Just got back from Sunday night Bible study with Pastor and realized my fingers smelled like smoked steelhead. "Huh?" you say? Yes, one of the men loves to fish and he brought a plate of very delicious smoked fish. The funny thing is, he doesn't like fish, but he loves to fish. And so he shares, and we all got an early Christmas gift.
In all my talking about decorating and baking, I don't mean to leave out the reason our family celebrates Christmas. It's because it's the time people in the early church chose to celebrate the birth of Jesus. Yes, it's tied into old pagan celebrations, but that's not what we emphasize. No one knows for certain when Jesus was born, but born he was, so we celebrate the most important birth in the history of the world. And we do it with joy.
It's not just about the gift giving and the cookies and the decorations, though they add to the joy. It's about loving those around us as God chose to love us.
I have a cousin in Norway, Kristen, who is a children's pastor at her local church. Sometimes we think Christmas is an American holiday, but of course it's not; it's for believers everywhere. She put up pictures today of taking her little daughter, Mathea, to the woods to talk, lay in the snow and look up at the trees.
Here's one of her photos. Isn't it beautiful?
So true! Many of our traditions are from "the old country." In my family, we always had dinner on Christmas Day. Then, Harriet married Bill, and she opted to be with Bill's family Christmas Day, so Mother decided that we would have dinner Christmas Eve. She hated to tell Grandpa, though, but he was delighted. "That's the way we did it in the old country," he said.
ReplyDeleteSuch a great photo. I'll have to try that. I'll need a tarp, though. I'm not going to lie down on the wet ground full of critters.
We went to a big dinner on Christmas Eve years ago when Dan's boss's wife told me that's what she did. It was always such a stressor to open presents, have breakfast and try to get Christmas dinner on the table by one. (Mom always wanted dinner at that time from time immemorial.) Now we just have that lovely dinner Christmas Eve and relax all day Christmas, opening presents, having breakfast and then eating leftovers all day. So relaxing!!!
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