Good Christian Friends Rejoice...

with heart and souls and voice!!

What a lesson we had in being able to give good gifts this year. Each of our children had worked and thought very hard to select items for their loved ones that they would treasure, and judging by the excitement we saw here, they were quite successful!

By far the two most played with items, were the rocking chair the Cubby and Miss H had found and refurbished. Lil Bit loved rocking in it, and it turn out (with the Mr.'s help) to be quite attractive. Mental note for next year, spray painting in December.. not a feat for the faint of heart.

The other was an early decision by Little Daddy to get the rereleased fisher price farm set for Lil Bit. It is one of the few Little People items that is also completely self storing. AWESOME!! Aside from all this fun, Cubby will tell you that the best part of the day was getting to spend Christmas night with The Incredibles, which we hadn't seen before. It was pretty cute. I think the Mr. enjoyed riding the razor scooters in the basement. Truth be told, the powerwing scooter was really really fun.

My favorite part, was my Lovely Aunt waking up at four o'clock California time and Skype-ing in for Christmas morning. While her camera wasn't working so we couldn't "see" her, I was able to hear her, and she was able to see the kids enjoy all the goodies she had sent. Too bad for her, no Cinnabon which has become our traditional Christmas morning feast.

I missed my dad, somehow an email is not quite the same as the phone call I had been settling for the last 8 years. Hopefully there will be a Christmas soon where we can all be together in person. There was a tender moment too when Cubby said he wasn't hungry for breakfast and I told him that if Gigi had been there he would have had to have had breakfast before presents... now that shocked him.

While there were many labors of our hands and gifts from our hearts under the tree, we are most thankful and delighted to receive the love that is showered upon us "without ribbons without tags... without packages, boxes or bags". The gift of His only Son, given more than 2000 years ago in a lowly stable. This Life we lead that is rich in blessing and grace, given by He who gives the greatest Gifts.

A very Merry Christmas to you all!!