The Best Gift

Christmas was great!.. although I feel badly- I thought I had Mom.. but apparently I had Mom AND Dad! *facepalm... Sorry, Dad :(

But I think I aced my other gift-giving, though.

I may be crafty-capped, but I can paint and
lay down stickers in a line ;)

BF got an ornament that made him laugh- Point!
BF also got some rail-clips to organize his sockets, said they'd help out his tool bag- Point!
BFF's hubby got ramps to make car repairs a little easier and he smiled about it- Point!
BFF.. Eh, she's known for a while what I was going to get her, and she's needed it for a long time. Maybe we'll go cash in that gift card together? Yeah, we'll call that Point!

I think this year, though, I had two favorite gifts.

In the last couple years, I've had to do a lot more of my own car work. And I have had absolutely NO tools to do that work... until Santa gave me a beautiful set! Woot- full set of sockets, open-end wrenches, alen wrenches (all in both standard and metric!), screwdrivers, pliers, etc.

But I think my favorite gift was given to me by my sister-in-law, Tristina.

I left home about noon on Christmas Eve, getting there about 2:30. I could only stay one day, and had to head back Christmas evening after dinner. When my brother and his wife came back over for dinner, Christmas evening, he came in right away, but she took a while to come in the house. I thought may be she was having a tough time waking up (she'd had to work the night before and had slept all afternoon) or something.

I finished my dinner, and started gathering my stuff up to take to the car. When I went out, I found her scraping my windows so I could see, and brushing the snow off the top so it didn't slide down and block the windows.

“Oh, Tristina- you’re cleaning off my car!!.. You’re wonderful, you’re gonna make me cry.”

“Oh, don’t cry!”

“No, no- it’s a good cry, lol.”

I don’t think she knows how much that means to me. You see, I heard once that there are five basic ways we communicate and perceive love, ways that are more effective than others in letting people know we love them… Love Languages.

Gifts

Affection

Quality Time

Acts of Service

Words of Affirmation

When someone speaks your love language, it means so much more. Sure, I’m grateful for that tool set- it will give me the opportunity to save money and learn new skills. And I love the clothes my best friend gave me- they’re beautiful... even the electric-blue cheetah socks!

But doing something for me, even if it’s spur-of-the-moment… That kind of thing means more than I can think of words. If you know your own love language.. and you’ve had someone unexpectedly speak that language to you, then you understand what that’s like.

Thank you, Tristina- I love you!

My Christmas Playlist

I heard once that there are three levels of Christmas.

Santa Claus

Baby Jesus

The Resurrected Lord

Pilate therefore said unto him, Art thou a king then?

Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a king. To this

end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world,

that I should bear witness unto the truth.

Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice.

Whole Men, Whole Women

Jada Pinkett-Smith:

“How is man to recognize his full self, his full power through the eye’s of an incomplete woman? The woman who has been stripped of Goddess recognition and diminished to a big ass and full breast for physical comfort only. The woman who has been silenced so she may forget her spiritual essence because her words stir too much thought outside of the pleasure space. The woman who has been diminished to covering all that rots inside of her with weaves and red bottom shoes.
"I am sure the men, who restructured our societies from cultures that honored woman, had no idea of the outcome. They had no idea that eventually, even men would render themselves empty and longing for meaning, depth and connection.
"There is a deep sadness when I witness a man that can’t recognize the emptiness he feels when he objectifies himself as a bank and truly believes he can buy love with things and status. It is painful to witness the betrayal when a woman takes him up on that offer.
"He doesn’t recognize that the [creation] of a half woman has contributed to his repressed anger and frustration of feeling he is not enough. He then may love no woman or keep many half women as his prize.
"He doesn’t recognize that it’s his submersion in the imbalanced warrior culture, where violence is the means of getting respect and power, as the reason he can break the face of the woman who bore him 4 four children.
"When woman is lost, so is man. The truth is, woman is the window to a man’s heart and a man’s heart is the gateway to his soul.
"Power and control will NEVER out weigh love.
"May we all find our way."

I've been trying to put into words the sneaky insidious backlash on men, and really on society as a whole that happens when women are diminished, and vice versa- the damage done to womanhood when we trash-talk men.

Neither can truly be complete without the other.. and in order for either to be what our Father intends, both have to be whole in their own right. As a woman, the full breadth and scope of the feminine experience includes things that can only be experienced in the context of an eternal relationship with a man.

And while that may sound sexist and like I think I'm inferior, that I think I need a man to be whole, the reverse is also true- A man needs that eternal relationship with a woman in order to have the opportunities that come with being a husband.

See, I know this may come as a shock to some of you, but men and women are different. We were never designed to fit the same mold. Our Father designed us for different functions, different roles. Our bodies and minds and hearts reflect that design.

Men and women were never meant to be the same. Sure, when we have to we can each fill  the other's roles- we are capable of that stretch, but in an ideal world, the men are masculine are honored for the heroes, protectors, providers, and leaders they are in their homes. And women are valued and revered as nurturers, comforters, and homemakers.

I guess my point is...

Different is good!