The Meaning of Christmas

The Meaning of Christmas
by
Dr. Ellen K. Rudolph

I want to share a recent conversation that I had with Santa Claus. I arranged to interview him this year because I wanted to know what Santa himself thinks about the meaning of Christmas.

It was not an easy trip, mind you. Getting to the North Pole is a bit of a stretch even for a photojournalist. But I persevered, and it turned out to be quite an adventure.

The first thing Santa said to me as we warmed our hands in front of the fire is that he does the Christmas thing to keep children believing. "Yes," he said in a somber voice, "without hope for the future and a bit of joy in their lives, children suffer." He worries that the world is not always a hospitable place for children; that Princes and Princesses and Kings and Queens and Presidents are all failing to buffer children from the discontents of their elders.

So he sees it as his mission to instill in children some wonder, and joy, some feelings of eager anticipation and -- most of all -- the hope that someone will remember them. "I make it a point to find out about each child before I visit them. I want them to know that I have their name on my Christmas list which makes them feel very important!"

He smiled as he slowly stirred the steaming hot chocolate in his Santa mug. "Folks," he said, "have really become quite muddled about Christmas. As the story has unfolded over the years they've gotten some things mixed up."

I busily wrote as Santa talked but I could not help but steal a look or two as this jolly old man reminisced.

"All the pictures show me in a sleigh which is loaded down with gifts. But if the truth be known," he said, "the gifts all fit in my breast pocket!"

Santa then leaned forward in his chair to pull a little worn leather pouch from his pocket.

"The sleigh with reindeer is just a form of transportation," he said. "But in here -- and he held the pouch up against the light of the fire so that I could see it better -- in here are the gifts that I bear."

On a clean page in my notebook I carefully made a list of what was in there:

Joyful laughter
Tender hugs
Shared secrets
Smiles
Delicious smells from the kitchen
A work of art
Squeals of delight
A double rainbow
Angel's wings
A pinch of stardust
The glow of candlelight
A glorious red sunset
Songs from the heart
A morning chorus of birds
A poem written in the sand
An Eagle's view of the world

And -- "Wait a minute!" Santa said as he shook the pouch more aggressively, "this one always gets a little stuck." Finally, out popped Peace on Earth.

Santa sighed as we looked at the little pile of presents on the coffee table.
"This is what Christmas is all about. It is about good feelings and togetherness, it is not about things."

I noted that there was not a single red bow on any of the pouch's contents. And I nodded my head in agreement that Christmas has become altogether too commercialized.

"Take Rudolph," Santa said. "Kids know him as my lead reindeer with a brightly lit nose. But does he make Christmas? No, I make Christmas happen for him and he gives me lots in return. Rudolph was a disabled reindeer until we discovered the charms of his wonderful red nose. He was very sad and very thin when I first met him because no one liked him -- he was different, you see. Other reindeer teased him unmercifully."

"That Christmas I gave Rudolph a life with meaning. He became part of the family."

"Store-bought gifts are OK," Santa went on to say, "but words of encouragement and shows of love are so much better, and so much more lasting in terms of their impact on others."

We stared at the fire in silence for a while as I collected my thoughts.

"Santa," I said as I put down my pen, "I was an orphan until the age of six. I had never even heard of Santa Claus until then. Christmas, to me and to my five older brothers, was just another day of the year. We never had a tree, there were certainly no presents for us under a tree, not even the sweet smell of cookies baking."

"We barely had enough heat in our house and our mother and father were always arguing. Finally they separated when I turned three and my brothers and I became wards of the state."

"I know." Santa said.

"But still, we had such fun in those days! My brother, Philip, who was ten at the time, taught the rest of us the words to 'Silent Night' and we giggled uproariously as we sang it together at the top of our lungs. One year the boys made me a little doll out of old pillow stuffing and rags. That was so precious to me, that doll. I still have it today."

Santa smiled at me.

"Come to think of it, Santa, I never felt deprived as a child because of my brothers. We huddled together to ward off danger and we supported each other. I rode on their shoulders when the going got rough. We made do with what we had and we loved each other. Why, if it hadn't been for them I would have been sixteen and pregnant just like my mother."

I could not talk any more at that point, as strong feelings were beginning to well up inside of me.

