I know Christmas is coming for two primary reasons. The first is that I am freezing my butt off. Second, I feel like I've done more Christmasy stuff in the past couple weeks than the past two years combined. Last Wednesday I joined a few dozen guys at the Hilton to serve at the girls' Christmas tea. I didn't do much because there were more guys than there were tables. My table was at the very front, but it was empty for the first few minutes. I wound up fighting Tyler for it when the ladies finally filled it. When we weren't praying or serving, Dirk wanted to argue about something; not anything specific, just something to pass the time. I thought it was funny that a lot of guys asked Jessica if we would be serving sweet tea Sonny's style. The thought never crossed my mind. This was a ladies' tea party for crying out loud, not tailgating or a barbecue. I have long felt that even though I was raised in the same country, I come from a culture distinct from that of my friends here. That only drove it home. Anyway, the tea was very nice and Christmasy. Best of all, there were plenty of leftover brownies, cookies, and other pastries for us to munch on after we were done serving.
Yesterday I joined the home group to watch the SEC Championship game at the Dicuses' house. The picture projected onto the wall was so big that the players were as tall as myself in real life. I was a little scared at first because it was a close game through the beginning of the fourth quarter. ESPN reminded us that Tebow had never won a game after trailing in the second half. That didn't help. We eventually gained and maintained our momentum. I really wanted to play Texas for the national championship so I could trade trash talk with Angie and Amy over the next month. But Oklahoma destroyed Mizzou so Texas is stuck in third place. Oh well.
I had volunteered to bring cookies for the Christmas party that followed. It was my first chance since I came back to try out the chocolate chip cookie recipe I had started using in Pamplona (I couldn't cheat and buy refrigerated cookie dough over there). I spent at least an hour gathering the ingredients that morning. Sweet Bay did not have M&M's for baking, and Publix did not carry the holiday colors yet. The cookies had to look somewhat Christmasy. I wound up buying the regular M&M's from Publix and only picking out the red and green ones for the cookies. After all that work, they did not come out as well as I had hoped so I was a little nervous about bringing them to the party. The batter was too thin. I think it was because I used light brown sugar. The stuff I bought in Spain was darker. Nevertheless, about three quarters of the cookies were gone by the end of the night. Maybe they were not so bad after all. I am really looking forward to giving it another go. Maybe I can use the orange and blue M&M's, and bring them to the Dicuses' when we play for the championship.
We kicked off the party by caroling around the block. I had not been caroling since my freshman year of high school when I went to the fancy retirement home with SCYWORD. Those were some of the nicest old people I had ever met. Anyway, our song sheets had a few errors and sometimes we did not know which verse to sing, but it did not matter. It was a lot of fun for us, and the few people who heard us really enjoyed it. We then returned for some food and a gingerbread house competition. I tried to write "Feliz Navidad" on one side of the roof. I wrote feliz in M&M's and with the z backwards. I wasn't able to fit Navidad underneath. Instead I wrote "x-mas" with the discarded gingerbread edges so it read "feliz x-mas."
This morning was Gator Christian Life's Christmas service. I cannot remember anything from either of the Christmas services my first two years except the lights lining the aisles, but I think this one will stay with me for a long time. The theme of the service was keeping Jesus in focus during the Christmas season as you celebrate as a family. The Villorias, Trujillos, and Gordons went on stage, kids and all, to tell us about their traditions. Mark Trujillo told us about a box of paper ornaments they use to teach their daughters spiritual lessons related to Christmas. Everyone laughed and awed as the girls shyly and reluctantly answered Mark's questions. If I did not know any better, I would have thought the Villorias' youngest son was trying to emulate the sound of flatulence with his mouth as his parents tried to explain their family's traditions. I had such difficulty concentrating on what they were saying that all I can remember is that their kids open one present on Christmas Eve. The Gordons showed a video of their children performing the nativity story that drew a roar of laughter. The highlights included Joseph riding on a giraffe and a dog under a white towel playing the sheep.
This emphasis on family came at a pretty good time for me. I have long been frustrated because I feel I am being told to be "content," but at the same time the whole wife and kids thing is pushed as the ideal life that a good Christian is supposed to have. At the beginning of the semester, I threw my Daylights devotional on the floor because I was so tired of it. Why would I want to read about how to raise kids? I'm not even out of college yet! I've hardly read it at all since. While my peers are virtual parents-in-training, I've been more cautious, trying not to assume too much. Having a family of my own seems like such a long way off, and not so important in the midst of classes, exams, work, football, and figuring out what God wants me to do just over the next year. But perhaps that is no excuse to just ignore any opportunity I have to learn from godly parents. I would certainly like to be one some day. It's time to take notes so I don't have to cram in the last minute. As for Christmas traditions, I will cross that bridge when I come to it. The pastors gave me some great examples, and I thoroughly enjoyed learning from them. Also, maybe it's time to give Daylights another chance. I like the cover of the winter edition. It looks very Christmasy.
