What I did on my Christmas Vacation or Family, Friends and Food

I'm finishing up a week of vacation, sitting at the airport. There are so many wonderful blessings to share and I've been trying to think how to get it down in an organized way. The celebration actually started the week before I left St. Louis, while I was still supposed to be working but managed to get in some fun, too.

• Friends and Food - the DHQ women officers (minus 1) went out for a night on the town. We started at The Chocolate Bar. It's hard to describe but included gourmet cheeses and lots of chocolate choices. If you come to visit, we are going there! We then went to see Wicked! It's a fun musical, but probably not my favorite. The fun was being with my friends and we somehow avoided work talk the whole evening.


• Friends - I was on line searching for a Handel's Messiah concert in town and didn't find one. That's a sad part of being away from Riga and Chicago. But, I did find a Rutter 'Magnificat' concert. Carla Voeller and I went. It was beautiful and in a magnificent concert hall. Besides Magnificat, the chorus also sang a lot of traditional carols. I love them and haven't had much opportunity to sing them this year. We were both in heaven! I had an amazing moment of worship when we all joined in singing "O come let us adore Him". I'd never felt the spiritual impact of these words like I did that evening. I don't know if it was the beautiful sound in the concert hall or what moved me specifically. I found myself praying as I was singing "Lord, let this be true worship for all in this room." I believe there were some who experience the true adoration of Christ during those moments. This will become one of my St. Louis traditions.


• Food - well, sort of! The Friday before Christmas I went with an ensemble to play on a radio show (6-9 AM!!!!) I also was the spokeswoman for the Army that morning. We had such fun and while we were in the studio, a local restaurant brought in the most delicious food. Not breakfast food, but still - we all ate it! Another place to try some day.


• Family and Food - Then I was off to Livonia to be with my family. I decided to fly, rather than drive 9 hours on my own. That was nearly a disaster because of fog and snow, but I made it. However, my luggage didn't. Eventually, Chris and I went to the airport to look for it (24 hours later) and there it was, sitting with dozens of other abandoned suitcases. Oh well, it got there before Christmas with all presents safely packed. It really was nice to be with my family for the first time in 3 years during Christmas. They had finished most of their corps activities, so we actually relaxed and were stress free. I got to see Abbie and Matt in the Christmas musical. Sunday afternoon we had a Diaz family (extended) party. About 30 of us, who never all get together at once. That was so great and where the food came in - lots of it. I'll post a couple of pictures later. Christmas Day we opened presents together and it was fun and very exciting for the kids. Much different from my Christmas in Latvia, where I usually opened gifts on my own. I was a little afraid that the kids might have outgrown the fun and joy of gift-giving since I'd left. Not a chance! They were up early, excited about the Santa gifts and grateful for all they received. Since in Latvia I always spent the day with the Smiths, I missed them. They called and made my day complete! Later we went to the corps to join in with one of the corps family gatherings for a really good meal and fellowship. Again, a nice and relatively relaxing day. I was simply enjoying being with my family during those days.
• Friends and more food - I spent the last few days with the Jordans in the Chicago area. We had a big party with loads of food and lots of friends over one evening. We did a bit of shopping and a lot of eating. I also got to spend time with Gortons while there, which made my weekend even more special. My vacation ended with Sunday morning worship at Oakbrook Terrace. As always, I love being there and am so grateful for the corps family who still make me feel like I belong.

Now it's New Year's Eve and I'm lounging at home enjoying my last bit of vacation with some quiet, peaceful time on my own. If you have made it this far - how about your opinion on my continuation of this blog? I really did it to journal my Latvian adventure. As I'm 6 months past that, is anyone interested in my St. Louis life?

Praying you will experience joy and peace as we enter a new year.