Christmas 2012...


... was in a word, amazing.


A frozen waterfall in Canmore AB. I took this picture back in 2007
In many more words, it was a very memorable holiday filled with special moments and wonderfully thought out gifts, time with family, way too much good food and a waterfall of grace.

We began our Christmas on Dec 23, when we 'stole' a few hours to be a family. We went on a twinkle tour, ate cookies and had hot chocolate and played a family game of Tribond. We went to bed way too late and had a great night together. Oh yeah and we let the girls open one gift... we got them each a book called THE STORY which is basically the Bible without all the extra stuff. Still God's word just weaved together in more of a story form. I have seen those books put to good use already :)

Christmas Eve was a long day, Bobby and I both worked the morning and then spent the afternoon preparing for supper with The Lawrence Clan. The food was great and spending time with family is always interesting. It was good to be together. Then it was off to church. Our pastor did things a bit differently this year and I quite loved it. The whole service was centered around communion and tying together Christmas and Christ's sacrifice. Very appropriate I think. It was really neat to have communion on Christmas Eve.

After church, we headed to my parent's house for an evening snack. My almost sister in law Mandi made sure there was baking for me to eat that was not my own and let me tell you that was a treat indeed. We enjoyed some quiet with Mom and Dad and then headed home to again have some family time.

We opened our new pj's and got ready for bed and all settled in to light the Christ Candle on our own Advent wreath. We've been reading a book through December called "The Miracle of Christmas" by Stormie Omartian. I highly recommend it. As a family we have enjoyed a fresh look at the Christmas story. Anyway... Christmas Eve we read the chapter about the shepherds. They were all mumbling and grumbling about being shepherds and how nobody cared about them and how it felt like even God had forgotten them... well you can see where this is going! It was a beautiful story of how God loves the least of these and how none of us are insignificant.


Last year as we celebrated Christmas Eve we began to discuss what gift we could give Christ this year, sadly none of us really recall specifically what we said... we meant to write it down but somehow we didn't. I know we all talked about getting to know Him better and sharing Him with others and in many ways we accomplished that this past year. But in light of our reading this Christmas Eve night we shared the gifts that Christ had given us this year. The next 15 minutes or so were 'holy ground,' 'sacred sharing,' 'a waterfall of grace.' AS we each shared how God had worked in our lives, we laughed, we cried and we were so very grateful. Second chances, validation, joy where we expected pain, unexpected reminders of His love and wholeness of spirit. A family bonded together over a difficult year in many respects but we came through it on top and only through His strength and grace. These moments were truly the gift of Christmas this year so much so that as I told my friend, KEVIN, we could have skipped Christmas... we didn't but we could have :)
 
 
Christmas day was sweet filled with gifts from the heart, more food and family and all that good stuff that makes Christmas so very special. And now we move onto 2013... May we all look for the gifts of Christ through out the year to come.

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