Advent Devotions 2023

"I will never forget…" If you know me, you know these are words that would rarely come out of my mouth. I regularly forget. I forget where I put my keys. I forget where I put my glasses. I forget where I put my phone, and so on and so on and so on.

So when the opportunity was presented to talk about not forgetting, I knew I couldn’t miss my chance: my chance to show that I don’t actually forget everything. Here are some things I will never forget:

1. The nativity scene my mom always put out when I was a little girl. The Baby Jesus could be removed from the manger and I was fascinated with him. The baby often turned up missing, and usually it could be found in my tiny hands. It is one of my earliest memories and also my first memory of Jesus feeling real to me.
2. The Christmas that Santa Claus brought me a red doll pram and brought my sister a bicycle with a banana seat. I pushed my baby dolls around in that carriage until the wheels practically wore off, and my sister ran her new bike into a parked car that Christmas day and broke her arm.
3. The way Santa filled our stockings with items that were unique to our likings. Stockings were my favorite thing about Christmas morning and always made me feel like someone “knew me.”
4. The Christmas my dad tried to dispose of our Christmas tree by burning it in our fireplace. Don’t ever do this. It was a near disaster, and I think my dad lost his eyebrows.
5. The way both my grandmothers did special things for us. My Grandma Abbott made us fancy appetizers and trusted us to eat off of her good china. My Grandma Scott made a huge tray of assorted cookies. It was impressive and must have taken her days, and they were delicious.
6. The way I felt on the first Christmas after my parents got divorced.
7. The Christmas we spent in a room at Summit hospital because Chris’s grandpa couldn’t come home. One of my most cherished Christmases ever and our last Christmas with him.
8. My mom baking and decorating Christmas cookies with my kids and letting Chris award the “best decorated cookie” when he got home from work.
9. The year we finished decorating the tree and then all the lights went out except right around the middle. Did we get a new tree? Nope, we just rolled with the imperfect one.
10. Christmas Eve services at Ruth Ensor UMC with Chris’s family, where our kids participated in the reenactment of the Christmas story and we would go out for Chinese food afterward.
11. Shopping with our boys and their Boy Scout troop for food to fill boxes for families in need, and delivering them on Christmas Eve morning.
12. Watching Chris roll out his Grandma’s dumplings on Christmas Eve.

There they are. 12 things I will never forget, and I could have even listed more! I guess there is hope, even for someone as forgetful as me.

A Prayer of Gratitude for Nostalgia by Michelle L. Torigian: 
Lord, today I thank you for the flashes from yesteryear, for the joys of nostalgia, and the stories which I carry. Help me to savor the joy of memories and to dream about a future with hope. Amen