"A Child wandered in on some bums where they hid." Old City Bar -Trans Siberian Orchestra
Today, Wednesday, and next Wednesday. we will be offering a few inspirational posts (at least we hope you will think so). We will continue to publish on our regular schedule through the holidays. Merry Christmas to all of you. We love you.
The words in quotes are from the song "In an Old City Bar" which is linked to at the bottom of the post. You may want to play it as you read.
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True Confession: My favorite Christmas music is by the Trans Siberian Orchestra which will probably cause some out there to claim "Ah ha! I knew she was a heretic." I have seen them in person twice, one time with Deb. Oddly, I found myself in tears listening to one of their songs "In an Old City Bar." Usually, that means I need to think. And then I remembered…
It was our second year of marriage and we were living on the Navajo Indian Reservation. We were not going to be able to go home to the Boston area for Christmas. I was pretty sad since it would be the first Christmas away from my extended family. Christmas was a big deal at my house: food, games and presents. My father would wrap his presents to us, on purpose, in the worst possible way. Torn paper bags, string, ripped wrapping paper, glue and rubber bands. We would laugh so hard; he the loudest and longest of all. In fact, the presents we looked for the hardest were Dad's crazily wrapped presents.
I was pleased that we decided to spend Christmas in a little town called Ouray in Colorado. It would provide a distraction. Back then, Ouray was small, nestled in the mountains. It's fortunes have since changed and it is a now a bustling and trendy town. It was a fairly long drive from Gallup, New Mexico. We drove north past Shiprock and through the mountains surrounding Telluride. It was snowing quite heavily and we were forced to put on chains or the police would not let us into the dangerous passes. It was a bit scary.
When we arrived, the little town was deserted. We tried to check into our cabin but the people who ran it had gone away. They left a note with a key on the door of the cabin, along with some firewood, and said to slip the check under the front door of their house when we left. We were totally alone. In fact, we would never meet our hosts and have often remarked about their trust in their unknown guests.
We decided to try to find something to eat but everything was shut down except for a bar with a neon light that said "Open." In we tromped, cold and tired. This was not some trendy watering hole. It was a plain old bar. The bartender said he could rustle up a burger for us and down we plopped. I was feeling a little sorry for myself. I had survived a treacherous car drive and was now sitting in an old bar, damp and tired, sipping a mediocre glass of wine with a bunch of drunks who probably got tossed out by their families.
And he (the Child) asked did we know
That outside in the snow
That someone was lost
Outside our door
As I looked around, we realized that, of the dozen or so people in the bar, we were the only couple. Everyone else was alone. Faces were bent over their drinks. Most of them looked sad and tired. There were several mountain men, kind of Duck Dynastyesque, with long beards, flannel shirts and jeans.
The bartender turned
and said, not that I care
But how would you know this?
The child said I noticed
If one could be home,
they'd be already there
Then, a man stood up. He looked like a businessman, more well dressed than all of us. He sat down at the piano. I do not think this was expected because the bartender looked a little rattled. To our surprise, the man began to play Christmas carols and he played them well. As time passed, people began to sing along, including the guys whose faces had been hunched over their mugs of beer. As they sang, they started to look around. As we caught each others eyes, we nodded and smiled, just a little bit. Even the bartender was singing quietly along.
Oh, was I mad at myself! I realized that the people in the bar were lonely and sad while I was sitting around, feeling sorry for myself. I was judging them instead loving them. Jesus not only loved them; He understood them. He was born in a cave, amongst the animals, to a teenage mother who was far from her home when she should have had the comfort of her family as she labored. Instead, it was only Joseph who most likely was not adept in birthing babies since that was often left up to the women. Can you imagine the judgment of those who knew about this woman giving birth in a cave, of all places?
Back at the bar, we began to leave after we sang "Silent Night." The quiet sounds of "Merry Christmas" were heard. There were even a few pats on the back. The Child, 2,000 years later, still brought people together in very strange places.
