I was standing on the deck of the USS Winston - one of the Navy’s finest cargo carriers getting underway at the San Diego Naval Station in June of 1953.
I had finished my bachelor’s degree, gotten married, packed and moved from Chicago to San Diego, California, in one week’s time. And in one more day’s time we would get underway and sail to Honolulu, Hawaii, so our ship could go into three months of dry dock before returning to San Diego.
My careful, college life had turned upside down; my special preparation to have a nearly perfect wedding was lost in watching our car being hoisted over the deck and lowered into the hull of the ship. I had started a brand new life,,,unlike any life I had ever lived before, and all I could say to God was “help!”
Christmas Eve in Hawaii
When we reached Hawaii, one by one, the cars belonging to the officers and the crew drove up the ramp and off the ship when i discovered that my car, loaded down with suitcases and household supplies had a flat tire. My husband was given the “duty” that weekend so I had to find the place we had rented and figure out how to get there and get the tire repaired. For a city girl with a zero aptitude for mechanical knowledge I was definitely out of my element.
And it was Christmas Eve and the music of Christmas was swaying with the rhythm of the surrounding palm trees. And I was surely as lost as the wisemen must have been on that first Christmas Eve. My bachelor’s degree in psychology felt about as useful as my elegant wedding dress. Nothing in my degree had prepared me for a flat tire on the strange and unfamiliar island of Oahu in the middle of the Pacific Ocean on my honeymoon.
I found our apartment, unloaded suitcases and set out to find a grocery store. After several blocks of walking, I didn’t find anything that resembled a food establishment. But I DID find a “dime store”....a five and ten cent store filled with multiple shelves of items imported from Japan among which were Christmas ornaments and Christmas figures: wise men; shepherds; sheep; and a variety of palm trees, and other paraphernalia suitable for the birthplace of the Holy Child.
The Characters Become a Village
It was a glorious assortment of creatures and characters from the story of Jesus’ birth and I bought out the entire collection. I didn’t know what I was going to do with this glorious scene, but I knew that somehow God had opened a door to the story and I was going to enact the entire Christmas experience on my first night in Honolulu.
And in the years that followed, I would purchase more characters and animals for the “village” as we called it. Each year we added more buildings and houses until it became a work of art that appeared every Christmas to remember Christ’s birth.
Each year, the youngest child in the family was assigned the role of the person who put the village up on the sideboard in the dining room: a position of great honor. Each piece was given a chosen place in the nativity scene with admiration and great care. No Hollywood production could have been more lavishly produced.
And so the story of the village was faithfully enacted every year until this year when it was determined that since the youngest children were now living in Texas, it was time to move the village to where the children were living - in Texas and not in Chicago.
More Years in the Life of the Village
After it was determined that UPS had the skill and wisdom to do the job with honor and solemnity, the village journeyed in two enormous boxes to the UPS store, weighed in at $90.00 and, two days later, arrived in Austin, Texas to the absolute delight of two young boys, ages seven and four, named Jax and Beckett. And Jax and Beckett designed their new home on a bookcase in the dining room and took multiple pictures of the village for the entire family to see: a faithful record of another year in the life of the village.
And Christ was born on the island of Oahu in a village of people and houses and stores and palm trees and God smiled at two little boys who smiled at the entire village, now situated in the world of Austin, Texas.
And the earth was drenched in the Presence and Love of God.
PRAISE GOD!
THANK YOU GOD!
Amen! And Amen!
For Reflection (either individually or with a group)
Read the blog. Read it a second time, maybe reading it aloud or asking someone else to read it aloud so you can hear it with different intonation and emphases. Then spend some time with the following questions with anything that helps you reflect more deeply.
- Is there a family Christmas tradition that still continues as part of your celebration of Jesus’ birth? When and how did it begin? How does it remind you of people from previous generations and their strengths and gifts?
- Have you ever had something that seemed like a huge challenge end up being something good? What was it and how did you initially react?
- Is there a “new” Christmas tradition that you would like to see be a part of future Christmas celebrations?
Download a pdf including the Reflection Questions to share and discuss with friends, family, or members of your faith community small group.
