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| Yes, Mona once wore faux hair. And I once forgot to zip. |
In 1968 Mona
and I met on Labor Day Weekend Saturday, and on our very first Christmas Eve we
became engaged. That was 46 Christmas Eves ago.
Tonight that’s 46 Christmases
ago. 46 amazing and wonderful
years. Some of them I would call miraculous,
for the struggles we had, and the ways God blessed us through them.
Today was
our first Christmas away from family and a lifetime of friends. And God blessed us through it well. We pray those we missed seeing today prayed
for Him to do the same for them. For He
answers prayer. Amen!
At 10 am
this morning Martha pulled her car up beside our coach and took us to join her
in her Christmas Day traditions. They
began at 10:30 am at Christ Church of Lehigh Acres, Florida. This was our first ever Christmas Day Church
Service ever. And Pastor Ralph, of Alva UMC, was there as well.
Thank you Pastor
Lia for welcoming us ‘home’. And Thank
You Pastor Tom (Lia’s husband, who serves a church in North Fort Myers) for
your story and music leading.
Martha has
directed the Riverside Retreat UMC Camp for 15 years and retires this April to Northwest
Tennessee.
She drove us
to her camp, and home, just 5 miles east of Alva on route 78 from Alva to show
us where we will take the coach to dump tanks and refill our fresh water
tomorrow.
Then she
showed us a bit of her camp.
Built along
the quiet Caloosahatchee Waterway the camp offers all sorts of water craft and
everything you’d expect from a well run Christian camp.
About 5
miles further east is Martha’s friend Patty’s home. Patty attends Carlson Memorial UMC in
LaBelle, Florida, maybe 5 miles further east on 78. Martha used to as well. Every
year Patty invites friends, new and old, to a potluck dinner at her home. 
Every
Thanksgiving Martha invites Patty and some of the same friends, and more new
ones, to her home for Dinner. These
folks will dearly miss Martha when she heads for Tennessee come April.
This year
Patty’s son’s family drove in from Omaha, Nebraska. Their two boys and Maida’s children received
Legos for Christmas from… who else?
Please keep
Maida’s mother in prayer. She has just
suffered her third stroke and is in the South Miami Baptist Hospital. Maida is
getting a ride to visit her tomorrow (Friday).
After the
meal and the presents were handed out to the kids, Baby Jesus’ birthday cake
was cut. Followed by Patty’s reading of
a special nativity story for the kid in each of us.
How my
memories of Christmas Eve birthday parties returned as I remembered my own
father’s reading each Christmas Eve from the big family King James Bible our daughter
Jenn now has, of the Christmas Story. “And it came to pass in those days, that
there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed…”
Martha drove
us home and we promised to call her when we bring the coach over for our weekly
chore. The camp has a very nice RV park
and all year long they have some who pay to camp here, and others who work-camp
(exchange time and skill around the camp) for the hookups and space.
Martha tells
us there are more work-campers now than ever before. Mostly retired, but some not, who just need a
rent free place to live, and are happy to work for it.
The sun set
on our first Christmas Day as simply man and wife, mother and father, Grandad
and Grammy. Wonderful phone calls had been made, or messages left, between the
many we have missed seeing.
And with
darkness, we watched the wonderful late 1970’s ‘Best Christmas Pageant Ever’ starring
Loretta Swit through Youtube, 
and the DVD we carry with us of that 1983 classic,
‘A Matter of Principal’ starring Alan Arkin.
Memories of
Christmases past came floating over us, and the loving bond we share through
all of them with our kids, grandkids, relatives and friends.
God has
blesses us, when we ask Him to, even when we can’t get together for Christmas, everyone (per Tiny Tim).
-Ken
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