Dear Santa....and a Mothers Love

Christmas Eve!

It has been a quiet, relaxing day at the Green House.

We are breaking the fondue tradition

and having pizza for dinner.

While watching "Its a Wonderful Life".

Then, its off to 

Christmas Eve Service at our church.

That is my favorite part of the evening...

I have written about my dad

many times on my blog. 

But I have not shared much about my mom.

I talked about her last Spring when 

I visited for my step fathers heart surgery.

As an Air Force "brat",

we moved A LOT.  About every 2 years.

Luckily, most of the time we were settled during the

Christmas Season.

One thing I know is that my mom ALWAYS made Christmas

special no matter where we were.

When I was about 5 years old

we lived in a single wide trailer in Wisconsin.

The snow was as high as our trailer it seemed.

That year I was very worried about Santa finding his way to our

little white trailer in the snow.

Here is a "word for word" letter (said by me, written by my mom)

on December 15, 1971

Dear Santa,

My name is Jodi and I'm 5.  I've been good. Can I have a Crissy doll please and a Baby Tender Love and a record player and and electric tooth brush and a sled please.  And my name is Jodi and I live in a trailer in Wisconsin. It's a whole bunch of white and a little bit of green. Daddy has a new car with a little black roof and shiny yellow.  You can get a sandwich and a beer when you get here. And milk too. Don't no little kids be naughty! Bring ma ma a beautiful dress with Christmas trees on it and get daddy some bafume that smells really good. That's all.

God Bless you!  From Jodi

Funny, huh?  

Makes me think of the movie "Christmas Vacation" with

Uncle Eddie. Remember? ha ha

The following year, my sister and I awoke to

the most amazing sight.

We had an entire village of "Little People"...the house, farm, schoolhouse.

New babies in in their cradles, and a Daisy BB Gun for me.

I will never forget that morning.

My dad had been gone over seas for a year and he was home.

It was more than we could ever imagined.

When I was 11, we had a foster sister

named Rosemary that lived with us. She came

from an awful home situation. My dad made cradles for her and my little sister. 

Mom made blankets for their baby dolls.

Rosemary cried because she had never had a Christmas like that.

She was adopted by a family in Seattle soon after.

I would love to find her someday.

That next year we moved from Washington

to Minnesota.  Everything we owned was in storage and we had to live

in a huge, scary, lodge know as  temporary housing.

We were the only family there during Christmas.

We went sledding down the huge hill behind the lodge, went to the club

for dinner, and I played my 45's on the record player all day.

With everything in storage, my mom made all our ornaments

for the little tree we had that year.

I still have several of the felt and sequenced ornaments.

They survived many more moves, a divorce, and being passed around for a few years.

They are some of my favorites.

A reminder of a mothers love in every stitch.

When I was 14, we moved to Phoenix

during December.

Again, we found ourselves in a temporary housing situation.

It's like living in a hotel room.

The temperature was hot.

Not at all like any Christmas we'd shared before.

One late night, a few days before Christmas,

 I saw a glow between the cracks of the bathroom door.

I snuck over and peeked inside.

There was my mom, sitting on the toilet seat, with a stocking in her hand.

She was sewing embellishments on two hand made stockings for my sister and I.

With all our belongings in storage,

she HAND made us stockings.

I have often wondered if I would do the same.

Take the time at the end of a long day to create a hand made stocking.

I love my children, but I think I would

go out an buy one instead.

I cherished that stocking for a long time.

It found its demise on my 2nd Christmas with my husband.

Our black lab puppy decided he wanted the

chocolate, and ate through the toe!

He did not care about the loving stitch work.

 I couldn't fix it. I cried.

Many Christmas mornings have come and gone since then.

Some years we have had much, and others we barely scraped by.

But one thing remains constant.

Love

May Jesus' love be the thread holding together the embellishments of your life.

God Bless you this Christmas and always.

xoxox

Jodi

UPDATE:  We love our church located in Silverdale, WA
The staff created this video as part of a beautiful Christmas service.
They always incorporate laughter into the services.
I love that.  Enjoy!

Silver Bells....Silverdale version