It's called Christmas with a capital 'C'

Christmas comes and goes in such a flash! Once the 25th of December has passed, Christmas is gone for the year... so unless we 'get into it' earlier, it's always going to disappear this fast!

Christmas is one of those things I find quite interesting among Christian friends... do we, don't we, it's not when Christ was born, it's a pagan festival and so on. As much as Santa and presents have centre stage though, it is the time of year when most around us have some awareness of Christ. Regardless that it's all wrapped in Santa, that still has to be a good thing. So for me this year the summary of my thoughts are:

Nup, it's not the real day that HE was born... but the point is HE was born! Being sure of eternal life, in heaven, is the best gift I didn't have to ask for. Even better though, it's a gift everyone can choose to accept. He was born for you too. Where are you spending eternity?

That aside... Christmas this year may be our best yet. As the children are getting older, traditions are becoming stronger and have more of an impact.
Something that we have done every year since Melinda was 1yo, is to do a 'Pyjama Ride' at Christmas. Usually Christmas Eve... load the kids in the car in their Pyjamas, once it's dark... and go and look at Christmas lights. It's a lot of fun... we look at some we know and seek out other ones in small neighbourhoods. It's fun for all - Even Timothy at almost 20mo loves it... even last year at 8mo he expressed delight at the light displays. This year we'd also done a little Christmas baking and dropped that off to a few friends as we went. Pete had the job of door knocking and surprising people. He really didn't like it till he was done - and then enjoyed the laughter he had brought people. A good experience for 'Mr Scrooge' ;o)

We got together with my extended family the Saturday before Christmas, and Pete takes the children to visit his parents early January (and I get to use that time for home ed planning! - Yay!!)

Christmas day was lovely - the children waking before 7am, excited about their small Christmas stockings and then after our traditional breakfast of pancake wrapped sausages we were off to church, a really lovely service. Back home for a sleep, family lunch and then presents. Just a lovely day really.

And in 2010, I'd just like to start the 'doing' of Christmas at the start of December... we will see!