Where Have I Been?

It has been a whole month since I last blogged!

It's been driving me crazy not writing, and yet, we've been so busy that the time has flown by. So, my first post will be my month in review and then I'm back!

How do I wrap up the last month?

We had our absolutely best Christmas ever! Gary was in the choir Christmas program, "I'll Be Home For Christmas". We made our gingerbread kit, but sadly, time slipped away and the big gingerbread project never happened :o(. Christmas break started a day early...thanks to a lovely snow storm :o)! Our refrigerator broke the day before Christmas Eve and Gary got to shop for a new one on Christmas Eve! All I could say was "Thank you God that it's the refrigerator and not the furnace!"

Mock chicken legs for Christmas Eve dinner (if that was the only thing we had done, it might still have been the best Christmas ever!). Santa brought everyone just what they asked for...how does he do that? A weekend at my Dad's not sledding, but watching him take the kids out on the lake. (That was nerve wracking, I must admit, but "Ollie" and I were much safer indoors!) Sleepovers galore. In the evening on Dec. 30th, "Ollie" kicked me!!! (which also happens to be the same date that I kicked my mom for the first time, pretty cool.) New Year's Eve dinner with Kristin and her kids. Marble cheesecake for breakfast on Jan. 1 (because I didn't make it early enough, so it wasn't' ready until midnight or so and we were NOT up at "midnight or so"). Actually, I could go for some right now...but I'd have to make it.

We topped off the Christmas break with a weekend away with my mom, and brother and nieces, at my little cousin's wedding! I say little, because it just seems like yesterday that I was babysitting her and she was cheating at Pretty, Pretty, Princess, or maybe it was Guess Who? Rachel now refers to her as "my princess", except of course when she saw her the next day in her sweats and t-shirt...then she was shy and asked where her princess went? Aidan sat unhappily through the ceremony, claiming that "weddings scare me," but got over it when we headed to the hotel to swim before the reception. Garrett and Aly had a conversation as they went to sleep that went like this...Aly - "My favorite part was the dancing." Garrett - "Yeah, the dancing. I love dancing, and I love these cashews."

And Monday morning, life returned to "normal." We all settled right back into our routine.

And yet, the best part of Christmas is something that does much more than stir up life for a month. This part changes life...forever.

The celebration of Christmas is a remembrance. God told the Israelites numerous times in the Old Testament to "remember," He was the one who told them to celebrate Passover every year and told them to tell their stories to their children. Why? Because He knows us. He knows we forget.

This past month, we remembered.

We remembered that a young girl and her new husband traveled a long way in the last days of her pregnancy. They found no place to stay. She went through labor in a stable with only Joseph at her side. Well, that's not entirely true, God was with them. Mary gave birth to a son, and they named him Jesus.

We remembered that it was lowly shepherds that witnessed the heavenly birth announcement.
The angel declared, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all people. Today, in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger." And if that announcement wasn't amazing enough, "Suddenly, a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests."

"And Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart."

Can you imagine? Can you imagine that night?

And consider that all this took place so that God's Son could be sacrificed in our place, take our punishment, that we might be spared and have a relationship with our Creator. This was God's plan, He had been preparing everything for this moment. He spoke of His Son's birth to the prophets, He told His people that He would come, that He would save them.

Can you imagine? Can you believe all that God has done for us?

Do you remember? I do. And I will teach it to my children, and their children. And pray that we will not forget.

"The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth." John 1:14



(and the story of Christ's birth is found in Luke 2:1-20)