Hello all! I pray that your Christmas was as wonderful as ours! Blessings abound!!! We all gathered Sunday at Glenda's house here in Austin, all 22 of us. The only ones missing were Ollie's daughter, Neely, her husband, Carl, and our twin granddaughters, Livi and Madi. They had come the prior weekend and celebrated a little early with us.
Bless Mom's heart; any time she and Dad go anywhere, she helps him get shaved and dressed and then has to get herself ready. They both were dressed to the nines and walked in the door all smiles! Mom and Dad were decked out in their Christmas-sy red sweaters. Not to mention that Dad had on his Stetson hat when they arrived! He hadn't worn that in a long time! He also had on his western dress-pants and one of his prized belt buckles that he'd won when he was team roping! Jennifer's husband, David, and their son, Bradley, are team ropers, so Dad dons that belt pretty proudly ! Mom was glowing with beauty and Dad was his handsome self! They both looked great!!! As soon as I get everyone to email their pictures, I will post some!
As soon as Mom and Dad arrived and got kisses and hugs from everyone, we congregated in the dining room, said our prayer together as a family and ate.
Dear Lord in Heaven, help us all to remember that it is the birth of Your Son Jesus Christ that we are celebrating today.
We Sing praise to You for the loving unity of this family. We hold dear in our hearts our loved ones in Heaven and on Earth who are not with us today.
Bless those who are not able to be with their families, those who are alone and lonely, those who do not have enough to eat or a warm, safe place to call home.
We are so grateful to You for all our many blessings, our homes, our health, and our ability to work and support our families. Thank You for this food that was so lovingly prepared for this celebration.
Bless us oh Lord, and these Thy gifts, which we are about to receive from Thy bounty, through Christ, our Lord. Amen
Shortly after eating we gathered in the living room. Several years ago we started the tradition of singing Christmas carols together before giving out gifts. Austin told everyone the reason we celebrate Christmas is because it's Jesus' birthday. We asked him why we got gifts instead of Jesus and he replied without hesitation, "Because it's Christmas!" Okay, that was a pretty good answer for a 5 year old! I'm just proud that he knows the reason for the season!! I need to video him telling the story! It's precious!
Handing out gifts takes us a while. Jean, Glenda, Danny and I take turns handing out the presents for each of the great-nieces and nephews. We hand them out one by one and watch each child open their present. That way the child knows whom it's from and we all get to see their joy in opening it! Like I said, the who process takes us a while, but we feel like it's worth it!
Other than during the prayer and opening of gifts, Christmas Day is very casual and without agenda. We visit a lot, laugh a lot, play a lot and eat a lot! How could we be any more blessed than that?!
I decided that Christmas is a lot like a wedding...you plan for it for months and it's over in a matter of minutes. However, the more I thought about that, the more I disagreed with it. In my heart I believe that most of us keep the meaning of Christmas in our hearts all year long! It is our challenge to spread joy and cheer to others all year! Most importantly, we should be spreading God's word throughout the year!
I still find it hard to believe we are saying good-bye to 2011! I've been told all my life that, the older you get, the faster time flies! I am finding that to be so true!!! From our family to yours, may your New Year's celebration be happy and safe! I pray for peace, health and happiness for all of you!
"I am leaving you with a gift--peace of mind and heart! And the peace I give isn't fragile like the peace the world gives. So don't be troubled or afraid."
John 14:27
