bring on the holidays!

Thanks to Paula, I was able to give my kids brand new books for gifts before the holiday break. My kids were so excited. They each got at least two new books and taken into consideration were their reading levels. They were so proud of their gifts and couldn’t stop showing them off at the end of the day!

After celebrating Christmas with Laura’s mom and dad in St. Louis, we headed to my parents’ house in Tahoka, Texas. You may be thinking to yourself, “What in the world is there to do in Tahoka?” Well, Opal figured it out. Snuggling with Gram is just about perfect.

Sophia and I had other plans.

And of course, we HAD to visit SantaLand. It’s been around for 53 years. I remember visiting SantaLand when I was a kid. What I don’t remember was the randomness of the decor. For those of you keeping score at home, yes, that’s a nativity scene next to Clifford the Dog and his friends which is accentuated by an American flag.

Finally, what’s a visit to SantaLand without a visit with Santa and Mrs. Claus? (Does she have a first name?) Yeah, we caved. Insert joke here about how Laura and I have given in to the corporatization of the holiday season. But dang, this picture is cute!

Filed under: family, holidays, teaching

in need of a cheesy tie!

I wear ties every day. A teaching friend of mine back in New York wore a tie every day and it impressed me. The culture of Teach For America is such that dressing nicely is strongly encouraged. And so I wear a tie. Every day. And I don’t even mind.

At the beginning of October I found this ridiculously cheesy Halloween tie that when you pressed a button at the bottom of the tie, it played spooky noises. I found it at the dollar store. The kids loved it. LOVED IT! I pounced all over their enthusiasm for the tie and told them that I would pick a student of the month on October 30 and award them with the tie. The student who won the tie on Oct 30 was ecstatic and wore the tie proudly that day. And in typical SuperStar fashion, the class cheered her on.

I’m in need of a cheesy Christmas tie that plays a Christmas tune but can’t find one. Any suggestions as to where I should look? The dollar store did not produce this time around. Have you seen this type of tie at a chain retail store?

And for the record, I so wish there was a generic holiday tie that played a mixture of Hanukkah, Christmas, and Kwanzaa music but I’m betting that I’m outta luck on that front.

Filed under: fashion, holidays, teaching

any tricks?

Here in St. Louis we abide by the old rules: kids have to tell a joke (trick) to get their candy. Laura was amazed when she moved to other parts of the country and learned that kids do not, in fact, have to say anything at all to get candy. (She was even more shocked to find that we Hayses usually found a good movie at the theater on Halloween so as to avoid the trick-0r-treaters altogether.)

So Sophia and Ira need some good jokes. Do you have any cheesy jokes you want to share? …appropriate for a six and a four year old. Geez, it’s bad when I have to reprimand my blogging audience to keep it clean.

On a similar note, we’re really homesick for Brooklyn right now. We loved this time of year in Brooklyn. It was on Halloween that we met and got to know Jodi, Anson and Roan. We’ve spend every Halloween since with them hanging out on our stoop on Hoyt St. The neighborhood kids would come and hang with us as well. We would order pizza, drink soda and hand out candy to any and every one. (Oh, and Jodi would get hit on by pre-teens.) We’re gonna make new memories and start new traditions here in The Lou (get ready Pribish clan!) and we’re excited about that. But to all our Halloween compadres back in bklyn: BOO!

Filed under: Brooklyn, family, friends, holidays

40 years and going

I wish I had something inspiring to write; some Christmas miracle to report. I would even settle for some really cool story to tell. Alas, our holiday season has been pretty, well, normal.

Scratch that.

It’s not been normal. Not normal at all.

Laura and her two brothers have been planning a surprise anniversary party for their parents for months. It popped into Laura’s head this past summer that they should honor their parents on their 40th wedding anniversary. She made the appropriate calls to her brothers and they both were immediately on board. And then she called a couple of her St. Louis connections and asked them if they could help. They didn’t hesitate to offer their services.

And so this past Sunday, Laura, the kids and I drove in from Columbus, Ohio (where we had spent the night before thanks to my good friend, Adam) just in time to surprise Harvey and Kay along with 20 of their closest friends. Laura’s parents were floored.

The evening was filled with laughter and tears. Laura wrote a song for the occasion. Jonathan prepared a slideshow that chronicled Harvey and Kay’s marriage. Jason gave a hilarious yet warm speech that captured what we all know about Harvey and Kay.

