Christmas Dessert

We had our family Christmas gathering last Saturday. Part of every Christmas gathering for close to 30 years has been our special Christmas dessert. When our kids were very small, we decided that we would stay home on Christmas Day. To travel to family would be 3 hours. We also had late Christmas Eve worship which meant we wouldn't get to bed much before 1 or 2 a..m. Plus as a child I remember going to 2 sets of grandparents in one day and not getting much time at home with my new toys.

We discovered that our neighbors, the Mulvains, had their family in on Christmas Eve and were alone on Christmas Day so we invited them to come spend the day with us. Juanita volunteered to bring the dessert. It was a chocolate pudding dessert that my family loved and so for the years that they joined us for Christmas Day, Juanita brought "Christmas dessert." After their plans changed and they no longer joined us on Christmas Day, "Christmas dessert" remained part of our menu. As I fixed it the other day, I thought about this "tradition." Tonight, as I am finishing up the last of the left-over, I am thinking again about those Christmases shared with Jerry & Juanita and how this dessert has become a Hardwick family tradition.

Christmas

I enjoyed watching the grandkids open their gifts. The 3 littlest ones had fun playing with each other's presents. Everyone got along well with each other. It was chaos at times, but a joy to watch the kids play and interact. I thought about my grandparents watching us many years ago.