Merry Christmas from Heaven...

I was e-mailing with my friend Katie today and the subject of holiday traditions came up. That got me to thinking about my traditions for holidays. I've had some spectacular Christmas's through the years, but Thanksgiving is probably the one that has carried more meaning. Growing up, all of my grandparents lived in Southeast Texas in a small town called Kirbyville. We went there often. ALL holidays were spent in Kirbyville as well as many other weekends throughout the year.

I was thinking about what happened for Thanksgiving, and it was usually the same. Thanksgiving morning, all of the men got up and headed out to the "hunting club". Sometimes someone killed a deer, usually we just went, hunted, then hung out for a while before heading back to get dressed for the big feast. The Aggies always sucked (yeah, things change when you marry an Aggie), and the Cowboys just had to win.

After lunch, Nana and Grandaddy (Mom's parents) always gave out envelopes to everyone. This was the Christmas money. It was always something to help everyone have a little better Christmas. I always got $50. As a kid, Grandaddy always took me the next day down to City Shoe Shop and with my $50, I got a pair of cowboy boots. As I got older, the amount and what I did with it changed, but the envelope was always a tradition.

As time went on, relatives moved farther away and their traditions changed, but ours was the same. We went to Kirbyville, we went hunting, and Grandaddy gave out the envelopes. Grandaddy and I shared a special connection through hunting. 24 years ago, I killed my first deer while sitting in the stand with him.

Time passed, Nana died, and the traditions sort of died. I still hunt every Thanksgiving, and hold onto the memories of years past. We still always saw Grandaddy sometime around Thanksgiving, and usually that's when he gave us the envelope with our Christmas money.

This year is different... We lost Grandaddy this year. It is sort of bittersweet for me. I will still hunt Thanksgiving morning, but this year I'll be hunting with the rifle he let me shoot my first deer with. He knew how special that gun was to me, and while he was laying in a bed in MD Anderson, he told me he wanted me to have it. I hope he knows how much I appreciate having it.

Last weekend, we got together with Mom and Dad to have an early Thanksgiving dinner. After dinner, they surprised us. For each family, there was an envelope. From Grandaddy. I know Mom put it together for us, but She said Grandaddy would have wanted it that way. In the envelope was a card. It read:

Merry Christmas from Heaven (by John Wm Mooney, Jr)

I still hear the songs,
I still see the lights.
I still feel your love on cold wintry nights.
I still share your hopes and all of your cares.
I'll even remind you to please say your prayers.

I just want to tell you, you still make me proud.
You stand head and shoulders above all the crowd.

Keep trying each moment, to stay in His grace
I came here before you to help set your place.

You don't have to be perfect all of the time
He forgives you the slip, if you continue the climb.

To my family and friends, please be thankful today
I'm still close beside you, in a new special way.

I love you all dearly, now don't shed a tear
Cause I'm spending my Christmas with Jesus this year.

We love you too, Grandaddy.


bloggers note: There are other special holiday traditions and get-togethers with both sides of the family. This particular tradition is just what was on my mind today, so I wrote about it.

I really don't remember teaching him THAT...

Ok, I'm the first to admit that I've taught Matthew some things that could be considered questionable. I think the best one so far has been teaching him to say "impressive" after cutting a good one. Another one is when he goes #2. He still needs a little help on the clean-up job after #2, and on occasion he will say "I took a REALLY big dump this time" (he emphasises the "really").

Well, that's just funny and hasn't really gotten me in trouble. Last night was something that caught me a little off guard, but it was hard to give him a lesson on it when I was laughing so hard while telling him to stop saying it.

I was giving him a bath. I don't know why our best stories happen at bath time, they just seem to work out that way. Anyway, after washing his hair, I typically pour a couple of buckets of water over his head to rinse the shampoo out. The water was a little warm (he drew his own water and he tends to like it kind of warm). He said it was too hot on his head and he wanted cold water. So, I filled the bucket with water as cold as I could make it, then dumped it over his head.

After splashing around trying to get out of the cold water deluge, he sputtered a little and said "That froze my NUTS off" (yes, he emphasized the word "nuts"). Ok, I can honestly say that I SERIOUSLY don't remember teaching him THAT. I asked him where he learned that (in between bursts of laughter - which only made him repeat it LOUDER). Of course, he said he learned it from me. I guess I need to be really careful. LUCKILY I don't have a potty mouth or I would be in some serious trouble.

My kid tells me all your secrets...

Everyone always says kids are like sponges. They absorb stuff and are easily filled. While this is true, I'll submit that as soon as kids can talk, they are more like water balloons. While they can hold vast amounts, getting it into them is sometimes messy, and they usually are ready to burst to let out what they have taken in.

I'm not easily embarrassed, so it doesn't really bother me when it gets back to me that Matthew has sprung a leak about stuff we thought was a secret in our house. Hey, it happens. What's hilarious is hearing Matthew repeat things other kids in his class share.

Recent topic of conversation... Somehow we got on the subject of passing gas. OK, you know how we got on that subject, but that's not the important part of the story. Matthew has a class mate, we'll call her "Little Girl X". Apparently little "X" has a little gas problem. According to Matthew, "She toots all every day". Matthew admits that he sometimes toots also, "but not all every day."

This disturbs Shelly, while I just find it funny thinking about a teacher in a 5 yr old class trying to keep order with a bunch of kids letting 'em rip on a regular basis, knowing that my kid cracks up laughing when he hears the old Kiester Kazoo sounding off. Shelly asked about the little girl, why she is always popping off, and what the teacher says. Apparently it is a topic of conversation because Matthew dutifully informed us that little "X" is taking medicine, but "she still toots all every day."

Even better is that it is discussed enough in class that Matthew reports little "X" says that her Mommy toots even more than she does, and her mommy's toots are really loud and really stinky. Of course, we find this hilarious. I'm trying to picture what this lady looks like, with no luck remembering her. Well, it just so happens that in the e-mail this morning I got a set of pictures with captions from a recent day in Matthew's class. Guess who's picture is in there?

So, Mommy "X", we now know who you are, and don't even think about blaming the dog, because we know your secret...