The next morning, the sun came out and we drove up to a cross country ski area. The snow was too deep to easily ski. We were all alone, not another person could be seen or heard. It was so quiet that it almost hurt our ears. I thought about the quiet of a cave from which came an explosion that was louder than a nuclear bomb. It would forever change the landscape of this world. The drunk in the bar meant as much to this Child as the greatest of kings. In fact, I think He may feel even closer to them than to the privileged and arrogant.
So, as my kids grow up and leave home, I plan to find some places where people, outcast and alone, are spending Christmas eve. Do not be surprised to see a woman, with cute shoes, sipping a glass of mediocre wine, on Christmas eve in a run down bar. This time, however, she will have a have a sack with some presents to give to them. As she does, she plans to let them know that there is a Child who cares for them and knows what it is like to be in a strange place on Christmas eve.
Lydia's Corner: Isaiah 33:10-36:22 Galatians 5:13-26 Psalm 64:1-10 Proverbs 23:23
Love this post Dee!
Ah yes, paying down medical school loans by working on an Indian reservation for a couple of years. It’s a good gig all the way around.
More importantly, I liked the story.
beautiful post!
…brought tears… thank you, Dee!
Dee, I have a brother and sister-in-law who taught school at Newcomb, NM. Along side Highwayt 666, halfway between Gallup and Shiprock. Spent a lot of time with them in the ’70’s and went on to do archaeology field work around Cortez. Even was a seasonal ranger at Hovenweep Nat’l Mon. in 1977-78.
As I am reading your story I am imagining driving that route, dodging range cattle, sage brush and slow moving pick-up trucks up and down the washes on that road. My former wife and I snowshoed near Ouray the winter of ’78.
Anyway, thanks for inducing the nostalgia. I still consider the Four Corners my second home, although I live in Napa, CA now.
@ Loren Haas:
Ah, yes. US Route 666 north from Gallup. They ended up renumbering “The Devil’s Highway” some years ago; either Christianese protests, too many highway signs getting stolen as souvenirs, or both.
“…with cute shoes…”
++++++++++
as in pink and white polka dot converse with gingham ribbons for laces?
skull and crossbones vans?
green & black eelskin spike heels?
——————-
lovely story, by the way.
@ elastigirl: i’ve got skull and crossbones Vans (and plain violet ones, and a pair with Mexican serape stripes in vivid colors on a black background, and a pair with beautiful Japanese-screen print artwork of carp, and… a pair of Vision Street Wear Day of the Dead slip-ons, and…).
I am a shoe-holic, but there are no heels in my closet. Too uncomfortable to bother with anymore!
Great story Dee.
No where nearly as great, but a story non the less. We went with children age 3 and 6 to the county where my parents, grandparents and great-grandparents had lived, to stay in my great grandparents house 10 miles from the highway. We had an issue with the plumbing freezing and had to get a heater to put under the house and wrap the pipes. Then we went looking for a tree, and finally found a scrawny tree that no one would miss on the edge of an old pasture. We put it in a bucket with some bricks, decorated it with a few things we had brought from home.
We went shopping the next day in the little town — one and a half blocks of stores total on both sides of Main Street. Each of us took one child, shopped both sides with that child, then swapped children and did it again. After a quick huddle, we drove to the next town 40 miles away, and found a Walmart to buy some toys.
Our Christmas day was quiet and together, singing some carols, etc. It was the best Christmas we had ever had.
That shopping day became a family tradition. We do all our Christmas spending on one day the week before Christmas. We get up early, get breakfast on the way, shop in some small town, or two or three, eat lunch and dinner in small restaurants in the small town, maybe stop at a box store for things we need for the gifts and get home after dark. We have missed a year or two when the children were adults and away at in-laws or such, but now 25 years later, we completed a Christmas Trek with one of them and his new spouse, this evening, now at their home fixing dinner and getting ready to play a game together.
The tradition survives. BTW, we actually spend very little, getting memorable but inexpensive gifts like hand-crafted items by seniors making a little for their organization and similar things. And we match our gift buying expenditures with an equal amount to help with Christmas for the homeless and for poor children.
@ numo:
you don’t by chance wear a 7 1/2, do you?
Lovely story, Dee.
