Christmas Eve

What a blessed day this was. Started off a little unorthodox with my mother jumping on my bed waking me up. (Apparently since we do it to her every Christmas morning, it was only fair that she get to do it to us! lol) The morning was filled with preparation as we were having our big dinner today and had other things to do to prepare for Christmas tomorrow.

Christmas Eve service was amazing; Jeff as blunt as usual, whipping us all into line and into the right frame of mind. It will never cease to amaze me how many people show up for these services! We went to the earliest one, apparently the least attended and their were people there over half and hour early (before us who were 25 minutes early), we barely got a front parking spot, and the sanctuary filled to overflowing. Like seriously, did everyone just decide to come to that service or were these those, once-a-year Christians filling the pews. They sure didn't get a nice, easy, fluffy Christmas message that's for sure! I hope it really made people think about their reasons for even coming into a church at all. What do they hope to prove? What is our purpose for meeting together?

After the service we prepared dinner and had it on the table around 5. It was so cool to have all these people in our house, grandparents, cousins, little baby Jayden. It was a beautiful moment. Everyone was totally absorbed by everything Jayden did. It just seems like every time I see that little boy, I love him more. The evening was filled with cheer and joy as we exchanged gifts with Jordan and Vanessa.

I loved hearing all the oohs and ahhs over Jayden, the laughter of playful teasing, the joy of shared memories and just having so many happy voices in the house was so amazing. Watching Jayden open his first gifts was such a precious, adorable moment that I know we will all treasure forever. It's little moments like these that make Christmas such a fun time to look back on and reminisce.

Pie and coffee came later followed by a hilarious game of "Things" that brought out laughter, wrestling and wore us all out. The evening was so great. Dad of course topped it all off when he looked out the window and exclaimed, "Look, it's snowing!...somewhere in the world."

I look back on the evening, in these wee hours of Christmas morning 2010 and I realize that we could not have done any of this with out Christ. I mean, the whole purpose of Christmas is to remember his birth, it's a celebration of Emmanuel. But it is also a celebration of what He did for us and how that is reflected in our lives. It is a hard time right now for our family. A very different, difficult Christmas but God's work in our lives shines brilliantly in our fellowship and joy together. The fact that any of this is even possible is proof of the hope and grace that Christ has given us. How I pray I will learn that humility that He embodied. I can never thank Him enough.