All I Want For Christmas...

I have so many fond childhood Christmas memories. I think the one single toy that will stay in my memory forever is the year that I got a Lionel train. What an awesome gift. In fact, today, while waiting for my guitar to get repaired, I strolled down Kenmore Blvd. only to find a train shop...all the cars, tracks, and buildings that accessorize the same train that lay packed away in my basement. When I got home, I told Josh that he and I would visit that store sometime this month to buy a new transformer for the train that Santa had brought to me on Christmas morning years ago... Josh perked up, "Santa brought you toys!"...somewhat surprised that I too was his age many, many years ago.

Last week, our pastor made the comment that Thanksgiving is a day where we give thanks for the things that we have in life, but then the very next day...Black Friday...we realize that we don't have enough stuff and we all hit the malls, looking for that killer bargain! I much prefer shopping on the 24th of December!

As a child, I can remember spending many nights pondering what I wanted Santa to bring me for Christmas....the train, a B-B gun (oh, no...I didn't shoot my eye out!), G.I. Joe stuff, an erector set, legos, walkie-talkies...I never could sleep the night before Christmas. I truly remember trying to stay awake all night long just to see if I could hear Santa's footsteps in our living room.

As my sisters and I grew older, my family adopted the tradition of celebrating Christmas immediately after Christmas Eve mass. I have such great memories of playing/ singing at St. Vincent for the Christmas services. For a number of years, we always passed out taper candles to each person in the congregation, and then would turn all the lights out in the church and sing Silent Night a cappella...it was beautiful. Years ago, we had a lone snare drummer who accompanied the whole choir on Little Drummer Boy...pretty cool.

I am so looking forward to the Christmas concerts at the Chapel this year. It's hard to believe that I've been with this group for over a year now, and still am so incredibly humbled and grateful to be able to worship and play with these guys each Sunday. Words simply cannot describe what it's like to be able to play in these concerts with about 75 orchestra/ rhythm band members and probably over 100 choir members...simply, awewome!

So I guess that all I want for Chrismas...is another set of memories that I can keep with me...and with the kids this year...I'm pretty sure that I'm gonna get my wish.