Our journey began this morning as we packed up our trusty sleigh car. We were excited to see the sun peaking through the clouds, anticipating some fun time in the snow on Mt. Hood and then on to time with family for Christmas. We made a quick stop for our first round of sugar treats, donuts. The donuts at Joe’s Donut Shop are amazing. We may or may not have eaten more than one each.
The roads were good, the weather beautiful and we soon were at the spot to get out, bundle up and toss our kids around in the snow go sledding. We had 30 fabulous minutes in the snow before the kids were freezing and ready to head out. They are fully acclimated to warmer city life and Jenna has forgotten the months on end of snow that she loved playing in. It was just the fix we all needed in the great outdoors and beautiful snow.
Onward we headed to my parents house. And then all of a sudden, my heart sank. I hadn’t seen the two main gifts in the car since we left home. I frantically asked Matt if he had packed them and to my sadness he replied with a no. Instantly I was mad. How could we leave without the main gifts?! We don’t even do that many gifts for our kids so to leave the main attraction at home seemed like a huge disappointment. Instantly I thought to myself, “Well I say that we don’t celebrate gifts but Jesus and now we get to really live that out.” When I regained some of my composure I told Jenna that we forgot their main gift at home and we would have to wait to open them until next week. She responded well for a 5 year old looking forward to Christmas and said, “Well, Christmas is about Jesus.” Thank you Jenna for being more mature than your mother. (I just like to begin disappointing my kids early on so they are used to it when they’re older. It’s character building right?)
One of the things I look forward to each year is the Christmas eve service. Our churches the past many years have not done candle lighting and I always loved that growing up. My church here does it and had a fantastic service tonight. One of the sweetest things for me was to see my friend Steffy up there singing and looking beautiful (praise God for giving her another year of life with her family, living joyfully through brain cancer). They did a drama with little kids and even a flying angel (it was no ordinary program) and then we lit candles and sang. I could see the delight on Jenna’s face just like I remember having on mine as a child. Light is an intoxicating thing and Jesus truly is the light of the world. What a blessed thing to celebrate.
I pray you all have a fantastic Christmas, are reminded of the real reason for the season (as I was in a very practical way today) and experience a new sense of awe of the Christ child.