Category: Fundamentals

_{Editor’s note: In a year when families will not gather in our homes, perhaps celebrating instead by phone or online, I thought it might be somewhat uplifting to remind others of the great times we enjoyed in years past.  Those were the opportunities when we could hug, hold hands, and celebrate the blessing of togetherness…opportunities many will miss this year, including Helen and me. The post below is one that I shared with readers four years ago. I felt it worthy of a rerun.}

“And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.” 1 Luke: 35

When our two boys were very young, we had a handmade wall hanging on with a Christmas tree sewn onto the fabric.  The Christmas tree had 24 pockets containing a symbol of the Christmas season, such as a star or a small elf that could be pulled from a pocket and pinned to the tree. Every year on the first day of December, the tree came out of storage, and our boys fought over who would get to pull the first surprise from that day’s pocket. They alternated every day after that, and neither boy would dare miss a turn on his day as the designated “puller.”  It was a delight to witness the fun.  

Some of the most cherished aspects of the Christmas season are the traditions, which seem to begin as simple events, repeated a second time, then enhanced and repeated once more.  In a relatively short number of years, an event created to entertain or amuse or pass some time until we exchanged gifts or enjoyed a meal becomes a treasured tradition.

One year someone in my wife’s family gave everyone a well-intentioned gift of some packaged baked biscuits that were so hard they were inedible. Most of the family members politely thanked the giver and then quietly sent the gift out with the spent wrapping paper. Unnoticed was one member of the family who saved his package of biscuits. The next year he rewrapped them and placed them under the tree at the family gathering to be opened by a clueless in-law. We howled with laughter when the recipient removed the wrapping and began a new tradition. For years after that, some unsuspecting family member received that same rock-hard package of biscuits as it passed from one person to another. This tradition ended when someone sent the biscuits to my son, serving with the Army in Kosovo. Legend has it that a very grateful goat enjoyed them on Christmas morning.

However, the one tradition that I remember most fondly began with my mother-in-law, a devoted Christian and probably one of the most joyful people I have ever known. Every year as the family gathered to celebrate Christmas, “Grandmother La-La” would assemble all her grandchildren around the Christmas tree. Before a piece of candy was eaten, or a stocking emptied, or even a pigtail pulled, she would have them sing “Happy Birthday” to Jesus as she held their tiny hands and joyfully smiled at her flock as only a proud grandmother can. She would then thoughtfully and thoroughly explain to the little ones (and remind the rest of us) that the birth of Jesus, the Son of God, was the real reason for the season.

Over the years, our family created some new traditions and discarded a few as well, but I always felt that a birthday song for our new-born Savior was one of the most sincere and loving ways to teach our children the true meaning of Christmas. Now that we are scattered far and wide at this time of the year, it is difficult to repeat this tradition, but it is one that I’m certain they still remember.

Happy Birthday, Jesus. Traditions come and go, but, in 2021, may we remind ourselves daily that you are God’s great gift to all of us.

If anyone has a favorite tradition for the Christmas season, please share it with us in the comments below. Until next time, Helen and I send best wishes for a blessed and very Merry Christmas to everyone. Thanks to you all for Easin’ Along with us.

Bucket List

Sometime in the late 1990s, probably around the time I turned 50, I spotted a two-page ad in a magazine that caught my eye.  I can’t remember the name of the advertiser or even the magazine for that matter, but I clipped out one of the pages containing a list entitled “20 Things You Should Do In a Lifetime” and pinned it to the bulletin board above my desk. That “Bucket List” stared back at me for months before I decided that, at age 50, there is much more to life than work, and that perhaps I should use the list as a loosely constructed road map for the next 50 years. Around the same time, I first saw the movie “Shawshank Redemption,” and I became struck by the expression “it’s time to get busy livin’, or get busy dyin’”.

Within a couple of years, Helen and I downsized and moved to a smaller home. During the move, the items on my bulletin board found their way into a file folder and thus forgotten. To be precise, I was busy livin’, but the 50-year road map had added a fork or two and, I suppose I was happy with the way things were going.

Earlier this week, I decided to do something everyone else is doing during this COVID pandemic and clean out some drawers and old files.  Among those old files, I discovered the “Bucket List” now twenty years old. Had I checked off any of the items on that list? I found a few and decided I would share my successes on Easin’ Along.

