777 Delivered.

Ah, Christmas is over. The tree seems a little lonely, sitting there with no presents underneath. The stockings look a little pitiful, stacked one on top of the other, all empty. I remember as a kid being kinda bummed when I would see the tree and the stockings the day after. Time marches on.

I have to say that I am a little bit proud of me. I have been planning for, oh, like 10 years to serve Christmas dinner to those who have nowhere else to go. And then, year after year, I would find an excuse or two that would keep me from following through and volunteering. But, this year, I was determined. I was determined to: stay within a budget and be happy with it; make lefse and eat it (even if it wasn't very good); and to follow through and DO IT, serve at the community Christmas dinner.

What was totally great about it wasn't even the fact that lots of people, many of whom are clients I have worked with the last year and a half were getting a delivered meal or coming in and eating a meal, but, it was the fellow volunteers. I was stationed next to a very funny grocery manager. He scooped potatos and stuffing, I drizzled gravy and handed it off to Sam who plopped a helping of corn. We stood side by side, laughing, talking, and feeling really good about getting the job done. 777 meals delivered. And, we helped get that done.

And, the line! There was a line, a mile long, not of people there to eat, but, to volunteer to deliver! That was a pretty cool thing to see. So, being with other Lawrence people, all with the same idea, felt so good, I can't even describe it. It felt, 'right'. I felt so very proud to be a Lawrencian. Lawrence can be a really great place to live.

And then, it was off to Josh and Andrea's for their first Christmas in their 107-year old house in Topeka. Now, these two are amazing. Youth is wasted on the young, that is for sure. Josh is my nephew who married Andrea, who we all love so very much. Anyway, they saved up, went without, like you are supposed to, and bought an old house. Then, instead of charging a bunch of stuff or, hiring contractors to do this and that, they did it all themselves. After a long ass day at work, they would head over to their house and peel 107 years of wallpaper off the walls, tear out old cupboards and take old linoleum off of floors. I was so impressed with all of this. We, as a family, are notoriously NOT good at doing the handy kind of things. But, these two have helped prove that it can be done. And, the house is great!

Another cool thing was getting very thoughtful gifts from Sam and Georgia. Both of them got me stuff that I will appreciate: a big box of Milk Duds from Georgia and some good smelling lotion and body spray; a cool book from Sam about music and some incense... I dunno, I was very appreciative. It meant alot to me, that something was under that tree with my name on it!

And, then there is lunch with Jeff and Diane. I have known Jeff and Diane since 1990. My son, Sam was in diapers when I met them. We have Christmas eve lunch at one of our favorite places, Johnny's and drink margaritas and laugh about all kinds of stuff. Jeff makes amazing cheesecake, and makes them for 10-12 people each year. We were lucky enough to make the cut again this year. And, I managed to get one sliver of it, before Sam ate the rest over the last three days. He ate all of it!

And, then there was the lefse making with Sarah. The first batch was horrible and dad was quick to point it out. We then all went to see 'True Grit' and dad even went. Dad's verdict was that it was, "just as good as the original". This is high praise from Fred, believe me. It was great to go to a movie with him, too. (he doesn't like going to the movies).

So, all in all, it was a great Christmas.

Tomorrow it is back to work. And, this is the last week as a casemanager. I am bummed about that, but, have to be hopeful that as this door closes, another one will open, right?