Sunday, December 26, 2010

Christmas, Christmas Time WAS here...

What a beautiful, memorable, Christmas. I would go as far as to say that it's the best Christmas I've ever had. Spent the early hours with Kristin and Belle, then opened stockings at my parents house, then a nap, the some time with the wide-spread, never-ending, Heidrick family, then back to my parents for an early dinner, which included family, friends and friends who've become family.

My Mother-in-Law, Ruth, helped me by putting together my Mother's gift: a queen-size quilt made from my old tshirts going all the way back to high-school.
Jamison (my parent's pup), my Mother and Father all around the quilt. My Mom's head is cropped out of the photo as Kristin thought it would be wiser NOT to post a picture of my Mom crying with no make-up on Facebook.

It's also been a tradition in our family to have me read the Christmas story (you know, the oldest one with the baby in the trough, no Santa involved) since about the time I could read. It's a good memory for all of us but especially... well... special to my Dad. So this year I found one of those Hallmark recordable story books with the Christmas story and recorded it for my Dad. He'll have it for all his years to come.

It was very important to me to have friends and family together for Christmas because it's how I was raised. My Mother insisted that everyone have someplace to go on Christmas. Maybe it's because there was no place available for Mary & Joseph. It could be because our friend Karen makes great deviled eggs. But it's mostly because, down deep, my mother would like to feed the world. Whatever the reason, having so many friends and family around was a memorable blessing for me that completed the holiday just wonderfully. I don't know if this will be my absolute and final Christmas just yet. Only God really knows that. But I'm pretty sure it is and, if it is, it's a great way to go out.

Life is beautiful. I can't ever get my head around how incredible and generous God has been to me.




Also this week, Kristin and I made a mad dash to Portland for an interview with a Canadian television station. While we were there KATU decided to film their own interview as a follow-up to the story they did on my urns. It ran Christmas eve on KATU in Portland, KOMO in Washington state and locally on KVAL. Here's the KATU version:

2 comments:

Jan said...

I'm still in awe at the gift and the thought that went into it. Every time I look at it I will picture you and all the times in your life you were Aaron and I how I love those times. This was a wonderful Christmas. Thank you both. (and it's okay to put my head in the picture...the reality of the picture speaks for itself.) love mom

Ivy said...

A very cool gift! That's awesome! Good luck Aaron! I can't believe we still live in a country where a person can't get health care when they need it most. Isn't that what the universal health care legislation was all about?