Thanksgiving, Chanukah, Christmas, and the killer tomatoes.

We’re dining – still – on Thanksgiving leftovers as I’m decorating for Christmas.  I placed a berry wreath on the baker’s rack and a favorite primitive doll ornament in an old decorative bowl on the kitchen counter.  Piecemeal adornment!  Thanksgiving blends into Christmas, doesn’t it?  And, along with the merging of holidays, a myriad of memories flood into our minds and impact our hearts.

During our Thanksgiving feast this year, there was no turkey to be found…in our oven or on our table.  We opted for a roast chicken seasoned with a Himalayan salt cone on which it was cooked.  Never tried it?  It’s delicious!  This was the second no-turkey Thanksgiving at the Wilsons.  Our first no-turkey day of thanks occurred when Jarrod was five years old.  We had prepared to make our annual trek to Winslow, AZ to celebrate with our missionary friends.  Snow fell and we could not leave the Valley.  Guess we weren’t very adventurous.  So, into the pantry we looked.  Well, we didn’t have a pantry in those days.  At the food shelf we looked…and looked…and looked.  Our only option was tomato soup as nothing else materialized as we…looked.  Our entertainment for the day…two classic movies: Schlock and The Attack of the Killer Tomatoes!!!  How could we forget that Thanksgiving?  

Last night I adorned the kitchen table with a glass jar of primitive looking “seasonal mix greens” (Trader Joe’s label for them), surrounded by a twiggy wreath which “shed” many sprigs.  Since the two small pumpkins that were on the kitchen table for Thanksgiving haven’t yet decayed (!!), they sit next to the jar with the eclectic foliage!

Since 2005, Thanksgiving signals the widespread “flyering” season which spills into much of December.  We travel throughout the Valley visiting retail establishments, barber shops, nail salons, hotels, restaurants, coffee shops, grocery stores, and even laundromats to distribute flyers announcing our annual Chanukah/Christmas Celebration.  “Laundromats?”  YES!  We’ve had great conversations with people washing and drying their clothes.  Captive audience!   This year the event will spotlight the 13th presentation of connecting the dots between Chanukah and Christmas.  We’ll be gathering in the Grace Chapel on the main campus of Scottsdale Bible Church on Sunday, Dec. 17th, at 3 p.m.  If you’re local or in town at the time, we’d love for you to celebrate with us!  

After Thanksgiving at P.S. 85 in the Bronx, our glee club began preparing for performances.  I learned Chanukah songs!  Along with “I Have a Little Dreidel,” we sang “Oh, Holy Night.”  Those were the days!

As I walk through this joyful season, my mind so often focuses on growing up in New York.  While living in the Bronx, God impacted me one Christmas with “light.” Our neighborhood in the Bronx during the winter months was rather gloomy.  In my heart, God’s message of “light” caused me to ask more questions about Jesus!  I can remember it vividly.  

I’m sitting here, while composing this blog, eating the gluten free pumpkin casserole from Nov. 23rd and working on a Chanukah party.  We are much in prayer, asking God to do exceedingly abundantly beyond concerning the Chanukah get-together/Bible study on 12/19 at the retirement center where we were told recently that we can no longer invite Jewish people to our Bible classes.   GOD has been stirring Jewish people’s hearts and many continue to join our gatherings.  PRAISE HIM!

Before I came to faith in Jesus, I was involved in “Jewish missions”.  How so?  Perhaps I shouldn’t label my activities at that time as “Jewish missions.”  Although, while not a believer in Jesus, I had a desire to tell people about Him!!  During junior high school when I lived in NY, I asked two of my Jewish friends to join me in Christmas caroling throughout the neighborhood.  And, Harriet and Phyllis accepted my invitation.  Consider with me, as I look back on that evening, the words of the songs that the three of us sang.  All three of us didn’t have a personal faith in Jesus!  Think of "Hark the Herald Angels Sing", the lyrics of which include “Hail the Flesh, the Godhead see, hail the incarnate Deity.  Pleased as man with man to dwell, Jesus, our Emmanuel,” followed by “Mild He lays His glory by born that man no more may die.  Born to raise the sons of earth, born to give them second birth.  Hark the herald angels sing, glory to the new-born King.”   AND, we sang "The First Noel" which proclaims, “Born is the King of Israel.”  Might the message of the Gospel through these songs and others we sang that evening, regarding the incarnation of Emmanuel, God in the flesh (Isaiah 7:14), born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2), the second birth (John 3:3) have resulted in Harriet and Phyllis coming to know Jesus?  I don’t know.  I do know that God stirred my heart and brought me to Himself approximately five years following that Christmas!  And, perhaps Harriet, Phyllis, and I will meet again, if not on this earth, perhaps we’ll reunite in heaven!  I pray so!

The good news of forgiveness through the Jewish Messiah, Jesus, is the best news for all seasons.  It appears to be more tolerated by many in November and December!  May we be riveted on God’s gift to us at this moment – the glorious opportunity of proclaiming salvation through Jesus!

To God be the glory!

Cathy Wilson

cathylouwilson@live.com