Holiday parties

Gotta take a quick break from work.

As is so often true this time of year, the family has been to several parties this holiday season.

Our most recent, this past Tuesday, was a Ornament Stealing party with members of our old church. Started about five or six years ago by one of the church's heavily involved families, it was often lots of fun--featuring spirited banter, good-natured ornament stealing, and lots of good food.

This year's party was not quite the same.

One reason is we no longer attend the church. Since our move across town this summer, we have been attending a different church. Leaving our old church was a difficult decision because we were very involved in trying to make it work. It was a small mission church trying to grow and survive financially on its own. Anyone who has ever been in a small church knows that they are not easy. This experience was very difficult on us, especially as the years went by and the church never found a way to catch fire. Honestly, it was a bit of relief when we moved, as it gave us a concrete reason to leave.

You have to understand that in the absence of our real family, several hundred miles away in Georgia, these were the people that we turned to for socialization, for discussions about our growing children, for simple community. We remain strong friends with a great many of these people and I hope that continues into the future, but something had to change.

Tegan and I worked very hard for this church over the last few years and it had become very draining on us. We are trying to establish a connection with our new church family, but for right now, the sense of shared history is not there. I hope it comes with time, but right now I still feel a bit like a stranger.

Tonight we are going back to Ariel and Ruth's old daycare to enjoy a Christmas party with her old friends and teachers.

Here the opposite feeling exists. It's like attending a reunion, seeing old friends, people that helped Ariel grow up and were so sorry to see Ruth go before they really had time to get to know her. I feel a strange closeness to these people. It didn't feel like a business transaction with these daycare workers. It was really important that they cared about our kids. It will be good to see them again.

Step count for Tuesday and Wednesday: approx. 7739