Merry Christmas!

This is our last stop on my trip down memory lane of our Advent season. I thank God for what he taught us during this incredible time of the year. My words are not adequate enough to express my gratefulness for the gift of His Son. My heart kneels in awe at the manger...the Glory of Almighty God wrapped in a precious baby.

Christmas Morning!

One of the highlights of Christmas Day was that our youngest son has learned to read well enough to participate in our Christmas morning tradition of reading the story of Our Savior's birth. He had been talking about this since the beginning of Advent and was so excited to be able to do it!! (Of course, knowing that after we read the story we open presents probably had something to do with his excitement as well!)

Powerhouse Christmas Party

We hosted the church Christmas party at our house...lots of yummy snacks...and lots of fun. We played several games...but this is our favorite. My hubby broke the crowd into 4 groups and told them to create something...with one roll of wrapping paper. You can see they got a little creative with items they found around the house...like the paper plate halo...and my tree ornaments...and I'm not sure where they got the scarf and belt for Santa. Anyway, from left to right we have Stylin' Santa Claus, A Christmas Tree with gifts under him, An Angel (Wouldn't you like him to be your guardian angel!?)....and a Camel carrying a Wiseman!

The Tree won by show of applause and his group was quite proud of their creation.

We had a great time until the wee hours of the morning! This last pictures shows part of the group...the part that could fit in our living room. It doesn't show the part of the group holding my tall chair steady so I could perch on it to take this picture.

Bethlehem Brunch at PowerHouse

We have an annual tradition at our church called the Bethlehem Brunch. We used to call it the Bethlehem Breakfast, but since our service doesn't start until 12, we thought calling it breakfast might be a stretch.  We serve pancakes and fried chicken (don't knock it til you try it...it's a good combo) and then give a gift bag to each table.  Inside the bag are all the props and instructions to dress up one person to be a character in the Christmas Pageant.  After everyone is finished accesorizing their character, we narrate the Christmas story from the Bible.  When their name is read (angel...shepherd...etc.)  they come forward and act out their part.  We have so much fun reenacting the events that rocked the world at the first Christmas. Each person or family also can take their picture at the manger to remember the real reason for the season. No late night rehearsals...no long practices....no extravagant sets...no lines to memorize...just the story...and pancakes with chicken...and syrup...LOTS of syrup!

Christmas 2009

While we took down our Christmas decorations yesterday, I was thinking back over the great memories we have of this year's Advent Season. I am so thankful for the great health we enjoyed, but I'm most thankful for the awe and wonder of Emmanuel...God with us! We're always sad to "put away" Christmas...my oldest daughter was even making up a "Christmas Blues" song about the whole event. And yet there is something exciting about a freshly cleaned, and seemingly bare house as we enter the new year. It's full of possiblity as we wait in anticipation to see what the baby Jesus, our Savior, will do in our lives in the coming year. The kids are over their sadness now, and I think they have caught the "New Year Spirit" because I just overheard them talking about cleaning up and "redecorating" the play house out back with some cardboard boxes they found. My next few posts will be a little trip down memory lane through our Advent season since I just got our blog up and running.