Well it’s almost midday Christmas Eve here, time I started wrapping the presents. And here’s a quintessential Australian Christmas song for all of you – How to Make Gravy by Paul Kelly http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fh79619xxk8 Not your traditional Christmas carol by any stretch, but a song that really captures getting together with and missing your family at Christmas.
@ elastigirl: nope, ‘fraud not… 😉
@ elastigirl: afraid not. Darned autocorrect!
Loren Haas wrote:
Awesome. I know that area well.Loren Haas wrote:
Even more awesome.Loren Haas wrote:
Isn’t it beautiful there? I miss it.
@ Headless Unicorn Guy:
@ elastigirl:
I do! I am a perfect 7 1/2 medium. I started my adult life as a stupid 6 1/2 narrow and I couldn’t find any shoes. One of the top 10 happiest days of my life is when I found out my foot stretched to a 7 1/2 medium. So many shoes, so little time…
An Attorney, wonderful traditions! Thanks for sharing that!
My loving and old-fashioned Methodist grandmother loved the fried chicken that was served at a “tavern” in her rural area of Washington. When I was old enough to go in we went twice for the chicken. It was delicious! We never told anyone, and the place was far enough away from her small town that it would have been hard for anyone to find her there. It’s one of my special memories of my very godly Grandma, who could set her prejudices aside for some good food. She has been gone 10 years, but lived to a good 97 (it must have been that fried chicken).
@ dee: i’ve gone from a 7 & 1/2 to a 9 over the course of my adult life…
Signed,
Has Zappos and 6pm.com on “speed dial”
Thanks Dee for a real life Christmas tale where the rubber-meets-the-road and not a sanitized Hallmark one!
@ dee:
“I do! I am a perfect 7 1/2 medium….So many shoes, so little time…”
+++++++++++++++++
I see….. so, now that I know it’s we who wear the same size, the next thing I need to know is “cute shoes” as in
*pink and white polka dot converse with gingham ribbons for laces?
*skull and crossbones vans?
*green & black eelskin spike heels?
*combat boots (any color)? (might as well ask)
anonymous wrote:
Best pizza growing up was served in a dingy bar on the Danvers/Peabody line. And I ate in there from before I can remember.
elastigirl wrote:
I’m embarrassed to say that this is my style. Wish I was skull and crossbones, though.
Hmmm….I am a fan of Trans-Siberian Orchestra. too. 😉
Don’t have this album, though. Made me think of “Christmas Nights in Blue” from The Lost Christmas Eve.
Love that story. Would be interested to know when that was. My aunt used to work as a waitress in a bar in Ouray….I lived in Montrose from 1973 to 1981. My mom still lives there. Ouray has always been one of my favorite places….know as “The Little Switzerland of America”. 😉
I’m still only 90 miles north of Ouray…..
@ dee:
sounds like you have great style! i’m going to send you some combat boots, though, to round it out.
Quite the opposite of the advice of a certain celebrity pastor on how to have your best Christmas ever: “get as far away from them as you can.”
In other news: I gather that the spate of north-atlantic storms many of us have been experiencing (and no end in sight, either; 80-mph winds here yesterday and today, with more to come on Friday) are the fault of northern America. I’d like to suggest some things you can all do to help.
Specifically, it’s exceptionally warm for the time of year in the northern US, and nearly 30 degrees colder in southern Canada. This heat differential is driving a polar jet-stream of near unprecedented strength.
(On a clear afternoon last week I watched a jet airliner at cruising altitude passing overhead, with nearby rooflines serving as fixed reference points. To the naked eye, it was being blown sideways almost as fast as it was flying forwards – the exhaust trail was angled at least 30° from the direction of travel. The Met Office has reported jet-stream speeds of 280 mph.)
So I’d be grateful if those of you from the States could all fill a few bottles with your warm air, and take them to Canada. This would do a great deal to calm down the weather. Thankyou all in anticipation.
Merry Christmas, All, from a hot and sunny Cape Town. I have yet to experience a wintery Xmas, so loved to hear your story, Dee. We’ll be doing the cold meats and salad thing at home tomorrow with family joining us. My kids get to meet their newborn twin cousins tonight. They are just over a month old now and were born a couple of weeks premature so a very special Christmas this year for us.
