There has been much to celebrate this Christmas season, other than missing the Christmas Eve dinner/party in Springfield. Sadly, the weather forecast for our area all week long was right on the money on Christmas Eve afternoon. It was my family's 3rd day together, as Chris had arrived on Dec. 22 with his family. We chose the evening of the 22nd to celebrate our Camacho family Christmas. On the 23rd, we had a great lunch at our fun Japanese restaurant. Nolan stole the show for a moment by catching the food in his mouth that the cook was throwing with his spatula. That evening, Mario and Chris joined forces on McDonald's indoor soccer team and pretty well sent the other team packing mid-way through the game. But they all play for fun and still seem to appreciate Mario's innate talent for the game and how the Camacho instincts and ability have passed on to Chris. By Christmas Eve morning, I had packed the guitar, musical instruments, and festive headgear for everyone (had some dynamite new ones for this year!), and the gifts were wrapped and ready to go. We had a great Italian feast for an early Christmas Eve lunch. Then the snow hit like a ton of bricks here. It was that great kind of snow for packing....nice and heavy. After Tony studied the road conditions and talked to his brother Tom who was enroute to Quincy from Springfield at the same time, Tony was called upon to make the family decision. Sadly, we could not take the risk of putting our lives in danger because of poor road conditions and what would most likely get worse as the evening went on. I went to our bedroom to lay down, and when I came out, there was a lot of commotion in the house. A snowball fight was beginning in the front yard. Cora quickly changed from her pretty purple dress to my leggins and snowboots. Hannah already had boots and leggins with her dress, so she just went with it. I have to admit....watching my family playing in the snow and having such a ball with each other was helpful to get me over the inner sadness of missing the extended family Christmas. Other than the years we lived in Arizona, I don't think I have missed being with them on Christmas Eve. AND I had such a fantastic new outfit to wear!
So what I know is that I have a resilient family who moved to Plan B rather quickly after the initial disappointment, especially for Hannah and me. Watching Nolan taunt Chris and their play-fighting in the snow was such a reminder of how Blake did the same thing with Chris when he was a little guy. (By the way....Blake took off rather quickly to sled with his buddies on Dead Man's Hill, wherever that is. He found a sled in the creek at the bottom of that hill, but apparently no body with it! It will probably be better that none of us grown-up kids know where Dead Man's Hill is.)
On Christmas Day, I played my guitar at the 10:00 mass with Jan Faler and the group. I've been playing on and off with that group now since the 70's when Jan and I first met. Carrie's gang spent the afternoon with Tony's family, and Chris was in O'Fallon with Maria's family. Later in the afternoon, Mario and I joined a small group at our friend Al Knepler's for some Christmas cheer in his newly remodeled basement, before going to an early dinner with Ray and Judy. We were back home early with Chico and Kitty for what Mario asked me to give him for Christmas: a few days of "peace and quiet." So that is what he's been getting, as much as is possible, as I am not a quiet person by nature!
Our gratitude to all who prepared the food and any surprises we missed out on for the Christmas Eve celebration. It was not easy missing the fun. Love, joy, and peace to everyone. May Christ live in our hearts.
