A message from my mom on the answering machine about "gearing up for camp"... Cross - my maiden name - Christmas Camp has been happening since our kids were small! I remember one of the first ones was when my sister Mary had been diagnosed with Lymphoma, and she died the next July 3rd, 1986! The next Christmas Camp we all drove to her grave and shed a few tears and shared some memories. Two of my girls are her Goddaughters, so I had to get a few pictures of them with her...
We will be heading out to an all new and different location this year at Amery, WI... It is a new Lutheran Bible camp and so we will be having a whole new adventure to add to the ones we have had year after year... Being the oldest of 11, and with grandkids over 30 in number, and now great grands climbing by the year, and wer are forever grateful to still have both of my parents in reasonably good health!... we are over 70 when we are all together! It is wonderful to have a comfortable fun place to gather and share and catch up! WE have a craft that gets people to sit around and share and make a momento for that year...
After Saturday supper...we gather and try to capture those that are represented for that year... It fluctuates from year to year with the weather a factor, or what is going on in people's lives... Last year Maria was due to have her baby and actually had it the last day of Camp... Nancy was in Pennsylvania with her fiance, Bill. And John has come straight from radiation... it was one of those small showings for our family, but we were so grateful to celebrate John's battle with everyone, who had supported us so much! 
It's no secret that my 85 year old dad... dresses up in a Santa Suit that Ruth made. We sing Christmas carols to Santa and there is a big sleigh bell that rings out in the hall and all the kids run to the window to see the reindeer and the sleigh! Some adult usually yells; "I think that I see him!" to get all the kids over there looking... they are truly a figment of the little one's imaginations! They don't really know him and the little ones are known to study this strange guy really closely... yes, some cry...
One neat tradition that we have started in the last years - trying to keep the Christ in Christmas - is to take some time to pray for some intentions that we want to give the baby Jesus... My dad is very hard of hearing, so this can be challanging for Santa to know that we are praying, but it has been a powerful time in which we share our joys and our challanges in prayer! Usually before this we have all gone together to the Crosier Church in town and shared the 4th Sunday of Advent Mass - we have Christmas Camp traditionally on the weekend before Christmas! One year we kept the priest busy with long lines outside the confessional! That was a powerful year to share that as a family too!
There are many photo ops with the good sport Santa... My mom has a bag of candy for all the grandkids and great grands... they all come and sit on grandpa's lap from the 30 somethings - the older grandkids... to the month old great grandchild! And then there are the family poses too! 
Yes, this is the cement that keeps the tradition going... my parents are together and still healthy and with us! We are so blessed and have them to thank for this wonderful tradition, but also for our wonderful and special "family." They have said "yes" to family in so many ways over their 60+ years together... having 8 children and then adopting 4.. and then the spiritual journey we shared as we all joined the Catholic Church - all 13 of us! (I know that the math doesn't work - I lost a twin brother to my brother, Phil, who only lived a few days.) This family tradition has been so special to us, and mom always has along scrapbooks from the years past...that is super fun to look at and to laugh at!
I know that my grandkids remember Christmas Camp fondly and are really excited to go and have the experience again this year. Maria and I might take the 5 grandkids and head out on our 4-5 hour trip after school tomorrow, so that they can get there and have some fun before bed. It will be a different year with having to make our own meals here at the new place. We have divided the task between the families and with so many of us... for the most part we can relax and enjoy some good food and only be in charge of one meal! 
We are also excited this year to have not only Maria and her kids there- Joe is still at training. But we get to share our Camp with our new son in law for the first time! Since Bill and Nancy were in Uniontown for Thanksgiving, and their party for their wedding celebration - they have decided with some sadness to stay in Minnesota for Christmas and not make the flight to his home. WE know that it is a sacrifice for him,but he is excited to experience Cross Christmas Camp for the first time... he has certainly heard probably too much about it!
All in all it is just wonderful to gather and celebrate FAMILY... isn't that what Christmas is all about anyways? We look at the Holy Family and their wonder and joy at the birth of God incarnate... their precious helpless infant Son, Jesus Christ! It has been so sweet having Therese here and her excitement for the baby Jesus to appear in the manger! She is so excited to give the gifts that she bought with the money from her money jar for her cousins and aunts and uncles... Her mom took her to the dollar store yesterday and she picked out the small special things that she wanted to give to them. Such a powerful reminder that the true joy is in giving and not in getting! For a two year old to be teaching us that is so amazing! After a year with cancer... gifts hold no value to me... I just want my family together to celebrate His coming to save the world! I sense in her that she has captured the true reason for the season!
This is the reason for the season! How powerful it is to have Christ and his amazing parents in the midst of our families! That is the only way that we can find happiness and peace and joy and love! We need to focus on the Holy Family and ask them to be with us and show us the way! It can be a challange for all of us! 
It will be a beautiful backdrop once again this year with all the pretty snow... with this place.. an hour or more East of the Cities into WI... the snow off the path could be too deep to walk in with all the snow they have gotten in that area! But one thing for sure... from inside looking out... it will look like the prettiest view ever! 
My brothers sharing, and cookies brightly decorated... another tradition of Camp - my sister bakes a lot of sugar cookies, and then the kids and adults gather to creatively decorate something that will soon be in our stomaches... better grab a picture before they are just a pretty memory! 
The kids from high school down have a gift exchange! Once you graduate high school... its over! The ones graduating year after year are more than replaced by the long list of new ones that are born to our families! It is wonderful to see the list grow longer and longer and the smiling faces like little Simons here! 
The traditions are in place and looked forward to year after year... the family is packing up, and preparing for a whole new Cross Christmas! It will have another new story to tell, but foremost it will remind us of our blessings called Faith and Family! WE are continually trying to add more faith pieces each year... we now gather around the advent wreath to share a rosary led by my dad after breakfast... that is a wonderful time to remind us of the way our Blessed Mother is always there to minister to our families... she is our shining example of saying "yes" to the needs and life of her family!
Last year was a powerful year for us... John was fighting brain cancer. We had another week of radiation after camp, and the weeks had worn him out! This year with a year without cancer and back with his life as a college student... we can celebrate and be forever grateful and changed! Jesus, we trust in you!
When Maria left for the monastery... just about 7 years ago... she left this in John's bedroom under his crucifix..."This is how one loves!" We certainly learned that as we faced John's brain cancer with family and friends! This year at Cross - I never really thought much of the significance of my maiden name in this way - Christmas Camp... the cancer is an ever fading memory, and we rejoice at all the answered prayers!
John with his cousin Emily in 1991- just a couple of cute two year olds! There will be many of them to capture this year!
Lord and our Lady and St Joseph - our most Holy Family and example for us to emulate - thank you for all the memories, and new family sharing that are ahead for us at this most wonderful time of the FAMILY! Give all safe travels and joy and happiness as we gather to share our lives one with the other! Life and family is a gift! Amen and Halleluia!Bless-bless, Barb - this was one of the years of my sewing many red plaid jumpers including one for me! John never had to wear red plaid in any shape or form - I got it out of my system by the time that he came along!
"This is for me like the days of Noah, when I swore that the waters of Noah should never again deluge the earth; So I have sworn not to be angry with you, or to rebuke you. Though the mountains leave their place and the hills be shaken, My love shall never leave you nor my covenant of peace be shaken, says the Lord, who has mercy on you." Isaiah 54:1-10 First reading from mass today...
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