Sending warm and sunny thoughts your way, Nick, now that the solstice is passed and the days start getting longer your side and shorter my side.
Christmas greetings to all! I’ve not been feeling very merry this year, but we’re trying our best to not be the Grinch to our children. All I really want for Christmas is to find a church where love matters the most. But, at least I can read all of your stories here, and know that others are also searching for that. That does help!
If anyone wishes to share more of life together, and you are on Facebook, please connect! “Erik Merksamer” is my profile name. It is admittedly full of cute pictures of our children, ages 5 and almost 2. And, we have another little girl about to arrive in 3 months! 🙂
Shalom!
@ Seneca “j” Griggs.:
I must have missed it where you told us what you did with your life. Maybe you would like to share that for our edification.
Nancy wrote:
#
I started my working life washing dishes in a hospital then working on a yard crew at a college, then cleaning toilets. When you’re a little ADHD, you end up doing a lot of things.
*
Jeannette Altes wrote:
I am very jealous. I love that place.
@ elastigirl:
Combat boots? Sounds apropos for what I do here. 🙂
Nick Bulbeck wrote:
It reminds me of an episode from Star Trek-TNG in which the Enterprise channeled the cold from a planet and shot it our into space.
Estelle wrote:
Thank you Estelle. Our temps went from 77 to 40 overnight! I would love to visit your fair city. Merry Christmas.
Erik wrote:
Keep at it, Erik. You will one day be an important leader in a church because you know more about love than many. Congratulation on the coming little girl. I shall pray God’s blessings on her life. She is starting off on a good foot. She’s got you as a Dad.
@ Seneca “j” Griggs:
That sounds like a decent start. Where did you end up?
Nancy wrote:
Same place: “Dear the yard needs mowing, could you take care of your dishes and your bathroom needs cleaning.”
*
It never changes.
Estelle wrote:
As it happens we’ve seen very little weather at all in central Scotland; they’ve had it much worse elsewhere (at least one fatality, sadly).
But thank you for your wishes all the same, Estelle.
dee wrote:
It’s a nice thought, but I’d advise caution when attempting that sort of thing as it can go badly wrong.
Nick Bulbeck wrote:
Sorry. Canada didn’t want it. They are sending their cold south so we can enjoy it with them. 75F or more two days ago. 25F or so tomorrow at sunrise.
The holidays can be harder if you don’t have family to share them with.
Dee said,
When my parents first married, and they had to move from the state where all their family was, it was really hard on my mother.
My mom bought a .45 record of “Detroit City,” and my dad said when he was at home, it about drove him nuts, because my mom listened to that song all the time.
Bobby Bare – Detroit City (with lyrics)
dee wrote:
You can put them on, along with your bathrobe, while eating cheetos and drinking your morning coffee 🙂 But only designer bathrobes!! What a picture!
@ Daisy:
I cried my first Christmas married and 2000 miles from the family gatherings. It was tough, but if I did what your mom did, it would have been worse 🙁 We got out of the house and drove up a nearby mountain . . . anything to change the mood.
Dee, numo, and elastigirl,
Mrs. Muff says that cute shoes are an absolute gotta-must-have.
NC Now wrote:
That’ll work just as well, of course.
@ Bridget:
My Mom found a lot of comfort listening to that song over and over.
I guess I inherited that habit from my Mom.
If I find a song that speaks to something I’m going through, and I’m in a funk, I will put that sucker on replay on my mp3 or CD player, hours at a time, over a span of days. 🙂
Muff
I bet i would love Mrs. Muff.
Bridget
You forgot about my STar Trek t shirt!
@ elastigirl: Perhaps you might consider sending her a pair of Palladium boots? they’re comfy and the sole is featherweight – you wouldn’t think that from looking at them, but they weigh less than the average pair of Vans or PF Flyers.
Zappos and 6pm.com have Palladiums, but Ebay and other sources (plus the Palladium store itself) are good for cross-checking and price comparisons, especially when it comes to discontinued styles. (Which can usually be bought dirt-cheap on the Palldium site itself.)
I have a pair of Pampa oxfords (low-top, more like a sneaker than a boot) and love them!
