The countdown to Christmas is just about at its end ... 2 days to go ... well, for anyone {like myself and my family} who have pre-celebrations on Christmas Eve, we have 1 day before the festivities begin! I have printed out my recipes and made my last-minute grocery shopping list to get all the yummy components of this years attempt at creating a chocolate masterpiece. I have searched through the books, the internet websites, and family favorites, and have come to the realization that homemade chocolate truffles have never graced the Christmas Eve table at the Paredes/Richardson/Herbertson celebrations. Thus, it has become my new goal ... and to my surprise, the recipes don't look as complicated as I thought. These should be a piece of cake {or should I say, a piece of chocolate?} In the years past I have decorated the Christmas table with decadent chocolate crème brulee, killer chocolate cheesecake, rich peppermint dark chocolate layered cake, and the like ... let's hope these truffles will continue to build my baking confidence as the "wows" of the past have done.
As this is the time of year to thank the Lord for the blessings of not only his gracious gift of salvation and love, but also of the adventures experienced, the lessons learned, and the opportunities to come, my desire to write increases. Having left school and given up the opportunity to pay smarter people to force me to write papers then tear them to shreds, I have few excuses to really write anymore. My creative hand was briefly exercised while I lived overseas as I wrote my dear loved ones in the States stories of my adventures; but I no longer have much reason to write {not that it's necessarily worth reading}. My current job requires no more writing than a 3 sentenced e-mail on occasion ... not that anything I would or could write to the homebuilding industry would elicit anything creative, but that still serves as one of my excuses.
THUS, in order to exercise my writing muscles, I have taken to filling the in-boxes of my dear family with poems; celebrating accomplishments, wishing happy birthdays, and offering congratulations and thanks. My goofy notes of rhyme have thoroughly entertained them and have even inspired my mom to continue her passion of poetry. Now, my poems are simple and involve the most basic structure ... and they almost always include a touch, if not a handful, of humor. It is for these reasons that I would never consider myself a poet. I'm not sure I want to be a poet, actually. I enjoy rhyming and creating an extraordinary line of words by adjusting the proper usage of syllables and grammatical sentence structure. That is the extent of my poem writing ... not poetry. {Very simple}
THEREFORE {sorry for the long explanation}, I included a short poem in the few Christmas cards distributed by the Benson's this year. For those who did not receive a card and note {if there are any who read this at all}, here is the story of the Benson's first 9 months together:
It’s carol time and Christmas too,
The season’s bright with winter’s dew,
With new to come, time flew so fast,
Our story here of this year past,
The month of March, day twenty-one,
Vowed we did and became one,
Now, in a drought the weather said,
But God thought not when we would wed,
The clouds came out and filled the sky,
We prayed that they would say good-bye,
But “no” He said to dry weather,
“Trust me now, rain is better,”
Tents popped up, umbrellas out,
People stood and froze no doubt,
But friends and smiles filled the day,
So blessed we were in God’s own way,
Since then, in love, we’ve laughed and grown,
Experienced even a kidney stone,
Visited friends and the E.R.,
Drove around & killed our car,
Months flew by, filled to the brim,
We worked, we played, we took a swim,
We learn a lot, every day,
And see the world in a new way,
Football, camps, an amusement park,
Youth group keeps us young at heart
Mastery of the ping-pong game,
Brought the Benson name some fame,
Good news, too, we have to tell,
He studied hard and did so well,
The test he took said yes he can,
Be an official contractor man,
It’s only been 8 months or so,
Adventures down the road, we know,
We can’t wait for a lifetime more,
Together, forever, for rich or poor,
So to you now we pray you’re blessed,
May Christmas bring you peace and rest,
God gave us every single day,
May you abide in Him along your way.
Merry Christmas
from the Bensons!
