An Unexpected Christmas

The Barnes clan – Ryan and Megan Smith; Jorge, Dana and Lori Hernandez; and Trudi and I – had an unexpected and special Christmas yesterday. We started off with our traditional Christmas breakfast and stockings (we're into stocking stuffers). Then we gathered around the tree and began opening our presents.

It was a very blustery day in Menlo Park. On days like that you can pretty much count on tree branches falling and power going out somewhere. This was our day. At 10:00 a.m. the lights went out. Power came back on at 2:00 in the morning. The in-between time would become one of our most memorable... and blessed... Christmases ever.

Thankfully, we had plenty of candles, lanterns and flashlights. I prepared our traditional spaghetti sauce by flashlight, and while it simmered on the stove all afternoon (thankfully, our gas stove still worked), we visited around the fireplace, napped, read, went for a walk and played with Lori. In the evening it started to get a little cold, so we bundled up and played charades and other guessing games in front of the fire. All day, all night, it was just us, enjoying each other's company and getting to know each other even better.

I hope your Christmas was as special as ours!