It was a wonderful season.......

We had a wonderful celebration of the birth of our Lord and Savior. This year found us with very little stress and a lot of love and enjoyment of the season.

On Friday the children and I (all three of them!) spent the day in the kitchen cooking and baking, and of course, eating! We played Christmas music and had a wonderful time together.

When Dh arrived home, on Friday night, we went to the movies to see Facing the Giants, http://www.pluggedinonline.com/movies/movies/a0002896.cfm, which was so good! Facing the Giants was a huge score for the media in winning one for the Kingdom! Then we had my extended family in for brunch on Saturday. There was lots of eating and enjoyment of each other and the gift that family is -- and a great pick up basketball game to end the afternoon!

Saturday night we splurged on yet another movie, The Nativity, which was so nice to put us all in the right focus and remind us why we celebrate the season. My 9 year old even commented on the way home, as we listened to some Christmas music, that he hadn't really thought much about the meaning of the songs until then! Yippeeee!!! The media scored another one for the Kingdom - which is, indeed, a Christmas Miracle!!!

DH and I spent a good deal of time discussing how stress free and enjoyable this Christmas Season was and trying to determine how to keep all the future ones as enjoyable. We were busy - actually in some ways busier than usual - but still managed to enjoy the experience. I know that when we began this holiday season I really wanted to be able to focus on the true meaning of the season and make sure my children didn't miss the real Christmas.

On Christmas Eve we attended Sunday Morning church and were delighted to sit in a packed church and feel the Lord's presence fully touching each and everyone there. The music was wonderful and our pastor dressed as Herod and gave the sermon from "Herods' perspective". It was interesting, but really makes me wonder...is that how our culture views Christmas and Christians?

Christmas Eve night we returned to church for the Candlelight Service and were accompanied by DH's parents. The children especially enjoyed having their Grandparents go to church with us. I think it lets them know they have a heritage of faith. We had dinner after church at our house and enjoyed a bit more time sharing the holiday with Dh's parents. They left in just enough time to drive the 1 hour home and make it to their church's 11:00 PM Christmas Eve Service.

Christmas morning was a slow, luxurious morning spent opening gifts and just enjoying each other. We visited my parents for dinner on Christmas night. It was such a great weekend.

Happy Birthday, Jesus!