Preparing for Christmas

 Well! It's almost Christmas! I can not help but be excited! We are not having a big Christmas gathering but I can not help the anticipation building up in me. The farmhouse is as Christmas as it is going to get. The famhouse is ready for Christmas! I loved Christmas as a child and I still love Christmas as an adult because I can make Christmas as special as I want. The stores are so busy I could hardly walk thru with my shopping cart. I went to Walmart to get a gallon of milk and I got everything but the milk! Every cash register had a long line. It was crazy! I saw people shopping for gifts in the gift section and looking thru the Christmas shirts. It sure was a sight! I went this weekend to the grocery store to get some cream cheese and the stores were still crowded. Carts were full to the brim. As I was passing the frozen turkeys I figured I would look at some of the prices and it was $50! Who is paying fifty dollars on a turkey? I thought I had bought everything I needed for our Christmas dinner but my blender decided to

 stop working and now I have to go back to the store and buy a darn blender! Merry Christmas to me! 

The past year's of my Christmases I normally take the day off before Christmas, the day of Christmas, and the day after Christmas, but I did not take off this year. This year I will be working Christmas Eve and off Christmas day and back to work the day after. My husband and I usually host a Christmas eve party for his side of the family and some of my side of the family will also come. Our house is filled to the brim with people on Christmas Eve. 

This year has been different and I am tired and do not feel like cleaning to the wee hours of the morning so we are hosting my brothers, sister, and my mom for Christmas. A quiet Christmas. When I look at tiktok it seems like a lot of families are having smaller get togethers for Christmas. It just seems like a lot of people or family have become vile these days. It is so sad. I guess what I am saying is I want to spend time with family or people who are not ugly in their hearts. You honestly have to flee from people like that. Protect your peace at all times. 

The reason for the season. Jesus is the reason why I celebrate Christmas. He gives me strength and helps me thru my time of trouble. The year 2024 has not been the greatest for my husband and I. Financially, we were devastated by decisions that were not our own. We were basically at the mercy of others. It was terrible! I ended up going from part time to full time work. I was burned thru this year. What have I learned about myself this year is......I survived! Barley! This was all just a blur. 

I am not embarrassed to say there are not a lot of Christmas presents under the tree. My husband and I did get our daughter some gifts and we chose carefully to make her gifts count. We bought gifts that will get her outside to play more and games to interact with others.....since she is homeschooled. We have a roof over our heads and food on the table and I know a lot of families are grateful for the same reasons just like we are in this economy. 

I have baked my heart out this whole year. For a while I did not bake for a while. I had gotten lazy in the baking area. This awful economy has brought me back into the kitchen and made me roll up my sleeves to get my hands back into the flour. I did not realize how much I really missed baking. I learned my great, great grandfather migrated from Mexico in 1907 to the United States. Before he came to the US he owned a bakery in Monterrey, Mexico. He was married and expecting his first child with his wife and he ended up loosing them both. My family thinks our great great grandfathers first wife died in child birth. I always think back to my great great grandfather and wonder if he is the reason for my love of baking. Of course, on my mothers side....my great grandmother loved to cook. The woman could cook up a storm! It's wonderful to have that kind of talent running thru my blood and belive me I am so grateful and proud of it. 

Thinking back I remember my dad had gotten laid off from his job and it was right before Christmas. We had food on the table every day. What we didn't have was a Christmas tree or presents that year. I was about 7 years old. As a child I totally understood what was going on. I expected no gifts from my parents for Christmas. One evening my dad came into my room and had a box that was wrapped in Christmas paper and a red bow on top. I was so shocked! My dad had the biggest smile on his face. He told me I had a Christmas gift. I opened it and it was a Disney game. I remember smiling really big at my dad and saying thank you. Out of all the gifts I had received out of my childhood Christmases I only remember this gift. As I held the game I felt guilty. I knew what my family was going thru and I wondered where this gift came from. I felt gilt because I thought my dad had bought this gift with money we did not have. I got up and took that Disney game and climbed up on a chair to put that gift on top of the closet. That gift never got played with. I could not bring myself to play with that game. I associated that gift with guilt. I wanted no part with it. Then one day I threw it away. Gosh that sounds so awful! 

As you well know I have a day and a half off work. Well this weekend I threw myself into baking. I grabbed my apron and went to work. There was homemade crust that was made. The ginger bread cookies were all cut out and baked. I made a carrot cake from scratch and it was AMAZING! Then there was the homemade cherry pie and pumpkin pie. The whole house smelled like CHRISTMAS! Of course while preparing and baking I jammed out to Christmas music. 

Needless to say I really did have an amazing weekend. I was exhausted but it was all worth it. Am I done with the Christmas food? NO! I still have to prepare the Christmas dinner! We normally have a turkey and ham but this year we are making red and green enchiladas with refried beans and Mexican rice. Mom and I will work on the meal preparations together and I am so thankful that I still have mom here with me. 

My Christmas gift from God is my family. He has brought all the people I love home to me all this year. He has kept us healthy and strong. Jesus has kept love in our family. He has given my hands strength to prepare our Christmas dinner. 

This has been a really rough year and I have learned so much along the way. Really, I have learned how not to treat people or how I want to be when I reach certain milestones in my life. How do we learn such things? Well, by being treated badly. I want to share Christmas with the people that I love. Christmas is a day away and I am so ready to eat and open gifts with the people I have been blessed with. Have a great and Merry Christmas. 

Love,

Risen Acres

Sonya