Some thoughts from the last 24 (amazing) hours:
- We enjoyed the first Christmas Eve together as a family in 17 years! There wasn’t the usual Heather-and-the-kids-eat supper-without-Dad-because-he’s-at-the-church-making-sure everything’s-ready-for-the Christmas Eve Service… We ate home-made Chinese food together, opened some presents, (assembled the first of three Bionicles More on that later), and went to bed to wait for morning. Nice.
- Some friends dropped over last night, intending to only stay for a moment, but we persuaded them to come in and visit, and it was a blast! Good friends are worth the time!
- Kids were pretty excited this morning–and I think everybody’s well-pleased with their gifts. Two more Bionicles were under the tree, as well as a couple of nifty gadgets! Bionicles–how do I hate them? Let me count the ways…small pieces for aging eyes; hundreds of similar-looking parts, easily confused; weird names that take a real phonetic concentration (especially when you’re asked to say it fourteen times…). But, how do I love Bionicles?? Well, they’re some of the coolest-looking toys ever; they teach my son about how things fit together; they teach him how to delegate responsibilities (namely building them) to others (namely me); they’re the kind of toy that makes me wish I was a kid again (along with the Nintendo Wii)!
- Dinner? How about deep-fried turkey! mmmm Turkey
- More friends over tonight. Hard-core game of Crokinole! The guys won, after spotting the girls a 120-point lead. Lots of laughs!
I can’t quote put my finger on it, but this feels like Christmas perhaps more than anything I’ve ever experienced. The pace was different. The pressured demands on our time were different. Nothing cut in our family just simply being together. Man, I never knew what I was missing all these years.
Hang on–I know, I know, save your nasty comments for someone else: I still believe that Christmas is about so much more than stuff under a tree, wrapping paper that will get torn up and thrown out in a matter of minutes, and games and cool-looking toys. But I’m afraid that somehow I’ve let the busy-ness of ministry and all the things I’ve felt I had to do over the past years to rob me of something God wanted to speak into my heart. It’s just that I was too busy to hear Him.
Shepherds got the message, so did wise men, and even a murderous king. This December, I think I finally got the message too. Christmas is about more than being busy and making sure everybody else is happy and taken-care of. Christmas is about embracing God’s love through the simple gifts like friendship and children, and wonder and mystery.
This is Christmas. And I like it!
See?!? God does have better things coming you’re way. And it doesn’t always come in the package we expect it to.
Glad you had a good Christmas.
Chat later,
Andrew