Is it Over?

How quickly it all seems to pass. The day arrives and begins early--before dawn and then continues into the evening. But, even so, it is over so quickly.

All of the preparations, the gifts, the planning for the meals and the wines. Once it begins, it happens so quickly.

The Family 2012

It was a day of family. A full day of family. Even the Christmas photo this year is more complete than it ever has been.

It is worth it, of course, all of the planning. And I doubt that many of us could survive if it lasted much longer. It was full bore for the entire day.

I am happy though. Christmas this year was more than gifts. It was relationships. It was being together. It was interacting.

That is what it is all about. Giving and receiving gifts can be done in the solitude of a room, without human contact. Gathering together for holidays reminds me that we are about relationships. Being together to appreciate everyone for who they are and where they are.

Thanks to everyone in the family for being there yesterday. And more than that, for being in the moment and being present and not already checked out for NYC, Vegas, Houston, Orlando, or wherever that next trip is going to be taking you. For a few hours, yesterday, we were all together just being a family.

Holiday Hall of Fame

Bravest Person of the Day: Ethan (he knows why 2X)

Best Gift of Christmas: Everyone has one, and they know what it is

Funniest Moment of the Day: Playing Cards Against Humanity with my Parents

Most Embarrassing Moment of the Day: Me losing to a four-year old (Jax) in Wii Bowling

Hero of the Day: Santa (all of them)


-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

Christmas 2012 Prayer

Father in heaven
I come to you with joy in my heart
rediscovering the gift of salvation
through your Son's birth
There is hope in His coming,
Hope for a broken world
where our children are senselessly killed
And wars continue in so many places.
A world where people live in oppression
under the rule of dictators, without hope
Your Son is hope
for a world that needs to hear songs of rejoicing
instead of mourning
A world that needs peace, instead of war
where there are rumors of terrible weapons being used
against innocent people
The world needs hope that only He can provide in His birth and life.
Ours is not so different from the world that your Son was born into
with oppression from foreign powers and atrocities
and murder and sacrifice, and hate, and unrest.
I look forward to the promise of deliverance
and salvation, and peace.
The promise of Christmas--hope
Hope for the people, the oppressed, the prisoners
The carols, the songs, the lights the preparation
The advent of His coming long ago, and again
instills hope in me by
reminding me that I am part of the plan
which began so long ago
in a town that no one cared about
on the outskirts of the empire.
Rekindle hope in me to make a difference
Father--I thank you for the blessings you have provided me
and my family
I ask that you be with the families who mourn this Christmas
the wounds are real and hard--give them peace
Be with our military and their families--let them know
that they are loved and appreciated.
Be with the leaders of our country--
help them to find compromise and compassion.
Thank you for the first gift of Christmas
that was told to the shepherds in their fields
and sung by angels.
To proclaim His coming.
Help me to remember your gift to em every day during the year ahead.
Thank you


--Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

First Snow

And the snow started falling as if on cue on Christmas Eve. I wonder who dialed that up?

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

Monday Musings - December 24, 2012

1. Happy Christmas Eve. May you experience the joy and promise of the season.

2. Hope is not a plan. But, sometimes, hope is all we need!

3. Saw this while shopping last week: Racks of swimming suits in between rows of winter coats. I call that, wishful thinking.

4. Remember when you said you were coming? How come you are not moving your feet?

5. The dog that is perfect is the one next to you.  John O'Hurley

6. The fortunes of football games hurt more when we the season ends and we were o so close.

7. Did anyone notice, the Mayans were wrong?

8. If someone intentionally drove a car into a group of people, would we call for more car control? We need to focus on people and better care and support for people with problems.

9. I just can't imagine a better way to be awakened on Christmas Eve than to the words of my wife standing over me and saying softly--don't get upset, but the toilet is clogged!

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

The Stockings Were Hung!

Stockings! I knew that I had forgotten something. They are in one of those boxes of Christmas, somewhere, waiting. An interesting tradition.

I head an Australian talking on the radio yesterday about the Christmas traditions there, where summer has just begun when Christmas arrives. Instead of being dark, cold, and snowy, it is beach weather. Awesome! He also talked about hanging a large pillowcase on the end of the bed and waking to find it filled with presents in the morning.

Santa on a Boat in Australia

So who needs stockings?

I found a website devoted to Christmas in Australia.

Throw me on Bondi Beach for some rays in the afternoon.

The website reports:

The most important day of Australian Christmas traditions is the Christmas Day (25. December). Often it starts with packing the picnic bags and eskies in the morning, to celebrate Christmas on the beach. It is a picnic lunch that starts early and doesn't often finish before the sun sets so a fair bit of food and beer is consumed. 
Australians used to eat the traditional British Christmas meal, Christmas turkey, but in later years we’ve developed our own Australian Christmas food, much more suitable for the hot weather. It consists of all possible cold snacks whether it is seafood, meat, chicken or a combination of them, and potato salad, pasta salad, or just green salad, and bread. Not everyone goes to the beach, many families have Christmas lunches in their back yards too, but it's always a lunch, not a dinner.

What's an eskie? American Eskimo Dog, of course, I think.

The high temperature in Sydney is expected to be 75 degrees today.

I, unfortunately, got to enjoy the mall again yesterday for that one last gift from a store that is only in the mall. I would have much preferred the beach.

Some year, perhaps a Caribbean Christmas cruise vacation!

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

Hip Hip Hooray--An Extra Holiday

And as if by magic--we have an extra holiday--Christmas Eve 2012.  Of course it is a one time good deal because it falls on a Monday before the Christmas Tuesday holiday.

Grace Church Service Times

But I'll take it. Thank-you Mr. President.

