On Christmas Eve we enjoyed our family reading of the Christmas narrative up at the clearing with singing, fireworks, a big warm fire, hot dogs, hot chocolate, and smores. Here are some pictures from that wonderful time:
The big fire:
Water for the hot cocoa:
Getting the smores ready:
Lisa got some giant marshmallows this year!
We didn't take any pictures of the fireworks, but they were fun and pretty and accentuated the Christmas narrative in just the right places. Matthew and Simon took care of them this year while I read.
The next morning was Christmas morning! Since this was the celebration of Jesus being born, He was now in the manger in this Nativity set for the first time:
We had gotten the tree out and decorated it this year on the 22nd, but the star doesn't come out until Christmas morning. Every time we lit the tree, we gave a 3-2-1 countdown and the family yelled "Happy Birthday, Jesus!" Now that the 25th had finally come, it had the Christmas star on it signifying the birth of Christ with the Happy Birthday banner and there were a few more presents found under the tree. (We do it that way in an attempt to make the actual day of His birthday celebration a bit more special.)
A neat aspect of this Christmas morning was the scene past the tree to the outside. I tried to get creative in this next picture by showing the snow through one of the tree branches:
A white Christmas! We got about 3 inches of snow after we went to bed on Christmas eve and it snowed on and off all day!
We woke up to an additional inch of snow on the 26th but the snow did not keep us from heading up north to Cincinnati. The roads were poor that morning, but passable. I couldn't help but think of the song, "Over the river and through the woods, to Grandmother's house we go! The horse knows the way to carry the sleigh, through the white and drifted snow!" We could have used a horse and sleigh on Rt. 581!
But we made it with no problems. Here is Christina, Erica, Jessica and Sarah and Timothy at Grandma's:
Timothy loved opening his presents and helping everyone else, too: Here is Lisa, Timothy, Matthew, and Simon:
Erica and Christina helping with the food:
One of the gifts Christina received was the game Apples to Apples, Bible Edition. A big group of us played and had a fun time!
One of Erica's friends from college came with us to help us celebrate. Matthew and Erica picked up TJ in Erica's car and drove all the way to Cincinnati by themselves. It was the farthest road trip either of them had taken by themselves, and on a snowy day! We were proud of them and thankfully, they had no problems. Erica let Matthew drive most of the way.
Here is TJ and Matthew: (Matthew won the initial game to 4, but we kept playing and Erica won the most hands overall)
And here are all the grandchildren in the den:
What a wonderful Christmas time it was! We kept it all simple for the most part, and kept the birth of Christ center stage through the entire season.
Happy Birthday Jesus!
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