@ elastigirl: Forgot to say that Palladium made the original French Foreign Legion boots, which were pretty much what Palladium boots *still* are, with more color and material choices.
If you really want to get hardcore, it’s easy enough to find the Israelis army equivalent on Ebay, but I have no idea what the fit is like.
Palladium womens’ sizes taper down a bit too much in the toe for me… if I ever get another pair, I’ll probably snag mens’.
Bridget wrote:
Do you have a secret camera in my house? Looks sideways at you…
Seriously, my first love is combat boots. I’m not a wildly girly girl. I’m trying to wean myself off them a bit now I’m 45 & a Boss Chick at work. Have bought heels. You may get postings from the ortho ward.
Dee & Debs – sending a huge amount of Christmas love from me in a wet & stormy England. You make my confusing & painful spiritual life less painful & confusing.
Please kiss all dogs for me, especially that Tulip.
@ Beakerj: beaks, I put a bunch of cool Christmas music down in the Duck Dynasty thread – take a look!
I figure it’s time for a Christmas truce here (see the notes to the 1st vid). And maybe some dancing, too…
@ Beakerj: I’m in my mid-50s and have completely given up on heels. Flats, boots and sand shoes it is! (Also good-quality espadrilles…)
Since we are on the subject of shoes 😉 can anyone tell me where to get some cute ballet-like flats with no heel? I cannot wear my chucks all the time. LOL
Forgot to add, Merry Christmas, dee and deb. Y’all make my day many times!
Merry Christmas to everyone else! I learn so much from you.
@ No More Perfect: Try Zappos.com and their outlet, 6pm.com
Am afraid I don’t ahve any specific recommendations, but you can check reviews on Zappos. A single search for ballet flats is going to turn up more shoes than you can imagine! (Pages of them, most likely.)
Beaker J
Tulip sends her greetings. Someday I would love to spend some time in your fair country. Merry Christmas from North Carolina.
@ No More Perfect:
I have the most amazing shoes to recommend. They are Jessica Simpson shoes .
http://www.zappos.com/jessica-simpson-mandalaye-coffee-summer-haze
I have never had flats feel so comfortable and stay on my feet like these. I have people stop me in stores and ask me where I got them because they look so interesting, But it is the comfort that is the key. I have them in brown and black.
__
“MerkyD’s Coming Down Da Church’s Chimney: Christmas Eve at VYROSO?”
hmmm…
Ho Ho Ho!
This Child, (Jesus, the Christ) 2,000 years later, still brings profit together in the very strangest of places?
What?
…advertisement:
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https://vyrso.com/24days?utm_source=vyrso&utm_medium=email&utm_content=4599482_24daysofvyrso2013&utm_campaign=vyrso2013q4
huh?
Some sick joke from Santa’s helpers, huh?
MerkyD has pressed a broom handle up the church’s proverbial rectum, and their still hocking this guy’s books?
…will these people ever learn?
abundant theft or abundant life…
Your choice. (no brainer, huh?)
(sadface)
Sopy
—
@ dee: nice!!!
__
“MerkyD Has Many A Publisher Under Da Bus, Others As Well?”
hmmm…
“…despite statements this week from Tyndale publishers, there is a great deal more that Pastor Mark Driscoll has not addressed concerning plagiarism. I am particularly concerned about references in Death by Love and Real Marriage to Dan Allender’s material from Wounded Hearts, which was the primary resource used at Mars Hill in the early Grace Groups which addressed sexual abuse around 2002 – 2007. As I pointed out last year in Our Review of Real Marriage, Real Marriage talks of a time at Mars Hill when real people were involved with the Driscolls and horribly sinned against in the midst of Mark’s angry season with his wife that he recounts in the book. The way the Driscolls treat Allender’s book is tied to the way they treated the elder that organized the original groups dealing with sexual abuse in which Grace Driscoll first found her voice on the subject. They built upon both’s work while erasing them from their church history. Recognizing the plagiarism is just a drop in an already overflowing bucket. It will bless the ministry of Mars Hill to examine how that bucket got so full and what it’s cost those around Mark who were cut off by him during this angry season.”. ~ Wendy Alsup’
http://www.theologyforwomen.org/2013/12/repentance-is-good-for-christian-leaders.html
*
…knowing God makes a difference in our daily lives,
Yahoooooooo!
