Family at Christmas

Christmas is a time for being together with family, but since we've lived in Oregon, we've rarely been together at the same time with all the members of either side of our immediate family, let alone seen everyone over the holidays. So we give thanks for those we get to see and those who join us on speakerphone, those who are enjoying being with other family, those are staying home and keeping things simple, and those are camping (like my brother).

It seemed important this year to extend our table to include some folks who can't be with those they love over the holidays because their families are in different countries. Ann and Brody were here for the weekend, and for Christmas dinner, we invited our friends Eliser, Eleuterio (who goes by Lute), and Arturo. Eliser has spent many of the past several Christmases with us so his presence has become a nice tradition. I even sewed him his own personalized stocking this year. He has one brother in the area, but his other siblings and mother are near Tijuana, Mexico and the family he currently lives with doesn't celebrate Christmas. Lute lives across the street with another family, but they weren't gathering at their home this year and Lute's wife and children are in Guatemala. I met Arturo this spring at the day labor site in town and I have spent lots of time hearing stories about his home and family in Veracruz, Mexico while he hangs out there or helps us in the church garden. Arturo brought some music to share and we turned off the Christmas tunes to listen to Trio Los Panchos and Mana (one of my favorites) over dinner.

Though we missed those family members who are in different parts of the country, it was a beautiful thing to sit around a table eating tofuloaf and sharing in two languages about what in the past year we were most thankful for with a family that crosses bloodlines and borders.

A few pics from our weekend. Eric making his special blueberry pancakes on Christmas morning:

Me, Lute, Eliser, Brody, Arturo and Ann around the dinner table:

Eliser sleeping next to the tree:

Tex-Mex food on Sunday evening!

We had such a great time just hanging out with Ann and Brody at home, playing the new board game I got from Scott and Hilary (Funglish!), participating in church events and sharing meals. Ann and I also went out for coffee together Sunday afternoon and it was really nice to just visit.

Merry Christmas!