaining clear passage in terrain like that was apparent in all the road construction and posted closings for blasting rock.  At least once I remembered thinking “I hope there is a really good geologist who inspected that rocky outcropping that I’m about to drive under”.  Think Reader’s Digest stories and You-tube videos of cars being buried under a slide…

    Me, ready to ride out

    Our planned outing was a bike ride on one of the local trails. What a great way to get familiar with the lay of the land! We chose the Coal Mine Trail.  It lay totally uphill for the three miles into Roslyn, the town we were heading for.  A gradual incline, to be sure, but how often do I ride bike? (or exercise, for that matter?) And did I mention it was 90 degrees?  When we pulled into the café at our destination and I got off the bike I felt really lightheaded and had to rest for a good bit with a blackberry soda and a sit down.  And of course the return trip would have required no pedaling at all if we had wished.  I was fully restored by the time we got back to Cle Elum.

    20130912_184000[2] Does the name Roslyn bring anything to mind? It is the town where “Northern Exposure” was filmed and we visited the Roslyn Café and saw The Brick Pub.  It was a cute small town but evidently not much of a tourist draw in spite of the TV fame.  We went back later by car and drove around looking at the houses on the hillsides, many of them older, in bad condition, or abandoned entirely.  We drove on a few more miles to Ronald and ate dinner at a diner there.

    Of the three little towns I experienced, Cle Elum was definitely my favorite.  Because of its proximity to I-90 there was more business, more choices of what to do and where to catch a meal.  Its history included a fire which destroyed many of the homes so most dwellings were newer, well maintained but still in character with the small town ambience.  Honestly, some of the streets were so wide and devoid of lines and stripes that they were like parking lots and made me feel strangely insecure.  The valley around Cle Elum is wide and flat and known for its hay production and exporting.  We visited a large fruit/vegetable market with a three story building housing antiques on the top two floors.  I could easily have spent the whole day looking at things there but as it was, my friend found my souvenir in half an hour so we didn’t stay.  I added a small cast iron turtle to my turtle collection and I was pleased since I didn’t have any iron turtles yet.

    Other highlights of the trip: good conversation with my friend and her mom, seeing their charming, newly remodeled residence, relaxing with several episodes of Sherlock Holmes before retiring.  I’m just saying it was a good trip (including the exercise)and I’m glad I went.  And would go back again, for sure.

    Thoughts of Far Away Places

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    Sulang and I were the oldest of all the adults. She cooks for and mentors more than 20 children. I can’t wait to see how she likes the new house they were able to move into. Amazing how much we communicated even with the language barrier.

    

    It’s the time of year for me to think of going to Cambodia again. No, I’ve really been thinking about it for months, but I guess I mean that it is the time of year for DOING something about it. Something like buying a ticket for a flight. Today it’s been on my mind in a big way because this weekend I will be part of a presentation about the orphanages in Cambodia. I have a chance to talk for five minutes about my experience there to a group of possible supporters on Saturday night and two more groups on Sunday. These people represent a lot of support financially and some will be persuaded to come on the next trip and see for themselves what it is like. My friends and mentors in this project will also speak and show an awesome video they made of their children there.  I would so love for my words to be effective in helping more children to be rescued and cared for and loved.

    

    The children were having so much fun singing songs and dancing for us. Some of them are awesome performers

    

    I can’t wait to see my sweet friend Chanra. I hear she wants to be a nurse and I want to encourage her.