Merry Christmas!

Relaxed.  Playful.  Full of tradition. Joyful.  Overwhelmed by the generosity of our family and friends.  These are some words that describe the tone of our past 2 days and our feelings after the infamous Christmas Eve Present Extravaganza.  Thank you to everyone who blessed us with gifts, messages, and kind gestures, contributing to these feelings of joy!

  

Christmas Eve day is traditionally spent turning our kitchen into a cookie making factory.  The pastoral staff serves the treats at the Christmas Day service, so making cookies for hundreds of church friends has become a whole family affair.

Around 4:00 we start The Unwrapping.  We say we do it this early to try to coordinate with our family in Chicago who is opening in Central Time, but really it's just 'cause we can't hold out any longer!

Here are just a few shots of happy faces and perfect presents.  The one above is my favorite of the night.  It was when Delia opened the DVD set of the 3 original Star Wars movies.  Yep, we now officially own them, thanks to Grandma and Grandpa.

 When Ella unwrapped the latest book in a series she loves from her cousins, she actually bailed on present opening for a while to start reading!

 This couldn't be any more perfect-- Star Wars Operation from Auntie Heather!  It has been played every day.  Maybe even every other hour!

The after-unwrapping Lego assembly.

The after-unwrapping Just Dance competition!

And here is a gift from Dorina's family that we have been enjoying all season.  In honor of Ericlee and his passion for telling children about God's love, Dorina sent us Ann Voskamp's Advent devotional book.  Each night we pause after dinner to appreciate and ponder how the entire Bible points to God's greatest gift.  We read and treasured the last page yesterday, on Christmas Day.  

After 2 days of fancy meals, present-o-rama, tons of togetherness, play, and Star Wars movies, we got out of the house a bit to drive around looking at Christmas lights.  This was really fun, but we had to laugh at the one Christmas Day picture I took of the girls.  While you all are posting adorable pictures of your kids in matching jammies or posed by a twinkling tree...here are mine, screaming and hiding because they are blinded by the laser beam flash of my phone! ;)

"But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart." (Luke 2:19)  We prayed as a family yesterday that this season each of our loved ones would find some peace and the time to ponder what it's all about: God's great love in the form of a miraculous baby boy.  Merry Christmas!