"Yes," Santa said, 'but do not forget that you were also their Christmas present. Without you their lives would have been less precious."

Well, those days are long gone, I thought to myself as I gathered up my things to leave. There has been lots of water over the damn since then. I smiled brightly and thanked Santa for the interview and gave him a big hug.

Santa must have read my mind. He reached his hand into another pocket of his big red coat and pulled out a tattered little piece of paper.

"You must have lost this somewhere along the way," Santa said as he gave it to me.

I looked down and read the words 'I am here for you, little sister' that were scrawled in a 10-year old's awkward handwriting. The date on it was 1952 and it was signed, PHILIP.

NOTE: I was adopted that year and separated from him and the others, but Philip and I beat the odds and remained the best of friends until his untimely death in 1999.

To learn more about Ellen K. Rudolph, visit her web site...DrEllenRudolph.com

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I loved this message because our family and friends are really all that we need for Christmas. That's why Christmas exist: Jesus Christ was born to give his life for us, so we could remain brothers and sister forever. He is our brother who is here for us.

Merry Christmas

Camila is a Young Woman

Yes, Camila turned 12.

It really doesn't seam that long and I know that time will fly now.  When my mom came to visit me last month she said " I remember when you were at that age. It seam that you were a little girl forever and then you grew faster that I believed possible. Before I knew, you were a young adult moving out and living your life..." . For a moment I felt her sorry for missing her little girl and I understood the message. My mom always had to work and we really didn't had that much time with each other. I don't remember her been part of my teenage years much, we were both so busy. Mom had to work and I had school and extra activities galore.

I have been blessed in so many ways. To be able to stay home with my kids, talk to them after school, make dinner together and sit together has never been so important as it is know. My good friend Jami Townsend once said  "if you listen/have conversations with your kids when they are 5, they will still want to talk to you when they become teenagers". She has six great adult children. I took her words to heart. I enjoy having conversations with my girls. I can see us still keeping them up in the future.

I'm enjoying my girls and I can see the great women that they are becoming.

Yes, we did have a great birthday party too. Movie, pizza, cake and dancing.  Here's to the fun of being girls!!!

Vacation in Utah

I'm so behind on my posts that is not even funny... We did go to Utah in September for 12 days. It was so much fun but somehow we got booked solid and didn't get to see everyone that we planned. Sorry Sheri! We had fun and it came and went like a hurricane.

We did visit some places we had not seen before like the Church History Museum, our all time favorite This is The Place, and the Natural Museum at BYU. Next time we already have the list of new places ready to go.

We spent some good time hanging out with family. I miss everyone and I realize how much I really like hanging out with them. Make me feel sad that I'm so far away but not enough to move to Utah. I remember the cold winters in DC and I'm not signing up for that again.


Participating in Isadora's 15th was a blast. I was invited to present some of her stories and achievements. I'm so proud of that girl and the woman she's becoming. We got some real amazons growing up in our family, as I like to say, women that will be brave, strong and smart. But more than that, faithful and powerful in their testimony of the gospel. I'm really honored to be related to the kids that we have in our family.

I'll see you again as soon as I can! Love you all!
Adriana

Brightening up a sick day...

This is the fifth day of Elena being sick now. Today she had reached her limit by afternoon and was tired of being home, nobody had played with her ( to her surprise we didn't sit around when she was not here!) and life was sad...

Somehow she got a hold of my old camera and was trying to put new batteries on it. So I volunteered to take pictures with her of all the toys she loves and she was happy again! We are even going to put them all in a book for her.

And there's sunshine in her heart again.

 

My little guys

Some of my Little Pony

 

My fish. It took a while to get them together!

 

My favorite little pillow! Mom made it for me when I was a baby.

  

 

The pink house...

 

Under the sewing table...

 

Book/Toy Shelves. I think we got enough now...

 

Can you see the red cough drop?

Thoughts about life...

This has been a hard week. I thought in the beginning of it that having a sick child was hard. Than I had a big test announced that I'm not sure I can get the "A" I want. Besides the normal complains that my knees hurt when I stop working out, my house was not as clean as I wanted, I have not lost the 10 pounds I was working on, etc, etc.

