Christmas in Fredericsburg this last 40 years has always meant for me crowds of family, beutiful meals, piles of greenery and pinecones, Christmas music and the meaningful Christmas eve church service. Decorating our house and shop, indoors and out was big for me. No electric lights ever but rather ropes and wreaths and branches of natural greenery and fruits. Except for the young chidren, presents were never a focus. My first Christmas eve service here in 1980 was in one of the old stone churches, Zion Lutheran, entirely by candle light. The way in was lighted by candles in brown bags of sand, southwestern farolitos, called locally, luminarias. The Lord's prayer was spoken in German and the beautiful Silent Night was of course sung in German. A special blessing of the children was a sweet feature also.
Re reading the sentence above, I think how Jack and I marveled at our construction crew as they worked to build our tiny retail shop that December, the men would call out to each other in German, English and Spanish, illustrating the blend of cultures here in our little town. Although now more of a tourist's town than ever, it is still a sweet place to live.
This second covid Christmas I have very little of the outward celebration visible, but am saticefied with keeping in touch with family and friends and enjoying the glorious Christmas music of Hauser and Bocelli. My kitchen table went from fall decor to December, and a little table top tree stands unadorned in the living room. Some of my many grands and great grands went to church in far away Dallas this evening and other family was here in our small Fredericksbug church. Some of the famly came to visit today and we sat outside unmasked in the fresh breeze, with amazing warm bright weather. Tomorrow will see our temps in the 80's!
My daughter Cheryl in Colorado sent a warm red nightgown for my Christmas. I managed two large batches of our favorite chocolate candy and distributed that. I also painted some family dogs and those have been fun to give. I am grateful for a safe warm comfortable home and friends and family I love. I am one month away from 91 years of age and feel grateful to have many things going well inspite of the challenges we all have this Christmas. Faith, Hope, and Love, and the Greatest of these is Love.
