By Traci Davis (One of her first writings. Traci gave this to her dad for Christmas ~ not sure of the year. )
She opened the door just a sliver, the room was dark except for the twinkling lights that were muted from the newly fallen snow. The window blinds allowed just enough light in to guide her steps to the side of the bed. She knelt down ever so slightly to Jordan, her 3 year old, who was snuggled deep under the covers. “Merry Christmas, baby”. As Jordan brushed her kiss away and rolled over, she was already on to her 7 year old, Taylor. She whispered the same, “Merry Christmas, Baby.” She waited several seconds watching as her two beautiful children snuggled deeper into the covers. Knowing it was only minutes before they were all rushing to get home, she said a quick prayer. “Dear God, please bless our trip today and remind us all of why today, we celebrate.” No sooner had she finished the hastily spoken prayer, did she see two heads slowly rise with arms outstretched into the air.
“Come on sleepy heads, It’s Christmas and we are going to Grandpa and Grandma’s!
Knowing full well what that meant, Taylor & Jordan jumped from their beds both full of Christmas spirit. And so, the Christmas morning of 1998 began.
He had been awake for hours. Thinking of the children and grandchildren that lay sleeping under his roof. Ever since the first was born 32 years ago, every Christmas morning had virtually been the same. He knew he was lucky. Not many people could say what he could - for the past 32 years, he had spent every Christmas with his wife and every one of his children and their families. He wanted to shout his thanks from the mountain tops. He would have dropped to his knees that very moment in thankfulness had it not been for his sleeping wife next to him.
And so it was this year, also. Every one was here except for one of the twin girls and her family. He looked at the alarm clock – 5:00 AM – realizing any more sleep would not come easily, he pushed off the bed to his elbow. He looked to the window– still snowing. He figured the day would eventually come when not all of the kids would make it home for Christmas. He sighed ~ his heart heavy, this was possibly that year.
“I don’t know, babe. It looks pretty rough out there.” Scott was dusting off the snow from his pants. He had just scooped the back walk 2 inches of snow. Traci and the kids waited expectantly for the okay to start loading up the car. The kids started crying and Traci’s face fell, fighting back the tears she so desperately wanted to cry. Seeing the disappointed faces, Scott made a decision. “But, I am willing to try it, if you are. Since God knows how bad we all want to be there, I am sure he’ll see us there, safe and sound.” Before Traci could give it another thought, Scott was directing the kids to find their coats, boots and gloves.
“They said they were leaving at 6, they should have been here a half hour ago.” Grandma was anxiously peeking out the window. “at least the snow has quit,” On Christmas morning in the Davis house, it was not unusual for everyone to be gathered around the tree, still in pajamas, at 6:00 am waiting to open presents. For the grand children, to have to wait any longer was a test of everyone’s will.
Grandpa looked at the massive tree with the massive stack of gifts and silently lifted his concerns up in prayer. “Dear Lord, you know my only Christmas gift I give 2 cents about is having my family with me. Please Lord guide our children to us this morning. “
He knew they would be late, but with the roads still as slippery as they were, he didn’t want to push it. At least it had quit snowing. The kids had fallen back to sleep and now he quickly squeezed Traci’s hand. “We’re almost there, babe, we’re almost there.”
“They’re here! They’re Here!” All of the kids ran to the kitchen, the brothers and sisters helped grab bags from the car and Grandma and Grandpa swooped in and grabbed waking kids from their arms. It didn’t take long before Taylor and Jordan were wide away anxiously awaiting to open gifts.
The relief, joy and great thanks shone on everyone’s faces. Everyone was hugging everyone. . .
Author's Note: Each Christmas I am filled with a longing to be home and perhaps at times I lose my senses of what is a safe trip as opposed to an unsafe trip, and although that stretch of road can seem so, so long, there is no other road I would rather be on.
Comments