Thursday I heard that a friend of mine from church, Estela, was sick and taken to the hospital with meningites. By afternoon she went on a coma and by early Friday morning she died. She was one of the few Brazilians members around here, there's about six of us. I felt my heart sink. She was 37 and has three kids, 12, 10 and 4. I could only imagine what kind of despair they must been going through.

My friend also from her ward, Jane, went to her house and found everyone in peace and the Spirit there was really comforting.

She was such a happy, positive, good woman. she had been the RS counselor recently and everyone loved her. As I thought about life and how we do have to see that this life is one of learning and nobody knows how long you have to learn and do what you came here to do. I thought about how I had not paid my tithing last week because I forgot to calculate it before I left to church. How I haven't read my scriptures this week because I had been studying and caring for sick kids, home food etc, that my time was not enough (but I still manage to read email, browse the net, look at my orkut and facebook, etc...) How would I explain this to the Lord if it was me instead of her who passed away...

How would measure up all the time I spend reading magazines and its latest diets, but not following the Word of Wisdon and eating healthy as I know? Or the other million substitutions I do, doing "good" but not the "best"?

Talking to Marcus about it, we converse about how "laying treasures in heaven". Those treasures, the only ones we take are really our family, our service to others and the love for the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost we have.

Everything else will stay.

I learned much from saying a sudden goodbye to a my friend. Life is indeed precious. This is the time to live it to its fullest. So I pleadge to do my best. Thanks Estela, till we meet again.

She's better now!

Camila is finally better but still home. She's going to school tomorrow. Still coughing a lot.
School for me is getting harder timewise. I have just spent the last days working problems about 5 hours a day. I have my first big test coming up. It make a world of difference when you haven't done anything like it in 25 years!

The countdown for the Utah trip is moving fast. I just found out yesterday that my plans to have everyone going together to watch the conference is not going to happen. The way tickets are distributed are from each family individual stakes, plus internationals get their tickets a week earlier at the door, and everyone will be in different sections. I contacted my bishop but I don't know if we are going to make it. I must be the last one to know these things...

The Torta de banana recipe that I found on the net, was exactly the one mom used to make years ago. I liked and it brought back some memories. of course Elena hated, she's not much into bananas, but Camila loves it. She's my banana girl.

I'm working on the girls dresses. Just cut everything last night. I'm not sure when I'm going to sew them but they need to be ready by next week. Good luck to me!

Bummer for the Holiday...

Well, Camila got sick.

Nothing serious but a low grade fever sure bust the plans for the free day. Not that we had tons of plans, but some thing were in the cards, park, maybe pool, something fun. Now we are stuck here. We may do a movie, bake something, I don't know.

Friday we officially had our marriage recognized in Brazil. With that we also registered the kids and they are know Brazilian citizens too. So we went to a Brazilian restaurant to celebrate. We should had ask the price first because we paid $100 for lunch! Lesson: NEVER go to a Churrascaria in Houston! I could have made the same for 20 people for the same price. What really got me was that the four guarana that we got cost $5 each! You could only imagine Marcus face...

We had fun after that. The children s museum there has doubled its size and it is fantastic. We spent about fours there and did have time to enjoy everything. Of course I forgot my camera home so no pictures this time.

We are counting down the days to go to Utah. We are so excited to see everyone. I'm going to make the girls dresses this week for Isadora's big birthday party. I should finish in a week or I'm in trouble. Today I have 150 math problems to finish to catch up with homework.

We are out to try to make a Reese's Cup ice cream cake. I'll post the results on that one!

Labor of Love

Tomorrow being Labor Day, I decided that nothing could be better than find myself a new thing to do! Kidding, for a long time I have wanted to have a blogg to update family and friend on what's going on here at the Grande home.

Not to mention that I have not being able to keep up with letter to Jacob (Marcus brother serving a mission on the Czech Republic), or birthdays or even what we did last weekend. Since I'm on the computer a lot, this is one sure way to get me to use my time here in a good way. Is there a limit in how much you can search decorating ideas or recipes that you probably will never make? Hope not.

Anyway, tomorrow the girls and I are going to fill this up with a lot of updates. From Summer adventures, school news, vacation plans and more! Keep in touch!