Christmas Begins!

Loving time with Evee and Iris

Making cookie dough

My little helper

The finished product - Spritz cookies and Christmas cookies ready to be iced.

Christmas Changes...

Our Budapest tree :)

On these days leading up to Christmas I've had this feeling that I should be doing more. By now, in the past, the tree is up and decorated. Maybe a few wrapped gifts under the tree. Stockings with gold-glittered names would be hung down the stair rail. If I was hanging stockings this year we would add another stocking to the thirteen that already represent our growing family. We are excited to welcome our 5th grandchild into the world in April thanks to Josh and Kari!

I probably would have already made soup - vegetable beef, chicken corn chowder - to put in the freezer until Christmas eve day. It was always our tradition to have warm bread and soup waiting after the Christmas eve services.

Fudge Sundae Dessert was a holiday tradition, another thing I could prepare ahead of time and pop in the freezer. I actually miss our Montgomery Ward chest freezer that my parents gave us as a wedding gift where we stored the beef they supplied us for the first 10 years of our marriage. What a practical gift that was! And, that freezer - passed on to some friends in MI when we made the move to Budapest - continues to keep going after 32 years!

I definitely would be making Christmas cookies this week. I had narrowed it down to two recipes. One simply called, Christmas Cookies, a sandwich cookie with the yummiest icing that melts in your mouth. And, Spritz cookies, Dennis' favorite (Josh, too).

Just when I was thinking about all this, I received several emails this week that warmed my heart.

Joni wrote, "I was thinking that we could make some soup here for Christmas as well as some cookies.  I could pre make a couple pans of egg casserole and the chicken corn chowder ahead of time as well.  Whatever sounds good.  I was planning on making both of those things anyway... we can do them together... "

We'll be heading back to the states combining a conference, a college campus visit, and meetings, with visits to family over the holiday. I had forgot about the egg casserole that Joni mentioned. It has been a Christmas morning tradition that I could make ahead of time and pop in the freezer, too.

Then, this from Kari: "I've been thinking through food for Christmas, and I thought I'd email and get your thoughts!  On the 26th, I'm planning on making chicken corn chowder and vege beef soup for everyone, since you all will be traveling up here during the day.  I'll also make an egg casserole for the morning of the 27th."

And last night we skyped with Jamie and Evee and we talked about making Christmas cookies. For sure the Spritz. This week, in fact!

I've got to smile. Christmas changes, but really, not so much. We're so thankful that we get to see our family - all our kids, grand-kids and parents, too -  and some of the traditions will keep on going, no matter how much life changes or where in the world we are.

An Unexpected Discovery...

One of the things I enjoy in all our travels is meeting people. I’m especially delighted when I capture some one-on-one time – slipping away for coffee or lunch or just seizing some moments on the spot – that enables the conversation to go deeper. It’s my empathy at work, or should I say at play, because it’s not work for me to get to know people. I ask questions and the stories flow – passions, desires, struggles, sources of joy and fulfillment. I’m finding the world is a small world after all, and though there are different cultures, languages, and traditions, people are, well . . . people.

Dennis and I arrived Tuesday evening to a very cold London. In fact, the paper I was reading on the tube to Baker Street station said that it was the coldest November in England in 25 years. It felt almost surreal to pick up a newspaper that I could actually read or to hear conversations of those around me where I could understand every word. I had to pinch myself a few times to remind me that I wasn't in the U.S. even with the British accent.

Once off the tube at Baker Street, we walked a short jaunt to the London sight of Madame Tussands where we had made plans to meet a lady who is part of the Wesleyan Church in Great Britian. Katei approached us with a broad smile that shimmered in the night and brought immediate warmth to us in the crisp, cold air of the evening. Even though we had never met before, an instant hug seemed to be fitting and natural.

“Does pizza sound good?” she asked as we made our way across the street. I could see the blue neon lit “Pizza Express” on the corner. Pizza sounded good, familiar, and comforting from the cold and after a day of travel. As we rounded the corner, walking past windows of tables filled with happy pizza patrons, I commented about how busy the place was. With a twinkle in her eye, Katei responded in her British accent, “That’s because it’s good.” We were ushered to the basement seating area and seated at a table back in the corner where we situated our luggage, still in tow from our flight.

Katei, a classy lady – sharp, witty, confident, competent – is an obvious leader who takes her cues from God, then initiates in faith to make a difference in her world. I was immediately drawn to her. Women with a quiet confidence catch my attention and awaken my own heart to walk confidently. I took note that she made reference to her parents, who now live back in Antigua after years of ministry in the UK, several times throughout our conversation with fondness and great admiration. I imagined that she came from a family where high belief and the picture of a special future were lovingly expressed, giving her an assurance that launched her out into the world to exert her God-given gifts and abilities. I love that!

A bonus to the evening was when Katei mentioned David Wright, who moved his family to England in the early 90's to help establish a Bible Institute in Burmingham for the growing Wesleyan denomination in the UK. I leaned toward Dennis for a quick moment to quietly ask, “Is that Christin’s Dad?” to which he gave an affirmative nod as Katei continued on with her thoughts. Katei was one of the first students to enroll in the Bible Institute and engaged deeply with the Wright family.

My face lit up with the discovery of this information and once Katei finished her sentence, the words tumbled out of my mouth in an effort to fill her in on my connection with Christin Wright Taylor. Christin was 10 years old when she moved with her family to England and met Katei. Now twenty-some years later she lives in Bellingham, WA with her husband, and 3-year old daughter.  

You see . . . though Christin and I have never met, we have developed a friendship in the past nine months particularly through her online writer’s workshop called The Blank Page. Our son, Josh, put me on to Christin’s workshop knowing that I enjoy writing. He even told me that he thought in another life if Christin and I had known each other we would have been best friends. Well, we didn’t have to wish for another life. Though the friendship is new and developing, we have discovered in a short time that we are like-minded about many things. It seems I keep running into Christin in unexpected places even though we are oceans apart. It’s really quite crazy to think about.

I had no idea that Katei’s story would somehow link up with my story. Suddenly we had something uniquely in common. Three hours later we finished our dinner. The pizza was as good as she said it was, but the real blessing was getting to know a new friend in Katei Kirby.


Later that night, after we separated ways, Katei and I let Christin in on our discovery via Facebook and email, which put her in a complete tizzy (as she put it). Her past and present worlds somehow united, or I like to say collided, without her even knowing it. (If you want to read Christin’s side of the story describing her moment of “tizzy” you can find it here on her blog.)

Somehow I can't help but think that there is more to this story that we have yet to discover. Someday I picture Christin, Katei, and me sitting in Budapest or London or the state of Washington or who knows where (!) having lunch together, the three of us, who met worlds apart, yet somehow united in heart.


Because, after all, it is a small world.