Christmas time is busy, not only for our chefs in the restaurant, but for us at home and work.
As the calendar starts to fill up, it’s hard to not get sucked up into all the commercialism and craziness of the season!
For our family, Christmas is not about presents and Santa. It’s not about Christmas lights and candy canes. While we do celebrate these things with our children, I never want them (or us) to lose sight of the real reason for the Christmas season – the birth of God’s Son, Jesus Christ.
As the girls and I shop for gifts for others, I love talking with them about the greatest gift of all, one we did not deserve nor could ever earn. Every day, I’m humbled that God would chose to send His Son to be the Savior of a world, full of sinners like me. (You can read more about this over here.)
As we get ready to celebrate Thanksgiving this week here in the United States, I have been reflecting on all the things I have to be thankful for. While I could write for hours about this, I thought I’d just share today why I’m thankful for my chef/husband of 19 years.
I am thankful for my chef/husband because . . .
. . . he cooks well. Just getting the obvious out of the way here. But really, I am thankful for this. If he didn’t cook well, who would cook my 5 course dinner every night. Haha!
. . . he provides for us financially. There are many days he gets up, more exhausted than he went to bed. Yet he gets up with a good attitude, and heads off to work to provide for us.
. . . of his strong work ethic. Every day he sets an example for the girls and I and all those around him at work by showing what it means to work hard and always try your best.
. . . he is wise (not to be confused with being smart – which he is as well.) My chef/husband is able to look at a situation and have wisdom in it. He is able to leave emotion out of it and truly give good advice and make good decisions based on his past experience and just good common sense. I truly value what he has to say and have been amazed by his wisdom many times this past year as we talk and make decisions together.
. . . he is a good listener. He is always willing to let me talk, even when I ramble on and on about our day.
. . . he is level headed. He is able to stay calm and rational when things get crazy.
. . . he is artistic. Not only has this helped him in his career as a chef, but our house looks nice because he’s able to decorate well. (I am not artistic at all.)
. . . he is a wonderful father. The love and compassion he shows our children is amazing. I love watching them together.
Until I lost my mother to cancer 12 years ago, I never knew Mother’s Day was a hard day for anyone. For me, it was a fun day to celebrate my Mom and my Mother-In-Law. While my chef/husband was always working, (hello busiest day of the year – no Mom wants to cook) we just chose another day to celebrate and that was that.
I have no idea why it never occurred to me that this would be a very hard day for so many women. My Mom lost her mother to cancer when I was 9 months old and my Dad lost his mother when I was 7. I’m sure all those Mother’s Days after they died were hard. But either I was oblivious and didn’t notice, or they did a pretty good job of hiding it from me. (more…)
Today would have been my Mom’s 66th birthday. We lost her to cancer 12 years ago.
You would think after 12 birthdays, 12 of my parent’s wedding anniversaries, 12 Mother’s Days, etc., it would get a lot easier, but it really hasn’t.
There are so many things that come flooding into my mind on these types of days: memories of being told she had cancer, seeing her suffer, seeing the helplessness in my Dad’s eyes, pleading with God to heal her or take her home to be with Him so she would no longer be suffering, feeling so alone and sad while home alone at night after she died, etc.
There are of course happy memories as well: family vacations, playing the piano and singing together, doing puzzles, playing with play-dough in the kitchen while she cooked dinner, etc.
We all know that chefs have a very stressful job. Many times, the to-do list is far longer than anything that could actually be accomplished in a 24 hour day or the 168 hours in a week, even if he worked non-stop.
After being married for 18 ½ years, I can see this burden on my husband without him saying a word. I can see it toward the end of his day off as he starts thinking about all he needs to do the next day. I can hear it in his voice when I call him at 5:45 am as he’s already on his way into work. I have even seen the to-do list in Outlook. It’s not pretty.
As I sit here in the quiet house before the girls get up, it’s hard not to worry about him and wonder how he’s doing and how he’s going to get everything done.
I know he’ll be fine. Somehow he’ll find a way to get everything done and it will be done well. But it’s not going to be easy. It never is. (more…)
