The Blessing of Family
In September of 2006, our second son took his wife and three children to live in Germany. He’s an engineer and works mainly in aeronautics. Germany provided my son with the kind of work that wasn’t available in Australia – and was also the doorway to a second language and the adventure of exploring a new culture.
Their departure meant we wouldn’t see them for a few years. Of course, life went on, and family birthdays, weddings, concerts, births and other events all took place in their absence.
Christmas was the time I especially missed them. If there was nothing else we could all get together for during the year, we would all make sure we were together for Christmas. But the cost and the effort of the five of them flying back to Australia each year was determined by all to be too much, so we resigned ourselves to incomplete Family Christmases.
Over the past few Christmases, my youngest son and daughter have involved several of their nephews and nieces in a Christmas play. Whenever they were able to visit each other in the months before Christmas, some very serious rehearsals would take place.
The Christmas 2007 play was, by the standards of 3 – 12 year old, quite an extravaganza. I was surprised at the creativity expressed in the costuming as well as the growing competence of my children and grandchildren to perform.
Of course, it was all a family event, and in 2007, 21 of us gathered at my nephew’s home to make special remembrance of Christ’s coming.
Just 2 days before, I lit on the idea of using my son’s Mac computer to do a ‘Direct Telecast’ of the performance to my son’s German lounge room. What a great way of incorporating them in our Christmas celebrations!
It was fun. I had watched some of the rehearsals, so was able to anticipate most of the comings and goings of the performers. There was no zoom on the computer, so I pranced in and out, zooming up close when needed (more to catch the words of the quieter voices then anything else) and taking advantage of the wide shot as much as possible. The children performed well, and when it was all over, our international audience was most appreciative.
Once the performance was out of the way, we showed our Europe based family what was left of the food (not a pretty sight!), the unopened presents and let them in on some of the conversations.
It was the next best thing to having them with us.
Then in mid 2008, we began to get hints that they may return to Australia. The final decision would not be made for a few months, and I found myself hoping on the one hand that my son got the promotion he was applying for, and on the other hand (for purely selfish reasons) hoping he and his family would be back by Christmas.
Then the unexpected happened. An event took place that demonstrated to my son that for as long as he stayed in Germany he and his family would be subject to restrictions that were unknown to us in Australia. This carried more weight than his potential promotion – and the decision was made. They would return to Australia to live. They would be home for Christmas.
And so, Christmas 2008 was once again a complete Christmas celebration as each family member was present.
It’s not the gifts – each adult gets just one gift for which the giver has spent no more than $30.
It’s not the food – though, if you ask my husband, it rates pretty highly!
To me it’s the blessing of Family. The blessing of getting together and seeing the growth that has taken place in the marriage relationships, the skills gained by grandchildren. Of hearing the chatter of young voices, the banter of the guys, of observing the deep conversations taking place in out of the way corners, of joining in the board games that have become a common part of our gatherings. It’s the soft voice of a grandchild coming up and saying, ‘Nanna, I love you’ and the singing of carols and hymns around the piano. And most important to me it’s the knowledge that as we celebrate Christmas, we do it as one, not just because we are part of the Field clan, but especially because we are all part of God’s eternal family.
For that, my heart is very thankful.