Throughout all of this, I found myself just watching Harvey and Kay; attempting to take in the moment; wondering what it must feel like to know someone so intimately and thoroughly. It was then that I realized that what I was witnessing was not normal. Not at all. Not these days. Forty years together? It’s a big deal. And so I prayed a prayer of thanksgiving for Harvey and Kay and their influence on Laura and me. And I prayed that Laura and I would someday be sitting in their seats celebrating 40 years together.

Filed under: family, holidays

fav xmas gift

So this is how Christmas morning worked when I was a kid. I would be the first to wake up. Being the youngest and being that I was spoiled rotten meant that waking up first was a given. I would wait as long as I possibly could (maybe 5 minutes…7 if I was really patient) and then I would start to wake everyone up. We would go into the living room and a fight – sorry, Mom – I mean “disagreement” would begin about how the morning would proceed.

Should we just go for it? Find your own gifts and just rip ‘em to shreds? Every man for himself? Or should we open them up one at a time and savor every moment? And who should be the gift passer-outer? Mom or Dad? Wait. Should we eat breakfast before we open gifts? Or in the middle of opening gifts so as to spread out the materialistic joy? Or should we wait and eat breakfast after the gifts are all opened? There’s nothing like starting off the Christmas morning with a fun little family argument. Hey, ’tis the season!

Anyway, it almost always worked out that breakfast would have to wait. And for the most part we opened gifts one at a time. And after all the gifts under the tree were opened, we would make our way to the stockings. Usually, our stockings were stuffed. Overflowing, in fact. But one year, maybe 1981? or ‘82?, the stockings were flat. They looked untouched. So when Mom and Dad encouraged us to get our stockings from the fireplace mantle, we scoffed.

There’s nothing in them. Why bother? we said in our brattiest, whiniest voices.

Well, suit yourself.

We knew better. We went to the stockings and pulled them down. We each (my two sisters and I) reached inside. Each one of us pulled out an index card.

On my index card – LINE

On Katie’s index card – PO

On Jackie’s index card – TRAM

I didn’t get it. I was like, Santa, what gives? But my sisters were on it. They immediately grabbed my card and shuffled the three of them around until – TRAMPOLINE. We were shocked. And then the shock turned into hysteria. And the hysteria led to a mad dash for the backyard where, yep, a trampoline stood waiting for us. We jumped on that cold, Christmas morning until Mom and Dad made us come inside.

It was by far the best gift I ever received on Christmas. (And if one of you self-righteous cats out there judges me for not saying that “Jesus Christ” was the best Christmas gift ever, deal. That’s like answering “the Bible” to the question, “What one book would you want on a deserted island?” or answering “God” to the question, “If you could have one person over for dinner, who would it be?” Aren’t those answers givens? So can’t we, for the love of all things selfish and material, move on and answer the following question?)

What about you? What was the best gift you ever received during the holiday season?

Filed under: family, holidays

feeling it

I recognize that even though I’m feeling the season, not everyone is. You can’t live in NYC and not know someone who’s been laid off from their job. There’s my buddy from my basketball team who lost his job; a couple of guys I play pick-up ball  with at the Y lost their jobs; a friend I haven’t seen in a long while informed me today at church that he lost his job. I’m guessing that their holiday season has a different feel this year. And not because they can’t provide a hefty haul for their kids this holiday season but because there simply isn’t much hope in finding a new job anytime soon.

And then there are those families who are spending their first holiday season without their loved one. The season will be as much about the absence of their spouse, sister, brother, mother, father, son, daughter as anything else. Traditions just won’t be the same this year.

And then there are families who will be spending their holidays in nursing homes or hospitals or treatment centers. The holiday decor in those places is a good effort on the part of the staff but the sterility of the environment will trump the decor. The bags under the eyes of the caregivers will betray their attempts at holiday cheer.

And then there are those who have hardly ever been able to enjoy the holidays due to their economic standing. For many of these, the holiday season is just one more bouncer-clad building in which it’s a given that entry won’t be allowed.

It’s these realizations that remind me why I have faith. There has to be an answer to the crises and death and sickness that overwhelms us. There has to be a source of hope in the midst of the seemingly hopelessness that envelops us. I may be feeling the Christmas cheer this year but you must realize that my joy is so much more than trees, stockings, presents and lights. My joy is that Christ has come and he promises to come again.

