Wayne and Evelyn Mullin Celebrate 70 Years

Connecting with Family at Christmas

Christmas provides an opportunity to connect with good friends and family. Every Christmas I look forward to a Christmas card from my Aunt Evelyn bringing me up to date on that part of my extended family. This year the Christmas greeting came from my Uncle Wayne via email. He let me know that he and Aunt Evelyn recently celebrated their 90th birthdays and 70th wedding anniversary.

Anut Evelyn can no longer write Christmas cards, something she has done all the years they have been married. She and Uncle Wayne met in high school. Soon after they married he joined the navy and became a World War II sailor. She always planned to go back to college when her youngest child reached Kindergarten. Twice, I believe, when that happened she became pregnant again. I don't know if she ever got back to college.

Uncle Wayne has a smile and laugh that can light up a room. He and Aunt Evelyn spent seventy years together, some difficult, some wonderful. Probably the past year has been the most difficult, but to be together seventy years is a blessing. Happy Anniversary, Happy Birthday, and Merry Christmas, Uncle Wayne and Aunt Evelyn.

Peace and Love at Christmas

Reflections at Christmas

Can you remember the first Christmas you spent with the person with whom you chose to spend your life? For us the first Christmas came six months after we married in 1955. That Christmas magically let us recapture the excitement and joy we remembered as children. We had very little money. We cut our tree and decorated it with blue lights and a few ornaments. The joy and excitement came from just being together.

I taught school and Everett attended college so we had two full weeks to enjoy listening to Christmas music, staring wide-eyed at Christmas decorations on Fresno's then famous Christmas tree lane, strolling through stores talking about what we would buy each other if we had money, telling each other stories about Christmas's past. At night we would turn off all of the lights except our beautiful blue Christmas tree lights. We cuddled on an old second hand couch and dreamed about the beautiful future we had together.

This week we sat on our lovely leather love seat with multicolored lights on our floor-to-ceiling artificial Christmas tree and remembered those early Christmas's and how exciting it was to be together. We both agreed it is still exciting in a deeply peaceful way. Christmas can still bring back an assurance that all is well if we sit still and take in the significance of Christ's message of peace and good will.

I wish you all peace and love this Christmas!

Have Fun Writing Christmas Cards

Sea Walk--A Haven in the Storm

At the end of July we made reservations for our Christmas card writing getaway at Sea Walk on the Northern California coast. This beautiful condo overlooking the ocean can magically turn an overwhelming task into a boost to Christmas spirit. We sit at a dining room table looking out at waves crashing against rocks a few hundred feet away. This year our arrival at the coast coincided with the first of three powerful storms that hit the state of California. While writing our cards we watched rain drops chase each other down the window pane. Wind teased us sending us to the front door to see if anyone was knocking.

Six does paraded single file past our big window as if they had been sent to entertain us. One evening a young mother deer cautiously fed on the lawn in front of our window while her two young fawns curled up in the grass near her.

Trying to watch a football game on the screen of a tiny TV was frustrating, but who needs football when nature provides superior entertainment. Anyway, we share stories with each other best when electricity is sporadic or somewhat limited. During short breaks in the weather we left the warmth of the fireplace and walked past a cluster of deer feeding on the wet green grass, to watch huge waves crashing against the bluff at Black Point Bay.We loved the nights cuddling in a cozy warm bed upstairs listening to the powerful sound of the wind, the waves, and the rain battering the roof of the condo.

If you dread writing Christmas cards, choose a place like Sea Ranch as a getaway. Start saving your money in a special Christmas card writing account. You will begin to look forward to writing Christmas cards in December 2013.