You know those Christmases that you never forget? The ones that stick out among the rest as extra special? This year will forever be remembered in my mind as beautiful and my own special Christmas miracle.
It is no secret that it has been a hard transition for me and this last month has been difficult. It wasn’t that I didn’t have the ‘Christmas spirit,’ but I was feeling unsure of myself and very unsure of my future. During these days that proved to be hard, I did several different devotions throughout the day, especially during the moments when I felt especially down. Last Wednesday night I was reading out of my devotional and one of the sentences I read said, “Get happy! Rejoice and be glad! Good things are about to happen…to YOU!”
For some reason, I believed that my prayers for direction were about to be answered.
The next 90 or so hours will always be remembered as perfect; the kind of Christmas Thomas Kinkade may have painted with the happy family and bustling town. It started Thursday morning. I woke up early, got on my sweats and headed to the mall (I usually don’t wear sweats to the mall, but I figured it didn’t matter at 7 am) to get some shopping done. Let me tell you that there is something special about Christmas shopping so early. I felt comfortable, the crowd at the mall was light, and everyone seemed in a good mood. The Christmas music was playing throughout the mall and I was carrying several bags full of gifts, the true sign that my trip was a success. I decided to get some Starbucks at Barnes and Noble, and right then and there on an ordinary Thursday morning I got a phone call about a long-term substituting job. Something inside of me just knew. I also knew it was a miracle because the day before I looked all over and saw no signs of any sort of job openings.
My spirits were lifted and my hopes were renewed.
That night, my sister got home from school and we celebrated by watching Home Alone and eating a ton of bad food that probably clog your arteries. We both hung out in the same basement we have been watching Christmas movies in since we were born with a fire and blankets. It felt like Christmas should feel.
Friday morning, I had my interview, went to work at the gym, and then got the beautiful phone call that I got the teaching position. My heart leaped with joy…literally. I swear I could feel all of the stress and confusion slip away instantly.
I went home that night praising God and chuckling to myself at how he really does provide for me. It was my own special Christmas gift from God. In the movie, The Polar Express, they say, “Seeing is believing, but sometimes, the most real things in the world are the things we can’t see.” I can’t see God, but that day especially I sure did feel Him and I knew this was His plan.
With the good news of the job and the fact that now my parents were off for Christmas break, my mom pulled through the driveway honking. The four of us quickly got ready and headed to the mall to begin the Savage Family Christmas Extravaganza.
We met my entire family there and we were all smiles. I felt the true spirit of Christmas as we all gathered by the carosoule anticipating what the event would bring, just excited to be together. As it turned out, my family planned a little scavenger hunt for all of the cousins. We got teams, and each team got $25 to buy as many items as possible all starting with a different letter of the alphabet. We got an hour. Amy and I were off.
We hit up that mall like robbers. Amy wanted to buy items that she wanted for herself (like Polly Pockets…because, after all, it did start with the letter P). At some point, her and I did discuss the fact that we would probably be allowed to keep the items we bought, so we began buying things we actually would use. We hid behind a couple of kiosks, trying not to get spotted by the other team, and ate a lot of extra candy. It was a good time to say the least.
After the secretive scavenger hunt, everyone headed to Kelly’s to see who won and to eat some of my grandpa’s famous chili. He makes the best chili out of anyone. We lit the fire, grabbed some chili and pop and displayed our treasures from the hunt. If you don’t know my family, than you probably wouldn’t understand how competitive we are. Both teams argued every point to the bitter end, and I am sad to report that Amy and I lost by 2 points. But, we did get to keep our gifts, including this awesome reindeer mask!
That night, despite it being late, we all stuck around and watched the movie “Dutch.” My uncle picked it, and now I know why. It is a funny movie and it reminds me of him. That night, I think we made a lot of memories just all being in the same room together, and it is exactly what I needed.
After the movie, Jess and I decided, along with my cousins, that we would spend the night at Kelly’s since we were all meeting again at 8 am to open up gifts. Kelly called it the “Old Fashioned Christmas.” Jess and I drove home, grabbed the pajamas, and headed back just in time to get in the hot tub and laugh some more. Her and I stayed in the basement, and before I could even change my clothes Jessie had fallen asleep on the couch watching “How I Met Your Mother” with the fire still going and the tree lit bright. I stood from the back and just marveled at how beautiful it all looked and just how beautiful life is. It clearly has its ups and downs, but in that moment of silence it made me appreciate both the ups and downs and how it got me to that very moment just looking at the Christmas tree.
