Christmas Eve 2009

There are 3 essential elements for a proper Christmas Eve: family, singing, and food. We were blessed to have each of these elements as part of our holiday, in varying degrees and in newfound ways. We expanded our FAMILY circle to include ward friends this year, since we were far from our blood relations. Some of our favorite Perrysburg friends, the Wards, organized a group to go SINGING at a nursing home. What was originally intended to be a small group of carolers turned into 7 families that totalled about 35 people.

We descended upon the seniors with our instruments, Christmas cards, and banners. Our enthusiastic group sang favorites such as "Up on the Housetop" and "Silent Night". Jacob accompanied some of our numbers with his flute. The Wilkin sisters used Boom Wackers to perform "The First Noel". It was an ecclectic performance to be sure.

In keeping with our newfound tradition of eating out on holidays, our foursome went to Nagoya to enjoy fine Japanease Tempenyaki. Our chef did some of the classic tricks like the onion volcano and spatula juggling. More importantly, he cooked our FOOD to perfection. This was not the highlight of the evening, however. We met a single mother and her 8-year-old son that shared our table. Her husband ad been killed in the war 2 years earlier. She and her boy were trying to carve out some new traditions because it was hard to be with extended family this time of year. We got to talking and found we had a lot in common. We also exchanged contact information so that we could catch up in the spring to go bike riding together. Meeting this woman was an important reminder that we are so blessed to have each other at the holidays.