Fruitcake? Spiced almonds? A roll of summer sausage? Not our style. Instead, our Fishhook team shows our love and appreciation for our wonderful clients, partners and friends at Christmas by making donations to various non-profits and causes in your honor!
Throughout December our team is sharing about our "favorite things" at Christmas. Plus, we're including information about our favorite organizations - the ones we're supporting because of YOUR friendship and YOUR trust throughout 2012. We're blessed! We say thank you! Merry Christmas!
This week, we highlight Shawn and Ben's "favorite things!" (Last week we heard from Evan and Lindsay. Their entries are also included below.)
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Favorite ornament (see my photo):
As I was writing this post, I realized that I don't have one single favorite ornament. In fact, I don't even really enjoy decorating the tree all that much. This year, as in every single year past, I've wrestled the tree into a corner only to have it topple over minutes after all the ornaments and lights have been added. Grrr! However, there is always a moment, after cleaning up the broken glass and re-hanging the tinsel, when we sit back and realize that the combination of all these very different and imperfect elements has once again come together to form a beautiful display. It's not a hard stretch to see that tree as a parallel of God's work in my family and His Church.
Favorite Christmas food (and traditions!):
I am SO not picky about food - I love it all! The two traditions I remember best are mom's homemade eggnog (no booze, just lots and lots of raw eggs) and her Christmas morning breakfast casserole. As my wife and I create our own family traditions with our two children, we've skipped the salmonella risk but have kept the fancy morning breakfast before tearing into the presents. What a great way to start a special day together!
Most memorable Christmas letdown:
If you've seen "A Christmas Story," you know the moment when Ralphie's dad gets a twinkle in his eye and finds one last present in the corner for his son. It's an official Red Ryder Carbine-Action Two-Hundred-Shot Range Model Air Rifle! My dad pulled that same stunt with me one year. He found one last package under the couch after all the other gifts had been unwrapped. It was my very own Daisy pump-action BB gun. However, the "letdown" didn't come until weeks later, when with a 10-year-old's horrified glee, I actually hit the target I was aiming at. All that was left of that little bird was a feather floating in the air. I swear I was just trying to shoot the branch out from under it!
Favorite organization:
Earlier this year my family carried a bright yellow five-gallon bucket of water around downtown Indianapolis to help raise awareness and money for clean water in Africa. Through the combined efforts of many enthusiastic volunteers, hundreds of Indianapolis walkers, 100 African Prayer Warriors, and more than $74,000 raised, the Jubilee Village Project was able to begin work on a Community Safe Water System in Kager, Kenya. The hub-and-spoke water distribution system will pump clean water from 10,000-gallon storage tanks to multiple taps, easily accessible to villagers throughout the area. This organization has many other projects and initiatives as well. We were blessed to be part of the Walk For Water and are looking forward to it again next year!
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My favorite ornament (see my photo):
My Uncle Roger made this ornament for me as a sweet reminder of my childhood and a game we'd play together, "Throwing Walnuts for Dollars!" He was the host, and my sisters and I would sit on the roof of my Papaw's shed (it was so high to me as a little girl) and throw walnuts at the fence (so far away). The closer your walnut got to the fence, the more money you won. Uncle Roger, as the enchanting game show host, would interview us, evaluate our throws and award us our prizes. This ornament is made of actual walnuts and chocked full of love from my Uncle Waahjah (I couldn't pronounce Roger).
Favorite Christmas tradition:
Believe it or not, my favorite tradition is that I don't have traditions. Seriously. There are things I often do as part of the Christmas routine - read the Christmas story in Matthew, have a nice meal or watch a Christmas movie. However, I don't have any tried-and-true or Christmas-wouldn't-be-the-same-if-we-didn't traditions. Call me stubborn or non-traditional.
Favorite Christmas food:
The green corn flakes, marshmallows and red hots Christmas wreath thingy.
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My favorite ornament (see my photo):
This snowman ornament is a photo frame, and it holds a picture of one of Debbie's and my first trips skiing out West. It's probably taken at Steamboat Springs in 1988. Debbie and I love to be outdoors and we love to travel, and skiing combines these well. We were young and in love. Now we are not as young, but still very much in love. In some ways, this picture could have been taken very recently.
Favorite Christmas tradition:
This tradition is from Debbie's side of the family. On Christmas morning, the children (and adults) find their stockings filled and waiting just outside their bedroom doors. We each bring our stocking to the master bedroom, pile into our bed and have an orange party. Everyone has at least one orange (or clementine) in their stocking, and as we open stocking gifts, we peel and eat our oranges. It smells - and tastes - great.
Most memorable Christmas letdown:
I was sure I was getting a car for my 16th Christmas. As the youngest of four, there was no precedence for this, I just surely thought it was going to happen. I remember distinctly rushing to the window Christmas morning, fully expecting to see a car with a big red bow on it in the drive. Nope. No way. Not a chance. I look back now and realize that my own expectations are usually the source of my greatest disappointments.
Favorite organization:
Fishhook supports a few Cru ministries all throughout the year: one involved in using short films to foster spiritual discussions, one that's an outreach to Asian students on the campus of Purdue University, and a new one, Keynote, a touring band ministry. These are ministries led by people who have committed their entire lives to sharing the Good News. We love being part of that!