When I woke up the next morning I felt joy, real joy. Christmas just couldn’t get any better, and it wasn’t even Christmas yet.
Bright and early at 7 am my grandparents showed up to Kelly’s in great spirits. I always loved seeing my grandparents on Christmas morning because my grandpa would usually dance and my grandma always brought the really good rolls from the Dutch bakery and said, “Merry Christmas!” over and over again.
We got the Christmas tunes going, helped get the egg nog, orange juice, muffins, rolls and coffee out and patiently waited by the fire for the rest of the family to show up. When they did, we got our breakfast and headed downstairs to the gifts. I spilled my orange juice on the tile, which is another tradition because I usually spill something on Christmas.
We opened gift by gift, all sharing laughter and excitement. I definitely started to think that something was up when, after getting money from my grandparents, the rest of the gifts were things like coffee, honey, and chocolate. It was so unlike my family to buy us food for Christmas. All of us began to secretly look at each other like, “Hmmm…we must have cut back this Christmas.”
After the last gift was opened, Kelly smiled and said, “Okay, now it’s time for the kids to go in this room while we do something.” We all knew then. The five cousins went in the bedroom and sat for what seemed like hours to Jacob. We wondered what was going on, but decided it would be better use of our time to vote who should be kicked off the island, that is, if we were all stranded on an island. While debating who wouldn’t be much help to us on our island, we were called back in.
We walked up to the tree and in 5 neat piles lay 3 presents. We were told to open them all together beginning with the bigger one first. Almost in sync we did as we were told and discovered that we all just opened up a brand new iPad. It was too good to be true. As if my Christmas miracle wasn’t enough, now I had a beautiful new iPad with all of the necessary accessories. My cousins, Jessie and myself were ecstatic. Amy shouted out, “This is the best Christmas ever!” I couldn’t agree more. And it wasn’t because of the expensive gifts even, but just the fact that I knew that God has been looking after me so carefully and my family is the best family in the world.
We spent the next couple of hours playing with our iPads and loading movies before the fun continued and my mom, dad, Jessie and I left for Indiana for the Abel Christmas.
I have always loved the trip down to my grandparents. We always stopped for food and listened to Christmas music anticipating my grandma’s famous scrabble mix. This time was no different. We pulled into her driveway and spent the night catching up, and of course, eating some scrabble.
Sunday morning, we went to church where I got to see the rest of my family and watch my two little cousins in their Christmas pageant. I have great memories at this little country church, and on this Sunday I heard another funny (they are always funny) stories about what happened to my uncle earlier that morning. A bird flew into their house and was all over the place. It wouldn’t be that funny except he is deathly afraid of birds and they were getting their house all ready for the Christmas party that night. My aunt laughed and told us that it was funny and ironic that the bird decided to take a rest and landed on a picture of my grandpa, who hated birds even more than my uncle. She said, “Ralph would be so mad if he knew that stupid bird landed on his picture out of all of the pictures sitting there!” And we all stood there and remembered and missed my grandpa.
That afternoon, we went to watch my cousin in her choir concert and it was the most beautiful choir event I have ever been to. It was even better to see my dad in his old high school and see all of these old ladies come up to him asking if they remembered their sons.
We then went to my uncle and aunt’s for the Christmas party. She had pastas and shrimp and sweet ice tea (like she always brings!). All of us sat and laughed and laughed and watched the little kids run around crazy like all of us cousins used to. We ate homemade peppermint cheesecake and opened up gifts and laughed as my aunt snapped photo after photo of us. In the craziness of the night, I felt so blessed to be able to be with people as funny as my family.
The whole weekend was a weekend I will never forget and a Christmas I will forever hold dear. It was in these moments of love and laughter where I felt the true spirit of Christmas and was reminded of the birth of my Savior. The Savior who against all odds provided me with another job and gave me the best people anyone could ever ask for.
As a child, my dad would always read us The Polar Express on Christmas Eve. I always have loved the opening lines which go, “On Christmas Eve many years ago I laid quietly in my bed. I did not rustle the sheets, I breathed slowly and silently. I was listening for a sound I was afraid I'd never hear: the sound of Santa's sleigh bells.”
It is all about believing in the hope that Christmas brings. The hope that things can and will get better. The hope that there is something more out there, that there is a Christ who was born to save people who don’t deserve all He has done. The belief that people are truly good at heart, and that there is good will out there. If we just believe.
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I want your life. Where/what grade will you be teaching?
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