Merry Christmas

One of the interesting elements of this holiday was the fact that we were spending Christmas away from our own homes. Now we all know that Christmas is about much more than presents, food and family - it's about the ultimate gift - Jesus Christ, who provided the most satisfying food - His Word and so that we can be part of the biggest, coolest, most loving, everlasting family - God's Family! Yet, we still often get wrapped up in the traditions, logistics, etc (or maybe it's just me?) and because I love sharing this holiday with others we usually have heaps of people in our home with heaps of food and fun games, which of course means heaps of logistics, etc. But this year, we really had no major agenda. And you know what - it was great! 

I had printed out an Advent Devotional from www.biblegateway.com which we had been reading every day together to keep our eyes focused on why we celebrate. So by Christmas morning, we were really in the spirit of things. And even though it's not all about presents, we do give gifts just like our Heavenly Father gave a gift and the Magi gave gifts... so the kids woke up to stockings (I did plan ahead for a few traditions) then came and jumped on us. We forgot to unlock the doors so grandma and grandpa did get a bit of a sleep in (besides the kids running around upstairs) until they came a knockin' and it was all on! 

We'd been given a cool new twist on the events leading to the birth of Christ called "It's A Boy" from our dear friends the Burrows Bunch, so that was the featured story of the morning while Grandpa was cooking breakfast.

It was nice for a change just to have a low-key morning (Mom and Dad usually host a Christmas breakfast so this was a real change for them)... yet it is tradition for dad to whip up some tasty omellette, 

and then there were the traditional Christmas socks and...

ornaments that my dad is infamous for buying for all of us. So it was fun to have a few traditional bits even so far from home, but the cool thing was that there were new elements to our celebration as well. 

This year, Grandpa and Grandma took the kids shopping so they could buy presents for us as parents and for each other. I love how the kids are affectionate with each other. This is actually such a sweet moment - we only told them make sure you say thank you... and this is what Hunter got! They're so lovely.

We wanted to get Dad and Mom something very Kiwi - so we got them the All Blacks mug (plus I thought they'd need it for camping) but then we saw the jumbo sized mug and thought it more suitable for Dad - so they got both! Plus the promise of a photo book of the trip when I get around to it... hopefully it gets done before Mid-Winter Christmas!

After opening a few gifts and eating a delicious breakfast, we hopped into the car and headed back over to Whitianga for a celebration service at the local Baptist Church. The Bible College student who is pastoring over the summer had a simple yet poignant message. She had each of us (there were really only about 25 people there)speak out something we think about when it comes to Christmas, then we had to come up and hold an icon representing that. So... there was somebody sitting in beach chairs (because Christmas is during the summer here when most people take their holidays), there was a tree, there was a wrapped gift, I held a plastic angle because she said when they were young they mispronounced 'angel'... anyway, there we stood on the stage with smiles and chuckles because truly these 'elements' are an important part of Christmas, but there in the midst of us was a woman holding a baby doll representation of the baby Jesus and Stephanie's point was simple - don't lose sight of the baby. Then once we were all seated she went on to describe how this baby grew up to become the man who offered hope, freedom, salvation, true life... it was a really good service. We were all glad we got out of the house to worship on this Christmas morning.

On the way back home we dropped by the Whitianga Farm which was closed but we still got to get out an see a few of the animals. 

This Christmas was definitely not about the food... because though my dad's eggs were good, they weren't what he had planned and later that night we were going to have split pea soup (it's green - right - perfect for Christmas) but that burnt a bit while we were out playing at the beach... so the kids had eggs and toast and went bed while we adults had smoked chicken wraps outside on the only night we ate on the deck. 

It was a lovely Christmas day with enough familiarity, a bit of new and plenty of thanksgiving for the reason why we celebrate. Thanks Dad and Mom for being here!