Christmas Eve

We headed up to PA to spend Christmas with family.  We decided to leave at 2am to make the most of our time by traveling at night.  The plan was the kids and I would sleep most of the trip.  Neither one of them has ever slept more than an hour in the car, even as infants, but here's hoping. We put them in the car asleep and they threw their blankets over their heads.  They should fall right back to sleep.  Nope.  It took two hours, but they were finally out from 4am until 7:30. 

They got a big kick out of eating breakfast at Cracker Barrel in their pajamas.  And an hour later we were there! I definitely had the easy end of this one.  Thanks, Honey!

The kids wasted no time jumping in to Christmas prep.  Mimi loves having her three little bakers in the kitchen.  Mammy was happy to lend a helping hand...

Then they got busy decorating the tree.  I love showing them the ornaments my sister and I made as kids hanging right alongside theirs.

It has become a Christmas tradition for the kids to each pick one of Mimi's nutcrackers and crack nuts.  They are fascinated by them.  It keeps them busy for quite a while as they crack the whole bag.  Not the tidiest method, but lots of fun and very yummy.

We enjoyed our annual cheese chowder meal before it was time to get ready for church.

The feeling of Christmas always hits me at the candlelight service... sitting in the same pews I have sat in for Christmas since I was a child... in the same little church... where almost half the choir are blood relatives... where the faces and hugs have known you since before you were even here.

It is in these quiet moments that Christmas begins to settle in my soul.

It is now.  It is still.  It is time.

All the meditation and preparation of advent comes down to this.  Is there room in my heart to fully receive Christ this Christmas? The room He deserves and asks? What kind of place has my soul prepared this season?

As the choir begins to sing, "O Holy Night", the tears fall.  Every year.  As the lights in the church dim, His light begins to shine greater and brighter.  In this dark and sinful world He comes like sunshine, filling every empty space, flooding the shadows.

As I watch Julia holding her candle, I am overwhelmed with gratitude for the gift of a healthy Christmas together.  It will never be taken for granted.  Last year she clutched her candle, wearing a mask, with her fuzzy head.  This year her curls fell gently in her face, as she smiled with rosy cheeks.  God's goodness has poured out in abundance.

We sat in the pews with our extended family, so blessed that uncle Jeff felt well enough to attend.  He was diagnosed with aggressive thyroid cancer in October and is traveling a tough road of surgeries, radiation, chemo, trachs, and feeding tubes.  Unfortunately, we are witnessing again how cancer can grab our lives and take hold in an instant.  But it is in Christmas that we find our HOPE.

The same God who created the world, created each one of us, reigns on the throne.  That same almighty God who holds the universe in the palm of His hand came to earth to suffer and die like one of us- to save us and bring us back home.  In our darkest hours and deepest sins, He lifts us up.  THAT is the gift of Christmas.  This tiny babe born in a stable, long ago...    

And for that HOPE we give thanks and rejoice with overwhelming gratitude.

Happy Birthday Jesus!!

Merry Christmas everyone!!