Christmas Eve is a magical day for me. It is when Christmas becomes real. It is the next thing up--and I guess I am a next thing up kind of guy. Like today--Saturday, I have a ton of things to do, among which I am looking forward to my parents arriving, but even though the tree is lit and presents are beginning to adorn its base, I'm not in the Christmas "place" in my mind.

I remember when I was in high school and working in a clothing store after school that Christmas Eve was one of my favorite days. It was a day off from school so I was able to work at the store the entire of Christmas Eve. I had an extra benefit from working there--my Dad was the assistant manager and that meant I got to spend time with him as we drove the 10 or so miles to and from work and then during the day we'd see each other as we worked the store. Funny though, we never did lunch together.

On Christmas Eve, while working the clothing store, I observed the change in the shoppers from the morning through the afternoon. The morning was typically busy and bustling--but the shoppers had a sense of purpose and directness. There was so much crisp decision making due to the impending end of the shopping season. I think I learned a lot about decision making from watching and helping the shoppers on Christmas Eve.

By the early afternoon the crowds began to thin as people finished their shopping and were able to devote time to the next thing up--family and the holiday. It was fun to watch the traffic begin to thin on the street in front of the store. I could feel Christmas closing in. I could sense it in those few shoppers who were still trying to get that one last and best gift.

And then, they stopped coming. Our store was open until 5pm--but it was devoid of customers by about 4pm as the finality of the day set in. Christmas Eve was the only time I ever remember the owner closing the store early, except for weather related events. And even though he didn't celebrate the holiday, he succumbed to the Christmas Spirit and would walk over to the front door, sometime about 4:15 look at the street, put the key in and lock the front door while turning off the lights. Dad and I would gather up our belongings and head home.

In my mind, at that magical moment when the lights went off and the key turned--it became Christmas. Family, church, and everything good associated with the holiday started right then!

I will be out shopping on Christmas Eve--not because I need anything, but because I still love the different feeling that the shoppers have. I think there are lots of other crazies like me, who just love the be able to finally relax and enjoy the holiday as it makes its undeniable arrival.

The waiting is over. The holly is out. Christmas is near.

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

Driving off the Fiscal Cliff

I read in the news this morning that Congress is planning to give us all a unique Christmas gift--a total melt down.

The LA Times reports it this way:


WASHINGTON — House Speaker John A. Boehner abruptly canceled a vote on his Plan B tax proposal late Thursday after failing to find enough GOP support, a stunning political defeat that effectively turned resolution of the year-end budget crisis over to President Obama and the Democrats.

The speaker had spent the last few weeks negotiating one-on-one with the president, establishing himself as the second-most powerful figure in Washington. But with his strategy imploding, Boehner conceded that he would play a lesser role.

"Now it is up to the president," he said, to work with a fellow Democrat, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada, "to avert the fiscal cliff."

So much for unity and a calm reasoned approach (as if there ever was one).

Taxpayers--I think our wallets are going to get a lot thinner next year as the governments (plural intended) siphon off more of our earnings.

I hope they get it fixed.

Oh, wait--Hope is not a plan!

What is the plan then? Apparently it is to keep the right foot heavy on the gas and drive straight for the fiscal cliff in an apparent Thelma and Louise type ending. That way, those responsible won't be around to clean up the mess.

So from our President and Congress to We the People, the Christmas message is clearly: enjoy life now, because it is all going to change in just over a week!

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

The Week Before Christmas 2012

It was the week before Christmas
And throughout Columbia Mall
Every shopper was scurrying
With lists and bags full

The sale signs were hung
by the doorways en masse
In the hope that my credit card
would soon disgorge there

The crowds they were stifling
the  kids not about
'twas noontime on a school day
and the parents were out

The shelves were stocked full
of the wares all for sale
and the sales clerks were worn out
from weeks without breaks

The parking garage was a free for all
the streets jammed with cars
more than one fender bender
was out and about

The lines at the counters
were twenty feet deep
as cashiers were tallying
up sale after sale

I walked through the mall
from  one end to the other
just to walk to the other end
and do it again

I lept to my truck
when I finished my shopping
and drove out of sight
feeling most very lucky

And as I drove off
from the mall parking lot
above the engines I heard
a faint carol of sorts

The song was an old one
I knew it by heart
the words made me pause
amid all of the screams

The notes stopped me short
a tear crossed my eye
for the song that I heard was
O Holy Night

The stars are brightly shining
It is the night of our dear Saviors birth

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

Day Off

It is the Christmas season after all and I decided that I was way behind on a number of critical things--like shopping. So, I took the day off! A brave thing to do. I also looked at my use-or-lose leave balance and couldn't figure out how else I was going to get the rest of it used this year!

Yay.

It is going to be busy as I attack the shopping arenas with vigor! Hopefully they will be mostly empty.

I have a few, too many, gifts to finish up. I admit though, I could get used to enjoying multiple cups of coffee in the solitude of my living room before starting the day.

I, frankly though, have put too many things off and although I was doing most of my shopping on line, there were/are a few things that I just need to see, handle, and look at in more depth to ensure they are just right. It is funny how some things just need to be seen.

And so, I'm off to shop.

Ho, ho, ho, ho, ho!

There, I feel better already!

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

Did He Eat an Elf?

Having a donut with Lucas after church on Sunday was a lot of fun. The had these really cool star shaped, cream-filled green frosted donuts.  Mmmm, they looked good. Lucas had one.

By the time he was done, he had a green mustache and it looked like he had eaten an elf!

But he had a lot of fun with the donut.

Fortunately, I didn't get caught in the spray pattern. I was not covered with  the green frosting.

But I did enjoy the thought that I would send him home with his parents to be cleaned up.

Green.

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD