From the Major home to yours, Christmas 2022

If one is in Arizona as we are now, one sees the Meyer lemons turn yellow on the tree.  The orange trees are forest-green with bright orange dots. The grapefruit tree shows off its lovely yellow clusters.  Do you know why it’s called grapefruit? Because they come in bunches like grapes!  The Fahrenheit reading drops from one day to the next. A car with a tree atop its roof whizzed by us the other day.  Poinsettias, festive wreaths, well-lit Christmas trees, packaged gift baskets, etc., fill Cosco.  Time to get our house all dolled up for the season. This loveliest time of the year is now upon us, giving us hope and lightening our burdens, lifting our hearts from some of the anxieties that have plagued us through the year.    


I’m a little child once again, thrilled with Christmas. But there will be

no nutcracker soldiers nor a fireplace for them to guard in our Arizona home. It will be about twinkly lights – on the Christmas trees, hanging from the roof, the spiral yard light, on wreaths, and even over the bougainvillea bushes in the courtyard! The Christmas tree is up. A lovely Cosco poinsettia graces our entrance.  But the reason for the season has not changed.  A beautiful ceramic nativity scene inherited from the former owners of this house is on the buffet.  Our Philippine Mahogany set greets you at the door, and if you look closely at one of the corner tables, you’ll see the little brown nativity set Jon & Kristy brought home for us from Rwanda.  More than ever, we’d like to be reminded that Jesus' birth is the reason for the season.

Christmas always takes me back to childhood celebrations in the Philippines.  This year we have a little corner in our home that harkens back to them - a flowering Sampaguita (Jasmine Arabica) in a planter, a thriving “camote” (sweet potato) vine, and a hanging wire star I’m passing off as a Philippines “parol” (Philippines Christmas lantern). A good friend from high school (Ronald Crisostomo) has taken to making beautiful Philippines Christmas lanterns. He inspired me to create my own, but alas, mine does not look anything like his fabulous creations!


The year 2022 has been kinder to us, though our family losses recently still bring us some sadness. My sister Josephine remains in California.  My sister Lu is under hospice care, but she has been doing better by God’s grace. We had a birthday church service with her on her 90th birthday on 11/21st.  Such a blessing to have three pastors in the family.  Don read the Scripture. Joel gave the message. Randy led the communion. Ruth gave a special number. We sang hymns. 


The Coughlins are busy as ever with work and school. Roc works at Arriba, a Mexican restaurant.  Matthew & Helen are doing well. Haley and Francine are now taller than this grandma.  Frida Mae continues to be her usual happy self.  We have learned that Helen has just received her realtor’s license, so if you’re in Las Vegas and looking to sell or buy a house, do look her up. Don and I are thrilled to be close to family.  My sister Ruth finally moved out of NY to Tucson, AZ, where two of our brother’s children live.  Don and I are planning a trip to Rwanda in the summer to see the Christian school ministry that Jon and Kristy are involved in.  Ambar, our resident feline, continues to be a lovable company though she bosses us around.


Here's to a lovely Christmas and a 2023 blessed by the Savior! We are so thankful you have been in our lives.                  

Nativity Scene from Rwanda

           Our love to you,

      

Don &Raquel 

17802 N. Country Club Dr.

             Sun City, AZ 85373

             Email:  donthemajor@gmail.com

                         raqmajor@gmail.com

Ambar, our dear feline, greets you with a "Merry Christmas"

                       

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

An Immigrant's View of American Racism

  I am a  woman originally  from the Philippines but has lived in America for almost 54 years. I was not forced or coerced by the American government to come and live here.     I wanted to come.     My father who had spent a lot of time in this country and with her people told us many stories about the United States, the home of the free and land of the brave.     He told us about how the freedom of the individual was valued here, about how one’s success in life is limited only by how much he wanted to work for it.     He told us about the system of laws it had that was far superior to what other countries had.     Most of all, he told us about Americans, God’s people, and how they honored Him.     Though he talked about how rich America was, that wasn’t his main thing.     He mostly talked about the people, how kind and generous they were.     Oh, yes, he mentioned some racism.     ...
Read more

God Gave Us New Friends!

  As we moved out of San Francisco where we have lived for more than 40 years, we were sad to lose our friends there and worried about making new friends in Arizona.     Little did we know that God had planned this for us, along with the house He picked for us, the Church we should go to, the nursing home for my older sister that we were caring for and other issues that come with such moves.     Three years later, we share our story.  Our snowbird neighbors to the left and right of us readily accepted us and have become good friends.  So did the couple across the street. Bob, our snowbird neighbor who spends the summer in their Flagstaff ranch, came within an hour of our arrival.  He warned us about the coyotes that frequent the golf course behind our house.  Suzie, who spends the hot months in Nebraska, gave us a diagram of our street with the names of the neighbors.  Charlotte, from across the street, gave us t...
Read more

My Friend Little Johnny

  When you’re 80+3 (and I made this milestone just yesterday) there are indelible memories that stand still in time.     You want to keep them there.     One of mine was the rebuke from a 9-year-old missionary kid I met, oh, possibly 64 years ago. Here’s the poem I wrote about this.   Coffee Break   Mrs. B’s home is above the King’s College Vocational shop where old vehicles sit, The smell of grease and occasionally, gas fumes greeted us. Men with wrenches in their hands, And red rags in the back pockets of their coveralls, moved about making repairs, clanging metal.   Ludy, a mechanic, would slide under the blue Chevy pickup That has certainly seen better days. It was not easy to do, as he was a bit corpulent. But he worked magic with vehicles.   An old, rusty harvesting combine imported from Kansas many years ago, Sat by the shop, against the wire fence, Looking like a monster of a machine. During the rice or corn harvest season, Faithfully...
Read more