Christmas

Everyone is out of the house this morning.  Finally, I have the time to reflect on Christmas and what it means to be looking at it from the rear view mirror.

Friday found us ringing the bell for the Salvation Army and then to Mema's house for dinner.  After we ate we went to church for the final Choir rehearsal and the candle light service.  Marina has a friend at church, Halle from school and the two girls were so sweet together.  Kaylene joined us and seemed to enjoy the service as well.

After the service we came home.  Mema came out to spend the night so that she would not miss the early morning action.  We also found a surprise visitor on the floor!  Uncle Jason!He would have been on the couch if Falcom had not snuck down in the night to spy for Santa and then pass out on the couch himself.  When Falcom woke he was kind enough to cover Uncle Jason in his blanket.

 The first gift I unwrapped was from Vince.  They are travel coffee mugs and they came with this instruction sheet.

Mema got a new camera from Santa and we are hoping this will take her to the next level of the modern world.  We are also hoping to eliminate her blurry photographs and the mystery of whether or not her shots turn out.  Should be interesting. 

For the longest bit of morning, Marina was convinced that Santa got her nothing that she wanted.  Like she had a small amount of gifts under the tree and she had been forgotten somehow...suddenly she started unwrapping the mother lode and was quite joyful and relieved!  Her best gift?  The Ipod?  The video airhog?  The metal detector?  The science kit?  The rabbit fur teddy bear? Hard to tell.  But she became very happy very quickly.

We finished the morning with our traditional family Christmas Meal:  Scotch Eggs and Biscuits.  I'm terrified of weigh in at Weight Watchers tonight, but I must face the music. 

After breakfast we went to Radeke's for dinner.  (Yea, I know, Right!)  They got the new XBox Connect for Christmas and our families had a great time playing this body scanning interactive super high technology game together.  Look at Vince playing Dance Dance Revolution with Marina and the super hot dance coaches.  I have often thought about how the world is changing, but it was this Christmas where I could see that everything is changing faster than even we can hide from here in Homer, Alaska.

The world is getting smaller, even for us Alaskans, and as the new swarm of reality television proves, we Alaskans are getting sucked up and into the swirl of the Lower 48.  The kids all got new IPods and so did I.  Willie and I can now do this strange "FaceTime" thing where we can video chat from school and coffee houses.  Vince and I used to have a firm 'no TV only video' policy around the house.  We were happy to have our computer in the living room so we could keep our kids monitored while they were surfing the web.  Now Willie can do everything from his IPod from the chicken coop if he wants to! Even in Alaska everything is here with us...instantly. 

How do will we do it?  How will we, as an Untraditional Alaskan Family, continue to remain authentic and honest?  How will we continue to remain tight as a family as the kids become pubescent and the world comes in closer and closer to us?  This will be an interesting topic to ponder as I set about making my New Year's Resolutions...

But from the rear view mirror I see something very clearly...It was a wonderful holiday!  All of us filled our time full of things that are what the holiday season should be about:  Service, Family, Community, and the gift that is the reason we celebrate this season, Love.

We definitely fulfilled Jesus's wish for us this season...We Loved One Another.