Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Spirit of Christmas: Day 28

Christmas with the Hamlins

Dar is a very important person in the Raymond family and I thought it would be a treat to learn about some of her family's Christmas traditions.  When I asked Dar about her favorite memories from Christmas as a child, she said that her most memorable Christmases were the years when they were charitable.  Dar said that there were some years when they could not afford gifts and on Christmas morning they would be surprised with gifts and donations from friends, neighbors, and community members.

I've read many stories about people being blessed with Christmas surprises like this before, but it was really special to hear it from Dar.  Dar has to be one of the most charitable people I know and I think she was just raised in a family that was that way.  Whenever I needed a ride to flute lessons, or someone to get me from school, or someone just to listen as I complained (as I often did as a teenager) Dar was there for me.  At church when there are crying babies, she is the first one to hop up and offer to rock the baby so a frazzled mom can enjoy the message.  She and my mom got involved with making fun pillowcases for the local Children's hospital and they buy the fabrics, wash, iron, cut, iron, sew, iron, and package them.  Dar is just always helping people out.  So, the charitable Hamlin Christmases turned into a whole family of charitable Hamlins who never cease to amaze me.

Here's an example of their pillowcases. This is the set they made for Beth and Mike.  Jon and I got University of Utah ones.
This is just a little update, after reading our blog post about kid friendly Christmas, Dar got us this awesome kid friendly nativity.
Make sure to check out tomorrow's post on Morris family Christmas Mornings.

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