 

1. Visit the country your ancestors called home

The first item on the list was the easiest of all to check off because Helen and I moved to Germany shortly after we were married. Our family records indicate that I am a direct descendant of a family that migrated to America from Manheim, Germany, in the late 1700s. Imagine my surprise when I found the sign in this picture.

 

2. Leave a dollar where a kid will find it

4. Lend money to a friend without expecting it back.

Number two is one of my greatest pleasures.  I love leaving money (and candy) around for my grandchildren to spot. I also send them a two-dollar bill in every letter I write to them.

Number four is something I suspect we’ve all done…Americans are so generous.

 

7. Teach a class

While waiting to enter the Army, both Helen and I signed up as substitute teachers at a Junior High School near our home. I didn’t teach those kids very much, but I enjoyed the experience. Later, I spent two years teaching Command and General Staff College courses to Army Reserve Officers.  That job was very challenging, but I’m proud of what we accomplished.

 

9. Plant a tree

As a homebuilder—been there, done that, and don’t want to do it again.

 

10. Fly the Concorde

This item should never have made a list.  The Concorde never made sense (or money) anyway.

 

12. Make your own beer

As a concession to my weight loss program, I’m not drinking beer right now, but I love it. A few years ago, my son gave me a beer making kit, and I was eager to try my hand a creating a good lager, my favorite brew. I followed the recipe and the steps explicitly. I stored the mixture in a dark closet at just the right temperature. I bottled it and placed it in the refrigerator to marinate. I thought the day would never come that I would take a big pull from one of the bottles, but it did.  Yuck!! Cat urine could not taste any worse than the stuff I put together. So much for beer-making—checked it off the list and went to a pub!

 

14. Learn to speak French

Learn is a relative term.  I took French in high school and again for a semester in college. I still remember some of it and can recognize a few words in print, but when we visited France, I tried speaking to some of the French people. I suppose they don’t understand French spoken with a Tennessee twist. My Latin is much better.

 

16. Be able to recite three good toasts.

If you look carefully at the original list (top of page), you should be able to spot two marks at the end of the sentence for this item.  I gave two toasts at rehearsal dinners for my sons.  They were damn good too. I’m saving the third one for the first grandchild to take the plunge, so this item is ongoing.

 

17. Kiss someone passionately in public

I think I had this one wrapped up by the second grade.

 

19. Shoot the rapids on the Snake River in Idaho

At the time I clipped this list from a magazine, my youngest was working in Jackson Hole, WY as an intern after college.  I called him one day and asked if he could book us on a float trip down the Snake, but it had to be in Idaho. He booked a trip on the western side of Idaho along the Oregon border.  My older son had was in the Army at the time and living in Utah.  He met us in Jackson, and we drove across Idaho to begin the trip. Without a doubt, this experience was one of the most wonderful of my lifetime. We entered the water early in the morning with two other couples from Oregon and a guide. We were at the very bottom of a deep, narrow gorge, and had plenty of fast water to keep us energized. Along the way, massive elk, the size of an Army tank, would walk out to greet us.  Long lines of Chukars came in and out of the grass beside the water to say hello. The trip lasted an entire day, and at the conclusion, a jet boat ferried us back up the river to the starting point. We were exhausted, but we had a day I’ll never forget.  The picture here gives a peek at the deepness of the gorge.

So, nine items out of eighteen checked off (I didn’t include the Concorde), and nine remain.  Honestly, I only see one other thing that I might complete—a helicopter ride over the Grand Canyon. If I had discovered my file earlier last year, I would have scheduled a ride when we visited the Grand Canyon on our trip west. Oh, well, I plan to go back there.

Of the remaining items, I would genuinely love a balloon ride over the Serengeti but, unless I can get there by towing a fifth-wheel, I will probably have to pass. 

Thanks for letting me revisit my list with you. Share your list in the comments…please.  I’ll be Easin’ Along now.

For this Memorial Day, Easin’ Along created a video out of our photo library to acknowledge our Creator and the gift He gave to us–America’s staggering beauty.  We dedicate this video to our fallen heroes and to those brave souls at the forefront of the fight against this pandemic. You have our utmost gratitude and sincere thanks.