Sit Back and Enjoy

Now that the hustle and bustle of the Christmas holiday is over, I plan to just sit back and enjoy myself and my family.  We had a lovely time together on Sunday – Church service in the morning, followed by a fellowship meal and then, after much waiting, came the time to open gifts.  My favorite part is watching everyone’s faces as they see the gifts for the first time.  I got so caught up in watching, that I really didn’t get many pictures.  I did get a few pictures before the chaos began, so it will not go totally undocumented!



Here is our happy clan.  We need to get a new family photo made, but one of our children has issues with group photos.  I won’t say which one, but he has to be threatened to smile in many instances. :)  We still attempt pictures, but half the time, his little face is scowling.  I just take the pictures anyway and laugh when I think about showing them to his girlfriends in 20 years or so…  I am  such an evil mother!



As we sat with the wreckage of our materialism surrounding us, I could not help but think how good, gracious, and generous our God is.  He has given us richly all things to enjoy – including those presents for which we scrimp and save.  He gave us His Son, the greatest gift ever given.  We make a habit of listening to Handel’s Messiah each year, and the phrase of Scripture, “the Gentiles shall come to Thy light”  seemed especially poignant to me this year.  In the Old Testament, the law and its type of salvation was given only to the Jews.  With the advent of Christ, His death, burial, and resurrection, the wall of partition has been broken down, and now, salvation – without the law – is available to not only the Jews, but the Gentiles, of which I am one.  Thank God for the gift of salvation!