Christmas Snippets...

Christmas has come and gone! What a whirlwind the past five days have been for us. This year, all our get-togethers with family and friends happened on or before Christmas Day. The festivities got off to a great start on Friday --- it being the last day of school for the children, grocery shopping for all the meals that had to be prepared, baking and cooking on Saturday, then church on Sunday morning.

Sunday night we got together with a group that consisted of family and friends. This group started with five young girls almost twenty years ago consisting of myself, my two sisters and two dear friends of ours who are also sisters. The five of us did almost everything together and really consider each other as sisters!!! At last count, including our hubbies, children and other family members, we have grown to twenty-six people plus one baby coming in April! Our get-togethers have now become events in and of themselves. One special tradition we started doing at Christmas is to have the children pack care packages for the homeless.

Monday night, Christmas Eve, we had hubby's family over to our home. We had a great time together --- we even got to meet some relatives for the first time! Of course, the highlight of the evening for the children was getting to play with their brand-new Nintendo Wii with their cousins all night!

Christmas morning, we were able to have a quiet morning --- just the four of us, before heading out to my sister's home in Missisauga for lunch. Before opening presents, we read the Christmas story together as a family, from Luke Chapter 2, and we prayed together. After which, we shared with each other our birthday presents for Jesus. My daughter's birthday gift for Jesus brought tears to my eyes --- she will obey God in whatever and wherever He chooses to lead us in 2008! --- said with so much maturity and conviction. Words could not express the joy that filled my heart upon hearing those words come out of her. Over the past few months, we have increasingly sensed God telling us that change is coming in 2008 in terms of how we serve Him as a family. We are eagerly anticipating what He has in store for us as He slowly shows us snippets of His plan. To hear my daughter being so open and excited about this upcoming change is really heartwarming and overwhelming for me at the same time!

Christmas Day celebrations continued with lunch at my sister's home where the little people continued to open more and more presents and the big people continued to eat more and more food. Seriously though, at this point, having been feasting for the past three days, hubby and I could hardly eat anymore! My sister's prime rib roast was irresistible though. Yummy! Upon coming home mid-afternoon, we realized that there was one more Christmas get-together to attend. This one was a spontaneous one --- hubby's cousin who is visiting from New Jersey wanted to get the families together for dinner at a local Chinese restaurant. So off we went --- Christmas Day culminated with a sumptuous and delicious authentic Chinese meal!

We are now relishing a break with a quiet week just hanging out at home. Nothing is planned between now and New Year's Eve. Yay!!!

John 1:16 (NIV) --- From the fullness of His grace we have all received one blessing after another.