Reflections From a Country Girl

It’s was 6:45 a.m. here when I sat down to begin writing this. Everyone was still asleep in my house but me.  I had been on the phone early wishing my Aunt Mary in Wales a Merry Christmas.

 

This year, Father Christmas brought the best gift ever to me…at least thus far.  My brother, Jeff, was here with us for Christmas.  It’s been 38 years since we shared a Christmas together.  

This year we also lost our mother, so this was a truly different Christmas as our mother often sat with us during this meal.  We had Christmas lunch at my house with my sister and brother in law, my son, my great Aunt Sue and her friend, Marshall, and, of course my brother, Jeff.  

We had another guest who shared Christmas with us in a different way. The rest of the family has no idea who the “special” guest was when they arrived and saw the table set with a sign on the plate “reserved for a very special holiday guest.”   We had the extra place set at the end of the table. We told them we had another friend who would be with us, one who would not arrive until we actually sat down an hour or so later, one who would not need a chair (and that he/she was not in a wheelchair), one that would have his/her place set but that he/she will not actually eat off that plate, etc. This caused a stir of anticipation and lots of guesses about who it was.  The ones who did venture a guess were so close, but yet so far away, from the right answer.  

The time came to eat and my son brought out the laptop, set it up on a stand at the end of the table and turned the screen on.   There was our young friend, Ren, who calls me “Mama Cook”.  His flight was cancelled due to all the bad weather across the US and he was not able to get home to Greenville until the 26th.  We invited him to join us at lunch by computer.  He ate at his home while we eat at ours and was at the end of the table on the computer for us to talk and laugh with for over two hours. It was great fun as he lives in Hollywood, California and teaches famous actor/actresses children drama classes in a private school there. 

As I look back on that day, I can say it was one of the most unique meals for our family.  Having my brother with us was awesome and sharing it with Ren made it special for him since he was stuck across the country.  I see him on Friday before he goes back to California.  I’m sure we will laugh about this experience as we catch up over dinner.  We saved some of our Christmas dessert just to share with him face to face over coffee and conversation. 

My wish for you today is that you make your family and friends gatherings special and do them as often as possible.  Then, when things change (and they will), your memories will give you joy and comfort. 

~ Joellen

This entry was posted on Sunday, December 28th, 2008 at 4:42:am and is filed under Family/Friends Gatherings, Friendship, Holidays, Life & Events, Living Life to the Fullest, LOVE. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.