‘Knowing’ there are so many ‘bad’pastors ‘out there’ is making a difference in our daily lives as well!
$ure.
Thanks WartBurg!
dashing through da snow…
hum, hm, hum…
Sopy
—
@ dee:
Cute! Squared toe for more room and the strap to keep them on . . . I like!
It was sunny today in Detroit, 18 degrees, and quiet in the neighborhood. I am waiting for the moon to rise.
To all the fine people here at TWW, and to friends and family hither/yon, to all my neighbors (even the thieves)—I wish everyone warm cheer tonight! And may tomorrow be filled with comfort, remembering that we will not live always in sad places but someday will be together with joy on a renewed earth.
Thanks be to the Baby!
Dee/Deb:
Hope to see you for lunch, perhaps Saturday. Please call me.
A beautiful Christmas to the TWW family! Hope everyone enjoys family and friends and remembers the One who came to bring us home! Thanks Dee and Deb for a place to learn and grow.
Merry Christmas!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Dj45upLRLs
Merry Christmas all!
Beautiful story, Dee.
I have not a comparable one, but I did drive 8-9 hours to my Dad’s today, washed his bathroom floor, and now he’s asleep on the couch while listening to an old tape of when I used to play the piano well. As all of us age, we develop new Christmas traditions, and your story is a good reminder to me, as well as a ray of hope for when my family is not so much around and I can start to develop a new and exciting tradition of my own.
Merry Christmas to everyone! Dee & Deb thanks for your ministry here!
Heck, no, I’m still wearing heels. Merry Christmas to all of you, especially Dee and Deb.
An Attorney
Lunch on Saturday is on! Call you on Thursday. Yay!
What Victorious said! Merry Christmas and love to all of you! I’m still attempting to rest more and get over this chronic pain condition, before I (possibly) go back to my previously-usual amount of internet activity! Thanks so much for your prayers, everyone! <3
@ Christopher Lake: Hope you’re feeling much better soon -winter is hard for the things many of us deal with, I think.
A most merry Christmas to all!
Oh, dear. I was doing so well being alone at Christmas this year. Then you had to go share that story and song. Made me cry, they did. But it was all in a good way. 🙂
What I liked most about both bar scenes is that they were natural – people reacting with compassion to one another, strangers, in the situation in which they found themselves. Not the result of a manufactured “Jesus loves you” campaign, looking for a headcount of new believers.
And to all the other folks who shared your own Christmas memories, traditions, and music here in the comments – thank you. Very special, each one.
Christopher
Thinking of you this morning. Merry Christmas
Big Blue
Thinking of you today.
“Oh give me a home where the Neo Cals roam and the wife is chained to the stove”
Imagine in bad shower voice. 😛
Deebs I’m killing time at Reagan National…
Merry Christmas you guys. You’ve been a great gift all year long.
@ Christopher Lake:
Praying for your health and peace, Christopher.
@numo – I resemble your remarks about shoes. I never was one for heels much, but now I live in Easy Spirit mary janes. And I have also tried Dansko shoes as well. I spent much of this fall searching for shoes that were comfortable for me to work in. Thank God for Amazon Prime and free returns if a pair didn’t work out.
I found a pair of restaurant worker shoes, which come in feminine as well as masculine styles while helping a homeless man get a job and buying him some clothes for his restaurant job with money from church (as he was a client I could not do it with my $ directly). I bought him a pair with the church money and me a pair and I wear them every week. Look better than my $60-90 shoes, can stand in them all day, and they cost $28
OOPS, at walmart.
Dee
Thanks for the wonderful story – Reminder…
To think about, and consider, others…
Thanks for the wonderful song – Reminder…
To think about, and consider, others…
And, I took your advice and listened to the song while reading the post…
Many, many emotions, many memories, sad, glad, thankful…
Thank you dee and deb…
Blessings
beautiful….tears and conviction overwhelmed me….thank you!!
@ debbylynn:
Thank you. It makes me cry as well.