Christmas 2025

This Christmas was a quiet one. I guess our holiday celebrations started with the Reformation Church Christmas party held at Five Oaks Lodge in Jenks. One of the RCT members donated the cost of the event. The Five Oaks facility is beautiful. It overlooks a small lake. The deacons were acting as parking valets as we arrived making sure the aged, limp and lame like Sheila and I were parked close to the entrance. We saw ducks and geese moving around in the evening light as we walked in.

The catered meal was superb and a high percentage of the congregation attended. After the meal, carols were sung accompanied by a very talented RCT family who were in town for a holiday break from their jobs in the Middle East. Our table was lively. We were joined by our friends Robert and Jessica Clanahan and their children. Since Sheila I have only the one grandchild who is now a teenager that we never got to spend much time with, being around children, especially during the Christmas season, is a treat, noise, sticky fingers and all. It was a time of good fellowship around a good meal, good music and good friends.

Our family Christmas was celebrated on Sunday the 21st since our grandson Ben and his father were going to be in Portland with his family and our daughter had other plans Christmas day. I haven’t quite figured out yet how my daughter’s invitation to Christmas dinner at her house morphed into Sheila and I cooking the meal at our house.  We served smoked turkey and roast pork with the usual sides. Since just preparing the meal took more energy and than Sheila and I normally expend in a week, I drew the line at getting out the good china, silver and serving equipment. We fed them on seasonal decorated paper plates from disposable foil serving containers. That way there would be minimal clean up afterward. My daughter Michelle, our grandson Ben, my cousin Robert Burchfield, his wife Christi and her sister Cindy attended.

After the gifts were opened, I showed the crew Sheila’s big present, a new three wheel

recreational scooter similar to my “Purple Peril” that I have used to cruise the neighborhood all summer. Ever since I got mine, Sheila had been wanting to come along but our smaller medical mobility scooters had neither the range nor the speed. Ben had already been asking to ride the scooters before the meal so, after everybody else who wanted to took a short trip up and down the street, Ben and I took off for a long ride. It was a warm afternoon. We had a good time. We even wound up drag racing the two scooters up and down the street in front of our house.

Christmas Eve, we were invited to an RCT deacon's house for dinner and more carols. This brother’s large, beautiful home is located on a small lake out in Creek County. The evening was warm and the view from their deck was very nice indeed. Again there was a catered meal, carol singing and fellowship. Our host is a talented musician. We left early since I was beginning to feel under the weather. 

Christmas day, Sheila and I were alone. We opened our remaining presents over coffee and I fixed a “Thanksgiving Pie” for lunch. Thanksgiving Pie is one of those southern inventions that defies all of the rules of cuisine and still tastes quite good. You start with a pie crust. You add a can of green beans, a can of cream of mushroom soup and a layer of crispy fried onions. You then sprinkle a small package of instant mashed potatoes over everything followed by a layer of shredded turkey and a can of turkey gravy. You top it off with a small package instant stuffing and a stick of butter cut into pats and distributed over the top. I served it with cranberry sauce and rolls.

That mishmash is actually quite good and a very easy way to get the flavors of a turkey dinner without all of the effort. Sheila and I ate half of it and gave the remaining half to our friends Mike and Jodi Sala since Mike, the family cook, was under the weather. Another benefit of this culinary monstrosity is that it tastes just as good or better as leftovers.

Our good friends Mike and Susan Bass’s Christmas card arrived yesterday, only a few days late. That is to be expected I suppose since it was postmarked from Honolulu. Like many empty nesters, Mike and Susan travel during the holidays. They usually spend the holidays at their place in Hawaii.  It was a unique card, showing pictures of their adventures throughout the year. There was a picture of them together on a hiking trail somewhere in the Southwest. There was a picture of Susan in front of the famous “Las Vegas” sign. And several pictures of Susan and their adult son on safari in Kenya. And there was a picture of a beautiful sunset viewed from the deck of their home base on Grand Lake.

Sheila and I’s adventures this year don’t compare with Mike and Susan’s but comparisons aren’t really a good idea. There is great pleasure to be found in being happy for your friends who are enjoying themselves and at the same time being content with whatever the Lord has provided for you. The Christmas season causes too many of us to make material comparisons which often result in unhappiness.

The deacon who read the Christmas story at our Christmas Eve gathering made a very good point. It is good to enjoy good food, good friends and all of God’s blessings. There is nothing wrong with sharing and enjoying God's blessings.  But we should never let those things be the center of attention during the Christmas season. We must always remember that we are not celebrating material gifts but rather the amazing gift God gave us that night so long ago when our Savior was born in a humble manger. If we remember that we can have joy no matter what our circumstances.