We have a new tradition! We didn’t mean to make a new tradition, but once we did it, we decided we should do it again. Every year.
On the last day of school before break, we will deliver cookies to all of our neighbors.
Now, before you get any ideas, no I am not so organized that I had time to make all of these different kinds of cookies. I managed (barely) to make two different kinds for Lord Herndon’s cookie exchange at school. Then he managed to come home with so many different cookies that I knew we had to do something creative with them before I … uh … ate them all.
So we re-bagged them, got the kids all suited up, loaded them into their wagon …
Wait. There is another story here. A story embedded in this story.
The Story of the Wagon.
You see, Lord Herndon and I really wanted to get the kids a Radio Flyer wagon for Christmas. They are expensive, though. So we’ve been scouting out the deals, different stores, and different options. I did put one in my cart on Amazon.com on Cyber Monday, but I never went through with it. Then one day, I just happened to glance through craigslist, and I saw a near-new Radio Flyer ATW (with beefy wheels and some wooden siding) for $65. That’s between 1/2 to 1/3 of what I have seen them for! You can bet I called the guy while Googling his address and getting the kids into the car, and we raced down there to buy it. When Prince asked about it, I said it was a Christmas present. He asked, “For me?” I said, “Yes, but don’t ask about it again until Christmas.” He said, “Okay.” And that was that.
I hid it in the basement. I mean, I really hid it.
Then, we had two wonderful teenage girls come and babysit for us so that Lord Herndon and I could attend a Nazarene Church Christmas party. We had a wonderful time remembering that we were adults, and married!, and not just parents. When we got back, we asked the girls how the night went, and they said, “Oh, we had a great time! We got the kids into their coats and took them around the block in the wagon, singing Christmas carols and looking at the Christmas lights!”
“Wagon?”
“You know, the one in the basement.”
“The one that was hidden in the basement? The one that was a Christmas present?”
Oops. Their faces just fell.
I assured them it was okay, and I didn’t mind. I was glad they had thought of such a neat way to have fun.
But seriously, what even made them look down there!?
Of course, all the next day, Prince was talking about the wonderful red wagon.
So fine. Christmas came early, and we use the wagon now. Hey, we love it too! But it is still going to “appear” under the tree on that Special Day.
Now back to our original story:
We pulled the girls in the wagon and Prince ran up to each house, rang the doorbell, and shouted, “Merry Christmas!” as he proudly presented the bag of cookies to each neighbor. It was a nice trade-off for Halloween, I thought.
And it presented us with an opportunity: when we got to our last neighbor, she invited us in. We sat and talked with her and her husband while our kids played with their grandson. It helped us get to know her and solidify a relationship that could have consisted of waving from the car or saying hi at the mailbox for years without ever moving into anything deeper. Now, we have plans to get the kids together, for her to watch mine if I need to run somewhere quickly, and to trade banana bread.
This is what we wanted and needed for so long. A community.