Lord, hear our prayer – Maranatha!

Filed under: God, faith, holidays, hope

a few holiday news and notes

I absolutely love this time of year. Love it. I love it for all its possibilities.

• I love it because people leave random envelopes of cash in mailboxes.
• I love it because guys at the gym are nicer this time of year. Ditto the people in subway stations.
• I love it because everyone is looking forward to getting a break from work – even if it is just a day and a half. A little break in the middle of the week. Who doesn’t love that?
• I love it because people work hard to think of others as they buy gifts. Sure, we’ve gone too far in our holiday gift giving but it’s not a bad thing that folks are thinking of others.
• I love it because of the bright colors of green and red, purple and pink.
• I love this time of year because Christian churches are doing the hard but rewarding work of getting ready for Christ to come. Jesus’s birth into this world is both overwhelming and a relief.

Yeah, I love this time of year.

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I came to a hard realization today. I will never be as good as my mother is at putting lights on a Christmas tree. My mother’s Christmas trees are meticulously lit. After it’s all said and done, her trees look perfect. Mine? Not so much. I try but it just never is as good as Mom’s.

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Speaking of decorating, I realize that Laura and I still have decorations that scream “NEWLYWEDS!” For those of you who are married or have been married, don’t you remember your first Christmas as a couple? Your Christmas decor is just kinda random. It’s made of stuff given to you from random people. Laura and I don’t have much but what we do have, well, it’s totally random. As I pulled out of the storage box a little random decoration Laura looked over and said, “Tahoka.” My Tahoka friends, she wasn’t putting down Tahoka. She was simply pointing out a truth I could not argue with.

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I can’t get enough of the Barenaked Ladies rendition of God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen. It plays multiple times a day around the house and on my iPod.

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Sophia asked for one thing and one thing only last year – princess chapstick. About three months before Christmas of last year, Sophia spotted Chapstick that had the Disney princesses on them. She begged and begged. Because Laura and I are frugal/tight/mean/whatever with our money our response was the same every time we went into CVS, “Ask Santa.” She did. And she got her princess chapstick…thanks to our old upstairs neighbors. Now she thinks that’s the way it works. Just ask, then sit back and wait to receive. My girl’s grown up a bit and now realizes that she should ask for more. Her list now is three items long: 1) Care Bear toys, 2) A Princess Leia Star Wars figurine, and 3) anything High School Musical. When she relays this list to other people, she does so with the assurance that she’s gonna get all of this. When we finally questioned her confidence Sophia said, “Well last year I asked for princess chapstick and got it. So I’ll get these things too.”

Too bad Santa’s gonna totally crush her little spirit this year. Hey, the girl’s gonna have to learn sometime, no?

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Oh yeah, I forgot another reason why I love this season:

• Laura looks smokin’ hot in red!

I’m just sayin’.

Filed under: Laura, Sophia, family, holidays, hope

the season of advent

My sister, Katie, is pastor of Lawrenceville First Christian Church. She wrote a great piece for their weekly newsletter regarding Advent. It’s a must read.

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Adventus: Latin, “coming,” i.e. “of Christ,” late 6th century.

“They’ll be here by 3:00,” my mother puffs as she scurries through the living room on her way to the laundry. “Let’s get that dustcloth moving, Kate.”

She’s telling me to get busy on the housecleaning chores I’m supposed to be helping with, but my 13-year-old self is unbelievably annoyed by the hustle and bustle. My grandparents, Mom’s parents, are on their way, along with assorted aunts and uncles and cousins, and so the house must be clean. More than clean – “spotless,” my Mom demands. So I dust, my sister vacuums. We argue over who will clean the toilets and tubs. Mom is handling the laundry, light fixtures, kitchen, and linens. (I don’t remember my little brother doing much, but he must have had a job. Maybe he was old enough to mow the lawn by that time.)

“The thing is,” I say to my mother, “they’re family. They don’t care whether our house is spotless. They’re coming to see us, not the house.” But Mom will not have it. There’s no time to argue today – they’re coming, here by 3:00, and there are still chores to be done.

