Merry Christmas

Luke, Chris and I pulled into Christmas Headquarters last night around 5pm, central time. Boy was Lukie glad to be out of the car! He was so excited about going to Nonie's house he didn't sleep one minute in the car. He kept saying, "Nonie's house today! Nonie's house today!" Consequently, he was pretty difficult to put to bed last night and this afternoon, but he's been sleeping for around an hour now, and I'm praying that he'll slumber for a while longer. Tonight will be a BIG night! Daniel and Molly and their chilluns (Grace, Buddy and Elijah) are on their way, as are Jason and Janelle and their brood (Kalynn, Preston, Paul and Anna). My grandma and Aunt Mary are also joining us for the festivities tonight, so all in all we'll have a grand total of 23 people. My parents, grandma and Aunt Mary are sleeping in guest rooms on campus tonight. :)

Chrismas Eve in our family is the read deal. We don't wait until Christmas morning to open presents - though we get to open the little goodies in our stockings in the morning. On Christmas Eve, after the big table for Christmas Day is all set, we sit down to a candlelight meal in the formal dining - pizza and paper plates. The goal is as little work as possible! After supper, the kids put on a "program" of sorts. This tradition began around 22 years ago, when I was around 5. Janelle and April were the angels, Daniel was Joseph, and I was Mary. I believe a Cabbage Patch doll was Baby Jesus. One year, not long after that, the four of us proudly created a plaque for my parents to present to them at the program. It reads,

"Merry Christmas To the best parents in the world. From your children: Daniel, Janelle, Katie and April." How original!

A few years later, when I was older, I would be so excited once school got out so I could start planning the program. I would type it up on an old typewriter in my dad's basement office. Fast forward a few years, and I was scribbling it out on Christmas Eve afternoon; after our candlight pizza dinner, all of us kids would gather in a bedroom and hash out the details of who was doing what. This often involved arguing, rolling of eyes, and sometimes crying.

So this afternoon, as I was lying (or is it laying? I never know!) in bed with Luke, I mulled over in my mind what we'll do for the program. This year we're focusing on Advent. It's amazing to think of the great anticipation the children of Israel had as they waited for their Messiah. What great and powerful faith they had - not knowing when or in what manner their Messiah would come. It is with this in mind that I always love singing "O Come, O Come Emmanuel." I'm praying that tonight, with these things in mind, my family will genuinely long for Christ's second coming. We have a new generation of singers, readers and musicians. I think that next year I'll pass my hat off to April.

After the program ends, the exchanging and opening of gifts begin! Tonight we're going to have all of the kids open their gifts, then get them off to bed with the hopes of having a nice relaxing time exchanging gifts later. We'll see how that all works out.

Wishing you a Merry Christmas,
Katie