Today was a beautiful fall day spent with family. We gathered for our McMurray Thanksgiving dinner and had a wonderful day. Lots of memory makings but another holiday without my Chief and Rosie.

My oldest and his family came over mid day and we went to the farm on an old timey Christmas tree hunt. His land is full of cedar trees mixed among his pine forest and we came home with a big cedar for the living room, a smaller cedar for the dining room, and a little Charlie Brown cedar tree for my bedroom.

I had been trying to get up the courage to ask my oldest son to take me up to the farm to get a cedar and I get a text from him this morning, saying, “…coming over early — thought we can maybe go look for you a Christmas tree, if you are up for it?” Am I up for it, I was over the moon and teared up. As his daddy always said, “He’s a fine fella.” The kids enjoyed the tree hunt, too. I tried to enjoy the scary truck ride over some of the steep hills and dales.

Last cedar tree we had was about four or five years ago. Chief and I went up to the woods at the farm like two old folks on a scavenger hunt. Don’t know how we managed to walk ten miles through the woods, dodging mud puddles and deep ruts in the roads, branches slapping us in the face. I was waiting for a rabid coyote or a Big Foot to jump out and attack us. I complained the whole way about not having a gun with us.

We found a big cedar and took turns dragging it and each other through the woods back to his truck. We were so proud but pooped when we got home. Going to decorate these trees just like we decorated the trees when my brothers and I were children, large colored lights and colorful glass Christmas balls. Gonna miss the messy tinsel, though. We’d always get tired of draping the tinsel neatly on the branches and one of us would eventually end up throwing a wad on the top of the tree.

I saw a beautiful little cedar tree decorated with pine straw needles as we drove down the farm road. The pine needles were perfectly placed on the branches. Made me think of tinsel. Wanted to get a photo of this brown tinseled Christmas tree Mother Nature had decorated but we didn’t see it on the way back.

Eva Burrows said, “The love of a family is a life’s greatest blessing.” Such true words! I can always count on my brothers and their families. Their wives are the sisters I never had. We’ve weathered some family storms, sickness and death, my nephew and grandson’s life threatening illnesses. The many prayers and the love from family and friends helped us and sheltered us during these storms.

Family and our friends, who are a vital part of our families, offer support and security. Guess the greatest blessing of family is unconditional love, the complete acceptance of us and our faults. We gather and share a meal together just like Jesus broke bread with his disciples. We feel secure and have a sense of belonging to one another in our families. God created us in his image and put us on earth to be caretakers of this planet and its inhabitants.

I watched all my parent’s grandchildren and great-grandchildren frolic in the yard late afternoon, playing volley ball and ping pong, the youngest ones running around and squealing. I stopped and said a little prayer to myself, “Lord, please let these children always be so blessed, so well, and so happy. And always let them gather together in thanksgiving.”

The world is one big family and as we travel on our journey of life we need to help each other when the opportunity arrives. Through our faith we become members of God’s family. By our words and actions as Christians we identify ourselves as part of God’s family. We are God’s family and one day he will welcome us into his heavenly kingdom. Romans 8:16 says, “You and I have been adopted into God’s family and have become God’s children.”

“Family is not an important thing. It’s everything.” — Michael J. Fox