I love being part of the Rabourn Crew at Christmas
time. Today, I sat listening to a news
report about families losing their jobs and homes, and not being able to
celebrate Christmas. Our family has a
very strong opinion of what the true meaning of this holiday is, in addition to
the celebration of Jesus arrived in the world as a gift from God. While in Europe, our family started a
tradition that I insist on continuing each year, no matter how much or little
money we have.
When our kids
were young, we always spent Christmas at Grandma and Grandpa Rabourn’s, where the
tree was so jam-packed that it spilled over half of the living room floor. Brian’s mother really loved Christmas time. I cannot even imagine how much money she and
dad chose to spend each year on presents, but I know one thing, our kid’s toy
room was full of every kitchen appliance that Little Tykes made, in addition to
all the food and accessories, Legos, and Barbies that were largely bought by
Brian’s parents. For this, I am deeply appreciative
of their generosity.
Our family moved to Europe in
1997. We did not celebrate a Slovenian
Christmas that year, because Brian’s father died that December and our family
flew back home for the funeral; we had a Rabourn traditional Christmas with Grandma. As strange as it might seem, but at least the
timing of Dad's death was good, because that December it made it easier for mom
to get through her first Christmas without him, in the presence of all her kids
and grand kids.
The first Christmas that we
celebrated in Germany was a sad affair, though that had its high points. In fact, it turned out to be the beginning of
the Rabourn Crew tradition that we insist on ever year. It was Christmas Eve, and we did not have a
tree yet. Brian thought that we would
walk around Munich looking at the various Christkindlemarkt,
enjoying the Christmas booths, Glühwein, and the beautiful festive
decorations set up around the city. At
about 2:00 p.m. people started taking down their booths and all the stores
closed their doors. We did not know that
the entire city would shut down completely in order Munich to celebrate birth
of the Christ child. Now the there was
nothing to do in town, so we headed home, looking for a tree as we went. Brian figured that we would buy one from the
man selling them close to our home. When
we got off the underground, we saw that his stand was gone and all the trees with
it! We looked at each other, worried
that in addition to being the first Christmas away from Grandma, our kids would
have to go without a tree. Feeling like
failures, Brian and I started walking down the streets in hopes of finding a
tree. At one point, Brain felt quite
desperate and considered cutting down a tree in the woods. It was good that he did not do this; it is
quite illegal remove a tree from any natural area in Germany. Those "woods" were considered
"city park area," and were protected areas. Candace, Ted and I headed home while Brian
and Amanda kept up the search.
As we walked into the lobby of our
apartment building, we noticed that there was a small box leaning against our
door, and a television set sitting next to the box. We grabbed the box and opened it up to see
what was inside. Ted’s eyes grew to
saucer size and a big smile spread across his face. He looked up to the ceiling and said, “Jesus
you are so funny!” In the box was a miniature Christmas tree completely
decorated, lights and all. When Brian
and Amanda got back from their tree search, their defeated expressions did a
complete turn-around. They both looked
at us three and asked where we got the little tree. Believe it or not, that little tree-in-a-box
lifted our spirits, especially because it showed that someone was thinking
about us. We spent the rest of the day
as usual, cooking special festive foods, making eggnog, drinking sparking grape
juice, playing games and telling funny stories.
In the following years, we invited
many people into our family celebration.
This time is precious to the Rabourn Crew. Its focus is never on presents, but on
people. Actually, there have been many
present-less years where our being together eating good food and playing games was
everything, but was always enough.
This year our family is thankful
for surviving another tight recession year.
We bought three homes on a very tight budget, and managed to keep our
heads above water, at times only because we banded together and pooled our
bills. Many times this season I tried to
make myself depressed for not being able to buy presents for the kids, or for my
husband, and of course, myself. Then I
started thinking about how strong our family is and how we chose to stick
together and support one another. This
Christmas eve, we will not be opening presents, but we will be having a Rabourn
Crew Christmas, full of good food, wine and cheese, laughing and games.
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