It doesn't quite make sense, but the absolute busiest time of the year has become the most restful, life-giving part of my whole year. In the midst of the gift buying, wrapping and giving, Christmas programs, decorations, gingerbread houses, concerts, parties, midterm exams and everything in between was such stillness and silence and peace. It's so hard to choose a favorite, but I just love the lighting of the Advent candles every night and the devotions. One would think after 42 Christmases that it would eventually become mundane or boring or not near as exciting as it used to be. But I find it quite the contrary. The anticipation has never waned, never dimmed and is probably even more exciting than it's ever been before! And it's all because of Jesus.
I took down all of our Christmas decorations today. As I packed away our ornaments one by one, I was overcome with gratitude for the people and placed and memories each one represents. Each one has a story. Twenty years of stories. We add new ornaments each year for the kids and the new places we've visited.
Needless to say, it was a late night. Seth assembled both as soon as we got home.
Since we were spending Christmas in Georgia, I thought we were going to miss our annual tradition of attending the Christmas Eve candlelight service at Healing Place, but they had one on Sunday afternoon. So as soon as the morning worship service was over at our church, we went to HPC.
It was (and always is) such a beautiful service. If I had to sum up my thoughts going into this Advent season, it would be "a thrill of hope, a weary world (or Mama) rejoices." Because I was weary. So weary going into Advent. But hope.
A few weeks ago, I had the privilege of teaching on 1 Peter. Oh my goodness, it was like a breath of fresh air blowing through the weary and burdened places of my soul and stirring up hope. Peter wrote this letter to encourage believers who had been scattered abroad from Jerusalem and were suffering some kind of persecution. They were eternally chosen by God and yet struggling, suffering in this world.
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time." ~1 Peter 1:3-5
So many times we look at our circumstances, and it just seems hopeless. But it's not our circumstances, it's not the facts of our lives that determine hope. It's the faith of life that infuses living, breathing hope into the most hopeless and helpless of circumstances. Hope for the child of God is living and breathing because it's grounded in the living Word of God and has been made possible by the living Son of God who died and yet arose again. As the days and years go by, hope for the child of God becomes even more glorious.
There's a difference between being hopeful and hopeFULL. And, because of Jesus, we can be FULL of hope every minute of every day in every circumstance no matter what!
One of my favorite Christmas songs is When I Think Upon Christmas.
When I think upon Christmas,
words can't express how our Father in heaven has sent us His best
to be born in a manger, the King in the hay,
and creation will worship His name.
For the joy of the world He was born,
bringing peace to us all through the gift of His Son.
Now the darkest of ages are done for the Savior of heaven has come.
God's people had been four centuries . . . 400 long years . . . without a new revelation or prophesy. 400 years of waiting. 400 years of . . . darkness. And then, HE CAME.
This year a beautiful, heart-felt version of All Is Well was sung during the service. As I was sitting there, I thought . . . yes! YES! My favorite hymn is It Is Well with My Soul. And yet . . . All Is Well.
All is well, all is well.
Angels and men rejoice.
For tonight darkness fell into the dawn of love's light.
Sing alle, sing alleluia.
All is well, all is well.
Let there be peace on earth.
Christ has come.
Go and tell that He is in the manger.
Sing alle, sing alleluia.
All is well, all is well.
Lift up your voice and sing.
Born is now Emmanuel,
born is our Savior and King.
And then we lit the candles . . .
The next morning we woke up and drove to Georgia, taking all of our Christmas presents with us. Christmas Eve we spent with some of our favorites and then went to another candlelight service with Pop and Mimi.
Christmas morning we woke up and stayed in our PJs while we dug through our stockings and opened gifts. Mimi also cooked us a big breakfast. It was the best kind of day.
Stockings are my favorite part! I have the most fun shopping for surprises to fill them with (except this year the stockings weren't quite big enough for all the fun!).
Seth, Hannah Kate and Ellie all got fitness watches (Mason and I already have one). Some of us (basically, not me and Mason) have become rather competitive with daily steps.
And, speaking of gymnastics, Pop and Mimi gifted her with season tickets for LSU gymnastics!
My favorite gift we gave the children this year was Ticket to Ride. I'm not a big fan of board games. As a matter of fact, I really don't like them and never really have. Now, I did love playing a mean game of checkers with MeMama. There's no telling how many games we played. She let me win most of the time. I always wanted to love Monopoly, but I really don't. Besides checkers, I think the game I liked the most was Clue. We have several board games, and I was honestly so excited when the bigs got old enough to play without me. We do enjoy playing Apples to Apples together as a family, and I'd heard so much about Ticket to Ride that I thought it just might be something we'd enjoy, too. And, can I just tell you, it is THE BEST GAME! I got them the original (USA) edition, but we've already picked out the one we want next. We played that game everyday until yesterday and some days twice. I thought it might be a bit too complicated for Ellie, but she insisted on playing without my help, and she can do it! She hasn't won a game yet (and neither have I), but she is doing so well. Hannah Kate currently has the most wins.
My brother and his family were supposed to come over for lunch and more gift giving, but my sister-in-law and two of my nephews had the flu. So we actually didn't get to see them at all this trip. We were all pretty bummed about that, but that just means we're looking forward to the next time with them.
I've never done it before, but this year I got Christmas crackers for everyone. We all had such fun with them, and I think that will be our new tradition!
The day after Christmas we went to the movies. The girls and I saw Frozen II, and the boys saw the new Star Wars movie. I snapped a picture of the girls. The boys are just glad I wasn't there to take a picture of them when their movie finally let out.
Yesterday morning we loaded all the gifts back up and headed back to Louisiana. It was such a restful, joyful, life-giving Christmas. (And I'm already thinking about and looking forward to the next one!)