Christmas was a blessing this year!

Hi All,
Well, I just want to wish all of you, my friends, a Merry Christmas and a Happy New year! Wish you were all here! Or wish I were there, with all of you, wherever you are.
Christmas for me, was indeed a blessing. How blessed I am. I really feel that way. You know what is funny, is that, even if I hadn't gotten any presents I would have been blessed to have my family here with me in Canmore, Alberta. That is so true. They came after 2 pm on Christmas eve. I had just gotten out of the shower, changed and groomed myself(which means, basically, I combed my hair and gelled it), when I heard a light knock at the door. I peeked thru the peekhole, and saw my Auntie Marcia. So I opened the door and greeted her with a hug. She said they came in 2 vehicles and Mom should be here any minute. So I got my jacket and went out to her car, where sleeping beauty lay, my sister Corina...actually her name is Cori, but Mom always calls her Corina...and I kinda like that name too...actually I adore Cornelia for her...no really! i think Cornelia is a BEAUTIFUL name...really, I do ( Corrie Ten Boom's full name was Cornelia Arnolda Ten Boom...the famous author of THE HIDING PLACE book and movie, in case any of you don't know)...anyways, I am getting sidetracked. Gimme a minute so I can re-read, what I just wrote. Geez, doesn't it feel like I am in the room with you, the way my thought process works out, rambling out this and that, and eventually connecting to what my origional thought was...or 6 degrees of seperation from the Carpenters. Ahh, you know I was going to mention them...just wondering when and where. Now you know! At any rate(as Father Kubash always says, for those of you who know or don't know him, he ALWAYS says that, no disrespect to him)...where was I? Hmmmm... oh yeah! Cori was sleeping but then woke up and smiled sleepily when she saw me. Then she got up. By then we went back into the hotel, and Mom was just pulling in...so I went outside to give her a hug. A big hug! She looked great and beautiful as always. No really! She does!! She could wear rags and look good! I couldn't. Rags don't suit me, like they used to...(my pre adoption days...anyhow)...saw my brother Sachie...actually it's Sachia, but sometimes I like to call him my Sachie, or Yashie. Hugged him. Hugged my tall cousin David. My middle name is David. Don't know why I added that. But I remember as a child, having the choice to choose David or Michael as a middle name. I chose David, because I thought King David, was kinda cool. Well, he WAS! Anyways, the family came in and we lugged in about 3 or 4 carts/bins of stuff. I was a bit surprised. Actually not really. I know when Mom packs, she can pack a lot in a small space. She brought a lot of food and lots of snacks as well. Plus she brought lots of gifts. I wasn't going to argue with that.
She came up into room 335 and 337, adjoining rooms. She liked some of the stuff I had done to make the room look nice and hospitable. We filled the room up. Corina put up the Christmas tree(collapsable of course, any other way would be pure folly)...I had to use that word FOLLY...I just love it...for those of you who don't know...FOLLY is another word for foolishness. There is NOTHING wrong if you don't know that word. At any rate(there I go again)...uh...(cam is collecting his thoughts...his many, jumbled thoughts)...we put the presents around the tree. Then we held hands, surrounded the tree and sang. Just kidding, that was from the cartoon, the Grinch Who Stole Christmas, but I thought that was kinda neat, almost inspiring...
Then we turned on the tv and watched some stuff. I chatted with Mom about work and stuff. We discussed some of the presents I had got for the others, when they weren't in the room...etc. Then everyone kinda wanted a nap, so we all slept for a bit. Then got up to eat. Then around 7 pm, Mom, Corina, Auntie Marcia and me headed to the United Church for the Candelight Service. Lovely and inspiring. Came home with some Oriental soup and rice. Had a meal. Then I got to open one of my presents, after begging Mom...well I wouldn't call it begging...I just said, "Mom, could I please open just ONE present tonight?"...so I got to. It was a DVD player from Don, her boyfriend. He was to have been with us, but had to stay back in Edmonton and work. Well he was with us in spirit. I was shocked to get such a nice gift. And blessed! Thanks Don!!!! Now we can watch a few Carpenters specials together. Isn't that nice!
Anyways, we all finally went to bed, I to my room downstairs. Woke up around 9 am, and got ready and headed upstairs, and had a continental breakfast, then headed back to the rooms, where gifts where handed out. Mom's first gift she got to open was from me, Corina and Sachie...and Mom said, "You guys! You shouldn't have!" she said, as she reproached us...It was a digital camera Canon 4.0 (one of the best I think)...Everyone got wonderful things. I got a DVD of 40 th Anniversary of MARY POPPINS. I was soooo happy. Everyone knows how I like to think I am Marvin Poppins, brother to Mary...I also recieved some blank cds from Sach...which is awesome...I can make MANY musical cds for myself and others...(like THE VERY BEST OF THE CARPENTERS...or THEIR GREATEST HITS...CARPENTERS SONGBOOK...you get the picture)...I got a gift certificate from HMV from my Auntie which was awesome...now it's deciding what I want to get. I also recieved a Photo Album from Mom and Corina filled with pictures of me and my childhood, adoption and up. That was so awesome and a labor of love, I almost teared up(I actually did, but it was not noticeable...I was so touched). It was what I wanted. I also got some other nice, wonderful things. But being with my family was a pure blessing from God! And also getting to read the Christmas story and pray with them was neat! It was an awesome, awesome weekend. I was sad to see them all go, but so happy for the precious memories. Oh, hi Susan and Rich!

Cameron