The church is like my mother: urgently insisting that the arrival we’ll soon celebrate demands rigorous preparation. That’s why there’s no event to celebrate in Advent – it’s all about the event we’re waiting for. We wait for the Christ-child; we pray for Christ to dwell among us now; we also wait for Christ to come again. At Christmas we celebrate Emanuel – God-With-Us – in all these ways, but before we can celebrate, we need to get ready. The season of preparation is called Advent, or coming. For four weeks before Christmas, we get ready, because he’s coming, and he’ll be here soon!

How do you prepare for God-in-Christ to come to your home, your heart, your life? There’s a certain kind of spiritual housecleaning that the church has recommended through the centuries.

• Fasting is a traditional Advent discipline. Purposefully abstaining from food (skipping a meal each day, or not eating on a particular day each week) allows one to dedicate more time to prayer and give more money to the poor.

• Repentance is essential during Advent. Now is the time to take a spiritual inventory of the year almost finished and pledge yourself to more rigorous discipleship in the year to come.

• Worshipful warnings pile up during Advent. Sermons focus on John the Baptist and the other prophets who hollered about what it looks like when God comes near. The color of the season is purple, just like Lent – a time of sober reflection and quiet introspection.

• Generosity abounds during Advent. It’s not just the “Christmas spirit” or the tax breaks that inspire us – it’s the release of material wealth in order to make room for God’s gifts when Christ comes to us.

• Prayer proliferates during Advent. God’s own Spirit will prepare our hearts for Christ’s arrival, if we ask. We offer all our preparatory efforts in prayer, and ask for their transformation into gifts that are acceptable for the Holy Child’s arrival.

Advent begins on Sunday, November 30 this year. We’ll hold weekly devotionals on Wednesday nights at 7:00 p.m., beginning December 3. Let’s get that dust cloth moving, Christians, and prepare for the coming of our Lord.

peace – Rev. Katie

Filed under: Bible, God, faith, family, fasting, holidays, prayer

weekend update

So here’s a quick recap of the holiday weekend with very important information to follow. (Okay, so I’m lying about the “important information to follow” part. It was my feeble attempt to make sure you took this post seriously. Sigh. Is this what my blog life has become? Lying to you? Forgive me. On to the no-so-important recap.)

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THURSDAY

Dad, Sophia and I took in the Macy’s Day Parade. It’s my third parade in a row. I’m getting pretty good at knowing when to leave the apartment and where exactly we should go to get a good viewing. By the time the parade started, Sophia was up against the barricade staring the parade in its face. Dad and I were about three people deep. It was awesome. And tiring. We left the apartment at 6:30 a.m. We got home at 12:30 PM. In spite of the exhaustion, we had a blast.

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FRIDAY

The fam went out to Eastchester (a burb of NYC) to hang out with some friends. There was a kid v adult soccer game to start things off. It was my first time to ever play soccer. We won 9-8, no thanks to me. We followed that up with a meal and lots of football on TV. Good times.

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SATURDAY

My mom and dad treated the family to a viewing of Mary Poppins on Broadway. Disney always puts on a good show so the production was incredible. The Broadway show follows the storyline of the book more than it does the Julie Andrews movie so one should know that before going in.

Ira liked the show about 50% of the time. If there was dialog or if a character was singing a slow, reflective song, he wanted to go home. Sophia loved every single minute of it. She couldn’t get enough. A huge thanks, Mom and Dad.

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SUNDAY

A wonderful day at CCFB. Have I mentioned lately how fortunate I am to be a part of that ministry? It really is a group of loving and caring people. Lately, people who have come to CCFB for the first time are coming back for a second, third and fourth visit. And let me tell you, they’re not coming back because of our nice facilities. We meet in an elementary cafeteria. Do you remember how elementary cafeteria’s smell? And they’re not coming back because CCFB puts on a well produced, well conducted, seamless worship service. We often have to start songs over, or wait for the slide show on the screen to catch up to where we are in the song or scripture reading. And even though I preach from a manuscript, I often stumble over words and such. Nope, they’re not coming back because of the show we put on. And they’re not coming back because we’re a group made up of powerfully prestigious people. Not in the secular sense, that is. It seems to me that newcomers are coming back because of the family atmosphere; because of the love and care that is given by all; because CCFB is willing to help carry the weight that so easily and so often burdens.

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All in all, it was a good holiday weekend. How about you? Did you have a good Thanksgiving?

Filed under: CCfB, church, family, holidays, random

happy turkey day

from the Hays family in Brooklyn to your family – happy thanksgiving!

Filed under: family, holidays